And those were her last words before she left him at the tree, wondering why God had chosen him to ruin her life yet again.
The words in the composition booklet blurred before her eyes. Bella dropped Freda’s work on her kitchen table and looked out the window again. Where was her father? It was unlike him to be gone from home this late. She rubbed her bare foot on the bird dog beneath the table as she pondered her father’s role. Why had he made this wager? Did he regret it? Or maybe Adam and this loathsome Dr. Paulson had underestimated her father. Perhaps she was bothered over nothing. Perhaps her father would win, and her fears would be put to naught.
The door opened, and her mother came in with a pail of milk from the evening milking. “He’s coming through the east field,” she said, not explaining how she knew that Bella was watching for him.
Bella bolted out of her seat and dashed out the door with the dog at her heels. Trailing his fingers through the wheat, Ben Eden walked with his back straight and his head high. They weren’t in trouble. Adam Fisher might have caught them off guard, but the Edens wouldn’t be shaken. Bella waited until her father reached the lawn before running to him and giving him a big hug.
“That’s a nice surprise.” He chuckled as he wrapped his lean arms around her. “Let me guess, you’re concerned about the wager. Does your mother know?”
“I haven’t said anything to her, but she’s going to know.”
“I challenged Adam over his threshing machine and nothing else, daughter. The clause about the teacher was added later, but don’t you worry. You won’t lose your job.”
“I’ve done well by the students,” she said. “The parents are pleased with their progress.”
“But this know-it-all professor comes in and acts like we’re ignorant country folk. He carries on like taking a test and getting a certificate makes you a good teacher. I’d rather have you at the front of a classroom than any fool he trained. To tell you the truth, I’m flummoxed by the Fisher boy. I’d always thought he was sweet on you.”
Bella looked up at her father’s face, certain she would spot a teasing smirk.
There was no smile. “You don’t believe me?” he asked.
“It’s impossible,” she said. “He doesn’t think of me at all.” Or did he? Adam had been underfoot a lot since he’d come back to town. Bringing nothing but misery, but still . . . “At any rate, I doubt folks are taking him or his professor seriously.”
“But they might.” Pa tugged on his beard. “It wouldn’t hurt for you to go ahead and get that exam done so you have your certificate. That’d show them that you were good enough all along.”
Her arms dropped, and she stepped out of reach. “But you’re going to win, and then I won’t have to worry about it.”
“Yes, I’m going to win. There’s no way I’m letting that rascal get the best of me. Don’t you worry. He’ll soon be gone, and everything will be alright.”
But everything wasn’t alright. Adam Fisher was here, and she feared he wouldn’t leave until everything was ruined.
six
In the three days since he’d spoken to Bella, Adam had been looking for the right moment to get Dr. Paulson to change the terms of the wager. He reckoned that since Mr. Eden hadn’t expected his proposal to threaten his daughter’s employment, he would be agreeable to a renegotiation. Adam decided to broach the subject while he and Dr. Paulson took soil samples at Gabe Whitlock’s farm.
“When the wheat is ready, we’ll have that contest,” Adam said to Gabe and Mr. Longstreet. “But I’m amenable to changing the terms. If my thresher is faster than Mr. Eden and his team, I’ll have work, and that’s all that matters. It’s none of our concern who’s teaching school in Oak Springs.” He held out a watertight bag to accept the spadeful of soil from Dr. Paulson.
“Afraid you’re going to lose?” Gabe dipped his neckerchief into a bucket of water, then slapped it on his neck.
Adam folded the flap of the bag closed. “No, but I don’t see what business it is of ours who teaches in Oak Springs.”
“We’re sowing progress, Adam.” Dr. Paulson cleaned his sample-collecting spade with a stiff brush. “Providing an educated teacher will bring the fruit.”
“But Miss Eden has done well by my girl,” Mr. Longstreet said. “She’s learning up a storm.”
“Bella is a good girl,” said Gabe, “but put her up agin someone like Dr. Paulson here, and it ain’t no contest.”
“Dr. Paulson isn’t going to teach at the school,” Adam said. “The offer would be to send a student from the college. Most likely someone with no teaching experience. I don’t see how it would be an improvement, honestly.”
Dr. Paulson put a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “He’s being modest. Always afraid that people will think he’s putting on airs, but the truth is that the years that Adam spent at the agricultural college expanded his options. An educated teacher could do the same for the students here at Oak Springs. I’ve had a hard time convincing him, but I think it’s a gift that the townsfolk will appreciate.”
“That’s the truth of it,” Gabe said. “Some of us were talking, and with the way the town is growing, we’ve got to start thinking about the future.” He turned to Adam. “Don’t you be changing the rules, though. Your rich friend here isn’t weaseling out of this. He promised us a new teacher, and the only way you’re getting out of it is if you lose the contest.”
That hadn’t worked as well as Adam had hoped. He’d have to try another approach, and that was to go straight to the victim herself.
He managed to send Dr. Paulson back to the boardinghouse without him so he could meet Bella after school. He waited in the shade of the smithy
