The Pembrokes
The children also seemed to understand school was a place to come and learn, and rather than running around the schoolyard as Hope had feared they might, all but a few went right in and took a seat in the classroom, carrying their lunches, a couple with books or a slate, and only two had to be chased down by their parents and made to go inside.
She recognized several children from church, as well as the pair she’d seen playing in their yard and some she’d seen on her jaunts around town. Only a few appeared unaccompanied. One was a small boy with blond hair who said nothing, only stomped his way inside and took a seat in the back of the classroom. Hope was worrying over him when she heard the clearing of a voice, and an “Excuse me, Miss Tucker,” coming from waist-height. She turned and looked down to see a little girl with brown braids, one on either side of her pretty little head, which was hidden slightly behind a pair of spectacles. The child stood with her hand extended, and Hope couldn’t help but smile at her.
“Yes?” the schoolteacher asked, shaking her hand. “How do you do?”
“I’m well, thank you. I’m Virginia Pembroke, and this is my brother, George. Everyone calls me Ginny. It’s very nice to meet you.”
Hope wasn’t quite sure what to say as she released the girl’s hand and turned to George. Her formality was unexpected, especially considering she couldn’t be more than ten. Hope shook George’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”
“Miss Tucker,” an adult voice said from behind the children, and Hope raised her head to see a woman who looked very much like Ginny, though without the glasses, and her hair was hidden beneath her bonnet. She rested her hands on Ginny’s shoulders. “We are so thankful to have you here. I’m Caroline Pembroke, Ginny and George’s mother.” Hope shook her hand as well. “When we heard the children would finally be able to get a formal education, my husband Paul and I were so excited. I’ve done my best to teach them at home, but I’m not nearly as experienced as you are.”
Hope was still listening, but at the mention of her husband, she looked over Caroline’s shoulder, expecting the form she’d noticed but not yet acknowledged to be the man she spoke of. When it wasn’t, she had to hold back a gasp. No wonder these names sounded familiar. She tuned back in to hear Caroline say, “Paul’s working the fields this morning, so my brother, Judah, brought us in. The two of you have met, haven’t you?”
Her tongue seemed unmalleable all of a sudden, like no words could come out of her mouth no matter how hard she tried to speak, so Hope only nodded, and Judah filled in for her, “It’s nice to see you again, Miss Tucker.”
He reached for her hand, and hers shot out instinctively, but her mouth still wasn’t working, and the tingling sensation that shot up her arm at the contact with his rough fingertips didn’t serve to loosen her tongue any at all. She realized avoiding his eyes might be helpful so she returned her gaze to Mrs. Pembroke, and suddenly she was able to create coherent sentences again. “It’s delightful to meet all of you. I’m excited to have Ginny and George in my class.”
Caroline let out a little sigh, as if she had been worried Hope was dumbstruck. “As I said, we are happy to make your acquaintance as well. We live a ways out of town, so one of us will likely be dropping the kids off of a morning, weather permitting. Sometimes our road gets mudded in.”
“I understand.” Hope smiled down at Ginny, thinking she’d do anything she could to get to school.
“I won’t want to miss,” the child said, reading her mind.
“I’m sure you won’t. Why don’t you and George go on in and take a seat?” Hope glanced around to see a few more families waiting to meet her, but all of them were standing a good ten or fifteen feet back, which she thought was odd. Before, she’d hardly been able to take introductions one family at a time because they’d been so crowded together. But then, she realized why that might be. The other parents held their children close, and a few of them were whispering to each other.
“What time is the dismissal bell?” Caroline asked, not seeming to notice or care what the folks behind her were doing.
“Two o’clock,” Hope replied. “Will the children walk home?”
“No, I’ll come get ‘em. It’s just too far,” Caroline replied. Hope wasn’t used to the idea that parents would drop off and pick up their children. Even her students who lived a great distance tended to walk to school in Lamar, but then, she wondered if the fact that the other adults seemed frightened of this particular family had anything to do with the decision.
“All right then,” Hope said, thinking she would need to rush the process a bit if she was going to have a chance to greet the others and get her day started on time. She hadn’t even bothered to ring the bell since it appeared as if all of her children must be there. Mrs. Howard had said there would be around twenty-six, and Hope thought there were already that many, if not more.
“Thank you kindly, Miss Tucker,” Caroline said as she looked lovingly through the window at her children who were sitting together near the back, close to the little blond boy who’d made it evident school was not his favorite.
Judah tipped his hat at her but didn’t say anything else, and Hope forced her eyes away from him and on to the next family. Even when she heard him signal his horse to pull their carriage away, she fought the urge to look.
“If I’da known them folks was comin’, I mighta decided to keep Saul at home,” the woman before her was saying, and Hope had to keep her mind from wandering off.
“Oh, no. I’m so glad Saul is here,” she assured the redheaded woman who had a scowl on her face. Her husband, a portly man who smelled of whisky, looked even less friendly. “This is a school. We will focus on learning reading and math and not worry about... anything else.” What she said and what she wanted to say were two different things—we would not be chastising other classmates based on rumors that had not been verified. But her smile was tight, and the parents seemed to catch her meaning.
“Be good, Saul,” the mother said with a sharp pat to his head, and then she and her potentially inebriated husband stepped away, and Hope wondered how someone who would show up at a schoolhouse smelling like a saloon could point fingers.
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