Chapter 14 - The Woman Behind Eleanor's Dream
Anna had been a servant's daughter.
She and Eleanor grew up together in Missouri.
When Anna became pregnant outside marriage, Eleanor's father expelled her from the household.
Eleanor secretly sold jewelry to help Anna leave.
Anna eventually became a teacher.
She wrote letters describing rural children who had no access to education.
One sentence stayed with Eleanor:
If we cannot give every girl wealth, give her the means to choose what she becomes.
Rosalie read it repeatedly.
That was why Eleanor wanted a school.
That was why she purchased Cottonwood land.
That was why the trust existed.
The story had never been primarily about Wade.
Rosalie felt relieved.
Eleanor was no longer a ghost arranging her romance.
She had been a woman continuing another woman's unfinished work.
Rosalie donated copies of the letters to the school archive.
The original schoolhouse expanded.
A library followed.
Then another classroom.
Rosalie became principal.
Vivien taught literature.
Lydia volunteered.
Horus repaired desks.
Wade complained that every horse he brought near the school eventually became unofficial school property.
Rosalie told him to stop bringing horses.
He never did.
When Eleanor Rose turned twelve, she asked about the flood.
Rosalie told her the truth.
All of it.
“Was Grandma Lydia mean?” Eleanor asked.
Rosalie considered.
“She made choices that hurt me.”
“But you loved her?”
“Yes.”
“Both can happen?”
“Yes.”
Eleanor absorbed that.
Rosalie thought perhaps this was the most important lesson she ever taught.
That autumn Eleanor came home crying.
A thirteen-year-old boy had told friends she promised to marry him someday.
She had not.
Wade stood immediately.
Rosalie caught his sleeve.
“No.”
“He lied about our daughter.”
“And our daughter will decide how she wants to handle it.”
Eleanor wiped her eyes.
“I want to handle it.”
Wade slowly sat.
The next morning Eleanor confronted the boy.
“My father says you'll be my wife,” he said.
“Your father isn't marrying me.”
Children laughed.
“You said you liked me.”
“As a friend.”
The boy flushed.
Eleanor continued:
“If you want to know what I mean, ask me.”
Rosalie watched from the window.
Vivien stood beside her.
“She sounds like you.”
Rosalie smiled.
“No.”
She watched her daughter walk away with her head high.
“She sounds like herself.”
May you like
And that was better.
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