Disclaimer: I do NOT own 'Little House on the Prairie'. The only thing I can lay claim to is the story line and the 'guest star/s'.

Chapter Seven

Scene Twelve

Nellie had been standing a good five minutes in front of the mercantile when Albert and Laura passed by. The grin on her face looked as if someone had taken glue and pasted in on; maybe in an attempt to get a real one to appear. Both of them wanted to reach up and rip it off.

"Well, well, no wonder you've been getting straight A's on your test. I would be too if my aunt was the teacher." Nellie sneered at Albert.

Aunt? Laura and Albert looked at each other. Maybe someone had put put some of Mr. Edwards 'medicine' into her milk. "I don't know what you're talking about. Miss Elizabeth is not my aunt." Albert and Laura kept on walking.

"She is too," Nellie ran in front of him, "The school room window was slightly opened and I was close enough to make out some of what she was saying to yer pa. She is your aunt; maybe even the one who put you in that orphanage! "

No! That couldn't be true. His pa would have told him if that was the case. "Take it back, Nellie. You're lying!" Albert yelled.

"Yea, take it back!" Laura was furious. It was all she could do not to slug the classmate she as as her enemy.

"I will not," Nellie's voice now matched that of her mother's, "It's the truth. Just ask her or yer pa!"

She lifted her chin slight then turned and ran for the school. She had to run; Laura's fist almost connected with face.

Laura looked at Albert. He looked upset. "Albert, she's just a bully. Don't pay attention to her."

"What if she's telling the truth, Laura? What if she is my aunt? Why would she put me in an orphanage?" Albert shot out one question after another.

"Well, before you go make a fool of yourself in front of Miss Elizabeth," Laura answered, "I'd be talking to pa. After all, Nellie just claimed Miss Elizabeth was talking to him."

He'd been planning on fishing after school but not now. If Nellie was only making up lies then he'd not let her get to him but if she was right in any of what she said? He wanted answers...and he wanted them yesterday!

0000

"She what?" Mr. Ingalls had been working in the barn until Albert came in and started telling him about Nellie and the things she'd said.

"Said Miss Elizabeth is my aunt and that she put me in the orphanage." Albert answered as he finished repeating where Nellie had claimed to be and what she'd heard.

Charles was disgusted. That girl had her mother's tongue and cold heart! "She never told me she put you in that orphanage. In fact, I dare say she'll be more than upset when she hears what Nellie is saying. And hear it she will."

Albert didn't like that his pa had not denied the relation between the teacher and himself. "Pa?"

Charles put down his tools and sat down on a nearby crate, "We need to talk."

Scene Thirteen

Elizabeth sat in Hyrum's office fuming mad. She'd over heard Nellie going around telling the other students what she'd heard. Since the Aldens were 'making rounds', Hyrum was the only other person she dared vent to. While Hyrum had been shocked beyond measure when Elizabeth had told him 'the truth', and what was going on, he was even more concerned about what she might actually do.

"Neither one of us can do one thing about people like Harriet or Nellie," Dr. Baker looked at Elizabeth with concern in his eyes, "only am I going to get in trouble if I ask exactly what happened and what you plan on doing now?"

Elizabeth rested the side of her head in the palm of her left hand and sighed, "When Albert was just a month old Jeremy went on a hunting trip with some friends and disappeared. I don't mean he deserted us. He would never had done that. I mean he went missing. He had a brother who was everything Mr. Ingalls ever accused Jeremy of being. He went from harassing me to coming around drunk and actually being a danger to both Albert and I. He kept insisting Jeremy was dead and he; that is George, had 'the responsibility to take care of his brother's possessions'." Disgust could be heard in her voice.

"His possessions?" Dr. Baker felt sick to his stomach. Since when was a man's wife and son considered possessions?"

"That's what he seemed to think we were. Anyway, when Albert was five months old Jeremy was still missing and the money he had set aside for emergencies was dwindling—and George was getting downright dangerous. I had to take Albert and flee. George kept pursing us determined to get Jeremy's son. When I reached Waynoka I left Albert on the steps of the orphanage WITH EVERY INTENTION OF GOING BACK AND GETTING HIM WHEN I COULD. Then I did and said things that made everyone he might talk to think I was traveling with a child."

Hyrum shook his head, "How long did that nut follow you?"

"Do you believe on and off for almost eight years?" If the matter wasn't so serious she might have cracked up laughing at the look of disbelief that came upon the man's face, "When I was blessed to find out he'd been killed an a bar room brawl? I went back to the orphanage. I went knowing the chances were slim that Albert would still be there. I had to check anyway. By the time I got there he'd run away. Jeremy and I bumped into each other; we both about died from shock. I was relieved to find out that others had already told him what had happened. He wanted to kill his brother. He told me his story; which I won't go into right now. I tried to talk to him about Albert but he just said to leave it alone. He said too many years had passed by but, if I was willing, he'd go back to providing for me. So, until the day he died we lived on his farm outside Waynoka."

Hyrum sat soaking in everything he'd been told. The hell the woman had went through just to protect Albert. It amazed him, "So what are you going to do now?"

"He's my nephew and stepson," the fact that she was tired could be seen in her eyes. The frustration she felt could be heard in her voice, "you tell me. What am I supposed to do?"