She was, by general agreement, a woman who cared about things. The fact that caring about things had made her the most powerful person in any room she entered was, various people would tell you, entirely coincidental. She drove out in a buggy that was newer than Agnes', and sat straighter in the seat. Calder was at the water pump when she arrived, and he watched her climb down and survey the property with the practiced eye of someone who had been assessing situations and finding them wanting for a long time. Mr.
Boon," she said. "Ma'am. " She looked at the house, then at the barn, then at the children. Benny was visible near the creek bend, following a new rule about staying in sight. Technically, even if he pushed the definition, Eddie was at the fence. Rose and Ruth were on the porch with what appeared to be mending.
I heard Margaret said that you took nine children off an orphan train 4 days ago. I did on the spot. No preparation, no prior arrangement. That's right. Margaret looked at him steadily.
She was perhaps 55, with gray at her temples, and the kind of posture that had never been argued with successfully. That was reckless, Mr. Boon. Maybe, not maybe. Definitively.
She folded her gloved hands in front of her. You are a single man with a working ranch. You have no domestic help, no female presence in the household, and no experience with children beyond what I can only assume is very limited. Limited? Calder agreed.
Yes, the county placement system exists for a reason. It exists to ensure that children are placed in situations that are genuinely suitable, not in situations that are created by impulse and sentiment. Calder looked at her. You want to come in and see the place, or are you planning to assess it from the yard? Something shifted in Margaret's expression, not warmth, but a slight reccalibration.
She was a woman who respected directness even when she disagreed with its source. I'll come in, she said. What happened in the next hour was essentially a tour except that Margaret Vale's tours were also interrogations, and she conducted this one with a thorowness that Calder found himself genuinely respecting, even as it irritated him. She asked about provisions he showed her, the supply run he'd made that morning, the full pantry, the ledger. She asked about sleeping arrangements he showed her, the two added beds in the cleared storage room, the reorganized linen situation.
She asked about schooling. That's the next thing, Calder said. It's not the next thing, Margaret said. It should already be a thing. I've been here 5 days.
The twins are reading, Clara said from the kitchen doorway. Both adults looked at her. She had come to stand in the doorway without anyone noticing. And she met Margaret's gaze with the particular 12-year-old steadiness that was either impressive or unsettling depending on who was doing the looking. And Eddie's learning, Clara added.