Paradise Falls Read Online Free Page A

though the house seemed pretty enough, with sunflowers growing by the porch. By the time she’d passed the third farm the road grew steep, climbing through heavily wooded forest. Her gown was damp with sweat and her boots weighed her down with every step. The fields here seemed larger, each farm farther away from its neighbor, but, she reasoned, it might only seem that way because she was so desperately weary.
    After passing yet another farm she paused under a tree and removed her boots, carrying one in each hand. The hem of her gown swept the dust of the trail, though she no longer cared how dirty it got. All she wanted was to reach her destination and enjoy a sip of water.
    As she moved doggedly forward, she was too tired to appreciate the symmetry of the fields she was passing. The soil here seemed richer, darker, but that might mean it had recently rained. When she spotted the name Haydn on the side of the barn up ahead, she thought she might weep with relief.
    She sat down in the grass by the side of the road, determined to slip into her boots and smooth her hair before meeting her hosts. But before she could even begin to repair the damage of her long walk, she caught sight of a horse and wagon coming up over a rise.
    When the driver spotted her he pulled back on the reins and sat staring at her with a look of complete surprise.
    “Hello.” She got to her feet, unaware that she was still holding a boot in each hand.
    “Hello, yourself.” With sunlight streaming over him, he looked like a drawing from one of her da’s books on mythology. His hair glinted with gold highlights. His skin, too, was bronzed by the sun, while his eyes were palest blue, like the sky in early morning, before the sunlight warmed it. “Are you lost?”
    She was so dazzled by the look of him, it took her a moment to answer. She shook her head. “It seems I’ve found what I was looking for. The Haydn farm.”
    “Why are you looking for the Haydn farm?”
    “I’ll be living there while I teach school.”
    “You’re the new teacher?” He laughed then, a loud, joyous sound that had her smiling in spite of her weariness. “Oh, this is going to be great fun.”
    “Fun?”
    He nodded and jumped down. “The fun will begin when Ma sees you.” He offered his hand. “I’m Fleming Haydn. My friends call me Flem.”
    “Flem.” She stuck out her hand, then seeing the boot dangling from her fingers, laughed and dropped it before accepting his handshake. “My name is Fiona Downey.”
    He lifted her boot out of the dirt and handed it back to her. “Are you going to wear these, Fiona Downey, or carry them?”
    She blushed slightly before plopping down in the grass.
    “I think I’d better wear them. I don’t want to meet your family looking like this.”
    “I don’t see why not.” He knelt beside her, his smile widening. “I think you look positively delightful. Not at all like a schoolmarm.”
    She ducked her head and finished lacing her boots before getting to her feet and brushing off her skirts.
    “Come on. I’ll take you up to the house.” Flem climbed up to the wagon seat and reached down to help her up beside him.
    It seemed to Fiona that he kept her hand tucked in his a bit longer than was necessary before releasing her and flicking the reins. But his boyish smile put her at ease.
    As the horse started forward he glanced over to see her furiously shoving her hair beneath her bonnet. “It won’t help, you know.”
    “What won’t?” She looked over at him.
    “Trying to make yourself presentable.”
    “Why not?”
    He gave a deep chuckle. “My ma expected you to be like our last teacher. Her name was Hilda Hornby. She taught in Paradise Falls for more than twenty years before going to her eternal reward. That was three years ago.”
    Fiona clapped a hand to her mouth. “You mean the children haven’t been to school in three years?”
    He nodded. “But that’s not the problem.”
    “What is?”
    “Miss Hornby was a