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

by Tracie Peterson

  Yours,

  Alice

  He looked up and fixed his mother with a stern look. “She says she had to go because she loves me. That doesn’t make any sense at all. She doesn’t want to come between me and Jess, but I’ve told her more than once that we aren’t engaged.”

  Mother reached out and touched his face, as she often did when she wanted to calm him. “She probably felt guilty. In her letter to me, she mentioned feeling that she had disrupted our family and changed our plans. She felt that she and her family had become a burden.”

  “But they hadn’t!” He crumpled up the letter. “I’m going after her.”

  “Son, she probably caught the evening train. It’s too late for you to stop her now.”

  Robert hadn’t considered that. “Did she ever tell you what her mother’s address is in Chicago? I could go there and bring her back.”

  “I don’t have it. Perhaps Marty does,” his mother suggested.

  He didn’t wait to hear more. “Aunt Marty!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

  Stomping through the house, he continued his search. “Aunt Marty!”

  Marty poked her head out of her bedroom. “Goodness. What is all the yelling about?”

  “Alice is gone.”

  “I know. She left me a letter and her Bible.” Marty shrugged. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

  “Sorry isn’t what I came for. I want her mother’s address in Chicago.”

  “I don’t have it. I don’t recall ever even seeing it. When Alice learned the truth about her mother and sent her a letter . . . well, I never asked.” She pushed open the bedroom door. “Jake, did you ever see an address for Mrs. Chesterfield?”

  Jake was sitting at the end of the bed and pulling off his boots. “No, can’t say that I did.”

  “That’s just great. Now I’m gonna have to go to Chicago and scour a city bigger than Dallas to find her.”

  Marty took hold of his arm. “Robert, what did Alice say in her letter to you?”

  “That she had to go because she loved me and didn’t want to come between me and Jess.” He gave the door a fisted punch. “But she didn’t come between us. There was no ‘us.’ ”

  “Alice was always very sensitive about hurting people. She couldn’t bear the thought that she might cause someone pain. I’m sure she felt any delay or doubts you might have in marrying Jessica were her fault.”

  “But they weren’t, and she didn’t even give me a chance to tell her that. I can’t help what folks assumed, including Jessica. I never proposed to that girl, and I told her weeks ago that I couldn’t marry her.”

  Marty looked perplexed. “Why didn’t you tell Alice?”

  “I tried, but there was never a chance. I’d ask her to go for a walk with me or go ridin’, but she always refused and kept her brother or mother with her so we couldn’t be alone. I figured when I got back from Fort Worth, I’d show her the ring I got her and propose—even if I had to do so at the dinner table.”

  “That would have been something,” Marty said with a hint of smile. “Well, what are we to do? We don’t have any way of finding her mother, short of perhaps hiring someone in Chicago. There’s no sense in your going up there blind. We could send a wire and have them intercepted on the way.”

  “That’s a good idea.” He turned on his heel and headed back through the house. Despite the late hour, he was determined to go to Cedar Springs and start the process.

  “But it’s so late,” his mother said. “Why don’t you wait until morning? That train won’t get to Chicago for at least a couple of days.”

  “Your mother’s right,” Father agreed. “The stationmaster will have closed things down, and you won’t be able to find out exactly what connections the Chesterfields will be making.”

  “I could go to his house.” Robert didn’t like the idea of delaying. “It’s not like hundreds of people catch the train here. He’s bound to remember what their plans are.”

  “Robert, listen to reason. Get cleaned up and have yourself something to eat.” His mother motioned to the stove. “We kept food warm for you. Eat and then get a good night’s sleep and head out early in the morning.”

  He knew she was right but hated to admit defeat. To delay his search made him feel that Alice was slipping beyond his reach. He started to refuse her suggestion but finally agreed. “I guess morning will be soon enough.”

  Mother smiled. “Of course it will be. You’ll see.”

  Alice swallowed back an angry retort as the stationmaster in Dallas explained that the train had pulled out only minutes ago.

  “When is the next train?”

  “Headin’ north? Tomorrow,” the man informed her. “Best if you take a room for the night.”

  “I can’t afford that,” Alice declared. “I have just enough money for our tickets.”

  “One of the pastors here takes in folks from time to time. He and his wife have spare rooms.” The man smiled. “They’d most likely put you up for the night. You could leave most of your things here if you like. I can lock ’em in the office and then you wouldn’t have to carry them all over town.”

  Alice knew there was no other choice. She took the name and address of the parsonage and asked for directions. The stationmaster cheerfully related the information, which further frustrated Alice. How could anyone be so happy in the face of her sorrow? How dare the world go on turning when her heart was clearly breaking?

  “We will take only what we need for the night,” she told her mother. “Pack it all here in my bag, and I’ll carry it. We have a bit of a walk.”

  “Pity that Roy didn’t stick around,” Mother replied. “I know he would have driven us. Do you know he asked to call on me?” She gave a laugh. “I would have said yes if I lived here.”

  “We can move here, Mama,” Simon insisted.

  “Well, either way,” Alice said, taking a few things from her bag to make room for her mother’s and brother’s articles, “we have to go to Chicago and get your things.” She knew full well that once they were in Chicago there wouldn’t be money enough to return to Dallas.

  The reverend Goodman and his wife, Ophelia, were an older couple who lived not far from the station. They were kind and easygoing and instantly welcomed the sad trio into their house.

  “We’ve got a couple of extra rooms,” the pastor told them. “And we believe it a part of our ministry to offer them to folks in need.”

  “We thank you for that,” Alice’s mother said. “We were to have taken the train from Cedar Springs to Chicago, but apparently there was some sort of trouble on the line. The stationmaster sent us here to Dallas, but the train we might have taken had already departed. So we find ourselves rather abandoned.”

  “Well, you are no longer orphaned,” the man declared. “Ophelia and I are happy to help. Now, are you hungry?”

  “I am,” Simon said. His misery had only deepened with each new problem.

  “We could all stand a meal, if it’s no trouble,” Alice replied. “We have no money, however.”

  “Nor would we take any.” Mrs. Goodman tsked. She moved to take the single bag that Alice had brought. “Let me show you where your rooms are. You can wash up, and by the time you return, I’ll have supper for all of you.”

  With a weariness that seemed to grow by the minute, Alice followed the woman. She longed to be back at the Barnett ranch, enjoying an evening of checkers with Robert and some of Hannah’s tasty cinnamon rolls.

  I can’t let my thoughts take over like that. I have to put Robert from my mind.

  Though it seemed an easy enough task, Alice knew it wouldn’t be as simple to put him from her heart.

  Later, as she shared a bed with her mother, Alice stared in the darkness at the ceiling. She couldn’t sleep in spite of being exhausted.

  “Why don’t you share your heart with me,” Mother told her. “It might help.”

  “I’m sorry,” Alice said. “Did I wake you?”

  “No. I�
��ve been awake and praying for you. I know you’re deeply troubled. Are you sure this is the right thing to do? Leaving, I mean.”

  “I’m only certain of one thing, and that’s that I love Robert more than life.”

  “Then perhaps you should return and give him a chance to speak his mind. Seems to me he cares for you, as well.”

  “But if he does, it would mean I came between him and his intended.” Alice contemplated the matter further before speaking. “It would mean . . . well . . .”

  “It would only mean that you fell in love with him without any thought to hurting anyone else. I know you wouldn’t have set out to cause harm. You were never that kind of a child, and I can’t believe for one minute that you’ve become that kind of woman.”

  “I’m not, but I can’t help thinking how messed up everything has become. Why would God let me fall in love with someone—someone who doesn’t care about how hideous I look—and then take him away?”

  “First of all,” Mother said, rolling to her side to face Alice. “You aren’t hideous looking. You are a beautiful young woman with a scar. But that scar does not define you. Everyone has scars to bear. I have mine. And your father left me with a great many. Although you can’t see them.

  “And second, I’m not convinced that running away from a problem is the proper way to resolve it. I felt at first, selfishly I must say, that you should return with us to Chicago. But upon reflection, I’m not at all convinced. I can’t help but think God has put these delays in our path to give you time to reconsider.”

  “But I can’t stay and watch him marry another,” Alice replied.

  “Who says you will? What if Robert feels exactly the same way about you that you feel about him? Wouldn’t it be better for him to end his engagement to someone he doesn’t love and marry the woman he really loves? How fair would it be to Jessica Atherton if he married her only because he could not have you for his wife?”

  “I don’t know, Mother. I have no answers, only questions. I don’t know anything anymore.”

  Her mother reached out and pulled her close, as she had done when Alice was a child. The warmth of her mother’s arms gave Alice a moment of comfort.

  “Then pray about it, Alice. Pray and ask God to show you the answer. He has already seen tomorrow, and He knows exactly what you need and to whom you should be wed. Pray on it tonight and see if you have an answer in the morning.”

  Robert tossed and turned in his bed all night long until finally he pushed back the covers and got up. There was no sense in pretending he could sleep. By the time the tiniest hint of light showed on the horizon, he was saddled and ready to ride.

  “I’ll be back as soon as possible,” he told his father and Jake before putting his heels to Rojoe’s flank.

  All the way to Cedar Springs, Robert kept thinking about the wasted time. If the bank robbery hadn’t taken place, we would have been home much sooner. I might have been here to stop her—to show her the ring and convince her of my love.

  The miles seemed endless, but it gave him more than ample time to pray. He’d tried to pray during the night. Every time he woke up, he issued another plea to God. But he didn’t feel as though his prayers went any higher than the ceiling.

  “I know you’re with me,” Robert said aloud, glancing heavenward, “and I know you hear me. So why do I feel alone in this?”

  The cloudless sky offered no reply, and even Rojoe seemed to ignore him. Why was it that God let people find each other and fall in love, only to separate them again?

  “Why, Lord?”

  There was still no answer, no comfort, no understanding. Robert tightened his grip on the reins. He had to find her. She was already such a part of him that Robert felt as if he’d lost a limb.

  “I need your help, Lord. I need to find Alice. I need to tell her that I love her.”

  Chapter 23

  “So there we were,” Will related at the breakfast table, “about to go into the jewelry store, when shots sounded from the bank across the street. Robert and I ducked into the alleyway to figure out what we might do to help, but we had no weapons.”

  “And I’m certain that wouldn’t have stopped you,” Hannah said, shaking her head.

  “Well, we were tryin’ to figure things out when two of the robbers ran out from the bank to the man holdin’ the horses. They mounted and just then three shots rang out, and they dropped like dead weight.”

  “Were they dead?” Marty asked. The thought of such a thing gave her the shivers.

  “No, they’d only been wounded. A Texas Ranger we know got ’em.”

  “All three of them taken down by one man?” Hannah asked in amazement. “He must have been a very good shot.”

  “His name is Austin Todd, and he plans to pay us a visit this fall,” Will interjected. “He’s interested in buying a small piece of land so he can build a house. He doesn’t want to ranch or farm but also doesn’t want to live in the confines of a town. Thought I’d take him around to some of the various ranches and see if anyone wanted to sell him some acreage. He’s going to look at a parcel we have, as well.”

  Marty tried to ignore the conversation but found herself hopelessly drawn in once again when Will mentioned the bank manager.

  “He and the teller had been shot and killed by the two bandits who robbed them. They both had families.”

  Hannah passed her husband a platter of ham steaks. “That’s so sad. Such a violent end to a person’s life.”

  Marty grimaced. The uneasiness she’d felt at the start of the conversation was magnified by the comment regarding the bank employees. She pushed the eggs and grits around her plate but had completely lost her appetite.

  “I don’t care to ever endure such a thing again,” Will admitted.

  “I’m with you,” Jake agreed. “When you told us the story on the trip home, it made me glad we don’t live in a city. I doubt I could ever live there again. Too many people and too much noise. Not to mention all the added dangers.”

  Hannah raised her coffee cup and took a sip before responding. “I lived in a city once. Nothing good came from it. I prefer the life we have here.”

  Marty thought about Denver and all that she had known there. If a person had plenty of money to spend, the city could be quite entertaining. On the other hand, the poverty she’d known in the months before leaving convinced her that without adequate funds it was sheer misery.

  She hadn’t really considered the problems of the city in comparison to her life here in Texas. Marty had to admit there was a peacefulness here that spoke to her spirit. Perhaps Texas wasn’t to blame for her sorrows. Just then the baby moved as if in agreement.

  “Seems with the economy continuin’ to be bad,” Will continued, “folks are gettin’ more and more desperate. I imagine there will be quite a few more bank robberies before it’s all said and done.”

  “I have to admit,” Jake threw in, “there were several times in Denver when I had grave concern about our little bank. Anywhere you have money, you’ll also find someone who wants to take it away. When everything started fallin’ apart financially, we had so many angry customers that we all feared for our lives.”

  Marty’s head snapped up at this. “You never told me that.”

  “I didn’t want to worry you.” Jake gave a shrug. “There wasn’t anything you could do to help.”

  “But I should have known about the danger.” She pushed back her plate and got to her feet. “I’m not hungry. Please excuse me.”

  Marty moved as quickly as her expanding figure would allow. She departed through the kitchen and out the back of the house with no real destination in mind. All she knew was that she had to get away from the conversation and the idea that Jake’s life could have been taken at any moment during his bank work.

  I was so sure banking was safer than ranching and now this. Why does life have to constantly threaten us with death?

  “I’m sorry, Marty.”

  She turned to find Jake had fol
lowed her. Looking at him as if truly understanding him for the first time, Marty drew a heavy breath and let it out. “I never realized. I’ve been such a fool.”

  “I didn’t want to frighten you. You were already so much against ranchin’ because of the dangers. I figured you’d have a real hard time of it if I told you about the bank’s situation.”

  “I should have known. I knew that things were bad, that men were rioting because they couldn’t get their money. Grief, I knew people were abandoning their children, so why wouldn’t they also kill and rob?”

  Jake reached out and touched Marty’s cheek. “Danger is everywhere. It’s a reality we have to face no matter where we live or work. I don’t want you livin’ in fear, Marty. The Bible says that perfect love does away with fear. I know my love isn’t perfect, but God’s love is, and He’s the only one who can do away with your fears.”

  “I know,” Marty said, shaking her head. “But it’s so hard. I love you and I love our child. I love Wyatt and Samuel and little Benjamin and can’t wait until they are with us. I love my family. I can’t bear the thought of losing any of them.”

  “Marty, folks die every day. Family and friends aren’t immune to death just because we love them. But we know that death can’t hold us. By givin’ our hearts to Jesus, we have eternal life with Him. He’s the door into heaven. If we don’t go through Him, we can’t get in. But you and I, we’ve already been accepted. There’s a place for us up there.” He glanced at the cloud-strewn skies. “It might take a little while before we can join up with our loved ones, but it won’t be forever.”

  Marty nodded, knowing he was right. “I suppose death has always seemed like . . . well . . . the end. My mother died when I was born, and I never knew her. When I lost my father, I never thought about seeing him again. I just knew he was gone, and that seemed final.”

  “But you will see them again one day. They loved Jesus just as you do, just as I do. Death isn’t the end of anything. Instead, it’s a beginning.”

  She gave Jake a smile. “You always seem to know just what to say to make me feel better.”