Texas
Hope Tucker stepped off of the train and made a sweep of the platform. Very few passengers were disembarking here. Most would go on to Dallas or Fort Worth. She had her carry-on bag over her shoulder and watched as the porters pulled out her two large trunks. Even they must’ve thought she’d overpacked as they groaned beneath their weight, and they had to have seen all kinds of folks come and go.
She thanked them and slipped them a few coins as her father had suggested. Then, she found herself standing in a lonely train station as the locomotive passed away. The engineer blew the horn, and it sounded like the most solemn noise she’d ever heard in her life.
It was the end of February, which meant she’d arrived only a few days before the deadline, just before she was meant to take over the school. Her previous superintendent had insisted she stay as long as possible and help Lola transition into her role. He hadn’t been happy at all with her decision, but by the time Hope announced her intentions, she had decided it was the best one for her and for the students waiting for her. With her family’s support, she’d loaded up, and now here she was, glancing around, looking for Mr. Howard and wondering where in the world he might be.
She checked her telegram again. The receipt said she’d told him she’d be arriving on the 2:00 train, and his response was that he’d see her there. Perhaps there had been a delay of some sort. She was sure she was at the right station as the depot was clearly labeled, McKinney, Texas. There was a bench and a ticket window where a little old man stood fiddling with papers and otherwise looking bored. The only other passengers who had gotten off here were long gone, so Hope found herself standing all alone thinking perhaps she’d made an awful mistake and should just purchase a ticket home on the next train heading north.
“Can I help you, darling?” the little old man finally asked, just when Hope thought she might actually start to cry, very uncharacteristic of her. “You waitin’ on someone?”
“Yes, sir,” she replied, setting her bag down by her trunks and crossing over. “Mr. Bradford Howard was supposed to meet me here.”
“Oh, you must be the new schoolteacher.” He gave her a grin and adjusted his spectacles. “Well you seem awfully pretty to be a teacher.”
Not sure what to think of that, Hope only replied, “Thank you.” She didn’t know what a schoolteacher was expected to look like or why they couldn’t be pretty. “Do you think Mr. Howard will be by directly?”
“Now, that I cannot say. You see, the town’s just over that rise in the ground there. Don’t take too long to get there, and Mr. Howard is usually punctual. We go to the same church, you see.” She nodded, again not sure she followed. “He mighta gotten busy, though. He runs the town’s only feed store. Used to farm, but sold most of it off. Except the parcels he kept for his son. Big cattle rancher come in and bought lots of acres. The town’s a growin’ perty fast, but then so’s the whole state….”
The man continued to prattle on for several minutes, and while Hope did her best to pay attention, she wasn’t familiar enough with the area to build any context for his words. She imagined he was the sort of man who might talk to just about anyone, and presently, she was a captive audience since she had no way of leaving.
“Miss? Are you the schoolteacher?”
The sound of a male voice behind her made Hope jump. She spun around to find a tall, broad shouldered fellow in a cowboy hat, dressed as if he’d just left a ranch. He looked a little impatient, standing with his hands pushed deep into his pockets. His eyes were familiar, the same shape and light green color as Lola’s, she believed, and though she could only see a bit of his hair, it seemed to be a similar light shade.
“I am,” she finally managed to get out. “I’m Hope Tucker.”
He nodded. “Brady Howard. Nice to meet you, miss. My pa asked me to come fetch you. All this yours?”
Hope looked at her trunks and the bag she’d just set next to them. “It is. Perhaps we need….”
He muttered a curse word, and Hope wondered if his mother knew he wasn’t exactly living up to her standards of displaying a character of high Christian morals and values. “Looks real heavy, miss,” he added.
“I’m sure it is. Would you like for me to help you?”
He made a rumbling sound deep in his throat, as if she couldn’t be of any help at all and said, “I’ll manage.”
She’d seen two porters struggle to lift her trunks off of the train. She couldn’t imagine anyone could carry them by himself, especially not all the way to the wagon, which she saw parked some ways off. But before she could protest, Brady Howard lifted her first trunk all by himself and staggered his way toward the wagon, making it over halfway there before he set it down and rubbed his back.
Thinking she may as well help a bit if she could, Hope grabbed ahold of the strap on the other trunk, deciding she’d drag it to the edge of the platform. It was so heavy, it hardly moved at all, even when she gave it all the effort she had in her. Seeing as though she would just embarrass herself if he saw her trying, she decided to leave it alone and picked up her carry-on bag instead, walking toward the wagon. She’d nearly left the platform before she realized she hadn’t said goodbye to the teller. “Have a nice day!” she called, and he waved, though she imagined he’d find something else to say if she stood there long enough.
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