Page 49 of Taming Lady Temperance

By the time she reached the school and pounded up the stairs, her lungs ached from her heaving breaths.

“In here,” Martha called from her classroom.

Noreen followed the call into the schoolroom, her heart sinking as she spotted Martha sitting on the floor in the aisle holding Luella’s head in her lap. Desks had been shoved aside to widen the passage, making it easier for them to approach, but the sight of tears streaming down Martha’s face had Noreen stumbling.

Martha was a rock. Always steady. Always in control. But not today. Not with dear, sweet Luella battered so badly Noreen almost didn’t recognize her.

“She stumbled in here about twenty minutes ago,” Martha said. “Barely able to walk. I think her right arm might be broken. Probably some ribs, too. I sent Matthew Dockins to fetch Dr. Perry. The only open wound I found is on her forehead, but everywhere I touch causes her so much pain.” She stroked Luella’s hair off her forehead, a sob catching in Martha’s throat.

“It’s all right Miss Evans.” Luella’s head shifted just a bit, her voice weak and broken, just like the rest of her. “It doesn’t hurt so bad now.”

Abandoning her basket, Noreen fell to the floor beside them, carefully covering Luella’s left hand with light fingers. She watched the girl’s face for any indication that she was causing her pain, but both of her eyes had swollen nearly shut, and her mouth bore a puffy split lip, making it difficult to judge reactions. The sight of her face alone broke Noreen’s heart.

“Lu, I’m so sorry. I never should have let you march in that parade.”

“Not your fault. I wanted to.” Luella’s head turned slightly toward Noreen, the slit of one eye finding her friend’s gaze. “No regrets. He needed me to march. Needed to see the truth. Now he has. It’ll change him. You’ll see.”

What Noreen saw was that being confronted with his sin had changed him into a monster who had nearly killed his youngest daughter. No repentance. No mercy. Just lashing anger.

“Is . . . is the deputy with you?”

James stepped forward and crouched next to Noreen. “I’m here, Luella.”

She tried to lift her head, but the motion caused her to whimper and fall back onto Martha’s lap. “Would you . . . check on my ma? She stayed behind after sending me away. I need to know . . . she’s all right.”

“I’ll go right now.”

“Thank you.” The slit of Luella’s eye closed, and her body went limp.

“Luella?” Panic gripped Noreen. She grabbed the girl’s shoulder and gave her a gentle shake. “Lu?”

James laid a hand on Noreen’s shoulder. “She’s still breathing. Watch her chest. See?”

Sure enough, the girl’s bodice rose and fell in shallow increments.

Thank you, Jesus.

“She likely just passed out from the pain. A mercy, really.”

Sweet Luella could use all the mercy she could get. Noreen reached for James’s hand on her shoulder and squeezed it as she bowed her head in silent prayer.

Pounding footsteps outside brought her head back up almost instantly.

“Miss Evans?”

“In here, Doctor!”

Noreen rose and moved out of Dr. Perry’s way as the man bustled in with his medical bag in hand.

“Will you be all right?” James murmured in a low voice, his hand coming to rest in the curve of her back.

She nodded. “I’ll stay with Luella. Make sure she has everything she needs. Go see to her mother. Bring Trudy here, if she can make the trip. Luella will want to have her close.”

She always had. After one of her father’s beatings, Mama would come to Noreen’s room and curl up beside her on the narrow bed, wrap her arms around her, and sing soft lullabies in her ear until Noreen fell asleep. Those moments of love and security offered just enough candlelight to get her through the dark times.

“I will.” James’s fingers tightened at her waist, and that old candle flame roared to life, brightening the darkness closing in on Noreen, and helping her banish her own ghosts in order to focus on helping Luella.

What Luella needed was protection, a guarantee that her father would never hurt her again.