Where Courage Calls: A When Calls the Heart Novel by Janette Oke, Laurel Oke Logan Page B

water, presumably so she could wash before dressing. She peered into the hallway in time to see Teddy setting another bucket outside one of the doors farther down the hall. She lifted the bucket inside and closed the door again softly.
    There was a room for bathing off the kitchen, with an oversized galvanized tub, but Beth was doubtful she would often have the courage to request that it be filled for her benefit, considering how many buckets it would take. Instead, she washed up as thoroughly as she could, already hearing the sounds of machinery in the distance. She wondered how soon she would be able to tune out the incessant mine noise. Dressing again in the borrowed clothing, she sat on the bedside and silently recited a favorite Psalm and prayed. Another item I’m going to miss is my Bible. How many further items wouldcome to mind during the next days . . . weeks? She shook her head and hurried down to the kitchen.
    Molly was just beginning to fix breakfast, and Beth alternated between trying to help with preparations and avoiding getting in the heavyset woman’s path. After hearing Molly huff more than once as they attempted to work around each other, Beth determined she would be less of an obstacle when setting the table in the dining room. It seemed a happy compromise until Molly entered with a heaping dish and placed it in the center.
    She looked around the table. “How come you got so many forks?”
    Beth blinked. “It’s only two for each. I thought we needed one for the fruit and one for the eggs and bacon—”
    “Only got one mouth,” Molly tossed over her shoulder as she returned to the kitchen. “Take them extras off. Saves washin’ up.”
    As Beth picked up the superfluous tableware and replaced it in its drawer in the sideboard, Molly brought in the plate of fruit. “And why’s there jes’ five plates?” she asked, hands on hips as she surveyed the settings. “Where’s yours?”
    “I thought I’d help in there.” Beth gestured toward the kitchen.
    “You gotta eat.”
    Beth lifted pleading eyes to Molly. “I’d rather not have to be the only . . . only female eating with the men.”
    The older woman paused, cast a thoughtful look toward Beth, and reached over to cup her face in work-hardened hands. The intensity held Beth fast as Molly said, “Those men are your kinda folk, dearie. Now, I’m not sayin’ you rich folk’re all the same—any more than all us poor. And maybe I’m selfish to ask—but if you could jes’ make friends withthem, jes’ maybe you could help them understand our needs. Maybe you could speak to them sometimes on our behalf. Lord knows, they be too high-an’-mighty to hear what the likes of us has got to say.”
    Beth wanted to please her hostess. She wished it were not so difficult— If only Julie could be here . . . But Julie was not, and making conversation did not come naturally to her.
    In the end she submitted to Molly’s bidding and joined the company men in the dining room, doing her best to present a charming and clever façade. Molly smiled encouragingly toward Beth each time the woman crossed through the room.
    Once breakfast had ended and dishes were done, Marnie walked with Beth over to the pool hall. She wanted to assess what preparations could be made for school. Her first task was to throw open the windows to let in fresh air. Marnie quickly caught on and helped open up the room. Beth feared the mustiness and stale smell from years of tobacco smoke would give her a headache.
    With sunlight and a breeze filtering through the room, she turned and studied her surroundings. She quickly noted, however, that the open windows also increased the sound of the mine equipment grinding away in the distance, along with the periodic screech of engine brakes and sundry other sounds of the community. Beth hoped the students had grown so accustomed to it all that the noise would not be a distraction, for she was altogether unwilling to close it all up