“Sorry ’bout that, Mia.” Harjo said, glancing back at the house. “You’ve made this place a real home. My deputies and I may have helped rebuild the structure, but you and the children have filled it with life—something my friend needed. Speaking of, is Josiah around?”
“I’m over here.”
Harjo turned in the saddle and waited for Josiah to join them.
“For you to be in such a hurry, I take it something happened?”
Harjo nodded. “The two thieves who hit the mercantile with Johnny the other day have added a few more men and they hit Calyer’s place early this morning. Stole a hundred head or so and killed two of his men. Calyer wanted me to let you know he’ll make good on your deal and already has your cows and steer separated. You’ll just have to go get them. He’s got two funerals to prepare for. Afterward, they’ll send out a group of men to pick up Bass Reeves near Van Buren. He’ll report to Judge Parker while me and my men search for these scoundrels before they kill anyone else. Judge Parker and Reeves have jurisdiction over Calyer and the two murders, but anything done to the Creek, Cherokee, or Seminole will fall to us to resolve.”
“Well, that’s a problem—”
“Josiah!” Billy ran out of the barn and skidded to a stop when he saw Harjo staring at him. He took a tentative step back, indecision warring on his face as he tried to decide whether to run back to the barn or stay put.
“Are these the two you were searching for the other night?” Harjo asked.
Josiah motioned with a quick wave of his hand for Billy to move closer and patiently waited until he did. Finally, the youngster dragged his feet until he stood beside him. Josiah laid his hand on the seven-year-old’s shoulder. “Harjo, this is Billy Durant, and over there is his cousin, Summer. They’re going to be living with us from now on.”
“Josiah—”
Josiah met Harjo’s gaze. “Don’t. They will be living with me and my wife. Mia will be teaching them because the school has refused to. They have no other family. Is it the Creek way to let the children scrounge for scraps and fend for themselves?”
Harjo nodded toward the other lighthorseman who'd ridden in with him. “This is Jacob. Your house is on his route, so he’ll be riding by periodically to check on you and make sure everything is all right until these outlaws are caught."
Mia glanced over at the other man. The only indication he noticed anything was said was a brief dip of his head to one side. She wasn’t sure she liked anyone checking up on them, but if there were bad men close by…
She wrapped one arm around Summer’s shoulders and gave the girl a slight squeeze. “All right then. If you men will excuse us, we have some lessons to attend to. Billy, please come with us inside.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Summer giggled and ran ahead but Mia heard Josiah tell Harjo there were other children in the forest. This was news to her. Why hadn’t he said anything before about them?
The minute they were inside and the screen door slammed shut behind them Summer burst out laughing. “He didn’t even argue, he was so scared!”
“Was not!” Billy hollered and pushed her away.
“Now, now, you two. I’ll have none of that. Harjo is Josiah’s best friend and looks after him, like Summer looks after you, Billy. You understand that, don’t you?” Mia followed the procession of Billy’s thoughts as he pondered over what she said.
“I guess so.”
“Think about it this way. If you knew there were people nearby who might hurt Summer, would you want to leave her alone or let someone you didn’t know be near her?”
“No.” His eyes widened. “Harjo thinks me or Summer might hurt Josiah? But he’s a grown man. We can’t hurt him.”
Mia smiled and put the dirty dishes in the sink to wash up later. “How about we figure out where to start our lessons? I want to see just how smart you two really are.” She couldn’t help but see the worried glance Summer gave Billy, but they followed her to the table and sat beside each other while she pulled out books and two slates from the school supplies she’d brought from New York.
After several hours of going over simple math problems, basic science, history, as well as spelling and reading, Mia wanted to scream. Finally, while Billy practiced his letters on his slate, she cleaned Summer’s slate and wrote a few simple addition problems then handed it back to Summer.
“There. Study those for a moment. We’ve gone over those for the last thirty minutes, and I know you can get this. Use your fingers if you have to. What is one plus one?”
Just when she thought Summer was going to tell her an answer, the girl let out a frustrated growl. She threw the slate tablet across the room where it broke in two and ran out of the house. The screen door slammed behind her, making both her and Billy jump in their chairs.
“Well, that didn’t go over very well, did it?” Mia whispered, staring through the door.
“Not really. The teacher used to make her stand up in front of the class and would make fun of her because she couldn’t answer math questions.”
“Oh, dear. I probably shouldn’t have done math today then.”
“It was bound to happen sooner or later. It’s like me and reading. I get the letters in the wrong order all the time.”