Montana Cowboy Family. Linda Ford

if they keep insisting they will stay here?”

      He considered the possibility and suddenly chuckled. “Guess we could tell them there’s a nice hot meal waiting for them with cake to follow.”

      The heaviness left her face and she grinned. “I heard the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I suppose it applies equally to children.”

      He took her arm and led her back to the shack. “We’ll soon find out.”

      The children stood lined up waiting for them to enter. He wondered how much of the conversation they’d been able to hear through the thin walls and barely-there window.

      Side by side, he and Sadie stood before them. He and Sadie hadn’t decided what to say to persuade the children they must leave, but while he mulled over possibilities, Sadie spoke.

      “Children, I think you can see as plainly as we can that you can’t remain here. I’d like you to come stay with me while we sort things out. You might enjoy sharing the stew I have planned for supper.”

      “Or you could come with me to the ranch.” That didn’t sound very enticing. “We always have lots to eat.”

      “We’ll go with the teacher,” Beth said with finality.

      Logan had agreed to let them make the choice. So that’s how it would be. He glanced at Sadie, who didn’t look like she was enjoying this victory. In fact, her eyes were dark. Was she regretting her offer?

      She clapped her hands just like a schoolteacher should. “Very well. Let’s get your things gathered up.”

      The children’s belongings were pitifully few—three threadbare blankets, a change of clothes, well-worn jackets. Beth’s and Sammy’s were too small, while the arms of Jeannie’s jacket hung past her hands.

      Jeannie clutched a rag in her arms.

      “What’s that, honey?” Sadie asked.

      “My comfie.” She wrapped both arms about it, looking defensive.

      “It’s an old sweater of Ma’s that she sleeps with.” Beth looked ready to go to battle.

      “Then, by all means, you must bring it.”

      Beth’s shoulders dropped as she realized she wouldn’t have to argue with Sadie about the rag.

      They all headed for the door. Beth hesitated and turned about to look around the room.

      “What is it?” Sadie asked.

      “What will he do when he comes back and we’re gone?” Her voice quivered.

      “Why don’t I leave a note explaining where you are?” Sadie had pencil and paper out of her bag before she finished speaking, then waited, allowing Beth to make up her mind.

      “I guess that would be best.”

      Sadie wrote the note.

      Logan glanced over her shoulder to read it: “The children are safe in Bella Creek.”

      She couldn’t have given less information. He was about to protest when she turned to Sammy.

      “Would you get me a rock?” The boy ran to do so.

      Sadie took the rock, placed it over the paper in the middle of the table and stepped back. How long would the paper stay there before a mouse used it to build a nest?

      They arrived at the schoolhouse and he helped them alight. “I’ll ride out to the ranch and gather up some stuff for you and the children.” He climbed back into the buggy and drove away before she could voice any arguments. He would assist with the children whether or not she welcomed it. In fact, he quite looked forward to doing so.

      With a start he realized it would mean spending time with the schoolmarm. How had he managed to get himself tangled in a situation that had him helping a woman? Hadn’t he learned his lesson? And why, in the back corner of his brain, had a little thought surfaced and left him wondering if this time things would be different?

      He tightened the grip on the reins of his heart. He would not feel free to care about a woman until he knew everything about her—her present situation, her plans for the future and, especially, her past.

       Chapter Three

      Sadie stood in the doorway and faced three forlorn children huddled together in the middle of the floor. Her quarters had seemed roomy until now. As Logan had said, they would be crowded here. But they would be safe.

      Without appearing to do so, she studied Beth. Was there a reason she’d chosen to come with Sadie? Was it because there were no men at the teacher’s house?

      With a shake of her head, she warned herself she too easily equated the children’s situation with her own and she had no reason to do so. They wouldn’t know the truth about things until they located the father. Perhaps he had been injured. But providing an excuse did not erase the way her nerves tingled with certainty there was more involved than a missing father and a deceased mother.

      “Children, I will get beds arranged after Logan comes back.” She’d ask him to help her bring cots she would purchase from his uncle’s store. “In the meantime, let’s put your things in the bedroom.”

      She led the way to the second room.

      Beth looked around. “Where are we going to sleep?”

      “We’ll figure out something. After all, I’m the teacher.” She wasn’t sure why that should make the children trust her, but she smiled as Beth relaxed enough to set her squirming little sister down.

      Jeannie hurried over to the bed and touched the bright quilt that Aunt Sarah had helped her make, insisting handwork was relaxing. If only her aunt knew how much pain had gone into every stitch as Sadie had made the quilt. She’d told herself that she would start a new life, she would be independent, she would help those in dire circumstances, she would be a teacher and find what she needed in that profession.

      Jeannie patted the quilt. “Pretty, pretty.”

      “Don’t touch,” Beth warned.

      “It’s okay. You can certainly touch it. This is your home now.” At least until the situation could be sorted out, though, if her intuition was correct, she’d make sure the children were never returned to a man who not only neglected the children but hurt them. “I made that quilt when I was eighteen. My aunt helped me.”

      “Where was your mother? Had she passed on?” Beth asked, her eyes full of sympathy.

      “No, both my parents are alive, but I lived with my aunt for a few years. That’s where I took my teacher’s training.”

      “Oh,” both Sammy and Beth said.

      She cleared out a drawer in her dresser. “Beth, you can put the girls’ things in here.”

      By shoving her books together on one shelf, she made room on another for Sammy’s things. They had so little, but soon she hoped she could provide them with clothes and jackets that fit properly.

      The enormity of the task she’d taken on weighed on her shoulders. A teacher’s salary would not extend to feeding and clothing three children. Dear Father God, please provide for us. “I’m sure you’re all hungry. Would you like a snack? Afterward you can help me prepare supper.”

      “Yes, please,” Jeannie said. “I hungry.”

      “Me, too,” Sammy said. “That cake was really good.”

      Beth hung back, not ready to admit she couldn’t manage on her own.

      “There’s some cake left. Let’s save it for dessert. But how does bread and jam sound?” Logan’s aunt Mary baked bread and sold it through the store.

      “Yes,