With Endless Sight

by Allison Pittman

  Then it was time to go to court.

  The proceedings were informal and brief. Perhaps it was because of the holiday, but the circuit judge did little more than doff his hat, take my money, and pronounce my brother and Del to be free men. They each had their few belongings in a drawstring canvas bag that the deputy handed over upon their release.

  Before their arrest, Chester and Del had shared a room over the town’s post office, but I reserved a room for them down the hall from me at the Brasco Hotel. On the ground floor behind the lobby was a washroom with running water where the boys could each get a bath in Mr. Brasco’s porcelain, claw-foot tub before heading off to the celebration. I had taken one the night before and highly recommended Mrs. Brasco’s aloe-caked soap.

  While I waited for Chester and Del to finish their baths, I pressed Gloria’s green dress, curled and pinned my hair in a complicated, fetching style, and fashioned the tartan ribbon into a bow around my neck. A long oval mirror hung behind my hotel room door, and I turned slowly in front of it to see that I looked passably attractive from all angles. After all, I would be dancing.

  There was a knock on my door, and I opened it to see Chester, his hair neatly trimmed and his face clean-shaven.

  “You look beautiful, Lindy,” he said as he walked in.

  “Thank you, dear brother.” I offered a curtsy.

  “I worry about you staying in this room all by yourself.”

  “I’ll be fine. I’ve been in worse places. Besides, I think Mr. Brasco sees me as a long-lost daughter. He takes very good care of me.”

  “Well, that’s good to know.” He had a handkerchief in his pocket that he took out now and refolded. “I don’t think it’s such a good idea for you to have all that money in here with you, though. That can’t be safe.”

  “I know.” I used my foot to slide my satchel under the bed. “But I made a tiny rip in the lining, and I keep it in there.”

  Chester continued to fidget with his handkerchief. “That’s probably a good idea. You’re the smart one.”

  “Always have been.”

  “Come on.” He offered me his arm. “We’re meeting Del in the lobby.”

  I dropped my comb and handkerchief in my reticule and looped it over my wrist. Together, Chester and I walked down the stairs to where Del sat in one of the threadbare lobby chairs. The minute he saw us, he stood up. He wore a starched blue shirt with a sprigged pattern of tiny green leaves and a clean pair of brown wool pants. He’d combed his hair back off his face, though I much preferred it loose, with tendrils draped in front of his eyes. But his most striking feature was the slight smile that came to his face the minute he saw me and the soft green eyes that never looked away.

  “Shall we?” He opened the front doors wide.

  We could hear the slightest strains of the band even from here, and my toes tapped in anticipation. But when I heard Del’s heavy step drag across the hotel porch, both my toes and my heart became still.

  We made our way toward the music, walking companionably at Del’s pace. The sun was setting behind us, casting three long shadows.

  “You know what?” Chester clapped one hand on my shoulder and the other on Del’s. “I forgot something back in the room. Why don’t you both go on without me, and I’ll catch up.”

  “What’d you forget?” Del said.

  “Just some extra nickels for lemonade. Or whatever other goodies they might have.”

  “I have money.” I held up my reticule.

  “Now, Sis, there might be some pretty ladies—excuse me, some other pretty ladies—there tonight. What would I look like if I had to ask my little sister for a nickel to buy a lemonade?”

  Without pausing for a response, he started jogging back to the hotel, leaving Del and me to walk alone.

  “It’s a nice breeze,” he said after a few minutes.

  “It is,” I said. “Del, I haven’t had a chance to say this yet, but thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For taking care of Chester. He needs looking after sometimes.” “Glad to do it,” he said.

  Even though I’d contributed many of the details myself, the vision of the dance floor took my breath away. There had to be more than a hundred people milling about, all dressed in their finest. I even scanned the crowd for Jewell or any of the men from Silver Peak, though I knew she would be throwing her own festivities there.

  “This looks nice, don’t it?” Del said.

  “Yes, it does. You know, I cut out every one of those paper stars.”

  He stepped back to get the fullest effect. “Very impressive.”

  “And just what did you do to bring this all together?”

  He turned to me. “I prayed for you, Belinda. Every day I prayed that God would bring you back safe to your brother. And,” he added softly, “to me.”

  “Oh. Well, thank you.”

  We made our way through the crowd washing down sausages and corn pone with cold lemonade. One long table full of pies had been judged earlier, and they were available for ten cents a slice. Since we couldn’t decide on a flavor, we shared pieces of cherry, apple, and pumpkin between us.

  “Shouldn’t we wait for Chester to join us?” I was licking my lips after eating a stick of sugar-encrusted fried bread.

  “When he gets here, we’ll go for seconds.” Del fished in his pocket for another nickel to buy us each a cup of spiced cider.

  I craned my neck looking for my brother, but it was getting harder to see as the clearing turned to twilight. Finally, I caught his face in the crowd and grabbed Del’s hand to bring us to him.

  “Where have you been?” I hollered in Chester’s ear to make myself heard over the band of three fiddles, a snare drum, a banjo, and an accordion. “Come dance with your sister!”

  Chester looked at me, his eyes dark pools of shame and sadness. “You lied to me, Lindy.”

  “What are you talking about?” Del said.

  “This.” Chester reached into his pocket, pulled out a slip of paper, and thrust it at Del. “Read it.”

  I couldn’t hear the words Del mouthed as he read out loud. But I didn’t have to. I’d written them myself earlier that morning.

  “ ‘Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.’ Proverbs 15:16.”

  At first, Del was the only one laughing, but soon enough Chester’s crooked smile appeared, and I allowed myself to relax and smile too.

  “I’m sorry I lied to you.” I uncinched the string of my reticule and drew out a couple of bills and a handful of coins. “We’re family, Chester. What’s mine is yours. You have only to ask.” I pressed the money into his hand. “Now, please, dance with me.”

  Chester pulled me to him and planted a kiss on top of my head. “Sorry, Sis, I’ve been detained. Maybe later?” He held me close so close I could hear him whisper, “Stay here with Del, Lindy. Dance with him. He’s as good a man as I’ve ever known.”

  He was turning to walk away when Del grabbed his arm. “Don’t do this, brother.”

  Chester pulled his arm away. “It’s fine. I’m fine,” he said, before disappearing into the crowd.

  The song ended, and Del and I stood in the middle of soft, rippling applause.

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Belinda.”

  “He’s my brother.”

  “He’s just going to—”

  “That’s between Chester and God then, isn’t it?”

  “I guess it is at that,” Del said. “Want to take a walk?”

  I nodded and slipped my hand through the crook of his offered arm. His steps faltered as usual, but I matched mine to his as we wove through the crowd.

  “You know, Miss Belinda,” he said, “there’s lots of other verses in the Bible about treasures.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you know the one that says wherever your treasure is, that’s where your heart is too?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  He stopped walking and put his
hands on my shoulders, turning me to face him.

  “I never cared about the money. Didn’t care much about that brother of yours at first, but I figured if I stuck with him, I’d get myself back to you. What I’m sayin’ is, my heart is with you tonight, Belinda. It’s been yours since the first night I saw you.”

  “Is that why you kissed me?”

  He smiled. “I apologize for my boldness. I just couldn’t take a chance on not seein’ you again.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “So,” he leaned down so close that he blocked out every other image, “can I kiss you again?”

  “That depends. Are you planning to ride off in the middle of the night with all my money?”

  “Never. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

  “Then you may kiss me. But see that you make it a good one, in case it needs to last for another year.”

  Del burst into laughter, picked me right off my feet, and twirled me in circle after circle until I was breathless with protest.

  “Then we’ll wait until later.” He looked up into my face. “For now, just dance with me.”

  My expression must have registered my misgiving, because he squeezed me tighter and gave me a little shake.

  “Come on! You have to trust me. Do you trust me?”

  Deciding I had answered yes, he carried me through the crowd and onto the dance floor just as the band struck up a waltz. Del lowered me to the ground and we stood, motionless, as the music swirled around us. His hands were on my waist, and mine almost on his shoulders. I’d never felt so small. Or so safe.

  “I know my steps aren’t perfect when I walk,” he said, “but somehow I think it’ll be different when we dance.”

  He held me so close, I could feel his heart beating beneath my touch. I tried to focus on the pattern of leaves on his shirt, but they blurred between my fingers. I closed my eyes and waited to be afraid, waited for the nightmare of Hiram to close around my throat, for the memory of my lurid behavior with Buck to fill me with shame. Instead, I saw only darkness, as complete and profound as the night I walked backward down the cellar stairs.

  I had seen my future after all.

  Now when I open my eyes, I look up and see paper stars fluttering above us, and God’s own twinkling above those. Del clasps one hand in his and brings it to his lips. We stand for just a minute until the next downbeat. Then, with a smoothness I could never have predicted, he leads me in our first step together. And I follow. He leads, I follow, effortlessly, through the next and the next and the next.

  Reader’s Guide

  1. With Endless Sight opens with a childhood game to “predict” a future love. Do you remember any such games from your childhood? Why is this such an appealing game for little girls?

  2. Belinda and her mother have a strained relationship. What are some things that often cause friction between mothers and daughters?

  3. As brother and sister, Belinda and Chester are equally at each other’s throats and in each other’s hearts. What are some of the unique qualities of the brother/sister relationship? How does this translate to the fact that, as Christians, we are brothers and sisters in Christ?

  4. Belinda confronts Chester with this verse: “Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil” (Proverbs 15:16, NIV). How does this verse hold true throughout the story? Was there ever a time in your life when great wealth or the possibility of great wealth held the threat of great turmoil?

  5. What do you think motivates Chester in the tender scene between Phoebe and him in Chapter 11?

  6. Why is Belinda able to forgive Laurent? What are some situations in your life where you’ve found it difficult to forgive someone?

  7. Belinda forms relationships with four very different young men in this book: Chester, Laurent, Buck, and Del. What does she gain from each? How do different people fulfill different needs in our lives?

  8. Belinda is quite young—only fifteen by the end of the story. In what ways is she like a typical, modern teenager? In what ways is she different? Have the changes that have occurred in the last one hundred fifty years made our society safer for young women?

  9. The characters Sadie, Jewell, and Gloria all appear in the first two Crossroads of Grace novels: Ten Thousand Charms and Speak Through the Wind. What new insights do you have about those characters, having read With Endless Sight?

  10. Revisit the first chapter of the book. In what way is it a snapshot of all that is to come?

  11. The title With Endless Sight comes from a line in the hymn “We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight,” which is printed at the front of the story with stanzas throughout. Having read the hymn, in what way are its lyrics significant to you? What other hymns or worship songs do you think might relate to this story?

  12. Psalm 31:14 (NIV) says, “But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ ” Where in the story do you see Belinda wholly putting her trust in God? Was there ever a time when you were so depleted you could rely only on Him?

  13. With Endless Sight begins with an awakening. What role does the idea of “awakening” play throughout the story?

  Author’s Note

  WITH ENDLESS SIGHT concludes in South Pass City, Wyoming, a little town that factors into all three books in the Crossroads of Grace series. South Pass City is a real place, a ghost town located just two miles off Highway 28, thirty-five miles south of Lander, Wyoming. I admit I had to play with some of the dates since much of the town didn’t exist until several years after the Crossroads stories take place.

  But if you have a chance to go, you’ll see that the buildings are perfectly restored. There really is a schoolhouse combined with a jail where you can still see the alphabet painted high on the walls and step back into one of the three tiny cells. There is also a hotel (though I supplied the name) with a tall, narrow staircase and bright green walls. And, of course, there are several colorful entertainment establishments.

  On a warm summer day in South Pass City, you can sit and refresh your feet in the cool stream that runs through the town. If you close your eyes and listen, the wind will speak. If you are very still, it will feel like the embrace of our Savior. If you look out over the horizon, you’ll get just a tiny glimpse of the endless sight of our Creator.