Free In Your Arms (Montana Romance) by Merry Farmer Page B

children around Rev. Andrews to calm her fraying nerves. One of the Frye girls leaned close to the Twitchel girl sitting next to her, whispering in her ear. Both girls giggled. The Frye girl caught her watching. Lily shook her head slightly and the girl slapped a hand over her mouth. Her bright, child’s eyes glittered with guilt. She knew she shouldn’t, but Lily smiled at the girl and was rewarded with a gap-toothed grin in return.
    What if Samuel followed through on his threat to have her removed as a teacher at Cold Springs’s school? Miserable prickles raced along her skin. It was all she could do not to writhe and weep and jump to her feet to plead with people to see reason. Without teaching, she didn’t know who she was.
    Before she could burst into tears at the thought, she felt the unmistakable itch of being watched. Across the aisle, at least a dozen church members between them, Christian was studying her as if she was the sermon. His expression was neutral, but it was still enough to burn her cheeks as bright red as the Frye girl’s. His lips twitched, but if it was with a grin or a sneeze Lily wasn’t in the mood to find out. She snapped her attention to Rev. Andrews.
    “And so, let us pray for God’s guidance in our lives,” Rev. Andrews finished. “Amen.”
    The congregation repeated , “Amen.” The organ burst to life with the final hymn, and somehow Lily managed to rise to her feet. As Miss Jones thumbed through the hymnal they shared, Lily checked on Christian. He wore a full-blown smile now. His shoulders shook with laughter, too much for him to sing. Her heart sank. He was laughing at her.
    “Ahem.” Miss Jones cleared her throat, handing Lily the hymnal at a height that blocked Christian from her view.
    The gesture would have been mortifying if Lily hadn’t been so eager for just that kind of barrier. She held the hymnal in front of her and fumbled through the trite old hymn that she didn’t know. Every note she missed and word she fumbled reminded her that she was not one of these people, that they would turn on her as Samuel had suggested given half a chance.
    When the song ended, before the congregation could funnel to the door, Rev. Andrews raised his hands, calling for silence.
    “ If those parents and townsfolk who have volunteered to help out with the school’s academic games could stay behind, we’re going to pick teams this morning and discuss the rules,” he said.
    A squeal of excitement rose from the children. The room swirled with activity as most of the congregation attempted to leave while a few, like Lily, tried to push their way to the front against the current. Conversations blossomed, filling the church with as much noise as there had been heat. Lily kept her head down, feeling as separate from the people around her as she was from the Atlantic Ocean.
    “Did you hear about the robberies?” she overheard a woman in the press of people. “A gang of savage Indians robbed Samuel Kuhn and Lewis Jones in broad daylight!”
    “You don’t say! ” another woman answered. “Indians? I thought the ones near here were peaceful?”
    “You can never tell with Indians.”
    “That teacher, Miss Singer, is all right.”
    “She’s an Indian? But she seems so nice.”
    T he heat of anger and shame work its way up Lily’s neck. She stopped to look for the source of the comments, ready to give them a piece of her mind.
    A confused and bumbling Jed Archer blocked her path. He flinched at the sight of her, his pale face flushing.
    “I…I…I’m sorry, Miss Singer,” he said, then scrambled to get away from her and out the church’s side door.
    The shock of frightening a grown man left Lily standing where she was, gaping. First Samuel Kuhn and the people at the store, then the women she had just overheard, and now Jed Archer. If Christian was right….
    No, he was not even close to right. She drew in a breath and smoothed her skirts as though smoothing her nerves. Prejudice