Kate Welsh - Questions of Honour

“He wasn’t in school.” Joshua dismounted, his tone betraying a tightly leashed anger. “He was in the breaker shed. He’d been there all day.”

Abby turned to glare at her son. “You are in a world of trouble, young man! Wait till your Uncle Brendan gets hold of you. You won’t sit for a week!”

Daniel refused to look at Abby. Joshua laid his hand on her shoulder and Abby felt his warmth through her shawl. It sent heat curling through her. She stepped back, shrugging off his disturbing touch.

“Ab, he was trying to earn money to buy you a dress.”

Having their poverty pointed out by the man whose father caused it only fueled Abby’s anger. “Don’t you be defendin’ him to me! If you wouldn’t hire them, they wouldn’t be tempted to give up school.”

“I’m glad you didn’t send him there and believe me, I didn’t know our breaker boys were this young.” He turned to Daniel. “I’ll pay you ten cents a day for every day you go to school.”

“We’ll not be accepting your charity, Joshua Wheaton,” Abby shouted. “Now get out of my way, so I can take him inside where his uncle can deal with him.”

Joshua stood like a rock preventing her from reaching up to pull Daniel out of the saddle. “Not until you listen. It wouldn’t be charity. All the boys, nine and up, will get ten cents for every day they spend in school. I value education every bit as much as you do.” He turned and lifted Daniel to the ground. He took the boy’s resisting hands and held them out. “Open them,” he ordered.

Abby hated him touching Daniel and it infuriated her that he had command of the situation. If only her brothers were aware of his presence. She looked down at Daniel’s hands then, expecting them to be black from the coal. Her anger dissolved in a heartbeat. “Oh, my good sweet Lord! Daniel, what have you done to yourself?”

Daniel shrugged his shoulders, but still refused to look her in the eye. “It ain’t so bad.”

“Oh, but it ‘tis,” she cried and sank into the dust at his feet, taking his bleeding hands in her own. “We’ll fix you up right and proper in a blink.”

“So did you find the lad?” Brendan called as he walked around the corner of the house. Abby glanced up as Brendan stopped short, shock in his eyes. His jaw turned to granite. “My father told you not to come ‘round here. You aren’t welcome.” He shifted his eyes to Daniel and raised one eyebrow, considering his appearance. “And you, boyo. From the look of you, I’d say you acted on that harebrained idea you had.”

“Yes, sir,” Daniel admitted quickly.

“After I told you to do no such thing?”

“But I—”

“No buts,” Brendan snapped. Daniel nodded silently. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll deal with you later.” There was an implicit parental threat in Brendan’s tone.

Joshua stiffened visibly and turned to face Brendan. Daniel moved forward, but Joshua stopped him with a restraining hand on the shoulder. “I don’t want him punished further. His hands are punishment enough.”

Brendan squinted against the glare of the setting sun. “Since you gave up any right to Daniel long ago, I’d say what you want is of no importance. I don’t want you within fifty feet of the boy from here on out. It’s obvious you aren’t a good influence. He’s never disobeyed me so defiantly before.”

Joshua let go of Daniel and curled his hands into fists. Abby could see him trying to control his anger. “I never abdicated my right to be Daniel’s father. It was stolen from me. Nothing any of you say will keep me away from my son, Brendan. Now that I know about him, I intend to see to his interests.”

Brendan tossed aside the bucket and charged forward. Josh’s horse shied and Josh stepped between him and Abby and Daniel. She scurried out of the way and pulled Daniel with her as Josh gained control of his mount. As he turned away and toward Brendan, her brother threw a punch that glanced off Joshua’s jaw. It rocked Joshua a bit but he ducked away and let go of the horse’s reins.

Josh backed off, holding up his hand to forestall Brendan. “I don’t want to fight you, but I’m getting dammed sick of you throwing punches without giving fair warning. Why is it you’re so opposed to my seeing Abby and Daniel?”

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