When Kat's Away [Sequel to Anna Doubles Down] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Missy Martine Page A

reasonable,” said Beau.
    “Holy crap! They’ll send you the merchandise for examination before you buy.”
    Beau took his plate to the sink. “Yeah, people are pretty trusting.”
    Zeke got to his feet and stretched. “Well, this has been fun, but you’re heading to Treasure City tomorrow morning so you’ll need a good night’s sleep. It’s a fairly long ride, and you’re not used to the hard buggy seat. I’m betting it’ll be a slow trip with you needing to stop every once in a while.”
    Beau pulled out Anna’s chair. “We’ll be saying good night as well. Just lock up when you leave, David, and we’ll come over later in the morning and open up. Take your time and if the weather turns bad just get a hotel room and come back the next day. I’d rather you not make the trip after dark if it’s storming.”
    “Don’t worry, we’ll take every precaution.” David glanced at Kat. “Wouldn’t want to do anything to endanger our guest.”
    Anna snorted and walked toward the door. She turned back and gave Kat a long look. “I want you to remember something.”

Chapter 3
     
    “What’s that?” asked Kat.
    “Enjoy your day, but try and keep an open mind about where you are now.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Look first, speak never. Don’t comment on anything until you come back here. Women don’t regularly give their opinion on anything these days.”
    Kat groaned. “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. Women can’t even vote yet.”
    Anna laughed. “Now, you know as well as I do that women won’t be allowed to vote all over the States until 1920, although there are places in the West where we can vote now. I think Wyoming was the first to pass a law giving women the right some thirty years ago. Hell, they had the first woman judge ever.”
    “So, why haven’t you up and moved to Wyoming?” asked Kat, trying to hold in her laughter.
    “Because the time portal’s here, you ninny.” Anna hugged Kat and then took each of her husband’s arms and left.
    Kat stood and began picking up the plates from the table. David walked over and took them from her hand, his fingers caressing hers under the plates.
    “Let us get these, Kat. You must be tired after your first full day.”
    Win walked over and picked up more of the plates. “What’s your first impression of our little town?”
    She sat back down. “It’s too quiet. It needs the sound of children.” She ran her finger around the edge of her glass. “Anna says the miners have kids. Where are they? Why aren’t they in school?”
    “There are around twenty or so children that I can remember. Isn’t that right, Win?”
    “Yes, sounds about right.”
    “The miners keep them inside during the day. The parents are off working at the mill or the mine, and they leave orders for them to stay in and not run around getting in folks’ way.” He put the dishes in a pan in the sink and then turned to look at Kat. “Do you think you’d like to open up the school?”
    Win pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. “It’s been closed for a long time. It might be difficult to get them to trust someone they don’t know.”
    Kat sighed. “Well, after tomorrow I won’t look like such a stranger, so maybe they’ll give me a chance then. It’s the only thing I know how to do. How old are the children? Do you know?”
    David looked at Win and then back at Kat. “I think they range from small boys of five or six, to older girls and boys around fourteen or fifteen.”
    “But you can forget about the older boys.” Win ran his hand through his hair.
    “Why?” asked Kat.
    “Their folks wouldn’t want to waste the boys’ time in school. Boys that age are for working the fields and in some cases the mine itself. You won’t be persuading the parents to let them boys come to class, unless it’s the dead of winter.”
    Kat stood. “We’ll see about that. Education is important for everyone.”
    David walked over and put his hands on her