Loving Liza Jane by Sharlene MacLaren Page B

grouch—too much,” she said.
    He smiled over the top of her head and smoothed down a few hairs that insisted on going straight to his mouth.
    “I’m also too excited,” she added.
    “Now, what would you have to be excited about?” he asked, rubbing little circles into her back.
    “Miss Merriwether. What else?” Her voice fairly chirped with enthusiasm. “Aren’t you excited?”
    Ben closed his eyes and sought a suitable reply. “I wouldn’t say excited is the proper choice of words.” At present, the woman represented work to him.
    After picking up building supplies in town and talking several men into coming out to help him, Ben and the others had set about refurbishing the old Broughton place immediately. One thing was certain; this was not a simple project. Matter of fact, the further they got into it, the worse it got. It seemed everything from the roof on down needed some sort of repair.
    “Why ain’t you excited?” Lili asked, curling into him.
    “I’ve asked you not to use that word.”
    “Well, then why aren’t you?”
    “Well, of course I’m happy that you will start school as scheduled. Isn’t that enough?”
    “What does she look like, Papa?” she asked, ignoring the fact he’d dodged her question.
    How could he explain to Lili that her new teacher was pretty without risking disrespect to her mother’s memory? “She’s—fine—I suppose.”
    “But how does she look? Did you notice any ugly birthmarks?”
    Ben laughed outright, the mere thought of an ugly mark on the refined Miss Merriwether somehow cheering his mood. “No, Lili, none that were visible.”
    Satisfied, she asked. “Was she mean and grumpy?”
    He supposed that all depended on who you asked, but he had to come up with a better answer than that. “I’m sure to you she will be everything and more than you ever dreamed possible in a teacher.”
    Lili drew back and granted him a wide-eyed look of joy. “Jumpin’ Jehosephat! This is good news!”
    “Lili, where do you come up with your vocabulary?” Ben scowled, at the same time fighting the urge to smile.
    “I’m plain thrilled that you liked her,” she said, ignoring his question.
    “I didn’t say I…”
    “When can I meet her?” she cried.
    “Huh?”
    “Can we drive the buggy into town tomorrow so I can meet her face-to-face?”
    “What? No, Lili. Papa has many chores to do tomorrow, one of which is fixing up Grandpa Broughton’s place so she can move into it.”
    “Just think of it, the new teacher will be our neighbor. I will be the envy of the whole entire school.”
    “Lili, it is not nice to create envy in your friends, particularly if you want to keep them,” he gently scolded.
    Ben glanced out the window and up at Shannon’s Peak. The cabin was near enough that when his grandfather had lived there Ben could see the smoke rise up from the chimney, see his shadow pass across the window on a moonlit night, and catch the sight of his glowing lamp in the window when he sat next to it in the morning to read from the old family Bible. Would he once again watch out his window for the first hint of light on Shannon’s Peak?
    “Well, when can I meet her?” she pleaded.
    “School will start soon enough.”
    “But I want to meet her before—so I won’t get the jitteries.”
    He smiled. “You weren’t nervous last year, were you?”
    “Not on the first day,” she admitted, fidgeting with the hem of her cotton nightgown, “but I was petrified on the second day, ’cause I found out Mr. Lofthouse was mean and grumpy.”
    Ben sighed. “Lili, I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.” After meeting Miss Merriwether, he could rest assured his daughter would be in safe hands. The teacher might have been a little crisp and outspoken with him, but he was sure she had a love for children. Of course, he couldn’t tell Lili that because it was just a hunch.
    “Well, can I meet her anyway?”
    Her persistence was beginning to annoy him. “I