Moment in Time, A (Lone Star Brides Book #2)

by Tracie Peterson

  “Well, as soon as I can, I plan to send Marty and Alice train tickets to join us here,” Jake said between bites. “I appreciate that you would open your home to us . . . and to Alice, too. She’s young but very capable. Life’s not been any too kind to her.”

  “You said she was alone in the world,” Hannah said, passing Jake a platter of crisp bacon. He took the plate as she continued. “We would never allow for her to be left to the whims of that madman you said was tormenting her.”

  “I know Marty wouldn’t leave her behind, either,” Will said. “Between her and Robert, we were always takin’ in strays and wounded animals. They both have a heart for helping mend the broken.” Will took a sip of coffee. “Besides, my little sister-in-law is even more stubborn than my wife.” He motioned toward Hannah, adding, “And I didn’t think that was possible.”

  “Oh, it’s true enough,” Jake said, laughing. “Marty is more stubborn than a longhorn momma tryin’ to get to her calf. I can’t say that I’ve ever met anyone quite as headstrong.”

  Robert chuckled. “Aunt Marty says it’s just a matter of her stickin’ to her guns. She thinks if more people would stick to what they say, the world would be a better place.”

  “I can just hear her sayin’ that,” Jake agreed.

  “I wish she would have come with you to Texas. I hate that she’s unprotected in a city like Denver,” Hannah interjected.

  Jake remembered Marty standing with her shotgun in hand. Then a flash of memory came back regarding her entry into Denver. “Did Marty ever tell you about holding off bandits on her stage trip into Denver? In fact, she had to drive the stage partway to the next stop because the driver and shotgun had been wounded.”

  Hannah’s eyes widened. “She what?”

  Jake laughed. “Well, I could have guessed she didn’t share all the details.”

  “I remember her saying there had been some problems that delayed her trip into Denver,” Hannah said, looking to her husband.

  Will and Robert both looked more than a little interested and encouraged Jake to continue with his story.

  “As I recall, Marty was on a special stagecoach for women only, so the only men around were the driver and his shotgun rider. When they were still a ways out of Denver, some bandits attacked and started firing at them. Well, Marty pulled a revolver from her handbag and started firing back. The shotgun said they probably wouldn’t have made it if not for her good shootin’.”

  Robert laughed. “She can put a hole through a silver dollar at a distance farther than any man I know.”

  “Well, when the bandits fled and the shotgun got the stage stopped, Marty got out to check on everyone. That’s when she found out the driver was unconscious and the shotgun was pert near the same. She hoisted herself up into the driver’s seat and drove the team of six on into the next stage stop. She was a heroine, and the papers wrote it all up for everyone to read.”

  “Sounds like our Marty.” Will grinned. Hannah looked less than happy about the news, but said nothing.

  Jake shrugged. “I knew then and there I’d found me a proper Lone Star bride.”

  “But I thought you two had never met before Marty got to Denver,” Hannah said, looking at him oddly.

  Will laughed. “Sometimes a fellow can take one look at a gal and know he’s gonna marry her. I felt that way about you.”

  Hannah eyed him with a look that suggested he was crazy. “You hated me when we first met.”

  “Nope, you hated me,” Will declared. “You thought I was gonna kick you and your family off the ranch.”

  Jake was glad for the turn the conversation had taken. He hadn’t meant to give away any of Marty’s secrets. He’d have to be careful what he said in the future. As talk turned back to Marty and her abilities, Jake decided to refocus the conversation.

  “That woman can do just about anything, so I wasn’t afraid to leave her behind while I figured things out down here. Besides, she wasn’t exactly eager to return. She has a bad taste in her mouth when it comes to Texas.”

  “She made that clear enough in her letters,” Hannah said. “I don’t know why she holds such contempt for Texas. The state has been good to all of us.”

  Shaking his head, Jake considered the matter for a moment. “I know she figures ranchin’ to be too dangerous. She doesn’t want to lose another husband—she told me that much.”

  “But fighting off stage robbers isn’t exactly safe,” Robert said. “Marty doesn’t always think about things like that. Life’s full of trials and hardships, and they aren’t limited to Texas.”

  “That’s for sure. I saw just as many threats in California. Denver wasn’t exactly minus hard times, either. Alice’s situation was proof of that. I reminded Marty that Alice’s father had been killed just carrying papers for the bank, so injury and death wasn’t limited to ranch work.”

  “Oh, and she knows that full well,” Hannah said. “My little sister has always been given to exaggerating. She’ll endure something and build it up to be ten times bigger than it actually is. As a child she often told lies—sometimes just for the fun of it. I liked to never broke her of it.”

  “She did confess that much,” Jake admitted. “We had a few go-rounds because of it, but I know she’s a good woman and she’s trying to start fresh. I won’t hold the past against her.”

  “Nor will I,” Hannah agreed. “I just hope she won’t hold it against Texas.”

  “I guess we’ll know soon enough,” Will said, putting a stack of bills on the table. “I want you to take this money, Jake. You and Robert ride into town and purchase train tickets and get them mailed off to Marty.”

  Jake looked at the money. “I . . . won’t . . . won’t take charity. I mean to pay this back in work.”

  “Nonsense,” Hannah declared. “She’s my little sister, and I want her here as much as you do. Let this be our gift—to Alice, too. Now finish up your breakfast. Robert, I want you to pick up some things for me while you’re in town, so you might as well take the wagon.”

  The matter was settled and Jake knew there’d be no chance of changing Hannah’s mind. He hid his smile and finished off his flapjacks. She was just as stubborn as Marty.

  “And Ruth told her mother-in-law that she would follow her wherever she went—that her people would be Ruth’s people and her God would be Ruth’s God,” the minister declared from the pulpit.

  For Marty, the words seemed to hit particularly close to her heart. Jake wanted her to share in his love of Texas, to follow him wherever he went. He was now with her people, and it was all the more important that she join him. They needed to be a family.

  She thought of her expanding abdomen. Few knew of her condition, and she intended to keep it that way. Sam snuggled close to her on one side, and Wyatt edged closer on the other, while four-year-old Benjamin had claimed her lap. Marty couldn’t help but wish she could take them with her. When the time came for her to leave, it would be especially hard to leave her three little shadows. The boys were bonded to her, and she to them. She couldn’t help but wonder what Jake would do if she showed up in Texas with three additional family members.

  A week later, the pastor spoke from the book of Genesis and told of Jacob’s leaving his uncle’s land to head back to his home. He was afraid of what he would face. He had duped Esau, his brother, out of his birthright and blessing. Now he wanted to return home to be with his family—God wanted him to return home.

  Just as you apparently want me to return home.

  Marty thought of the train tickets they had received only two days earlier. She and Alice were set to leave for Texas on the morrow, yet Marty still felt apprehensive.

  Jacob, in Genesis, wanted to return home and feared the consequences. Marty wanted to be returned to Jake—her Jacob.

  Why does this have to be so hard?

  Images of Thomas’s lifeless body came to mind. He had died with Marty at his side, clinging to his hand, begging him to stay. Marty closed her eyes and other tr
agedies clouded her thoughts. There had been times when Andy had gotten hurt, when Will had nearly died from pneumonia after riding for days on end in an icy rain. Hannah had known her share of problems, too. She’d nearly died when her youngest daughter had been born breach. There was always a chance of death and dying in life, and Marty knew there was no avoiding it. Not by staying in Colorado. Not by avoiding the ranch.

  I’m so afraid, Lord. So afraid. I know trials and problems are everywhere. I look at Alice and I know it could just as easily have been Jake and me getting held up. I don’t want to let fear steal my joy, Lord, but . . . well . . . it is, and I don’t know how to change it.

  “Sometimes God’s directions to us seem impossible. Think of Abraham being told to leave his country and his people for an unknown land. Think of Noah being given the order to build an ark—a protection against something no one had ever seen or experienced. Throughout the Bible there are examples of God calling His children to difficult and arduous tasks with seemingly impossible odds. But with God . . . all things are possible.”

  It seemed with every word the minister spoke, confirmation was at hand that Marty and Alice were doing the right thing.

  “Let me say that again,” the minister asserted, emphasizing his words. Marty opened her eyes to find him looking directly at her. “With God . . . all things are possible.”

  She smiled. Even Texas?

  After the service she and Alice gathered the children around the dinner table, and Mr. Brentwood offered a blessing on the meal. Once everyone was seated, Marty took that moment to make her announcement.

  “You heard the story this morning about Jacob returning to his homeland,” she began. The children nodded and she smiled. “My husband’s name is Jacob and he, too, returned to his homeland—my homeland in Texas.”

  “Texas is far away,” Wyatt declared.

  Marty nodded. “It’s quite a ways.” She paused and looked at Mr. Brentwood. She could see the sorrow in his eyes. Soon she would have to endure the sadness of the children, as well. She steadied herself. “Well, just like Jacob, I need to return to my homeland. My husband has sent train tickets for me and for Miss Alice. We will leave tomorrow.”

  “You can’t go,” Wyatt said, reaching out to take hold of her hand. “We need you to cook for us.”

  The other children nodded and Benjamin looked at Marty with tear-filled eyes. “I wanna go with you. Can I come, too?”

  Sam nodded. “Me too. Please let us go with you.”

  “Me too,” Wyatt pleaded. Some of the other children joined in.

  Marty felt her heart nearly break at their sweet voices. She held up her hands to still them. “I’m afraid I can’t take anyone with me. I haven’t the money. I wouldn’t be able to go myself if not for others sending the tickets. Alice and I will write to you, however. We won’t go away without sending back word. We want to know how you’re doing in school and what you’re learning. We want to know who Mr. Brentwood gets to cook for you.” She smiled, hoping to dispel their fears. “I told him he needed to get someone who makes really good cookies.”

  Some of the children clapped their hands at this idea, but Wyatt buried his face against Marty’s skirt and began to cry in earnest. This caused Sam and Benjamin to do likewise. How could she leave them? Yet there was no choice.

  Marty hated the pain she was causing. A part of her wished she’d never agreed to stay on at the orphanage. She had known the day would come when she’d have to go. She had only pretended to believe Jake would give up Texas and return to Denver. Now she had to deal with the devastation their choices had caused to these little ones. Taking her seat in utter defeat, Marty prayed God might ease the children’s misery.

  “Let us pray and ask a blessing on our meal,” Mr. Brentwood said. He began to pray, but Marty didn’t hear his words. She had her own prayer to offer.

  It’s not their fault, Lord. The children have done nothing wrong. They’ve needed love, and I’ve given what I had to share. Now I’m taking it away, and they will bear the pain. Oh, Father, it seems so unfair, so wrong. Please help us.

  The meal passed in questions about Texas from some of the children who seemed more intrigued by the place than troubled by Marty and Alice’s departure. Marty answered the questions and explained to the children about life on a ranch. The girls all envied her ability to have a horse of her own and go riding.

  “I’d never want to stop riding,” Willeen declared. “I love horses.”

  “I love them, too,” ten-year-old Edith joined in. “When I was little, I used to ride my brother’s pony.”

  There was a great deal of discussion about horses and ponies, riding and being a real cowboy, before the meal ended. The children all helped to clear the table. They each took their own dishes to the kitchen and deposited them in a tub of soapy water before heading off to wash up before their nap.

  Wyatt, Sam, and Benjamin lingered in the kitchen for as long as Mr. Brentwood would allow and then tearfully let the man lead them out.

  “You’ll still be here when we wake up, won’t you?” Wyatt asked, pausing at the door. Tears streamed down his face.

  Marty nodded. “I’ll be here, Wyatt. In fact, I’m gonna spend the day making ya’ll a whole bunch of cookies.” Her Texas drawl thickened with her emotions. “That way you can eat them and think of Alice and me.” Usually the mention of cookies would instantly bring a smile to the boy’s face, but not this time.

  “I want you to be my mama,” he said sadly.

  Marty crossed the room and knelt beside him. “I would have loved to be your mama.” Wyatt wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her tight.

  “Come on, Wyatt,” Mr. Brentwood ordered, pulling the boy away. His expression looked nearly as sad as the boy’s.

  Marty felt as if a part of her heart went with Wyatt. She got to her feet and wiped her eyes. Just then, Alice put her arm around Marty’s shoulders. “I didn’t think this would be so hard,” she said at Alice’s gentle touch. “I love them so much.”

  “You could adopt them,” Alice told her. “You’ve always talked about doing such a thing.”

  “I know, but there’s no money for it. We wouldn’t even be heading to Texas yet except that Will and Hannah insisted on paying for the tickets. And then there’s the matter of the baby. I don’t know if Jake would consider adopting others now that we’re expecting our own. I mean, he was always very positive about adoption before, but he might feel different now.”

  “You have no way of knowing unless you ask him. Maybe Mr. Brentwood could take Wyatt, Sam, and Benjamin off the list of those children available to adopt. You know, just in case someone comes and wants to take them on.”

  “I suppose I could speak to him about it. I can’t promise anything, but maybe since I’m giving in to what Jake wants, he’ll give me what I want in return.” But even as she said it, Marty knew that was no way to handle the matter. Marriage was, of course, full of give and take, but it wasn’t right to put expectations—demands really—on each other for something that involved the life and happiness of so many.

  Turning, Marty broke into sobs and cried against Alice’s shoulder. There was no possible way to make this parting easy. Her heart was being torn in two. Without a doubt she would leave a part of herself behind at this orphanage.

  Chapter 11

  February 1894

  Alice dozed to the rhythmic sway of the train car. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief as the train put first one mile and then several hundred between her and Mr. Smith in Denver. She looked at this as her own independence day. Despite it being a cold February morning and the poor heating in the train, Alice was happier than she’d been in years.

  Of course, with one issue behind her, there were others Alice knew she’d have to face. Her mother was alive. That alone caused disturbance to her peace of mind. Not that a part of her wasn’t excited to find out if her mother still lived in Chicago and if her brother Simon was alive. Ever since learning abo
ut the letter her mother had sent, Alice had looked at the orphanage children with new eyes. Her own brother would be the same age as several of the children.

  Does he resemble me? Is he blond and blue eyed? Does he remember me?

  She opened her eyes and stared out the sooty window. The vast open lands stretched for as far as the eye could see. Gone were the snow-covered Rockies. Now scrub and twisted mesquite dotted the sandy landscape. Western Texas looked much as Marty had said it would. Desolate. Dry. Deserted. Marty had also told her that the scenery would change drastically. Texas, Alice had been informed, was such a huge state that it was very much like several smaller states rolled into one. In the east there was an abundance of forest and water. To the south the Mexican and seaside influences were evident. Central Texas held vast farmlands and cattle ranches, as did the north. Western Texas had its share of ranches, as well, with a bit of desert flare in some areas. Alice found it all truly amazing. Marty had been all over the state, traveling with her sister and brother-in-law to purchase cattle or other supplies, while Alice had never been anywhere outside of Colorado.

  Glancing at the woman across from her, Alice wondered if Marty had finally found relief in sleep. Marty was so afraid of what Texas would bring.

  Please give her peace, Lord. Help her to carry this baby in health and to deliver it in the same. Oh, Father, she needs your comfort. Alice bit her lip and looked back out the window. And so do I.

  Alice watched the miles race by and thought again of her mother and brother. Marty had wanted her to write immediately to her mother, but Alice hadn’t been able to bring herself to the task. Whenever she gave it serious consideration, doubts crept in. Her mother had deserted her. Her mother had taken Simon and left Alice behind. How much could her mother possibly care about her? And if she didn’t care, why had she asked after her in the letter to Mrs. Ingram? Why had she written those haunting words?