Free Learning to Love by Catherine Harper

Chapter 1
    "I'm sorry Mary, but I've got to let you go."
    Mary looked at Albert and waited for smile to break out on his face. Being a victim of his pranks in the past she expected this to be the same. Seeing him look to the ground in embarrassment, she knew he wasn't joking.
    "I'm fired?"
    "Well, no—not fired," Albert said, holding his hands up. "It's just that Kitty got to thinking and all—you know with the kids getting on a bit that maybe you'd been here long enough…"
    Still reeling from the news, Mary tried her best to argue her case. "But you know I've nothing else around here and…"
    Albert nodded. "I know. I'll make sure you get a little extra in your wage-"
    "But what was it then? Did I do something wrong? Maybe I-"
    "I'm sorry, it's all my fault," Albert said.
    Mary shook her head and tried to make sense of the little information she had. "I'm being fired because of you?"
    "It's complicated," Albert said, once more unable to look her in the eye.
    "I think if I'm being let go I should at least know why," Mary asked. "After all the time I've spent here teaching your children-"
    "She thinks we're having an affair."
    Mary listened to the words and tried to digest what he'd said. Although an attractive man, Mary knew she'd never had any feelings for him. After all he was her employer and more importantly married. She also loved her teaching job too much to put it into jeopardy. Wondering how his wife could have jumped to this conclusion, Mary asked, "She what? How could she?—You and I never. You know I wouldn't-"
    "It's my fault," Albert replied. "She's known for a while that I've been seeing someone behind her back-"
    "And she thought it was me?"
    "I said it was," Albert said, holding his hand's up as if expecting to be physically assaulted. "Now wait---hear me out, I had to-"
    Feeling like she was punch drunk, Mary tried to keep up with the conversation and found herself falling further behind. Going from one shocking revelation to another she found her mind try to keep up and couldn't. Feeling like she was in horrible dream, she couldn't get out of, she found Albert offer her a chair.
    "Please sit down, you look a little pale."
    Mary pushed the chair away. "Don't you dare-"
    "Now Mary, I thought it best to tell you—I couldn't tell her who I was seeing, she's married as well. People would-"
    Never given a chance to finish off his sentence, Mary silenced him with a stinging slap across the face.
    "And what about me? You know in one fail swoop you've ruined my reputation."
    "I hadn't thought, it was first thing that I…"
    Mary didn't listen to anything more. Making her way to the door, she knew any grovelling and explaining he made wouldn't undo the mess he'd made of her life. She knew what the people of Oak Grove were like. Like any small town where nothing much happened, she knew the gossip-mongers would relish the news when it eventually came out. Once done, her life would never be the same. Going to her horse and buggy she fought the tears that threatened to break free. Looking to Albert as he stood in the doorway, she knew she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Cracking the reins and leaving as fast as her horse could take her, she drove home in a blurred daze. 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 2
    Six weeks later…
    Standing on the station platform, Mary watched as the train rounded the last bend and came into view. Watching the black plume of smoke grow larger and the sound of the engine, she felt her heart beat faster. Fighting against the panic that grew as the train drew closer, she thought of the last time she'd been on a train and the wreck that her parents had perished in. Remembering the men who pulled her free she thought of the long scar that she'd had since that day. Although her scar had faded, she found her memory of the day was still as clear as when it had happened. Remembering the screams as the train had derailed and then the noise of metal bending and being