Free Carrie's Montana Love: New Montana Brides (New Montana Bride Series) by Susan Leigh Carlton Page B

a certificate to tea ch in Montana schools. Her next step was to apply for a teaching position in the Helena schools.
    Carrie accepted the teacher’s job offered by the Helena superintendent of schools and attended a two day orientation. The following Monday, she dressed, and helped CP finish getting ready and set out for their first day of school toget her.
    They would not travel alone. At Case’s direction, Luke had assigned the cowboy who had been guarding the house, to accompany them to school and back.
    Carrie had forgotten how much she enjoyed teaching. She found herself looking forward to the next day. “It sure agrees with you, Honey,” Case told her.
    “It makes me feel as if I’m doing something worthwhile,” she said.
    Carrie was at the chalkboard, showing her students how to solve a multiplication problem, when she heard a sharp rap on the door of her classroom.
    Opening the door, she said, “Yes, what is it?”
    “It’s CP Mrs. Jamison. The principal would like for you to come to the come to the office.”
    “Has he been hurt? Is he all right?” she asked the teacher,
    “He’s all right. There was a fight at recess, by the swing sets.”
    “A fight? CP was in a fight? I don’t know what… CP doesn’t get in fights.”
    The principal met her at the door to his office, and said, “Come in, Mrs. Jamison. We have a bit of a problem. It seems there was an altercation on the playground and your son was involved. He’s in the office.
    “If I may offer some advice, “Don’t make a big thing of this. He has a scratch on his face. The other boy has a bloody nose.”
    “What was it about? Who started it?”
    “Jimmy Sanders is apparently a bit of a bully, and he was picking on one of the girls. Case came to her defense. This is nothing new. We’ve seen it before, but I want to try to pr event if from happening again. After you talk to your son, I’d like to discuss it with you.”
    “All right, I’ll meet with you after class,” she said.
    She paused at the door and looked in. He seemed so small sitting in the big chair, pondering his fate.
    “Tell me about this, CP. Why were you fighting?”
    “Mama, Jimmy was hurting Carrie ‘Lizabeth and wouldn’t stop.”
    “You should have asked a teacher for help, son. You can’t just hit people.”
    “He’s bigger than her, and he made her cry, Mama. I don’t like to see Carrie cry.”
    “If I remember correctly, you’ve made her cry.”
    “But I don’t pull her hair and push her down,” he pleaded. “Am I going to get a spanking, Mama?”
    “I don’t think so, but that is up to the principal. “You’re going to have to tell your papa when you get home.”
    “Yes, Mama. I bet he won’t hurt her again,” he said fiercely.
    “All the same, fighting is not the other answer.”
    The principal thought her lecture, and requiring him to tell his father was sufficient punishment.
    After school, she told Carrie, “I’m going to visit with your mother for a little while. Would you like to ride over with us?”
    “Come on, Carrie ‘Lizabeth,” CP urged.
    Letty was in the kitchen when it was raided by the two youngsters. She gave each a sandwich and a glass of milk and told them to stay in the kitchen while they ate.
    “So,” she asked Carrie, “How is teaching going?’
    “For the most part, it is going well. I really do enjoy the interacting with the children. Let me tell you what happened today.”
    “That almost sounds ominous.”
    “No, nothing like that. I think it is kind of cute, actually. I was called to the principal’s office today.”
    “Did you have to stand in the corner?” Letty asked.
    “No, but it involved our little ones. CP was in a fight on the playground, and hit another boy in the nose, and made it bleed.”
    “Oh, that doesn’t sound like him at all. He’s such a sweet little boy.”
    “Yes, he is, but wait until you hear the rest of the story. The other boy was pulling Carrie’s hair, and pushed her