Renewing Love
Page 17
“Mister,” the man asked, “are you sick?”
Walker struggled to find the strength to talk. “Weak. Thirsty.” He touched his head. “Got a bump here.” The robber had hit him with the butt of his gun.
“I’ll have a look.” Walker flinched as the man parted his hair and examined the wound. “You have a goose egg, but it doesn’t look serious. I expect it will hurt for a few days.”
“Here, drink this.” The young lady held a cup of cold water to his lips, and he drank eagerly. She hastened to bring him a bowl of soup and fed it to him spoonful by spoonful. He would have protested, but he didn’t have the strength or the will. Slowly he began to feel his body. His brain started to clear.
The man sat opposite him. “Welcome to Glory, Montana Territory. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m the preacher, Jacob Kinsley. This is my daughter, Josephine.” Another woman entered the room, with two children in tow. “This is Mrs. Norwood and her children, Blossom—”
A sweet looking little girl he thought might be about three.
“And Donny.”
The boy could be five or six. Marshall wasn’t good at judging children’s ages. But there was no mistaking the bright curiosity in the child’s eyes.
Miss Josephine placed a cup of fragrant coffee before him. “Can you manage to drink it on your own, or do you need help?”
He recognized her voice as the one who had spoken against penniless cowboys. “I’ll manage. Thank you.” His self-respect had returned, but he soon discovered he needed to use both hands to lift the cup to his mouth. The hot drink served to revive him.
The preacher nodded. “I see you’re feeling a bit better. Can you tell us what happened to you?”
“I was robbed. The scoundrel hit me on the head before he took my horse and saddle and all my supplies. Left me to perish.”
“You proved him wrong, I’d say.”
“If I hadn’t found this place when I did, he might have succeeded.” He’d been fighting the weakness of his body all morning. “It would have been so easy to stop putting one foot in front of the other.” His world had narrowed down to that simple act.
“How many days since you were robbed?”
“Not sure, but seems like it was five days. I’ve been wandering around, trying to find help since then.”
A collective gasp came from the adults, and the little boy’s eyes widened with admiration as he leaned on the corner of the table and watched Walker.
“Five days?” The preacher shook his head. “How did you survive?”
“Mostly I think I went in circles. Couldn’t get my bearings.” The blow to his head had left him dizzy and disoriented. “Yesterday, I found the road. I could see signs that the river was nearby, but I didn’t have the strength to make it to the river and back. I hoped if I stayed on the road, someone would find me. ”
“You didn’t encounter any homes?”
“I passed a homesteader’s shack a couple days ago.” He wasn’t sure of the time frame any more than he was certain the place hadn’t been born in the wanderings of his mind. “Didn’t seem to be anyone home.” He couldn’t remember if he’d knocked on the door or not. One thing he was certain of. “I couldn’t bring myself to take anything. Even being hungry doesn’t make stealing right.”
“God certainly had his hand on you.”
“Preacher, I couldn’t agree more.”
“Now, you’ll be needing somewhere to rest and recover your strength. Turns out I have just the place.”
“Pa?” It was Miss Josephine. “What do you have in mind?”
“We’ll put a cot in the addition.” He held up a hand to forestall his daughter’s objection. “I know it’s not finished, but the walls are up, the roof is almost shingled. It will provide shelter.”
“Yes, Pa.”
“With your ma away tending to Mrs. Smith, I’ll be counting on you.”
“Of course.”
“I can help,” Mrs. Norwood offered.
Miss Josephine patted the woman’s shoulder. “I will gladly accept help, but Ma would have my hide if I let you do too much. You need to rest and regain your strength.”
Mrs. Norwood sighed. “It seems to be taking forever.”
“There’s no rush.” Miss Josephine turned back to her father. “I’ll help set up a place.”
She and her father left. Young Donny remained at the table, studying Walker.
Walker grinned. “Do I look that bad?”
Donny nodded. “You’s covered with dust, and your hair is pokey.” He raised spread fingers to his head to indicate what he meant.
“Donny, mind your manners,” the child’s ma said.
Donny ducked his head. “Sorry, mister.”
“No offense taken. I expect I am rather a mess, but I’ll tell you, I’m mighty glad to be alive.”
Mrs. Norwood breathed an “Amen.” She raised her voice to speak to Walker. “You couldn’t have found yourself in a better place. The Kinsleys are hospitable and will help you get back on your feet.”
“I’m afraid I have nothing to offer them in exchange. I’m a poor, penniless cowboy without even a horse and saddle to my name.”
“That won’t make an ounce of difference.”
Walker nodded. It might not matter to the preacher, but he was certain it mattered a lot to the preacher’s daughter. Not that Walker cared. He only wanted to regain his strength, find a way to earn enough money to buy another horse and outfit, and then proceed with his plans.
Josie helped her pa set up a cot in the unfinished addition. “Pa, how long do you think he’ll be here?” She spread out bedding as she spoke.
“As long as he needs to be. God has a plan in bringing him to us, and we don’t want to miss out on what the good Lord has in store. Do we?”
“No, Pa.” Her tone must have said more than she intended, because Pa stopped pushing aside pieces of lumber to study her.
“This is the reason we need the addition—so we can provide a place for the sick, the injured, and destitute. We can give them shelter and succor.”
That’s what the room down the hall was supposed to do, but it would be some time before Stella and her children could leave.
Pa continued. “Is there some reason you don’t want him here? Is it because your mother is away? I have every confidence you can handle this. You’re very capable.”
“I don’t mind the work.” It was the man’s words about not being able to bring himself to steal food even when he was hungry that twisted inside her stomach. Sometimes a person had to steal to survive.
“He’s a fine looking fellow,” Pa said, still watching her to see her reaction to his words.
“I suppose he is, though he could use some water to wash with and some clean clothes.” Even in his disheveled state she couldn’t help but note the man’s dark blond hair, his piercing blue eyes, and the firmness of his chin.
Pa chuckled. “Josie, my dear daughter, someday a young man is going to make you forget your past and make you want to march into the future.”
“Pa, you know I already have plans for my future.”
Pa shook his head, his mouth drawn back in a slight frown. “Your plans sound lonely to me.”
“I love sewing, and I see ladies as they come to order gowns and things.” Though since they’d moved to Montana Territory she didn’t see many. “Soon I’ll have enough money to buy a sewing machine, and then I’ll set up business in a little shop.” She’d be independent and self-sufficient, with her future secure.
“There’s more to life than making money.”
They’d had this discussion before. She’d explained it wasn’t about the money. It was about security. But Pa insisted her only security was in trusting God.
Coming soon!
Also by Linda Ford
Contemporary Romance
Montana Skies series
Cry of My Heart
Forever in My Heart
Everlasting Love
In
heritance of Love
Historical Romance
Love on the Santa Fe Trail
Wagon Train Baby
Wagon Train Wedding
Wagon Train Matchmaker
Wagon Train Christmas
Dakota Brides series
Temporary Bride
Abandoned Bride
Second-Chance Bride
Reluctant Bride
War Brides series
Lizzie
Maryelle
Irene
Grace
Wild Rose Country
Crane’s Bride
Hannah’s Dream
Chastity’s Angel
Cowboy Bodyguard
Copyright © 2018 by Linda Ford
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.