"I bet most people do," Tori replied. "But today, we're going to make some butter just like Laura did."

"Whoa, cool," several voices said in unison as other students looked at one another with broad smiles on their faces.

"Only instead of taking turns with one churn, you're each going to get to make your very own lump of butter in one of these jars." Tori lifted one of the containers into the air and twisted the lid open. "I'm going to give each of you a jar and then Miss Morgan is going to come around and put some whipping cream into each jar."

"What do we do then?" asked the little boy in the front.

"We shake it."

Tori grinned. "That's right, Lulu, we shake it . . . and shake it . . . and shake it." She handed a jar to each child, stopping to open each and every lid. "And when you think you're all done shaking, you shake some more."

Once the students were ready to shake, Tori moved off to the side to watch them in action. Excitement turned to momentary boredom only to be replaced by excitement once again as the whipping cream began to solidify.

"Nice save, Miss Sinclair."

Tori's mouth went dry.

"I'm Milo Wentworth."

She felt his warm hand close over hers. "I'm Tori-I mean, Victoria."

"Tori, huh? That's pretty."

She stared at the handsome teacher, resisted the urge to ask if he was feeling ill.

"I'm sorry we barged in on you today, Tori."

"You didn't."

He leaned his mouth closer to her ear. "Nina's not good at feigning surprise."

She knew her face had to be bright red. "I'm sorry. The appointment book got misplaced somehow. It won't happen again."

He straightened up as a student approached. "Mr. Wentworth, look at my cream. It's not so runny anymore."

"I see that, Bobby. Keep shaking." As the child returned to his gaggle of friends, the man trained his focus back on Tori. "Please. No apologies. Starting a new job is always overwhelming. A lost appointment book only makes it worse. But you were amazing just now."

Amazing.

"I'll be ready for you next Friday, I promise."

He laughed, a wonderful sound that resonated from deep inside his chest. "I can't wait to see what you call ready."

"What will you be studying next week?" she asked, her face as warm as ever as her eyes studied him for the very first time. Milo Wentworth was tall-the top of his head a full eight inches or so above her own five foot five. His hair, a burnished brown, was cut short on the sides but left longish, and somewhat unruly, at the top- "I'd like to tie that into an article we'll be reading in Kids Quest about ancient architecture."

His brown eyes were softened by flecks of amber- "The problem is bringing it down to their level so as not to put them to sleep."

He was talking. And she was missing the bulk of what he was saying.

Focus, Tori. Ancient architecture. Ancient architecture . . .

"Egyptian pyramids?"

"How'd you guess?" He ran a hand through his hair as dimples began to form beside his mouth. "You gonna have them build their own?"

"Maybe." Realizing she was coming dangerously close to flirting, Tori decided to engage the dark-haired girl who was staring into her jar with big brown eyes. "You did it, Lulu. You made butter just like Laura did."

The smile she got in response warmed her all over.

"Now go on over to Miss Morgan and you can try it out on a piece of bread."

She watched as the little girl fairly skipped her way over to the bread line, her delight in her butter-making ability as tangible as the baby blue dress she wore. "She's precious."

"Lulu? Yeah, she's a great kid. She loves books. Loves stories. But you saw-speaking in front of people is difficult for her. And unfortunately, reading aloud is even harder for her." Milo raised his hands up in frustration. "I've tried everything I can think of to help her, but nothing works."

"She talked when you sat next to her," Tori said as her gaze traveled, once again, to the little girl who exuded a joy that was nothing short of contagious.

"But with fifteen other students I can't sit next to her all the time."

Without realizing what she was doing Tori placed a hand on Milo's forearm. "Let me think on it this week. See if I can come up with any ideas to help her."

"I'd appreciate that, Tori." The slight rasp to the man's voice startled her and she let her hand drop to her side.

What was she thinking? Was she that desperate to hear her name said correctly?

"I-uh-it looks like everyone's finished, so I'd like to ask them a few questions before you leave. I'm working on a little project I think they can help with." Tori strode across the room to the spot where the children were eating. "So how'd your butter taste?"

"Awesome!"

"Yummy!"

"Weird."

You win some, you lose some.

"Now, before you leave, I need a little help from all of you. Can you do that?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

She pulled a piece of paper and a pencil off the top of a nearby table and sat down. "If you could pretend to be a character from a storybook, who would you want to be?"

"Davy Crockett," said the redhead.

"Robin Hood," said another little boy.

"Cam Jansen," offered a stocky girl with curly brown hair.

"Ooooh, Cam Jansen-a modern day Nancy Drew. She's fun, isn't she?" Tori asked. "How about some more ideas?"

She jotted down each and every name the children shared until they ran out of ideas. "Thank you so much for all your help."

"Why did you need that stuff?" the redhead asked.

"Because I'm going to make a dress-up trunk so children who come to the library can pretend to be some of their favorite storybook characters."

"Cool!"

Tori smiled. "I'm glad you think so. Now I think it's time for Mr. Wentworth to get you back to school for lunch. So go home, tell your parents what you made today and why . . . and then I'll see you here again next Friday."

In a flash, sixteen eight-year-olds were on their feet and falling into line.

"What do we say to Miss Sinclair, boys and girls?" Milo asked.

"Thank you, Miss Sinclair!"

"You're very welcome." She watched as the class began filing out the door then looked down as she felt a tug on her leg.

Lulu.

"Laura Ingalls."

Tori squatted down to eye level with the little girl. "What about Laura, sweetheart?"

"I want to dress up like her."

Ahhhh.

Softly, she tapped the child on the center of the nose. "I'll make you a deal. I'll put her on the very top of my costume-making list if you'll read with me for a few minutes next week."

The little girl's body began to sway back and forth ever so gently.

"Just you and me. No one else." Tori nudged Lulu's chin upward until their eyes met. "Can you try? For me?"

The child's nod was barely discernable, but it was there.

"Good."

Tori straightened up as the child spun in a circle and fell in place at the back of the line, her black hair bobbing as she followed her classmates past their teacher and out the door.

For a long moment Milo Wentworth simply stood holding the door open, his eyes locked on Tori's as his students waited patiently on the sidewalk. Finally he waved, his mouth forming a single word as he turned away.

A single word that looked a lot like amazing.

Chapter 5.

If it was possible, Georgina Hayes's home was even bigger than Debbie Calhoun's. But what Debbie's may have lacked in size, it more than made up for in warmth and coziness.

Tori stepped onto the freshly waxed wooden entryway flooring and waited as the housekeeper closed the door. "Miss Georgina is in the study with a few of the other women."

Hoisting her bag higher onto her shoulder, she turned and smiled at the unassuming woman with the trademark bun and aproned dress who'd rescued the plate of chocolate chip cookies from Tori's hand the second she'd entered the home. "Where would I find the study?"

The woman's face reddened. "Oh I'm sorry. I just assumed you knew. I'll-"

"It's okay. Really. Just point me in the right direction and I'll get myself settled while you greet the next guest."

"Victoria! I thought that was you." Leona came around a paneled corner, her face beaming as she waved off the housekeeper. "How are things going?"

"Great." Tori bestowed a quick hug on the antiques shopkeeper then patted the pocket of her pants. "I brought a list of the character costumes like Rose requested."

Leona's soft brown eyes clouded momentarily, her voice dropping a few decibels. "You might want to hold off on that. See how the aura is first."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"She came this time."

"Who?"

Leona's pointed look was all the answer she needed.

Dixie Dunn.

She felt her shoulders slump, her stomach churn.

"Now don't you worry, dear. You'll win her over just as you've won everyone else over. You just need to take it-"

"A little slow, I know." Tori opened her bag and peered inside. "At least I still have some work to do on the tassel."

"Good." Leona's arm slipped inside Tori's and gently tugged. "Now let's be social, shall we?"

As they walked together down a long, chandelier-lit hallway, Tori couldn't help but feel the excitement mounting inside. Sure, she was apprehensive about her first meeting with the infamous and deeply wounded Dixie Dunn, but even more than that she was simply glad to be with the group of close-knit women who had made her feel so welcome the week before.

The days since their last sewing circle had been filled with odd and frustrating mishaps from which she'd emerged-so far-fairly unscathed. But still, how many more flat tires was she expected to endure? And how many times could the boxes of old books she worked all day to remove seem to multiply tenfold overnight?

"Why don't you two just slow down a country minute and let a slightly plump twin sister catch up."

Leona extricated her arm from Tori's as they turned. "Margaret Louise, we didn't hear you."

"Ha! I haven't heard that many times in my life." The woman planted a kiss on her sister's cheek then pushed a covered plate at Tori. "This is for you. For what you've done."

Tori looked a question at Leona before meeting Margaret Louise's eyes. "What did I do?"