Paradise Falls by Ruth Ryan Langan

Paradise Falls were needed to work the fields. Some desperate farmers, like Dolph VanderSleet, would never consent to their children leaving their chores to attend school. Others, like Frederick Dorf, might be too poor to permit more than an occasional visit to the classroom.
    Then there were the children. Some had never been to school. The rest hadn’t been there for three years. What were their expectations? Their fears? She wanted to make learning enjoyable, but first she had to get them to step inside the school and leave their fears behind.
    Now she must do the same, she reminded herself sternly.
    She began to pace, determined to put aside these demons that tormented her. She thought about her father. About the fierce determination that had driven him, first to the shores of a new land, and then from the lowliest jobs he could find, to the one that had, brought him such pride and joy.
    How had one man, with his thick brogue and stern demeanor, unlocked the key to making his students in this country love and respect him? What magic did he possess?
    Oh, Da. Help me reach out to these strangers. Help me to show them the pleasure that can come with knowledge.
    By the time the first pale ribbons of dawn streaked the sky, Fiona was washed and dressed and hurrying toward the kitchen.
    “Morning.” When she stepped through the doorway, Broderick set aside his coffee and gave her a lopsided smile. “Did you get any sleep?”
    “A little.” At his steady look she managed a weak shake of her head. “Very little.”
    “There’s biscuits and coffee.”
    She touched a hand to her middle. “I couldn’t eat a thing.”
    “Nerves that bad, are they?”
    She nodded.
    They both looked up as Gray paused to scrape mud and dung from his boots before stomping into the room.
    He glanced at Fiona before picking up a mug of coffee. He turned to his father. “Won’t be able to cut today. Too wet.”
    Broderick nodded. “So I noticed.”
    It was then that Fiona realized the older man had shucked his boots, leaving them turned upside down to dry beside the stove. “You started your chores early today.”
    He merely nodded and continued to sip his coffee.
    “Well.” When he offered nothing more she turned to Gray. “I’d best start off to the schoolhouse.”
    “I can take you.”
    She was already shaking her head. “You said it’s too wet to cut. There’s no point in going all that way just for me.
    “I don’t mind.” He set down his mug and lay a hand on his father’s shoulder. “I’ll be back soon to give you a hand in the barn.”
    The old man nodded.
    Fiona followed Gray out the door. The team was already hitched, and as Gray helped her up to the seat, she spied a bouquet of flowers on the hard wooden bench.
    “What’s this?”
    He climbed up beside her and took up the reins. At once Chester was between them, with his front paws resting on Fiona’s lap. “Papa picked them for you.”
    “Your father?”
    Gray flicked the reins and the team started across. the yard. “He hoped it would ease your worry some.”
    She lifted the bouquet to her face to hide the tears that sprang to her eyes. “They’re beautiful.”
    And they were. Wild daisies, both white and yellow, pretty pink asters, bluebells, and dahlias as big as dinner plates in every color imaginable. A bouquet so big it filled her arms. And her heart.
    She looked over at Gray. “But how could your father pick all these? He would have needed some help.”
    Gray’s lips twitched. “I didn’t mind lending a hand. But the idea was Papa’s.”
    Again Fiona was forced to duck her head to hide the rush of emotions.
    They drove across the fields in silence. When they stopped at the school, Gray climbed down, then lifted his arms to help Fiona. For the space of a heartbeat she felt a sudden flash of heat, and wondered at the way the earth seemed to tilt as she was held in those big, solid hands.
    He set her on her feet and reached for the lunch his mother had