The Romantic Ruse (Historical Christian Romance)

by Barbara Goss

  Charles proceeded to Gus Tanner’s place. When no one answered his persistent knocks on the door, he scouted around the ranch looking for him. He finally found him on his knees, mending a fence that contained a cantankerous bull that snorted and pawed the ground in anger, appearing none too pleased to be confined.

  Gus got up from his knees to greet Charles, calling him by name as he walked toward him from the house.

  “Greetings, Gus!”

  “I didn’t expect to ever see you again. How are you?”

  “Doing good. I returned from Abilene and thought I’d stop by to see you before I returned to St. Joseph.”

  “Abilene? You saw Lily, then?” Gus’s smile faded.

  “Yes.” Charles hesitated, as if wondering how much to say. “Emma and I brought her back with us to Hunter’s Grove. She's just rented Maud’s old cottage. She and a friend will be staying there for a while.”

  “A friend? That cowboy from Abilene?” Gus's face turned red.

  “Her name is Mandy, and she's been a good friend to Lily. I wouldn’t leave Lily out here alone. I’m hoping she’ll miss the city and soon return home. I’ve paid two month’s rent, and I’m going to stock the cupboards well before I leave.”

  “I haven’t finished fixing the back door yet. The new door's up, and it’s sturdy, but it needs a good padlock. For now I have it rigged so that no one can get inside. I’ll have to ride out and fix it properly.”

  “Have they moved in yet? Gus asked.

  “No, I’ve just now paid Farnsworth and am going back to the hotel to let the women know it’s rented.”

  “I’ll also check the house for safety while I'm there.” Gus said.

  “That’s much appreciated, Gus. Thank you.”

  After Charles left, Gus couldn’t keep his heart from pounding when he realized how close Lily was to him. He still had feelings for her; he couldn’t deny that. He had hoped that time would allow him to eventually forget her and move on, but now that she’d be living only a few miles away, he was bound to run into her at some point. How should he handle the situation?

  He thought it best if he rode to the cottage and fixed the door before Lily moved in, which would save him from facing her so soon. He needed time to sort out his feelings and decide how he should act around her. Should he treat her as an old friend? Or as someone who’d broken his heart?

  He felt the ‘old friend’ treatment might be best, and he decided he’d run over and fix that door right away.

  Gus packed up his tools and the padlock and jumped on his horse. When he arrived at Maud’s he headed straight for the back door. Every time he stopped by Maud’s house the memories flooded back—sitting with Lily on the porch and wading in the creek on that beautiful spring day still haunted him, as did her kisses and how they made him feel. The memories all came flooding back to him, and just as he’d started to become numb to them.

  Well, he’d fix the door, and then leave, and with any luck, he’d not run into her for a while. He needed some time to get comfortable with Lily being back in town.

  Gus truly liked Charles Brewer, as he seemed unobtrusive, yet friendly. Gus liked that Charles didn’t butt into the problem between him and Lily. He respected him for that. Yet, he felt puzzled as to why Lily came back to Hunter’s Grove instead of going home to St. Joseph? Did she hope to reconcile with him? No, probably not. It might be because of the hard feeling between her and her father. Maybe Charles would go back and act as a buffer until it was safe for Lily to return home.

  When Charles gave the ladies the news that the cottage was theirs, they couldn’t wait to move in. Charles helped them pack their things and stash them into the rented buggy. Within an hour they were driving out to the house.

  Charles helped the ladies out of the buggy in front of the cottage. He warned them to stay close to the buggy, and they both looked at him with bewilderment.

  “Someone is here,” he said, pointing to the horse tied to the hitching post. “Stay right here until I investigate.”

  Charles came back a few moments later wearing a big smile. “It’s Gus. He's fixing the back door.”

  “Gus?” Lily gasped, and must have turned pale because Mandy and Emma each grabbed an elbow to help support her as if they feared her pallor might lead to a faint.

  “I’m fine,” Lily said. “Shall we go inside? You’ll love the place, Mandy. It’s so cozy.”

  Lily took them from room to room as she showed them the house. Though it was small, the layout used every inch of space to good purpose. A long sitting room with a stone fireplace along one wall occupied the whole front of the house. A door opened off the sitting room to their right, leading to Lily’s old bedroom. Another door to the left led to what would become Mandy’s room. An arch in the middle of the sitting room wall led to a small dining room, and then to a small but well-furnished kitchen. There, Lily met Gus head on as he was putting the final screws into the large lock he’d installed on the inside of the back door.

  Lily saw him and froze. Gus nodded in their direction.

  Charles stepped around the ladies and introduced Gus to Mandy.

  “Of course, you know Lily, and you remember Emma,” Charles said.

  Again, Gus simply nodded.

  Gus stooped to pack up his tools, and Lily stepped forward shyly. “Thank you for fixing the door, Gus," she said. "Mandy and I will feel so much safer now.”

  Gus threw the last of his tools into the box. “Well, it’s only right that I fix it, seeing as I did break it down.” He opened the door, in preparation to leave. “Charles, you’ll show them how to use the lock?”

  “Yes, I will, of course,” Charles said. “Sure you won’t stick around for tea or something?” he asked.

  “No, I still have chores at home.”

  “Tomorrow is Sunday," Charles said, "is there a church nearby we can attend?”

  “Yes, but we don’t have a physical church yet. We're holding our services in a private home for now. Presently, our church is Simon Morton’s place out on the same road as mine, but closer to town—you might have seen it on your way out to my place. His house is about twice the size of mine. It’s a gray house with a white, triple-door barn.

  "We start at nine. Hope to see you there.”

  Gus shook Charles’s hand again. “A pleasure to see you again, Charles. If I don’t see you tomorrow, have a good trip home, and if you are ever in town again, be sure to stop by and see me.” Gus stepped outside.

  “I sure will,” Charles said as he waved.

  Charles turned to find the women no longer in the kitchen. He peeked into the sitting room and found Lily sitting on the sofa in tears, with Emma and Mandy trying to soothe her.

  “Now what?” he asked.

  “I still love him,” Lily cried. “He wouldn’t even look at me. He hates me!”

  Chapter 12

  Emma and Charles bought enough food and supplies for the cottage to last a few weeks. Mandy and Lily tried to help pay for the food, but Emma wouldn’t hear of it. She told them to keep the money they’d saved for the stage ride to Hunter’s Grove, and use it to come home if things didn’t work out for them here.

  It took some prodding from Emma and Charles, but Lily finally agreed to accompany them to church. Mandy agreed right away, which helped sway Lily, as she didn’t want to be left alone in the cottage. All three of Morton’s barn doors were open. Inside, chairs and benches surrounded a small, wooden, handmade podium. Someone had painted a white sheet with the words, “Hunter’s Grove Methodist Episcopal Church,” and hung it from the ceiling behind the podium.

  The four took seats at the back, where they caught a pleasant breeze from the open doors.

  “Welcome folks,” a voice said from behind them. “The name’s Morton, Simon Morton.” He put out his hand. Charles took it and shook firmly.

  “Charles Brewer.” He nodded at the women and said, “My wife, Emma, my sister, Lily, and her friend, Mandy. We’re friends of Gus Tanner.”
>
  “So glad you could make it. You’ll have to excuse the rustic setting—we’re building a church, but it's not quite finished yet. We use the barn for services in good weather, and my parlor,” he nodded at his house, “in the winter.” He patted Charles’s shoulder and nodded to the ladies, “Enjoy the service.”

  Lily turned to look at the back of Simon’s house. The two-story building looked enormous for a rancher’s home. It was then she caught sight of Gus as he greeted Simon Morton, and she turned her head quickly back toward the front of the makeshift church. Her heart pounded in her chest. In her peripheral vision she saw Gus take a seat on the bench in front of them, but far to her right; he did not turn to look her way.

  Lily saw a man with a harmonica step up to the podium. He played a note, and then began with a song that everyone seemed to know. The congregation, including Charles and Emma, sang along with the harmonica. Lily was unfamiliar with the song’s lyrics, something about an old rock, so she contented herself looking down at her hands and listening.

  When the song ended, Simon Morton stood, welcomed everyone, and made a few comments about the fine weather. Then he asked everyone to bow in prayer. Lily bowed her head along with everyone else and tried hard to concentrate on the words, but her mind kept switching from the prayer to Gus, and she chanced a peek his way. He had his eyes closed, and she could see his lips moving with the prayer.

  Simon Morton preached about sheep, and how it was the shepherd’s job to keep the sheep safe by guarding them from the wolves. Lily tried as hard as she could to be attentive, but her mind and eyes kept drifting toward Gus, sitting at the end of the bench in front of her.

  At that moment, Gus turned his head and looked right at her and she felt herself flush before he quickly turned away.

  Lily's heart was beating so loudly, she wondered if everyone in the church could hear it. She put her hand over it in hopes of calming it.

  Lily managed to drag her mind back to the sermon, just as Morton's enthusiasm grew. He explained that God protects us in the same way in which a shepherd protects his sheep. “God is our shepherd,” he continued, and then went on to say that everyone needed a private shepherd for their protection, and the way to get one was simple. “Just ask," he said. "Ask God into your heart. Talk to him every day, and your shepherd will always be there for you whenever you need Him.” Morton lowered his voice until it was almost a whisper. “Just ask.”

  Lily pictured herself in the place of the sheep and she thought she understood what Morton meant—if she wanted a shepherd to take care of her, all she had to do was ask! It seemed almost too simple. She thought about how wonderful it would be to have her own private shepherd. She thought to ask Charles about this, but since she’d always rebuked his religious prompts, she felt that asking might only open him up for a long sermon that would bore her to tears. She decided she'd ask someone else, maybe Simon Morton.

  Lily wondered if her shepherd would help bring Gus back to her, and the thought almost brought tears to her eyes. She couldn’t keep herself from sneaking peeks at him; he looked so handsome in his Sunday clothes. He wore a stiffly starched white shirt with black pants. His dark hair appeared slicked back, as if it were still wet from his morning wash-up.

  Simon Morton continued to read about a shepherd. He said it was the twenty-third Psalm. The words, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff—they comfort me,” felt soothing to Lily for some reason, and she felt strangely comforted by them.

  Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe she did need religion, especially if it would bring her some much needed peace and comfort. If it worked for Emma and Charles…

  At the conclusion of the service, the congregation milled about, visiting. Lily saw much hand shaking and hugging between friends. Seeing such fellowship among the townspeople nearly brought tears to her eyes.

  She glanced at Gus again and saw him greet and shake Charles’s hand. When he let go, he briefly nodded with a slight smile in the direction of Lily and Mandy, before he turned to talk to another group of people.

  Charles led his party to the rented buggy and they rode back to the cottage where he and Emma prepared to leave for St. Joseph. Just as they were about to get into the buggy, Charles hit his head softly with the palm of his hand.

  “You ladies don’t have any transportation. You need a buggy, or a horse at the very least. How else will you get to town?” he asked.

  Mandy and Lily shrugged.

  “I hadn't thought of that,” Lily said.

  “I’ll stop at the livery on our way through town and see if they have any horses for sale. If they do, I’ll have one delivered.” With that, Charles and Emma waved at them and left, the horses pulling their buggy kicking up a cloud of dust behind them.

  When Charles arrived at the livery, he discovered there were no horses available. He expressed concern to the liveryman about having to leave his sister alone without transportation, and the liveryman suggested he speak with August Tanner, who was known for raising the best horses this side of the Mississippi.

  “What do you think, Emma?" Charles asked her. "Should we turn around and go back to Tanner’s to get a horse for Lily and Mandy?”

  “We really need to get home. If we miss today’s train, we’ll be stuck here for another day,” she said.

  “You’re right,” Charles said. “I don’t know what else I can do. I guess they’ll be all right for a few days, at least until we can figure out some way to get them a horse.”

  They continued on through town toward the road that led to Topeka. When they spied Gus Tanner entering Pete’s Restaurant, Charles yelled out to him, and Gus turned around.

  Charles rode over to where Gus stood. “A slight problem has come up, and I haven’t time to figure it out since we need to catch a train home.

  "Lily and Mandy need transportation. I feel awful leaving them there without a way to get into town. Would you happen to have a horse I could buy for them?”

  Gus scratched his head. “I have several,” he said. He thought about it for a few seconds, snapped his fingers, and said, “Go on back to St. Joseph and don’t worry about them. Some of this fiasco is my fault for shooting off my mouth about writing to a senator’s daughter.” Gus sighed. “I’ll see that they have transportation, you leave it to me, Charles.

  "You two have a safe trip home.” He held up his hand, as they prepared to leave and said, “And Emma—you made the right choice. I wish you and Charles every happiness.”

  Emma and Charles smiled. They waved at Gus once more, and headed east.

  Lily and Mandy grew bored after Charles and Emma left and decided to change the house around a bit. They moved the sofa to a different wall, swept the carpet, and vowed to take the curtains down soon in order to wash the windows. They moved the bedroom furniture around slightly, but were stumped when they came to the dining room. There was so little to move in the room—no more than just a table and small cabinet—that they skipped the dining room, moved into the kitchen, and searched through the cupboards.

  “We have work to do,” Mandy said. “Days and days of work to keep us busy.”

  Lily nodded. “These cupboards need painting. How will we ever get to town to buy the paint?”

  Mandy shrugged. “Let’s do the cleaning and worry about that later. Charles said he'd look into sending us a horse from the livery, remember?”

  Two days later, the kitchen sparkled and they had scrubbed the greasy stove to a shiny gloss. The windows glistened as well. The curtains and drapes were cleaned and rehung, and the house felt as if it were truly theirs at last. Mandy had plenty of experience with housekeeping and had done most of the work, thought she did try to teach Lily how to do some of the things around the house. Though Lily'd always had servants to do the cleaning for her she gave it all a good try.

  “Now,” Mandy said, her hands poised on her hips, “we need to start on the garden until we can
get paint for the cupboards.”

  “Vegetables or flowers?” Lily asked.

  “Both.” Mandy looked excited. “Until we can get to town to buy seeds, we’ll weed and prepare the beds where the flowers will go. We can also dig up a patch in the back for the vegetables.”

  “Lily, I’m so glad you invited me to join you to Hunter’s Grove, I’m loving this all!”

  Lily was on the ground up to her elbows in dirt preparing the flowerbed when she heard the sound of approaching horses. She looked up, but the sun blocked her vision of the rider. She shielded her eyes with her hand and smudged her face with dirt in the process.

  “Dang it,” she said when she was able to make out a lone rider leading two horses.

  Oh heavens! It was Gus!

  As Gus rode up to the cottage, he couldn’t help but smile. Although he’d promised himself he’d not smile at Lily, he found himself smiling, nevertheless. She looked a sight. Her dark brown hair was chaotically pinned, though most of the curls had fallen down. There was a dirty smudge from her eye to her chin, and the front of her dress was covered in dirt.

  He wiped the smile from his face and returned to his resolve to remain cool to Lily, and scolded his heart for skipping beats whenever he saw her. Since he now found himself alone with her, he had little choice but to talk to her.

  “I brought you some horses,” he said.

  Lily knew she looked a mess, but what difference did it make, seeing as he hated her anyway?

  “I don’t ride.”

  “You don’t ride?” Gus sounded shocked. “Everyone out here rides.”

  “We always had a buggy,” she explained.