Jordan's Romance Chapter

The early morning light was just beginning to lighten the edges of the sky when Maggie opened her eyes. She had a full day ahead of her and could feel it calling to get her out of the comfort of the warm blankets. Reluctantly, she swung her legs over the edge of her little piece of the universe where she had spent many nights wondering about her prince charming and if he had gotten lost somewhere. She stretched and yawned as her mind began to put into order her “to do” list.
It had been two years since her parents died and left her penniless and at the mercy of the bill collectors. She was lucky enough to have her cousin, Emma, to watch over her. She moved in with her when the house had to be sold to cover all of the necessaries after the funerals and sundry bills. She barely had the clothes on her back when she left the house for the last time. It would have been depressing if it had happened to anyone else but Maggie Bressette.
Maggie came from a strong Canadian French family who were some of the first pioneers to spread out into the great unknown of the Canadian Wilderness. It had been hard but they were harder and their family made it all the way to the other side of the Rocky Mountains before they had any kind of problems. Her daddy had bought a piece of land and had a cute little house built just for the three of them before they had even gotten there. He thought he had it all worked out until the snow came and delayed their trip by one long year. Her mom and dad’s health just wore out with the waiting and they made it “home” only two months before they passed away. Maggie was on her own in the middle of nowhere until her cousin Emma showed up to rescue her.
Maggie had moved on by now on to a job as a teacher for her small town. She was grounded that way, she saw that she needed to do something to take care of herself and she did it. She was doing a pretty good job of it until one day, Jonah Winken, walked into her life. He was the father of one of her most troublesome of students. She had asked him to come in and have a meeting with her about the problem. He showed up alright and gave her the scare of her life. He yelled and threw things around and nothing she could say would calm him down. The windows of the schoolhouse were open and she was sure the entire world could hear what was going on inside. She was certain this was not going to end well when a shadow filled the doorway of her little one room schoolhouse. She was filled with wonder at the immediate calm that filled the room when Jonah saw who it was that caused the dimming of the sun light. His mouth slammed shut and he began to backtrack to the side door and freedom from what was an uncomfortable situation. Maggie saw all of this and was amazed.
Her first impression of her rescuer wasn’t a mind blowing experience because he was just a normal looking man standing there in her doorway. He was average in height and in looks. He said he was just passing by when he heard the commotion and he just wanted to make sure she was alright. He had Jonah apologize for his tantrum and promise to make his son behave. Her relief was complete when he helped her clean up the mess before he moved on. Her rescuer told her that his name was Ethan Winding and to call on him if she ever needed anything else. The world was right again when he finally tipped his hat and walked down the yard to the street towards the town square.
She had never noticed him before amongst the town people. She thought she had gotten to know everyone because of her position as the town’s only teacher. She had to do some sleuthing in order to find out anything about him. She did all this in the name of finding a way to say “Thank You” for saving her. She discovered that he had a small farm out about five miles from town where he raised the prettiest black sheep. He had no family and so he was out there alone working his place. She loved to say his name, Ethan Winding. She did this often because she found she was constantly thinking of him and his sparkling hazel eyes. She even found herself wandering off in her daydreams in the middle of the school day when she had given everyone time to sit quietly and read. Her constant sighing had been the wake up call that she was thinking about him too much. It was then that she decided that she better figure out how to say “Thank You” and move on.
She decided that she could bake him a cake to show her gratitude. She worked all day one Saturday and it turned out perfect. She was never one to be domesticated and she was usually fine with that. This one time it really mattered to her what he thought about her creation. She packed it up in a little basket and rode out to find his farm. She was told it wouldn’t be too difficult to find. He had a house surrounded by tall pine trees and a big white barn that couldn’t be missed.
She had no trouble finding everything except the man. He must have been out in his fields when she visited. She let herself into the house and left the cake on the table. She was just going to have to do it again when he was there so that she could thank him in person. She felt vaguely disappointed at not completing her mission. She wasn’t paying attention to her driving when her horse got spooked by a blowing leaf and took off running down the rutty dirt road. She let out a good yell and hung on for dear life hoping that the horse would calm down soon. There was a movement out the corner of her eye and it was then that she saw Ethan running down the field towards her crazy horse. He almost fell because he was going so fast. Her horse didn’t have a chance.
She was a trembling mess by the time the buggy slowed and he was her hero one more time. If this kept up she would owe him more than a cake and she blushed at the crazy thought. It was a good half an hour before she could talk coherently enough to ask him to dinner on Saturday. She was afraid he would refuse women didn’t do the asking. Amazingly, he smiled and accepted graciously.
She could think of nothing else for the entire week. What would she wear? What would she fix? What on earth would they talk about? She cleaned and she fussed. She found herself day dreaming in the middle of class time. Her students benefited from her absent minded good humor and were blessed with a much smaller load of homework.
Maggie woke up bright and early on the much anticipated day. When she walked outside to get a look at the day there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers. She was stunned and wondered if Ethan had been looking forward to today as much as she had. She put the finishing touches on the house and the dinner. As she worked, she did her best not to think. If she started thinking, she knew she would go crazy with worrying if he would like her or not.
As the day ticked slowly by to the appointed hour, Maggie paced and primped to the point of distraction. Eventually, she had to get a book and get outside. She settled down to read on the bench nestled in a shaded corner of the porch. She sat there with the book open staring into space seeing only Ethan’s hazel eyes.
Off in the distance, down the road a buggy came stirring up the dust. It looked like a dust storm was brewing if the buggy weren’t noticed. Maggie noticed and was stricken with a heaping dose of nerves. After what seemed like an endless wait, the buggy pulled up and Ethan got out. All of Maggie’s worries instantly vanished when she looked into his hazel eyes. There he was, her prince charming holding another beautiful bouquet of flowers just for her. He had finally found her.