The Rancher Inherits a Family

by Cheryl St. John

  It took only minutes to get Dewey’s help to hitch a wagon and make a bed of blankets in the back. Evelyn ushered the boys inside. Marigold prayed beside Violet the whole time Seth led the team at a run toward town.

  It took time to find Marlys because the office was dark. Marigold stayed there with Violet while Seth ran to the Werner home. Minutes later both Marlys and Sam arrived. He unlocked the door and lit lanterns in the office.

  “Carry her to the first room down the hall,” Marlys instructed. She examined the girl for broken bones first, then cleaned the wound on her scalp and asked Sam to go for ice. She lifted Violet’s eyelids one at a time, looked in her ears and listened to her heart.

  “I know that lump on her head is scary,” she told Marigold. “But it’s a good sign because the swelling is not inside her skull, as far as I know. She has no blood in her ears or nose. That’s another good sign. But she seems to have a concussion.”

  “What does that mean exactly?”

  “I’m unable to determine that exactly. As I said I don’t think she has any bleeding in her head. But she has had a brain trauma of some degree, caused by hitting her head. She’s breathing well. Her pupils are reactive. She’s just not waking up. The best thing for her is rest.”

  “How long will this last?”

  “I have no way of knowing. She could wake up tonight or tomorrow. It could take weeks.”

  “Or longer?” Marigold asked. “Could she stay like this?”

  “It’s been known to happen, but in my opinion, her condition is temporary.”

  Marigold trembled and groped for a chair, where she sat hard.

  “What should we do?” Seth asked the lady doctor. “Take her home?”

  Marlys looked at the girl. “I’d leave her here instead of moving her again. I can keep a close watch on her for any changes. You’re welcome to stay with her.”

  Seth kneeled beside Marigold’s chair. He took her hand. She looked into his eyes, her own revealing her pain and worry. She’d only just been given the gift of having her dear niece returned to her. And now this.

  “I’m going to go get James and see if he knows where Libby Thompson lives,” Seth told her. “She can come fill in for a day or so at school. You don’t need to think about that, too.” He opened her hand and pressed her palm against his cheek. “Look at me. She’s going to be all right. You hear me?”

  “Could you find the reverend, too?” Marigold asked in a hoarse whisper.

  “Yes, of course. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  She leaned forward and touched her forehead to his. He bracketed her head between his hands and then stood. “Don’t you lose faith in your girl. She’s tougher than she looks.”

  He stood and stepped back.

  A tear rolled down her cheek, but she nodded and gave him a weak smile.

  * * *

  Seth found James at home. Hannah stood behind him with a shawl around her shoulders while Seth explained the situation. James knew where the Thompsons lived and was willing to ride and ask Libby to replace Marigold for a few days.

  “Are you going for my father?” Hannah asked.

  “I am.”

  “Tell Marigold I’m praying. James, on your way back, you’d better stop and tell Daniel and Leah what’s happened.”

  James gave his wife a peck on the cheek and grabbed the vest he was never without. “I’ll tell them.”

  The town had built a small parsonage to the west of the church, and Seth woke Virgil Taggart by pounding on his door. He opened it and peered out. “Seth Halloway?”

  “Reverend, Marigold’s niece has been hurt. We need you to come pray. She’s at Dr. Mason’s.”

  “Step in while I get dressed.”

  A few minutes later they ran into Marlys’s office.

  Sam had carried in chairs, and Reverend Taggart sat closest to Violet on the side opposite Marigold. He rested his hand on the top of her head and prayed.

  Marigold gripped Seth’s hand so hard, his fingers went numb, but her hold relaxed the longer the prayer continued. The reverend sought the grace and merciful healing power of Almighty God on behalf of this precious little one. He quoted Scripture in which Jesus had laid His hands upon people or had merely spoken and they’d been healed. “Lord, we are not anxious or fearful because Your Word says in the book of Philippians in chapter four that we should be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make our requests known to You. We know You hear us, and we know how much You love Violet...and Marigold. Thank You, Father, for hearing our prayer and healing Violet’s injuries, in Jesus’s name.”

  Marigold squeezed Seth’s fingers. “Amen.”

  Reverend Taggart stayed about an hour, and then stood to leave. “Don’t doubt in your heart,” he said to Marigold.

  “Thank you so much for coming.”

  Shortly after, Sam went home to his son and Marlys retired to the back room, where they could call her if needed. Seth, though, stayed right beside Marigold.

  “You could lie down beside her and rest,” he told her.

  She did, climbing on the small bed and curling up beside the sleeping child. She took Violet’s hand in hers and kissed her fingers. “You rest and get better, my darling. We have a lot more to do together. We haven’t even had a chance to get started.”

  Seth’s eyelids got heavy, but he woke at the sound of Marigold’s voice.

  “Do you remember the lullaby your grandmother used to sing to you?” she asked the unresponsive child. “It’s an old Welsh folk song.”

  He waited only seconds for Marigold to sing it.

  “‘Sleep my child and peace attend thee, all through the night. Guardian angels, God will send thee, all through the night. Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, hill and vale in slumber sleeping. I, my loving vigil keeping, all through the night.’” Her sweet voice trailed off. “I’ll play it on the pianoforte for you when you come back to school.”

  His throat tightened with emotion. Violet had to wake up.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The following morning Violet was the same—frighteningly motionless. Marlys listened to her breathing and her heart, lifted her eyelids and looked at her eyes. “Rest is the best thing for her. If she doesn’t wake up soon, you can take her home. I’ll come out to the ranch to check on her.”

  Seth had fallen asleep in the chair a few times and then Marlys had come and offered him a bed in one of the other rooms. He’d slept a couple of hours.

  James showed up to let them know Libby Thompson was taking over the classroom temporarily. “She sends her love, along with the Gardners and others who’ve heard the news.”

  “There’s nothing you can do here,” Marigold told Seth. “Dewey will bring the boys to school. Go home and work.”

  He held Marigold in a comforting embrace before leaving.

  Aunt Mae sent breakfast for the two women. Marigold took a few bites. “What about her?” she asked. “She can’t go forever without eating and drinking.”

  “We’ll prop her head and shoulders and see if she will swallow when we give her water. If she does, we’ll make sure she drinks and give her bone broth.”

  Marigold moved back to the edge of the bed and held Violet’s hand. “She was already so thin.”

  “We’ll take care of her, you and I.”

  She was grateful for Marlys’s wisdom and gentle encouragement. “Thank you for everything.”

  Violet swallowed when they gave her spoonfuls of water, so Marlys used a rubber tube with a clamp to regulate flow and slowly fed her a cup of bone broth. She washed her face and hands and smoothed her hair.

  The doctor looked at Marigold. “I couldn’t help but notice the way Seth touched you last night.”

  Marigold shook her head. “It didn’t mean anything.”


  “It meant something,” she insisted. “I saw him look at you.”

  “No. He has a ranch to run, and now the boys to take care of. I happened on him by accident. He’s a man of duty. He couldn’t refuse when his mother arranged for me to stay with them. He takes on responsibilities, and I’ve been one of those. He has been teaching me to ride and shoot, so I can take care of myself. When I asked him to, he directed Will Canfield to find me a new place to live.”

  “It’s more than obligation.”

  “Perhaps. But I’m simply convenient.”

  “Marigold, I know what I’m talking about here. That man’s in love.”

  “He told me my hair was pretty.”

  “Has he kissed you?”

  “Yes.” She blinked and looked at the lady doctor. “He gets this low timbre to his voice when no one is around to hear us talk.”

  Marlys gave her a soft smile.

  “But I want to make my own choices,” Marigold told her. “I’ve lost everyone who’s ever meant anything to me—except Violet. She was taken away from me once, but that’s not going to happen again. Love is fragile. You can lose it in a heartbeat. I want to be in control of my own life. I’ve seen you and your husband together. I’ve seen Hannah and James. I want that. I want it all. The love, the career, the right to choose.”

  “I think you’re afraid.”

  “Of course I’m afraid. People who aren’t afraid don’t have anything to lose.”

  Marlys moved toward the door. “Some things are worth the risk.”

  * * *

  Beatrix stopped in on her way to school, and Deborah brought pastries she’d baked that morning. “All of us at the boardinghouse are praying for your niece.”

  Evelyn arrived in the afternoon. She set a bag inside the door. “I came to sit with you and the poor little dear. I’ll take the boys home from school later.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What can I do?”

  Marigold explained what Marlys had told her about Violet’s condition.

  “Those little boys cried their eyes out most of the night, but they got up and went to school. They haven’t seen Seth since it happened, because he came in and went straight out to the fields.”

  “They’re not afraid of him?”

  “I don’t think so, but they haven’t been with us that long, and this is serious. They’re children, but they’re smart and they know they did something that ended badly.”

  Marigold relived the evening, thought back over being stranded miles from the house, walking over the field, Tate riding toward them... Violet lying still on the earth. She hugged herself and shuddered.

  “Tate said they came up with the idea together. They planned to get you two away from the house and then leave you alone to walk home.”

  Marigold frowned in confusion. “Why?”

  “As I understand it, they were trying their hand at matchmaking.”

  She couldn’t wrap her mind around that disclosure. “What?”

  “His words were something about leaving you alone so you could make friends and stay at White Rock always.”

  Marigold let her body go limp on the chair where she sat. “A plan to get me to stay.”

  Evelyn drew a quick breath. “And Violet was in on the plan.”

  “She what?”

  “She wanted to stay at the ranch, too.”

  Marigold could only shake her head. “And I thought she was jealous of Little John.”

  “That’s normal for kids.”

  “Oh, Evelyn, I don’t care what they did. I just want her to wake up and be all right.”

  “I know, dear. Why don’t you go freshen up and change clothing? I brought you clean things. I hope you don’t mind that I got clothes from your room.”

  “Of course not. That’s thoughtful.” She stood. “I still have a complimentary mineral bath coming. I’ll see if Marlys has time to prepare it.” She leaned down to give the older woman a brief hug.

  Marlys was delighted to prepare a bathing room. The space looked different during the day, with sun streaming through wide multifaceted windows set near the ceiling and creating sparkling prisms on the floor and water. The oils and minerals smelled exotic, and the steam and temperature relaxed her, as intended. She thought about everything Marlys had said to her about Seth. How he looked at her. How he took her hand, touched her face so tenderly. Had she deliberately overlooked those behaviors because she didn’t want to see them? Because she was afraid? She’d been right when she’d told the doctor that people who weren’t afraid didn’t have anything to lose.

  With Seth, the ranch came first. And the rest of his responsibilities fell in line behind that. She didn’t want to be another obligation, because if she was, she’d most certainly fall at the bottom of his list of priorities.

  She felt refreshed and so much better once she was dressed and had her hair fixed. She almost expected to see Violet sitting up when she returned. But the girl was still lying on the bed as though sleeping.

  Leah came to sit for a time, and prayed with them before she left. Hannah visited, too, and brought a lovely wrapper she’d sewn for Violet that morning. Marigold wept when she saw the beautiful soft pale blue cloth with delicate stitching and butterflies appliquéd on the yoke. “You made this today?”

  “With a prayer in every stitch. I’ll help you put it on her if you like.”

  “She would love that.”

  Together they changed Violet’s clothing, and then Marigold dampened her hair with toilet water and arranged it in finger curls. The child looked as though she might open her eyes at any moment. Marigold watched them for a flutter or movement. She whispered in her ear. Hannah took Violet’s clothing to launder and made her way out.

  “Shall I bring the boys to see you and Violet before we head to the ranch?”

  She glanced at Evelyn. “Do you think it would help them?”

  “It might.”

  “Yes, of course. Bring them.”

  The school was only across the street a short way so it wasn’t long before Evelyn led in the three boys. They glanced at Marigold, but their attention was soon riveted on Violet. The trio stood at the side of her bed.

  “Looks like she’s sleepin’,” Tate said.

  “She is.”

  “When’s she gonna wake up?” Harper asked.

  “Donna wake up,” Little John said.

  Marigold choked out a reply. “Soon, I hope.”

  Tate got tears in his eyes. “We’re awful sorry, Marigold.”

  “I know you are.” She came around the end of the bed to kneel and draw them into a hug. “You didn’t mean for this to happen. Accidents happen sometimes.”

  “You’re not mad at us?”

  “I’m not mad. I’m not happy that you did something dangerous by taking those horses all by yourselves. You knew that was wrong. But I’m not mad. And what happened to Violet is not your fault. Go ahead and talk to her.”

  “Can she hear us?”

  “I don’t know. But if she can, she wants to know you’re here.”

  They took turns speaking to Violet. Little John climbed on the side of the bed and patted her hand. “Wake up and tum home.”

  Marigold hugged them and Evelyn led the boys out.

  At suppertime, Aunt Mae again sent meals. Marlys warmed another cup of broth, and they fed it to Violet. Seth would likely work another long day, but Marigold expected she’d see him once darkness fell.

  She fell asleep sitting up and dreamed she was walking up a steep hill, intent on making it to the top, growing more and more tired. People she knew from various places, like acquaintances back home, Buck Hanley, Russ’s assistant, Simon, kept interrupting her progress with questions and papers to sign. She’d never make it to her destination if they didn’t leave her alone.

&nb
sp; “Aunt Mari?” Violet’s voice, as sweet and soft as she remembered, mingled with the chaos of distractions, and she concentrated on hearing her, frustrated by the interference.

  “Aunt Mari?”

  Marigold opened her eyes.

  Violet’s eyes were open, and her wide hazel eyes showed her confusion.

  “Violet?” She stood quickly and stepped to the doorway. “Marlys!”

  Marigold darted to her bedside and reached for Violet’s hand. “You’re awake.”

  “Where are we?”

  “We’re at Dr. Mason’s office. In Cowboy Creek. You took a fall when you and the boys were riding.”

  “My head hurts.”

  Marlys entered and went to the other side of the bed. “I’m sure it does. You have a big bump on the back of your head. Follow my finger.”

  Violet’s eyes followed Marlys’s finger as she moved it back and forth in front of her face.

  The doctor picked up Violet’s hand and slid hers underneath. “Squeeze my hand.”

  Violet obeyed.

  She went to the foot of the bed and folded back sheets to place her palm on the sole of her foot. “Can you push against my hand?”

  She looked up and smiled at Marigold. “She seems just fine.”

  Marigold fell over her niece’s form and hugged her gently, holding back a tide of relieved tears that threatened to spill over. She kissed her cheek and straightened. “Praise the Lord.”

  “Are you mad at me? Are the boys in trouble?”

  “No one’s angry with anyone. We were worried sick. All that matters right now is that you’re all right.”

  “When you talked about getting a house for us, it sounded fine at first...but I like Seth and Evelyn. And I like the boys. I wanted to stay and ride horses and play with them.”

  “You might have just told me.”

  “I’m sorry.” She noticed the wrapper she wore. “What’s this?”