A Texas Legacy Christmas by DiAnn Mills

meant that is where I attended church while I was growing up. A lot of memories there. Good ones.” Someday when the twins were older, he’d tell them about his difficulty handling life after his father died. Some of which they’d understand now. “When my father died, I was sad and got into trouble.”
    Charlie’s eyes widened. “Like us?”
    Zack nodded. “Your grandpa decided to help me and then married your grandma.”
    “Like you took us?”
    “I guess so.” Zack chuckled.
    “Did the priest and the sisters at your church tell him to do that?” Curly said.
    “We don’t have a priest and sisters at our church.”
    Charlie tugged on his hand. “How can you have a church without ’em?”
    “Different people have different ways to worship God. Your grandpa is the preacher at this church.” He smiled into her confused face. “You’ll see for yourself next Sunday.”
    The church sat back off the road directly ahead. Beside it was the old parsonage where his grandparents had lived and served the community for years. They’d been laid to rest in the Piney Woods Cemetery behind the church a long time ago. He looked forward to next Sunday when he could walk through the memories that helped form him into a man.
    Zack drew in a deep breath. Perhaps he should have arranged a meeting with Miss Scott before the other students arrived. He glanced up at a huge oak tree where he’d once stolen the clothes from Miss Scott’s line and hung them on the branches. Unfortunately, his dad—actually this was before the man had proposed to Mama—had figured it out and made him retrieve the clothes and apologize to his teacher. Zack laughed just thinking about it. He’d never forget Miss Scott’s bloomers waving in the breeze. Now, here he was bringing his own double-trouble to the town’s teacher.
    He stopped in the middle of the road. “I went to school here. Miss Scott’s a fine teacher.”
    The twins said nothing.
    “Are you scared?”
    “A little,” Charlie said. “Can’t we just stay with you?”
    Zack bent down and pulled the two children to the front of him. “No one is going to hurt you. You’ll make good friends that will last until you are very old. Miss Scott will make you behave, but she’ll also love you and teach you the things you should know. Aunt Lydia Anne and Uncle Stuart attend here, too.”
    “But we can’t read or do numbers,” Charlie said. “We didn’t go to school much in New York.”
    “That’s what Miss Scott is for. But you won’t stay here today. Tomorrow we’ll start school. Remember, today we’re going out to the ranch after lunch.”
    The two nodded. Charlie blinked back a tear, but Curly looked just plain defiant. That sent a whirling sensation to the pit of Zack’s stomach. He started to make a comment about what he expected from them at school, but that lecture could wait until tomorrow.
    “Let’s get going. We have much to do today.”
    Opening up the schoolhouse door brought a flood of more memories—good and bad. He thought about little Chloe Weaver. She wasn’t so little anymore. She used to sit in the back of the room away from the other children. He’d sat in the back, too, on the other side of the room, partly out of orneriness and partly as a self-made guardian for Chloe. He hoped someone would take on that role for his twins. From the looks of her all grown up, she still needed someone protecting her.
    Miss Scott started at the sight of him. “Why, Zack Kahler. I heard you were coming back to town. What a fine way to start a morning. I’ll be right with you.”
    She issued a few instructions to the students and joined him in the back of the room, her skirts bustling as she went. He well remembered that sound, especially if she was after him. Good thing he had mended his ways when he acknowledged Jesus as Lord.
    A fire had been built in the stove near the front, no doubt to take the chill out of the air. The scent of wood warmed him more than the heat