Measure of Grace

by Al Lacy

  Please come as soon as you can. Of course, I want you to have sufficient time for packing and saying your good-byes, but needless to say, I am more than eager to meet you in person. Please let me know as soon as possible when to expect you.

  Yours most sincerely,

  Jordan.”

  Both Martha and Deborah were crying.

  “Oh, Diana,” said Deborah, wrapping her arms around her sister, “I’m so happy for you! I’ll miss you terribly, but you’ll be safe from Papa, and you’ll be with the man who will love and cherish you. You deserve that.”

  Martha embraced Diana with her good arm, and the boys followed, showing their joy for this marvelous change in her life.

  Martha wiped tears from her eyes. “All right, here’s the plan. Since school is out for the rest of the week for the Thanksgiving holiday, we’ll have Derick drive all of us to the railroad station in Richmond first thing tomorrow morning so Diana can set up her train and stagecoach schedules and buy her tickets. We need to have her on that train as soon as possible. Your father gets out of jail in just over a week.”

  Derick set soft eyes on his mother. “Mama, your prayers really worked. God timed this all out to perfection, didn’t He?”

  Happy to hear these words coming from her oldest son, Martha said, “Yes, He did, honey. Everything God does is perfect.” She ran her gaze over the faces of the others. “All of you need to learn that.”

  “Mama, what about Dennis?” said Deborah. “Since he’s taking his nap as usual right now, he still doesn’t know what’s going on. We can’t keep it from him much longer.”

  “He need not know but the bare essentials,” said Martha. “We dare not let anyone but those of us in this room know where Diana has gone. We must keep it a secret. No matter what, your father must not learn where Diana has gone.”

  “Mama,” said Diana, “even though Jordan and I will have a courtship, I really don’t think it will be very long until we marry. Once I am his wife, there is nothing Papa can do, even if he should somehow find out where I am. I will be Jordan’s wife then, and no longer under Papa’s rule. Jordan sounds like the kind of man who would protect me from my father.”

  When Martha and her children drove away from the railroad depot in Richmond the next morning, they went directly to the post office. Diana had brought along paper and envelope.

  While the rest of the family stayed close to the potbellied stove, Diana went to one of the tall tables and penned her letter.

  Dear Jordan,

  I feel almost as if I have been dropped into the middle of a fairy tale. I think the reality of it has yet to hit me. It seems far too good to be real, and I catch myself wondering if I am about to awake from a dream and find out that’s all it was. Since nothing of the sort has happened as yet, I have given you my travel schedule below. You will know me when you see me. I will be the one who looks like she has butterflies in her stomach.

  Other than that, all I have to tell you is how happy I am, and how much I am looking forward to getting to know you. I am still not certain why you chose me, but I am very glad you did. You are offering me everything I ever wanted and never thought I would have. I can hardly wait to look into your eyes and touch your hand. I think that is the only way this will truly seem real to me. It seems insane, yet so right to totally put my hope and trust in a man I only know through a few short letters. I have never felt this strongly about anyone before, and I don’t even know you … and yet, I do.

  I am in full agreement with the courtship and the boardinghouse, and thank you for being the good man that you are.

  I will be leaving Richmond this coming Friday, November 22, and am scheduled to arrive in Elkton by stagecoach on Thursday, November 28, at 3:00 P.M. So, with my luggage, sweaty palms, aforementioned butterflies, and much hope, I prepare to set out on my journey. I hope you are as excited as I am. I can hardly believe I am going to see you soon.

  There is nothing in the world I want more.

  Happily,

  Diana

  Diana read the letter through three times to make sure it was exactly the way she wanted it, and then sealed it in the envelope, stepped to the counter, and handed it to a postal clerk to be mailed.

  On Thursday, Diana kept herself busy cleaning, cooking, and baking. She wanted everything to be caught up before she left, knowing that with the broken arm, her mother was still limited as to what she could do. Staying occupied also kept her from having too much time to think about how much she was going to miss her mother and siblings.

  That evening, Diana prepared a special dinner with Deborah’s help. At the table, everyone worked hard to keep a light and happy atmosphere, but their faces were showing the heaviness of their hearts. Martha tried valiantly to lighten the mood by bringing up happy times from the past.

  Soon all of the children were joining in. Downturned lips were lifted into smiles, and the meal ended on a happy note.

  As the family was rising from the table, Deborah looked at her sister and said, “Diana, you’ve worked hard today. I know you’re tired. You’ve got some packing yet to do. I’ll clean up the kitchen and do the dishes. You go on and get your things ready.”

  Diana wrapped her arms around Deborah and hugged her tight. “Thank you, sweetie.”

  “You’re quite welcome, sis. And I don’t want you worrying about this household when you’re gone. I’ll take care of things. Understand?”

  Diana hugged her again, fighting tears. “Yes.”

  Diana hugged her mother and brothers, then went to the room that she and Deborah had shared since Deborah was very small.

  A small trunk which was partially packed sat open and waiting on the floor, and a satchel had been placed on Diana’s bed.

  Emotions arose within her. She sat down on a chair and gazed around the room taking in its sparse furnishings, and said to herself in a whisper, “This is my home. This is my family. How—how am I ever going to leave them?”

  She could feel hot tears welling up in her eyes and running down into her throat. She gulped them back, rose to her feet, and while the tears ran down her cheeks, went to work to finish packing.

  The task was quickly accomplished. She stood looking at her meager belongings. “Guess that’s one good thing about being poor. You don’t have much to take with you when you move to a new location.”

  Movement at the door caught her eye. “Oh. Mama.”

  “May I come in?” asked Martha.

  “Of course. I just finished packing.”

  Martha went to the bed, sat down on its edge, and patted the spot next to her. “Come sit down, sweetheart.”

  Struggling to keep from crying, Diana sat down beside her mother and met her loving gaze.

  Martha took hold of her daughter’s hand and drew a deep breath. “Sweetie, I can only imagine how very difficult this is for you. Here you are, leaving your home and family and going someplace strange and new to meet a young man that you only know by the words he has written in a few letters. We are going to miss you terribly. This house will never be the same without you, but none of us could live with ourselves if we stood in your way of going then your father came home and beat you to death.”

  Blinking at the tears that filled her eyes, Diana squeezed her mother’s hand. “We both know that I have to leave here, Mama, but I worry about you and my sister and brothers. I’m afraid Papa will come home and be like always. He may take out on you what he would like to do to me.”

  “I honestly don’t think so, dear,” Martha said. “For whatever the reason, it is you he seems to take out his frustrations on. I’m optimistic that his six weeks in jail will provide good cause to make him think about his actions and bring about a change in him. This is why I’m not afraid he will try to beat out of us where you’ve gone. He has established a record with the law by being jailed for assault and battery on Tom Wymore. Chief Perry is aware of the way he has beat on you children and myself before. Your father knows he’s walking on thin ice with the
law. So don’t you be worrying about us.”

  “I can’t help but worry, Mama,” Diana said.

  Letting go of Diana’s hand, Martha caressed her cheek tenderly and said, “This mail order bride thing is all new to you, honey. It is going to bring about a dramatic change in your life. I know you don’t understand about my new life in Jesus, but I have put you in His mighty hands, and He has given me perfect peace that He will protect you and that He will protect your siblings and me.”

  Diana wrapped her mother’s fragile body in her own young arms and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Mama, for loving me, and wanting what is best for me. I hope someday I can be a wise and loving mother to my own children just as you have been to all of us.”

  Easing back in Diana’s embrace, Martha looked her in the eye and said, “Please promise me that you will find a Bible-believing church and go to it.”

  “I promise.”

  “Thank you. Now how about we gather everybody in the kitchen and each of us have a piece of that marvelous chocolate cake you baked?”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  It was an emotional moment at the Richmond railroad station the next morning as Martha and her other children stood beside the train with Diana to tell her good-bye, not knowing if they would ever see her again.

  Martha looked at her with misty eyes. “Honey, we haven’t had a moment to discuss this it seems, but I want you to write to us, so we’ll know how it is going for you.”

  “But Mama,” protested Diana, “if I do that, and Papa gets hold of an envelope with my return address on it, he’ll know where to find me.”

  “I’ve already figured out how to keep that from happening. Address the envelopes to Shamus and Maggie. I’ll explain the whole thing to them. They’ll see that I get every letter you send.”

  “Oh. That’s a good idea,” said Diana. “I’ll do it.”

  Each one except Dennis told Diana they would write to her after her first letter came and they had the address of the boardinghouse.

  Martha reminded Diana of her promise to seek out a Bible-believing church. Diana assured her she would.

  Many tears were shed as good-byes were said, and each one embraced Diana, then watched her board the coach as the conductor was shouting out his last call for everyone to get aboard.

  Soon they saw her take a seat next to the window. She forced a smile as the train pulled away, and waved to them, trying to hold her tears in check.

  DIANA MORROW HAD A LUMP IN HER THROAT as she pressed her face to the window, trying to keep her beloved family in view as long as possible. When the train made a curve as it left the depot, the last she saw of them they were waving.

  She burst into tears, glad at least that there was no one sitting beside her. People across the aisle were looking at her, and not wanting to make a scene, Diana took a linen handkerchief from her small handbag and pressed it to her face. She cried as softly as possible into the handkerchief for a few minutes, then finally gaining control of her emotions she wiped her cheeks and blew her nose.

  Gulping back the tears that still wanted to be shed, she forced herself to contemplate the future that lay ahead of her. She felt great relief, knowing she would not be home when her father was released from jail. I can only hope Mama is right, she thought. That Papa will be a different man once he is out of jail and I am out of the picture.

  Diana was still jittery about meeting Jordan, and a bit on edge at the thought of marrying a man she had never met. Knowing Jordan was wealthy helped a lot, however. She had known nothing but a poor farmer’s existence all of her life.

  Drying her eyes and adjusting herself on the seat with the soothing rumble of the wheels beneath her, she concentrated on what life would be like on a sprawling cattle ranch in the west. After a few moments of this, she switched her thoughts to Jordan Shaw, trying to picture what he might look like.

  Was he tall and slender? Or short and stocky? Or maybe tall and stocky? Or short and thin? Was he dark or fair? She would have to wait until that moment she met him when she stepped off the stagecoach for the answers to these questions. But one thing she knew. Any man who had a way with words like Jordan did was quite intelligent and had a tender heart.

  The coach rocked slightly as the train began a long curve. Instantly, her head began to pound. Pressing fingertips to her temples, she knew the headache had come as a result of the mental anguish she was suffering because of leaving her beloved family.

  Closing her eyes, Diana leaned her tired head back on the seat, and after a few minutes, was asleep. Soon she was dreaming about a handsome young man who stood in front of the Wells Fargo station in Elkton, heading toward her with a smile as she was about to step down from the stagecoach. She sighed in her sleep and a gentle smile curved her lovely lips.

  Late the next night, Diana arrived in Kansas City, Missouri. She left the train and waited in the depot until the train came in that was bound for Portland, Oregon. This train would take her as far as Boise, Idaho, where she would board another one for Ketcham.

  Early the next morning—Sunday, November 24—Diana boarded the Portland-bound train. She was alone on the seat once again and let her thoughts trail to her mother and siblings. Her heart ached for them, but the pain of the ache eased when she remembered that if her father behaved himself, he would be released from jail on Thursday. She was thankful for the way God had worked it so she would be gone by then.

  After eating breakfast alone in the dining car, Diana returned to her seat, looked out the window at the sun-drenched plains of Nebraska, and thought about the moment when she would first lay eyes on Jordan at the stage station in Elkton.

  By the time she sat down at the small table in the dining car for lunch, the sun had disappeared behind heavy clouds. When she returned to her seat, she saw windblown flecks of snow smashing against her window. With each hour that passed, the storm grew stronger. When she arrived late that afternoon in Cheyenne City, Wyoming, it had developed into a blinding snowstorm.

  Diana watched several passengers leave her coach, bending their heads against the blowing snow, and soon new passengers were boarding, doing the same thing. She heard them talking about the storm, which had come down from Canada and hit the Cheyenne City area some forty-eight hours previously. They were saying it was the worst snowstorm to hit that part of the country in ten years.

  Soon a woman in her late fifties drew up to where Diana was sitting. “Anyone occupying this place next to you, dear?”

  Giving her a warm smile, Diana said, “No, ma’am.”

  The woman brushed snow from her coat, laid it in the overhead rack, then sat down, placing her handbag on the floor by her feet. Sighing, she said, “Some storm.”

  “Sure is,” said Diana.

  Other new passengers were moving by in search of seats as the woman said, “I’m Cora Zeller. My home is in Portland, Oregon. I’ve been visiting my son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren here in Cheyenne City.”

  Diana nodded, giving her another smile. “My name is Diana Morrow. I’m from Richmond, Virginia, on my way to Elkton, Idaho, to become the mail order bride of a young cattle rancher. His name is Jordan Shaw.”

  Cora’s eyebrows arched. “A mail order bride. Well, I’ve heard of lots of them, but this is the first time I’ve ever met one.”

  “I’ve never met one either,” Diana said, chuckling.

  The whistle blew and soon the train was chugging out of the station, heading due west. While the wind hurled snow against the windows, Cora and Diana discussed the mail order bride system and how much it was being used by men in the west to provide themselves with wives.

  “Diana, may I ask you something?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you find it difficult facing the prospect of marrying a man you have never met and know very little about?”

  “Well, I have to admit, Mrs. Zeller, it is a bit frightening, but it isn’t as frightening as the thought of staying in Richmond.”

 
; Cora saw the hint of fear in Diana’s eyes, but did not pry.

  Soon the train was climbing into the Rocky Mountains on a steep incline. The storm was relentless as it continued to batter the sides of the coach, making it difficult for anyone to see out the frost-edged windows.

  Diana laid her head back and closed her eyes. Moments later, she felt Cora moving on the seat and opened her eyes to see her pulling a big Bible out of her handbag. She closed her eyes again, then after a few minutes, looked at the Bible as Cora was reading it.

  From the corner of her eye, Cora noticed Diana looking at the Book in her hands. After several minutes passed, and Diana still had her eyes on the Bible, Cora smiled at her and asked, “Do you know the Author of this Book, honey?”

  “Well, ah, no, I don’t. As far back as I can remember, both of my parents taught my siblings and me that these born-again, Bible-reading Christians were nothing but fanatical fools.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yes. Then quite recently, my mother went through a very difficult trial, and the pastor of a Richmond church talked to her, showed her some things in the Bible, and she was born again.”

  “Oh, wonderful!” Cora’s face was suddenly beaming.

  “Mama’s trying to lead her children the same way. She made me promise that when I get to Elkton, I will find a Bible-believing church and attend it.”

  “Well, good for her. But you haven’t been born again.”

  “No, ma’am. With all the things my parents taught me against the Bible, I’m very confused. Mama admits that she had been wrong to teach us what she did.”

  “And what about your father?”

  “Well, he’s still of the same opinion he always was.”