A/N: First day of school! (For these folks, anyhow. Many New England students return prior to Labor Day, in August, hence my early date.)

Thank you again for all of your reviews and support - and a shout-out to the many of you who have followed the story! I truly appreciate it!

AND for those of you who have been following my "Music of the Heart"/"Music of Our Lives" series, I can inform you that MoOL will be finishing up this month - look for the next chapter somewhere around next week. (And shameless plug here ... if you've NOT read it, hop on over to MotH and check it out, if you like.)

xx

August 27, 2014

Elsie pulled the sheet over her head in vain, trying pointlessly to drown out the sound of the rooster's crow. The farm stopped for no woman, and she knew that the longer stayed in bed the more she'd be rushed in order to get out the door on time. She allowed herself another five minutes before her feet hit the floor.

She padded into the kitchen and put the kettle on, grateful for the end-of-summer warmth that meant she didn't need her bathrobe, and turned when she heard the clicking of dog paws on the tile floor.

"Well, good morning," Elsie said sleepily, reaching down to scratch Max's fluffy ears. He leaned into her legs, just waking up himself. "Let's see what we can find for you, shall we? Are you hungry?"

At the word 'hungry," Max's ears pricked up, and he started dancing around her legs.

"Alright, then. Go outside and then you can eat." She pointed toward the back door, where the doggie flap allowed Max to come and go as he pleased. "Go!"

Max bounded out the door, and Elsie waited for the kettle. When it whistled, she poured the boiling water over her tea ball and went to fill Max's dish. She grabbed the newspaper from the front step and took it and her tea out to the sunroom to watch the sun finish coming up over the pond.

The farm was Elsie's own little piece of heaven, and she was thankful for it every day. The sunroom was essentially a glass-walled porch, with a flagstone floor and a wood stove for the winter months. The door opened out onto a concrete patio, from which she could walk out onto her lawn and down to the pond that made up the back property line. Across the pond lived her closest neighbors, but the view from one house to the other was blocked by the arborvitae surrounding the neighbors' home. She could sit on the loveseat as she was doing now and see the sun peeking up over their horse paddock, and could hear their two mares whinnying across to her own pair of horses, one of whom was currently answering in kind. The sound always made her smile, knowing they were speaking in a language she could not understand. The rooster still crowed, but Elsie allowed herself this time every morning to center her thoughts and prepare for what the day would bring.

Her job was challenging in many ways and despite the hard, manual labor that the farm required, the school was by far more grueling. Seven hundred students and just Elsie, except for during the lunch hour when she had an assistant because of the sheer amount of medication that had to be administered in a timely fashion. Keeping up on who needed what and when; logging every visit in case they were audited by the state; the revolving door of teachers with questions and concerns.

And those concerns … Elsie shook her head as she thought of all the students who would be ecstatic to return to school today, the children whose lives were so hard at home that school - with all its work and demands - was a welcome reprieve. She reminded herself to stock the snack cabinet at work once again, running through the list of things that the students who frequented it would require. Yes, her job was difficult, but she couldn't imagine it any other way.

As she got up and made her way in to don her barn clothes, Elsie found herself ruminating on their newest student. Daisy Carson would certainly be a challenge, but Elsie had faith in Phyllis and her ability to get to the bottom of it. Phyllis hadn't brought the farm into the picture yet, but Elsie knew that was on the horizon. Her horses were therapy horses, something that the entire town knew, of course, and yet people didn't seem to talk about it. It was as though they desired to protect the privacy of the children who received therapy there as much as Elsie did, and she truly appreciated it. As she was pulling on her barn boots, she wondered if Edith had mentioned the therapy to Mr. Carson-

No - Charles.

She realized she was smiling halfway out to the chicken coop. A man hadn't made her smile like that in years, and she wondered why it should happen now. And a parent, no less!

"Good morning, ladies," she called as she entered the henhouse. "Time to get outside for the day, and it's a beautiful one." She opened the door to the penned in enclosure that would separate the hens from the roosters and went to get the chicken feed, listening to the rustling of feathers and clucking voices as she made her way back. Surrounded by the 'ladies', she tossed a few handfuls of feed onto the ground before she made her way in to collect the eggs. Nine today, she thought. Not bad.

She headed over to the horses next, filling the water trough before heading over to the stalls.

"Good morning, loves," she said softly, listening to their gentle sounds and laughing when Star pricked up his ears as she started fishing in her apron for the apples she'd brought out. Elsie always started with Star first, knowing he was the pushier of the two. She held out the apple and scratched him behind the ear as he munched.

"You're my darling boy, aren't you? I need to go back to work today, you know. But Anna will be by later to check on you, hm? There's a good boy." She kissed his nose and opened the gate, allowing him to make his way to the fenced-in paddock. Moving to the neighboring stall, she couldn't help but laugh. There, laying down in the corner and half-asleep, was Scarlett.

"Now what are you doing there, love?" she cooed, opening the stall and waking the pony. Scarlett looked up and got to her feet, moving quickly and whinnying as though she were embarrassed to have been caught with her eyes closed. "It's fine, darling," Elsie added, holding out Scarlett's apple. "I don't blame you - I'd be sleeping in, too, if I could. Now, you be a good girl today, alright? Who knows," she added, running her hand down Scarlett's mane, "I may have a new friend stopping by to see you soon. And I think you'd be perfect for her." Scarlett whinnied softly and nuzzled Elsie's head with her nose.

Horses outside and water filled, Elsie lugged two fresh bales of hay to the feed area of the paddock. She used the pitchfork to loosen the hay a bit, then closed the gate tightly and turned on the electric fence.

"Until this afternoon, everyone," she called to them. She looked up at the sky, now a bright blue with nary a cloud, and smiled.

Once inside the mud room, Elsie deposited her boots on the mat by the door and stripped out of her apron, jeans, and tee shirt. She tossed them in the washing machine and headed up to the shower.

The hot water hit her skin and invigorated her. She could never understand the idea of a cold shower - those did nothing to wake her up, they just chilled her to the bone. As she scrubbed her face and rinsed the conditioner from her hair, she allowed her thoughts to wander once more to the Carsons. She knew they came to this part of Maine because the Crawley daughters had settled here, knew that Charles went way back with Edith and Mary's father, Robert.

Elsie pursed her lips a bit at the thought of Mary - there was certainly no love lost between the school nurse and the editor of the local newspaper. And ever since Mary had allowed Richard Carlisle to come into town and sweep both Mary and her paper into his cunning clutches, she respected the woman even less. But she was letting her beachfront home out to Charles and Daisy, and that in itself was a kindness. Elsie had only seen the place from the outside, but it was stunning and must have incredible views of the sunset. Elsie always wondered why the Carlisles didn't live there themselves, but Edith had told her that Richard preferred to live upstairs from the newspaper office. She'd shaken her head at that and had listened to Edith voice her own thoughts that Carlisle was too shady for his own good, but had kept her opinions to herself. Mary was Edith's family, after all; despite how close Elsie and Edith had become over the years, they were not family, and Elsie knew she'd do well to keep that in mind.

She shut off the water and wrapped her hair in a towel, then dried off and applied her lotion before wrapping the second towel around her body and making her way back to the bedroom. She selected her favorite scrub top for today - the one with the horses all over it - and a matching pair of pants. One benefit to her job was definitely the comfort of the clothing she was allowed to wear; while half the staff showed up in dresses in pumps, Elsie felt like she arrived in her pajamas. She had no complaints about that. After slipping her feet into her favorite pair of Danskos, Elsie dried her hair and brushed her teeth. She was halfway out the bathroom door when she nipped back in, putting a bit of mascara and lip color on at the last minute, telling herself she was foolish for doing so. She never bothered much with make-up, but couldn't help herself today.

It was the first day of school, after all - and Charles Carson owed her one emergency form.

She shook her head at her foolishness. The man had just been through an awful time, and Elsie herself was certainly no stranger to misfortune. She knew she had nothing to offer him, yet she couldn't seem to stop thinking about him.

Elsie jumped into her truck, started the ignition, and headed for the coffee shop. She knew the others laughed at her, but it was tea first thing and then coffee the rest of the day. Edith teased her for being a bad influence, and it was probably true. She pulled up the drive-thru window and saw her cup already waiting on the shelf.

"Mornin' Elsie! Happy first day back!" Claire was zipping around behind the window, but Elsie knew she'd spotted the truck and poured Elsie's regular order – hot extra-large, milk only.

"Hello, Claire. How was your summer? Brandon getting along well?"

"Yeah, he is, thanks. He's nothing like a 'terrible two,' which I shouldn't even say aloud for fear that will change." She laughed as she folded up Elsie's bagel and took her payment. "Oh, well. Bobby keeps telling me we lucked out – evidently he was hell on wheels."

Elsie laughed. "I can believe that!" she said. "Please give them my love – and thanks," she added, raising the cup to Claire. "Wish me luck!"

"You never needed it, love. They adore you and you know it. Have a good one!"

Elsie waved as she pulled away from the shop and headed to school.

Here we go!

Elsie pulled into the parking lot and noticed her truck shudder a bit when she put it in park.

Great - just great.

She jumped down from the cab and slammed the door in frustration, then reached into the storage box and removed the grocery bag she'd tucked in there. As she made her way through the front door, Elsie answered the 'hello' of several of her colleagues. It IS nice to be back, she thought. She wasn't terribly close friends with anyone at the place except for Phyllis and Edith, but it was still nice to see them all. Elsie was in it for the children, though, and would be out on the front steps to greet them off the buses and cars in the parent drop-off queue in twenty minutes' time.

She entered her office and took a moment to appreciate all the hard work she'd put in these last two weeks. Everything was sparkling clean, and while the furniture was arranged a bit differently than last year, it gave much more space. She unpacked the grocery bag into the cabinet and checked the fridge to see that the temperature was right for the medications stored within. Satisfied that everything was up to snuff, she grabbed her coffee and headed outside to stand with Edith as the first children arrived.

"Good morning, Edith," she said happily. "Welcome back - officially."

"And you, Elsie." Just then, the first bus pulled up and a riot of children - mostly freshly-scrubbed - filed off, a sea of new backpacks bouncing about, as yet empty but soon to be filled to the brim with books, lunchboxes, jackets, and more.

Elsie waved at and greeted them all, but she made sure to take the time to notice the backpacks that weren't new, to see the children that weren't quite as well-dressed as their peers, the ones who might look as though they weren't eating properly, weren't being cared for enough at home. She noticed the ones who looked anxious and the ones who only looked at the ground. She made a point of greeting those children extra kindly, earning a smile from most of them just for the fact that she paid attention. It simultaneously warmed and broke her heart.

And then a new car pulled up to the curb, and Elsie's heart fluttered. Her feet carried her to the passenger door and her hand reached out to open it, saving the girl inside from struggling with her new book bag and the door all at once.

"Good morning, Miss Carson," she said brightly, ducking down and looking in at Charles as he was seated at the wheel. "A Volvo? My, my ... you do have good taste."

"A seemingly very wise person advised me to go all-wheel drive," he smiled. "Do you like it?"

"Very smart, Mr. Carson," she said pointedly, shooting a glance at Daisy.

"Daisy, it appears that Ms. Hughes is going to bring you in. Is that alright?"

Daisy nodded and then leaned over to wrap her arms around her Papa's neck, giving him a kiss on the lips and whispering in his ear, "It's alright, Papa - she's very nice."

"Yes, she is," he agreed, sending a smile in the direction of the nurse. Elsie looked confused, and he clarified. "She's rather nice, indeed, Daisy." He gave his girl one last squeeze and Elsie held out her hand, which Daisy accepted gratefully. Suddenly, Daisy's eyes widened and she turned back to look at Charles as she pointed at Elsie's chest excitedly.

"Oh, yes, Daisy – they're quite wonderful, aren't they?"

"I beg your pardon?" Elsie asked, reaching down to the door so that she could close it for him.

"Your top," he clarified, the mortification showing on his face as she realized what she must have thought. "Daisy loves horses."

"Do you?" she asked the little girl, who nodded and smiled as Elsie struggled not to laugh at Charles's embarrassment. "Well, Daisy, I think we're going to be friends," she said with a smile. "I love horses, too."

Charles nodded his thanks at Elsie as she closed the door, then pulled away from the curb carefully, sending a brief wave in Edith's direction as he passed by.

As he drove out of the school's driveway, Charles allowed himself to wonder about Ms. Elsie Hughes. Edith had told him that Elsie had arrived in Misty Cove quite a long time ago now, but many townspeople (as is so often the case) still referred to the property she lived on as the 'Johnson Farm,' despite the fact that Elsie had purchased it upon moving here. By the time Mary had arrived in town, followed soon after by Edith, Elsie had been nurse at the school for some years.

Charles pulled into his own driveway and got out of the car. He locked the door, then decided to go for a walk on the beach instead of heading back into the house. The air was warming rapidly now, it still being August, and he tossed his jacket onto the front porch swing before removing his shoes and socks. Thus prepared, he made his way down the path that led from the back door to the sandy, private beach.

He remembered how this home was actually half owed by Violet and it made him laugh, the sound drowned out by the coming in of the tide. He shouldn't have been surprised when Robert told him, yet he was. It did make him feel better to be paying monthly rent to Mary and not to Carlisle, though. Richard, he reminded himself, but he couldn't deny that, despite being Mary's godfather, Charles just couldn't stand the man and, frankly, he just didn't want to be on a first-name basis with him. Charles had no idea what Mary saw in Carlisle, aside from his evidently uncanny ability to turn a floundering newspaper into a prosperous one, but he knew it wasn't really his business. He was just happy to be helping Mary out in any way he could.

After having walked about a quarter mile, Charles stopped and sat on a rock that jutted out from the beach. He took some time to center himself, calming his thoughts by inhaling the healing sea air and exhaling forcefully - exactly according to doctor's instructions, when he'd had his heart attack two years ago. He knew he should be exercising more, had to get back in shape so that he could keep up with Daisy, but they'd both been barely keeping their heads above water these past few weeks. Alice's death had sent him reeling. It was a result he'd never have expected, and it was something that he'd had to stifle in order to help his daughter to cope. Daisy was making some progress at home, to be sure, but he feared that now she was back at school she would regress a bit, overwhelmed by too much change. Only time would tell.

And what of it, old man? What about you, hmm? His conscience kept reminding him, in quiet times such as these, that he still had a great deal to wade through as well. He had almost convinced himself that he was well and truly over losing Alice to Grigg … and then she'd died, and he mourned her loss intensely, and he hadn't been sure what to do with that. Technically, they'd still been married, but that didn't feel real anymore. Even Daisy had accepted that her Mummy and Papa were no longer together, had begun to make room in her sweet little heart for 'the other Charlie,' and Charles had accepted even before then that his marriage had been on the road to disaster long before Grigg entered the picture.

He was surprised that he could admit that easily now, after all that had happened, and that since coming to Misty Cove he'd been feeling like he turned some sort of corner. He'd even talked it over with Cora on the phone last week, who'd suggested that he might not have been mourning Alice's death so much as the loss of their marriage beforehand. He suspected she might be right, but he still owed it to himself to sort his feelings, before …

… before. Before what?

Well, before he thought any more about Elsie Hughes, that was certain. He had no idea what it was about that woman, how she'd spoken a dozen or so sentences to him, some kind of nonsensical discussion about accents and trees and a pie, and then - at a brush of her fingertips - he was completely lost. He had no business becoming involved with anyone at this point in his life, let alone someone that Daisy had to interact with on a regular basis at school.

And yet … and yet.

You're in trouble, old man. And you'd do best to avoid it.

He stood and made his way to the water, wading around a bit and enjoying the cold temperature of it - shocking, really - as it chilled his skin. He stayed a few more minutes before making his way back up to the house, entering through the back door and drying his feet on the mat.

Ten minutes later, a cup of freshly-brewed tea in hand, Charles sat at his desk. He booted up the laptop and opened the files on which he needed to be working today, and tried (unsuccessfully) to push Elsie Hughes and her lovely, lilting Renfrew accent out of his mind.

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