a red velvet backrest and cushion. Side tables held kerosene lamps designed in floral bouquets. Someone had lit one of them, offering a warm welcome to those who entered. Had Briar stopped by while he was gone to make the phone calls?
She noted another lamp hanging in the center of the ceiling, its mother-of-pearl base and crystal chandelier shade not quite as fancy as those she’d seen back east. Before she could notice further details of the room, Briar returned and waved her to the chair. “Please take a seat, Miss McCoy.”
“Yer home is lovely.”
He glanced about as he sat opposite her on a davenport of a similar design as the chair. “It’s one of the kit houses brought in from Sears, Roebuck. The family who ordered it pulled up stakes, so I was able to get it for less than the usual cost. I’m no carpenter by any means, but Nathaniel and I had a cussing good time putting it together.”
Naturally curious, she wanted to know more of what made his eyes spark with such a happy memory, but he steered the conversation back to the business at hand. At least he seemed capable of providing for his daughter, and quite well from the look of it.
“I thought we could start things off while Violet dresses herself for bed.” He lifted a palm. “Now don’t object… she won’t let me help her. Has something to do with her latest ‘suffer-gette’ doings.”
Mina smiled despite her initial reaction. Violet would be the sort to latch onto the craze that had menfolk drinking deep in their cups. The lass would be more than a handful once she took on her full petticoats. “So, ’tis yer questions I’ll be hearing now.”
“First, how do you know Nathaniel?”
A safe enough subject if she handled it just right. She noticed the Shoninger desk organ and wondered if he or Violet played the instrument. Her fingers rubbed together in anticipation of teaching the lass a few tunes. Playing a lively jig was the one true teaching her da had passed down to her before throwing her into the streets.
She looked Briar straight in the eye, a practice she found helped to convince people of her sincerity. “I knew him when he lived in St. Louis years ago. He was acquainted with me father.” She made sure she didn’t say friend to her da, so it would not be a lie. Seamus McCoy had few friends and Nathaniel was not among them. “He managed to get me a badly needed job. I told him I would pay him back one day for the favor.”
Lines creased Briar’s brow. “That had to be ten or more years ago. He’s lived here for more than eight.”
“Nine would be the whole of it.”
“You worked at fourteen?”
“Lots of people work at that age.” Her chin rose at the criticism.
“They do.” He looked apologetic for having offended her.
He couldn’t know he had touched on an embarrassing aspect of her life. She kept the reason she had been forced to take the employment secret from anyone who didn’t have to know. What had he called it…cowboy counsel? “And for that reason, ’tis here I am. To pay him back.”
“Sounds like you have a lot of experience working.”
She shifted in the chair, feeling as if she were losing ground instead of gaining a firm foothold. “More than I care to admit.”
“May I be blunt?”
His eyes had a way of looking at her so deeply that she could feel their searching as if it were a tangible touch that left smoke drifting in its wake. Like a blaze whose heat simmered long after the burn. “I prefer that ye speak yer mind,” she whispered, feeling vulnerable and unable to hide the breathy rush of her voice. “Ye can be certain, I will.”
“I need to know any reason you wouldn’t be a proper teacher to my daughter.”
Mina stood abruptly. “If ye mean to ask if I ever worked in an
Genuine regret filled his face. “I’m sorry, Miss McCoy, if I’ve spoken out of turn. My daughter’s upbringing, no matter what it may seem, is of the utmost importance to me. I’m very careful of the women who come into her life because she
“That I can understand.” And she could, better than he would ever suspect. “So, have there been many? Women, I mean? Since her mother’s passing?” The fact that other women may have been close to the Duncans bothered Mina, more than she wanted to admit.
“I’ve tried several governesses. Let’s just say, none seemed up to the challenge.”
Mina was relieved to find her good humor again. “The lass has a crafty wit about her, even at this wee age.”
“I thought we were going to be
“I knew that from the moment I met her, but ’tis no deed yer lass has done that I have not stumbled over meself.”
“Good then, you feel up to the task?”
“Aye, and qualified to see her come out the better for it, I am. I worked four long years in Mrs. Higginbotham’s Lady’s School. I know all the refinements she’ll be needing and have taught them a time or two to others. There is, to me regret, the matter of diction. Though it doesna transfer across the wire as brogue, I’m not prepared to teach the lass proper English.”
“No need to concern yourself there. School will start back soon. It was canceled so families could work their ranches to stave off the drought. But if the weather doesn’t let up soon, there won’t be much to save and no reason to keep the children out of school. She’s taught diction there.”
“Am I to cook for her, then? See to her washing and such?”
Briar moved to the two brocade drapes that curtained off what must be another room. “The kitchen’s here. If you like to cook, I’d appreciate the help. If you don’t, then leave it to me. I’m more concerned with teaching her good manners and”-his gaze swept Mina-“appropriate fashion.”
Violet chose that moment to peek around the door. “I’m ready for you to tuck me in now.”
“Want to help?” Briar motioned Mina ahead of him.
Mina remained still just long enough to let him lead. She was pleased to be included in the obvious nightly ritual. She’d been certain he would argue with her about her clothing choices, but he didn’t. Instead, he’d let her comment pass. Perhaps he was just too tired to challenge her views.
Something about the way Violet’s hand went trustingly into her father’s and led him down the brief hallway warmed Mina’s heart. She’d been too harsh in her thoughts of Briar Duncan. He might be guilty of neglect. He might even be guilty of too traditional a view in his raising of his daughter, but it was clear he loved the lass dearly. There would never be a lifelong abandonment as her own parents had done.
Mina watched as father and daughter entered a room and knelt beside a four-poster bed whose plush lavender-colored quilt had been turned down. Hand-painted clouds drifted along the sky-colored ceiling, offering a billowy white pathway to the kite that flew among them. Though the room boasted only a rocking chair, night table, armoire, and lamp, it looked like a princess’s palace to Mina. Aye, this father dearly loved his daughter. Or, at least, he made a good show of it when no one was looking.
In unison, Briar and Violet cupped their palms in prayer.
“Dear God,” Violet began as Mina knelt at the end of the bed. “Bless everybody we love and help everyone be good to each other. Oh…and don’t let Jim Corbett get in too much trouble with his Pa ’cause I whipped him. He can’t help it if he’s dumber than-”
“Violet.” Briar opened one eye to look sternly at his daughter.
“Well, okay.” She peeked at him with her good eye, then shut it tightly. “I guess You might want to spend some more time on Jim, God. He needs lots of help. Oh yeah, best of all, thank You for sending me my angel.” She blew out a long sigh of relief. “I guess You was too busy to hear the part about hurrying up and send her. Amen.”
