As Elise tried to give her prepared history lesson to her students, she heard the unmistakable sound of whispering from her students. She gave an internal sigh at the sound as she tried to continue on with the lesson. It was just one of those days. It was Friday, a light snow had started just before lunch, and the Winter Fest dance was the following night - whispering was bound to happen.

Turning from the side blackboard after writing a date down, Elise saw a paper plane fly through the air. Carl had been starting to reach to catch it before she had turned. He quickly put his hand down and the airplane landed smoothly on Ally's desk. Catching a silent celebration expression from Timmy Lawson told the teacher which boy had originally thrown the plane. Ally quickly snatched up the plane and hid it in her textbook, as if afraid she might get in trouble for it.

"All right, it is clear to me that you all just have too much pent-up energy to actually concentrate on new material today," Elise said, giving up on her planned lesson. "So, we'll have a review." There was a collective groan from most of the students in the pause before she continued on. "But we'll do it in the form of a game. I want everyone but Timmy to rip a piece of paper out of a notebook."

"Does this mean I don't get to participate?" Timmy asked.

"No, but we need one less piece of paper than there are students," Elise told him. "What I would like for you to do though is to go see Miss Magdon. If she isn't busy, ask her if she could come play some music for us. If she is busy, then just borrow a tambourine. I can't promise it'll be musical, but I can make noise with that," she commented, causing a wave of soft laughter to ripple through the classroom.

"Yes, Miss Chastain," Timmy replied, getting up and scurrying out of the classroom. Elise didn't have the heart to remind him not to run indoors.

With Timmy on his errand, Elise instructed the other children to help her move desks to the sides of the room and then form a circle with the pieces of paper. Retrieving the tape from her desk, Elise went around the circle, securing them to the floor. She was just finishing when Eva and Timmy returned to the classroom. The former was carrying a flute.

"Timmy said you wanted music, and this was an easy instrument to bring," Eva told her fellow teacher. "I hope it fits your needs."

"It'll work fine," Elise replied. "What we are going to play is something I like to call Musical Review. Miss Magdon will play her flute for us while all of you move around the circle. When she stops playing, whoever does not have a square of paper to stand on has to answer a question about something we have recently covered in class."

"Are we out of the game at that point?" Alan Kasik, a boy that always did only enough to pass his subjects, asked. Elise thought she heard a hint of hopefulness in his voice and figured he was already planning to be the first one not to stop on a piece of paper.

"No," Elise replied. "As this is a review game, everyone will keep playing," she informed them. And hopefully it will help with the restless energy and help them academically as well, the teacher added silently. "Your reward will be in knowing that you answered a question right in front of your peers.

There was mixed reaction to that announcement, but Elise let it go. "Okay, everyone in a circle on the path created by the pieces of paper."

With a mixture of chatter, the students did as instructed. When they were in a rough looking circle, Elise looked to her fellow teacher and gave a quick nod. Raising her flute, Eva began to play a sweet, slow melody. The kids started hesitantly moving around the path in a clockwise motion, chatting with those near them as they did. When the flute stopped playing, students came to a stop, looking down to see if their feet were on a piece of paper. Elise noticed some playful shoving among the boys but as long as it didn't get out of hand, she was choosing to ignore it. When the commotion came to an end it was Vincent who was the first one left off a spot. Knowing the boy to be strong in math, Elise gave him a word problem to solve, which he quickly did.

The afternoon continued. There was more chatter and laughing but Elise figured they were probably accomplishing more in this review session than her history lesson had been. As she asked several questions about material she had covered in the beginning and no one knew the answer, it told her how well the children had been paying attention. At least now they were engaged with her and having fun. She hoped that scores on the next round of tests might be a bit higher because of the session as well.

When the school bell rang, signaling the end of the day, it took them all by surprise. Elise was glad to see that instead of grabbing their things and bolting as they usually did, her students helped put the classroom back in order before leaving. Their thanks for the afternoon review game told Elise that she had made the right choice.

Eva left the room to collect her own things from her classroom and Elise turned to erase the chalkboard and gather her own things. Lee would be he shortly to pick her up, Friday's being the one day of the week he tried not to work late in either the lumber office or at the wood shop with Nathan. She was just grabbing her coat from the hook behind the chair when footsteps caused her to look up. As she expected, there was Lee standing in the doorway.

"Are you ready?" Lee asked, his typical smile in place.

"I am," Elise replied, donning her coat and buttoning it up tight. "Is it still snowing?" she asked, realizing that she had not looked out the window in quite a while.

"No. It stopped about a half hour ago," Lee replied. "Thankfully it didn't add up too much, which means the roads are still safe to travel on, especially as Pastor Frank is due on the afternoon train with the boys for his home."

Elise nodded, having slipped on her gloves and pulled her hat on. "Yes, I remember. I have assignments ready for my class to work through on their own on Monday so that I can spend time one-on-one with the new students and determine where they are in their schooling. How are they getting from the train station?"

"Well, funny you should ask that really," Lee said. "I hope you don't mind that we are taking a small detour on our way home today," he said. Given the snow-covered roads of late, Lee had been opting to use his wagon over the automobile. "Curt was planning on picking them up at the train station in his wagon, but something on one of the wheels broke. Kevin was taking a look at it but I sort of volunteered to help get them settled. I hope you don't mind."

Elise shook her head. "It'll give me a chance to meet my new students in an informal setting," she replied.

"Good," Lee said. "I was hoping you would be amenable to it. I didn't want the train to arrive and no one be there to greet them. Not a very welcoming scenario."

"No, it isn't and despite my unease of having troubled youth that I might not know how to help in my classroom, I do want these children to feel welcomed. If the pastor believes they can still be reached then I believe that we should all try to do just that," she said, picking her pile of books up from her desk.

Elise walked down a row of desks to join Lee at the door to the classroom.

"May I take those from you?" Lee asked, holding out his hands to receive the books.

"Thank you," Elise said softly, handing the books over to him.

The two walked outside to Lee's waiting wagon. After stowing her books safely in the back, Lee assisted Elise up onto the seat before climbing up to sit beside her. Picking up the reigns, he got the horses moving and made the short trip from the school to the train station, where he helped Elise back down. Given the cold weather, her waiting outside wasn't even a consideration. Upon helping her down, Lee offered his arm and escorted her into the building.

A quick check with the ticket master informed them that the train they were waiting for had not yet arrived but was expected shortly. Lee thanked the man. Turning from the ticket window, Lee suggested that Elise take a seat in one of the chairs while he went out to wait for the train.

"I'm not too delicate for a little wind and cold. Besides, the snowflakes have ended," Elise pointed out.

Having learned not to argue with a woman when he got such a response, especially since marrying Rosemary, Lee simply offered Elise his arm again and then the two of them headed to the platform to wait for the train's arrival. As she stood there waiting for the train, Elise felt her heart start to beat a little faster. Though she had seen his parents in the interceding years, this would be her first time seeing Edward since he had left to escort Elizabeth to Coal Valley on the way to his first posting. Despite her crush on him, she had held her tongue back then. Not only was she a couple years younger than him, but everyone knew Edward had eyes for Elizabeth back then - well everyone except maybe Elizabeth. She had only ever seen Edward as a nuisance, which of course only made him act out more trying to gain her attention.

Why was it so hard for people to be more open with their feelings, especially when you were a teenager and those emotions were new?

Though she was one to talk. She'd had a crush on Edward Montclair since the first time she met him, tagging along with Margaret and her friends. Not that she had told anyone, though she had a feeling Margaret knew. Edward had always been kind to her, never teasing her like he had Elizabeth and some of the other girls in his class, but he had always referred to her as Little One, a nickname he had also used when referring to his little sister. She had often wondered if Edward would have seen her the same way if he hadn't been infatuated with Elizabeth.

Get a hold of yourself, Elise, silently chided herself. There is a good chance he won't even remember you.

The sound of the train coming into the station drew Elsie's attention away from her inner thoughts and excited chatter picked up around her. Soon the train was pulling to a stop on the tracks in front of them. Like the others surrounding hers, Elise found herself scanning the doors of the train cars wondering where Edward would appear. She could only hope that Lee didn't pick up on her anticipation, though if she had glanced to her right, she would have seen a knowing gleam in the sawmill owner's eyes.

Pastor Frank was the first to step off the train. Reaching the ground, he turned to supervise his charges' disembarkment even as Lee and Elise headed in his direction. When they reached the group, Frank and Lee exchanged greetings. Seeing that Elise's attention was elsewhere, the pastor began to introduce his charges.

Elise's eyes were on the last member of the group to step from the train steps. Though not the same boyish looks as she remembered, Elise felt that Edward was just as handsome as ever. She opened her mouth to greet him but felt like her throat was filled with the saw dust from Lee's lumber mill. She could only imagine how ridiculous she looked as Edward smiled as he came toward her.

"Hey there, Little One. A little far from home, aren't you?" Edward asked, a teasing lilt in the softly spoken words.

Internally, Elise cringed but drew herself up to her full height. Apparently, she was still just Margaret's little sister. She was determined not to show him how much that bothered her as she greeted her old acquaintance.