Merry Christmas, My Love

Max reached into the back seat and took two wool blankets from a small pile and dropped them in her lap. “Take off your wet jacket and wrap yourself up.” He pulled a pair of goggles from the glove box and snapped them around his head. “Try not to move around.”

A three-mile ride brought them to Ellie’s boardinghouse. She stayed huddled in the blankets, curling herself into a ball in an attempt to cre

ate warmth. Neither one spoke as they traveled the distance.

As they pulled up to Ellie’s house, a middle-aged woman stood in the open front door. “Ellie, dear, what happened? Are you all right?” She started down the steps. Ellie groaned and opened the door of the automobile.

“Miss Henderson, please wait for me to assist you from the motorcar. Hopping in and out like that is most unladylike.” Max turned the engine off and hurried to her side. He tapped her gently on the shoulder. “Your bag, Miss Henderson?”

Ellie sighed and took it out of his hands as he gripped her elbow and started up the stairs with her.

“You d-d-don’t have to do th-th-this,” she muttered.

“Behave yourself.” He shot back.

She yanked her elbow from his grasp. “Don’t t-t-tell me what to d-d-do.”

“Someone has to.” He turned and smiled, tipping his hat at the woman. “Good afternoon, ma’am.”

“Good afternoon. Are you a friend of Miss Henderson’s?”

Max winced. “No. I am Miss Henderson’s supervisor. Max Colbert, principal of Logan County High School.”

She held her hand out. “It’s lovely to meet you, Mr. Colbert. I’m Mrs. Beamer. Miss Henderson is one of my boarders.”

“Lucky you.”

Ellie rolled her eyes and nodded at Max. “Th-th-thank you for the ride home, Mr. Colbert.”

Mrs. Beamer tsked as she reached for Ellie. “Oh dear, look at you. You’re wet and cold. Come into the house and sit by the fire.”

“You’re welcome.” Max nodded stiffly and barreled down the stairs.

He entered the Oldsmobile and shook his head. It appeared he needed to get Miss Henderson married and fast. Running around town in trousers, chasing after vermin-infested animals, falling into water troughs.

And looking like a lady of easy virtue in that soaking wet outfit. Then laughing! Yes, the sooner he put his plan into action and got Miss Henderson off the streets of Guthrie, and in some sap’s kitchen...and bed. He swallowed. He must not think of her that way. She represented trouble, a disaster waiting to happen.

Tomorrow at church he would select one of his friends to meet Miss Henderson. According to the notes he made from her appointment book, she had a Women’s Rights meeting Tuesday evening. There would probably be some man at church who could be convinced to embrace the women’s crazy ideas long enough to get Miss Henderson off his hands.

Chapter 3

Ellie peered in the small mirror in her bedroom and her shoulders slumped. Monday morning, and she still had a black eye. The man who’d elbowed her in town Saturday had hit her harder than she’d realized. What would Mr. Colbert say when she arrived at school looking like a barroom brawler?

She would just have to avoid him as best she could. The watch pinned to her shirtwaist confirmed she would be late once again. After gathering up books and papers, she ran down the stairs and burst out the front door. Her stomach growled. No breakfast again.

The five block walk to the school went quickly, but not fast enough. Damn. Seven minutes late. She pulled on the heavy door and then glanced through the glass into the office where Mr. Colbert wrote at his desk. Ducking down, she scurried past his door and hurried to her classroom.

Her students were indifferent all morning. After she’d explained away the black eye to their satisfaction, they moved reluctantly on to the day’s work. Every time the classroom door opened, she jerked, expecting to see Mr. Colbert glaring at her from the doorway.

Finally, the lunch bell clanged at the front office and the students grabbed lunch pails and raced out of the room. Ellie followed on their heels, her stomach still growling. She snuck a look in the teachers’ lunchroom. Mr. Colbert was not there.

The empty classroom that served as a teachers’ room stood at the very end of the building. Since storage space in the school was at a premium, excess furniture had been piled in one corner. Shelves with pencils, chalk, and textbooks took up an entire wall, although the shelves were scantily stocked. Someone had donated the long wooden table and two benches that sat in the middle of the floor. Yellow shades covered the large windows, and no one had bothered with curtains.

Once Ellie got her pail unpacked, the door opened and she held her breath until Rose peeked around the corner. She stared at Ellie, open-mouthed, as she took a seat on the bench alongside her. “What happened to your eye?”

“My eye ran into some man’s elbow.” She took a swig of cold, sweet tea out of the jar from her lunch pail, washing down the bite of chicken sandwich Mrs. Beamer had made for her.

“Goodness, it looks painful.” Rose grimaced as she took out a sandwich and an apple. “When did this happen?”