PART 4
Tommy clamped his hand over his mouth. The boys looked nervously at one another.
"He meant we'll miss you tomorrow," Dan jumped in. "Mrs. Jo was saying we might have a picnic and play games and stuff since the weather's so nice, but… well, it won't be as fun if you can't come."
"Yeah," agreed Tommy, nodding his head vigorously. "That's what I meant."
Seeing that Emil looked convinced, Jack put his hands on Tommy's shoulders and started directing him to the door. "Well, uh, we better go now. Let us know if you need anything."
Dan and Emil sat in silence for a moment. "Did they seem like they were acting kind of strange?" Emil finally asked.
"You know Tommy, he's always kind of strange," Dan said with a smile. "But yeah, everyone seems a little out of sorts lately."
Jo sat at her desk. Pen and paper were in front of her, but she sat lost in her own thoughts. She looked up as she heard someone walk past the door. Nick stopped just past the doorway and then turned and stepped into the room. "Here you are."
"Were you looking for me?"
"Well, not very hard," admitted Nick with a grin. "I wanted to ask you… Asia said someone came about a new student?"
"Yes," Jo responded, "but I was too busy to see him. He's coming back next week."
"You're not really thinking of taking in another student?" asked Nick, concerned. "Do you really think we have room?"
"No, we don't," Jo agreed. "But I don't think it's fair to turn him away without even hearing the circumstances. And we could certainly use the money. It's something to consider."
Nick nodded thoughtfully. "I guess so. Just be careful you don't take on too much."
Jo nodded, and they were both silent for a moment. Jo was suddenly uncomfortable. Was this the only reason he had been looking for her? Why didn't he leave? Was there something else on his mind? "Well, I better get back to this then," said Jo, turning from him and hoping he would leave. She reached for her pen as if she were going back to her work, but it slipped through her fingers and fell to the floor.
"I got it," said Nick as he knelt to the floor. But as he moved to kneel down towards it, he kicked it, and it rolled back towards Jo.
"I can get it--" began Jo, but Nick was already crawling after it. He finally reached it and handed it to her.
Bess did a double take as she walked by the door. Aunt Jo was sitting at her desk as usual, but Nick was in front of her on his knees! Bess stopped, hoping to figure out what was going on. Hearing someone in the doorway, Nick jumped to his feet and turned to face her. "Bess!"
"What are you doing?" asked Bess innocently.
"I dropped my pen," Jo explained quickly, trying to hide the embarrassment she felt. "Nick picked it up for me."
"Oh?" Beth smiled. Aunt Jo was blushing. You don't blush because you dropped a pen. "Asia wants to speak with you about dinner."
"I'll be right down."
Bess remained in the doorway, hoping to see more, but Aunt Jo and Nick obviously weren't going to go back to what they'd been doing until they were sure they were alone. Bess headed back towards the kitchen. She'd seen enough…
Nick turned to Jo as they listened to the sound of Bess's footsteps disappear down the hallway. "You don't think she thought…?"
Jo nodded. "She's too much like her mother not to think so."
Nick shook his head. "Jo, I really am sorry. I don't know how we keep getting ourselves into this situation. Maybe everyone else knows something we don't."
"The reason we keep getting into this situation," began Jo firmly, ignoring his last remark, "is that we're not conscious enough of the image we present to people. We're both unattached, living under the same roof, together all the time… people are bound to talk."
"Well, we can't help our situation. What are we supposed to do?"
Jo hesitated. "Well, if we were… well, courting, it wouldn't really be appropriate for us to be together unchaperoned…" she knew this was taking it a little far, but she was becoming increasing concerned about what people were saying, and increasingly uncomfortable around Nick after what Mrs. Moffat had said about the jewelry… She couldn't bear to have to turn him down if he actually asked her. It was just best to make it clear that she wasn't interested and never even give him a chance to bring the subject up.
"But we're not courting, Jo," argued Nick. "We work together. For me to help you run this school we have to spend time together--working, talking, making decisions… People may be confused now, but when we don't get married everyone will know it's just gossip, and everything will get back to normal. It's ridiculous to think we need to be chaperoned."
"No, Nick. When we don't get married and things like this keep happening there are going to be a lot of worse rumors to deal with. I think, for now at least, we need to make an effort not to be alone together." Jo was angry and confused. He didn't make it sound like he was at all interested in marriage. Had he changed his mind? Had he ever considered it, or was this just more of Mrs. Moffat's gossip? But then what about the jewelry?
"Well, I better go then," said Nick dryly, as he stomped out the door. "There doesn't seem to be a chaperone handy."
Bess sauntered slowly into the kitchen. She was excited at the thought of an impending marriage between Nick and Aunt Jo, but the thought of Emil's situation sobered her. How could Aunt Jo and Nick be talking of marriage when there was a tragedy imminent? Asia looked up expectantly as Bess entered. "Aunt Jo said she'd be right down." Bess started opening cupboards. "Asia, where are the apples?"
"What do you need with the apples?"
"I'm going to make apple turnovers for Emil. They're his favorite," explained Bess.
Asia smiled. "That's very kind of you, Bess, but a sick boy like Emil would prefer some hot chicken soup."
"But, Asia," protested Bess. "Turnovers are his favorite. I want to make him something special since he's… uh, not feeling well. So he knows how much we care about him."
Asia directed Bess to a pot already simmering on the stove. "Then you can stir the soup."
Nan found Nat taking his turn watching Emil. "How's he doing?" she asked softly.
"Sleeping."
Nan frowned. "He's been sleeping an awful lot. I don't think that's a good thing." She noticed Nat had a pen and paper in front of him. "What's that?"
"I was just writing down some of the stuff I've been thinking about."
"About Emil?"
Nat nodded. "Emil's not… well, he's not always so easy to get along with. But he's my friend." Nan saw tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "I was writing down some of the things I like best about Emil, and some of my favorite memories of him. I want to be able to tell him what a good friend he's been to me before he… well… and I want to write it down so I won't ever forget…"
Nan put her arm around him, her own eyes filling with tears. "I don't think we will."
Jo hesitated when she heard the knock at the door. She feared Mrs. Moffat, congratulatory neighbors, or worse. The sight she saw when she opened the door made her wish she'd left it shut.
"Time to 'fess, Jo!" announced Amy, as she and Meg each took one of Jo's arms and escorted her into the parlor.
Jo pulled away and faced them. "Please tell me you aren't listening to a busybody like Mrs. Moffat." She sighed. "This has turned into such a mess! I don't know what to do."
"You could marry him," suggested Amy, with feigned innocence.
"Amy, this is serious!" scolded Jo. "As if I don't have enough to worry about."
"What happened, Jo?" questioned Meg delicately. "Mrs. Moffat says she caught you and Nick in an embrace?"
Jo was obviously annoyed. "It's so stupid. We were alone in the barn, and I got something in my eye. Nick got it out for me. That's all."
"Are you sure that's all?" prodded Amy. "That's not the story Mrs. Moffat is telling."
"Well… we were standing very close together, and he did have his hands on my face. I guess I can see how it might have looked like something… but it wasn't!" Jo insisted. "And she wouldn't give me a second to explain. Who knows how she's been twisting the story around. I don't know how to clear this mess up."
"It's not really such a big deal, Jo," comforted Meg. "It will all blow over soon enough."
"Not a big deal? Do you realize all the trouble this could cause? I feel as though my reputation has been jeopardized, and thus the school and my ability to run it. It's made my relationship with Nick awkward, and it's confusing Rob and the other children."
"Really, Jo," questioned Amy skeptically, "is it as bad as all that? Everyone knows that Mrs. Moffat's gossip lies nine times out of ten and only tells a half-truth the tenth. And I hardly think talk of marriage is jeopardizing your reputation. I imagine a lot of the parents feel that having a husband would make you better able to run the school to their standards."
"And this has all happened so fast," put in Meg, "that I can't believe any of the children would have had a chance to hear anything about it."
"You're obviously upset about something, Jo, and I don't believe it's about all this silly gossip. You've never given a hoot about what people think about you." Amy looked at Jo seriously. "What's this really about?"
PART 5
