Teaching Patience (Homespun) by Katie Crabapple Read Free Book Online Page B

respected him.  He was the kind of man he wanted to see his Patience married to one day.
    Hugh smiled.  “Thank you.”  
    “You need to have Charlie with you at all times.  Should I send my daughter Grace as a second chaperone, or do you think Charlie will be enough?”   It was a mark of how much respect George had for the younger man that he even asked. 
    “Charlie can handle it.”
    George nodded.  “I’ll see you Saturday evening then.  What time will you be calling for her?”
    “Would six be okay?”   The social started at seven, so that would give him time to get here there without having to rush too much.
    George eyed him, knowing he’d want to get to know him a bit better before Patience went off with him.  “Why don’t you make it five and you and Charlie can have supper with us?”
    Hugh realized he wasn’t really being asked to supper, but being told he would be going to supper with George’s family.  “We’d like that.”  And they would.  Hugh was happy for any opportunity that didn’t require him to eat his own cooking.
    George nodded and went to check to see if Patience was ready.  The other children were already gone and it was just George and his children other than Hugh and Charlie.  Hugh helped to put away the last of the blankets they’d used during the storm. 
    Patience finished up, grabbed her school books and the papers she wanted to grade, and they headed out the door.  The schoolhouse was never locked, so they took off in opposite directions.  He and Charlie trudged through the deep snow, doing their best to avoid the deepest snow drifts.  He turned back after a few minutes, and saw Patience walking slowly beside her father.  George had his arm around her shoulders as he pulled the toboggan with her siblings on it. 
    She looked over at him, and he raised his hand in a wave.  She waved back, and they disappeared from sight behind some trees.  He’d be seeing her soon, though.  He only hoped he was doing the right thing.
    Patience was thrilled to be going home after the long days and nights at the school.  She smiled thinking about how well her first, and hopefully only, blizzard as a teacher had gone.  She’d had enough food and supplies for all the children, and they had done well. 
    As soon as she got home, she hugged Millie and told her about how well her preparations had worked.  She grabbed her sewing to hem the dress she’d been making for the social.  She hadn’t been in a hurry, because she hadn’t thought there was a reason to be.  She could have just as easily worn one of her old dresses.  As she stitched, she talked to Millie about how Hugh had come during the storm and he’d helped with the children.  “He asked me to the church social, Mama.”
    Millie couldn’t help but smile.  She knew Patience had wondered if any boy would ever have the courage to ask her to go on a sleigh ride or a buggy ride or simply to a church social with the way George was.  She was glad Mr. Walker was the one who’d finally asked.  He was a good man, and he would make Patience a fine husband.
    “Has he asked your papa yet?”
    Patience nodded.  “Papa said yes as long as Charlie will always be there to chaperone us.”
    Millie and George had talked about the possibility of the two of them getting together.  George had been impressed with the younger man and the way he’d worked so hard to raise Charlie after his mother had died.  “I’m glad.”  She stabbed her needle into the hem of the shirt she was making for George.  “Did you ever find out how his wife died?”
    Patience bit her lip.  It wasn’t her story to tell, and she didn’t want to gossip, but her mother never talked out of turn, and she had a right to know.  “She didn’t die.  She left them.  She got a divorce and is married to another man now.”  Patience watched her mother’s face as she said the words.  Would she still be allowed to go to the social with