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Since she couldn’t start work in her classroom until Mr. Beaumont came to carry her trunk to the school, she decided her time was best spent by at least emptying her clothing trunk. She had it almost completely emptied when she heard a thump on the front door. Assuming it was Mr. Beaumont, she hurried to open the door.
Strange. No one there. She walked to the end of the path and looked around. Shrugging, she turned back and stared at a large black bear standing between her and the front door. She screeched and stepped back. The bear stood and let out with a loud growl, pawing at the air. Then, on all fours, he began to lumber toward her.
Her heart pounding in her chest, she ran around the house and turned to see the bear coming after her. “Oh, God.”
She raced to a large oak tree right outside her kitchen window. Without a thought, she wrapped her hands around a sturdy looking branch and hoisted herself up. She sat on the limb, swinging her legs back and forth. The bear reached the tree and looked up at her, and saw what she was sure he thought was his breakfast.
Grabbing the branch above her head, she stood and hand-over-hand walked herself to the edge of the branch. A loud growl sounded from below. She looked down and let out with a cry. He seemed so close! Scrabbling forward, she climbed from the tree onto the roof of the house. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
“Help!”
The bear remained under the tree, still staring up at her. She prayed and whimpered, hoping the bear wouldn’t climb the tree and follow her onto the roof. She licked her dry lips and tried to slow her heartbeat down.
They continued to stare at each other for about ten minutes. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, wondering if she would be stuck up on the roof all day.
Just as she remembered Mr. Beaumont was supposed to come to her house before he opened his shop, the sound of a bellowing shout and heavy, loud clapping made her jump. She leaned over to see Mr. Beaumont waving his arms at the bear and yelling. He picked up a handful of pebbles and threw them at the bear, which backed up with a growl.
“Go! Go on and get out of here.” He threw another handful of pebbles at the animal that turned and lumbered off.
Once the animal had retreated into the woods behind the school, he looked up at her and grinned. “You can come down now, Miss Cochran.”
Chapter 4
“I’m impressed with the amount of books you’ve brought with you.” Mitch gazed at the titles as he pulled out four geography books from the trunk and added them to the pile of school books on the floor of the schoolroom.
In turn, Miss Cochran took the books and added them to the bookshelves in some type of order that made sense to her. “I’m impressed that you’ve taken time from your business to help me unload.”
He sat back on his heels and surveyed the book-covered floor. “And save you from a bear.”
Still rattled from that experience, he was surprised at how calm his voice sounded. Not that he’d been worried about the bear. The true danger had rested in his arms when he’d caught Miss Cochran as she dropped from the roof. He’d been immediately surrounded by the scent of lemons and sunshine, a perfect fragrance for her. Her hazel eyes grew as he held her, and it took him a couple of moments before his senses returned and he set her on her feet.
Miss Cochran smiled and shook her head at his comment. “I had no idea how to handle a bear. To think I did all that climbing, and I only had to yell at the poor creature and toss a few pebbles in its direction.”
He reached for more books. “That’s because it was a black bear. They’re pretty harmless unless they’re cornered or protecting their young. Now if a grizzly walked onto your property, climb as fast as you can onto that roof.”
“Are there grizzles around here?”
“Not likely. They haven’t been spotted in this area for a long time.”
They’d been working all morning, once he’d gotten her down from her roof. He hadn’t lied when he told her he was impressed with the amount of books and other school supplies she’d brought with her. He would have bet good money that all those trunks he’d hauled from the mail coach stop had been filled with clothes and other folderol. It turned out only one held her clothing. The rest were household items and school supplies. Their little schoolhouse had never been so well supplied. But then they’d never had such an esteemed teacher either.
As hard as he tried, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Miss Cochran would turn tail and run within the first few weeks. For the sake of the town and its children, he hoped he was wrong, but everything about her screamed privilege. The people of Dogtown were anything but privileged.
He dusted off his hands and stood, stretching his back muscles. “What do you say we take a break and head to the restaurant for lunch?”
“There’s no need for that. I have plenty of food that someone from the town—I assume it was you—stocked my house with. I would just need about an hour to put together a pot of vegetable soup and make some biscuits.”
He reached for her elbow and helped her up. “Nope. My stomach wants food now.”
“All right. I must admit, I’m hungry myself.”
They left the schoolhouse and took the short walk to the same restaurant they’d been to the day before. Of course, for now anyway, it was the only restaurant in Dogtown. Something Mitch hoped to correct when he could convince an investor to build a hotel and restaurant in town.
The town council had been working on getting the railroad to add a spur to Dogtown along its Denver line. So far they hadn’t seen the need for it. More people, more businesses, and then they would do it, they’d said. He’d been working hard to attract farmers and businesses so their town could grow. It had become important to him to see Dogtown go from the tent town it had been when he’d arrived as a child to a respectable place where families wanted to raise their children.
Once they settled at the small table, Mitch said, “Tell me, Miss Cochran, now that you’re here—and it appears the town has more confidence you’ll stay than I do—what made you decide to leave a comfortable home and work in an out-of-the-way place in the Rocky Mountains?”
She scowled at his remarks but answered anyway. “I love teaching. My mama and my cousin Ellie are both teachers. I honestly believe wanting to share knowledge with children is a passion you’re born with. I know it’s been something I’ve wanted to do all my life.
