CHAPTER 27
S OPHIE CHOKED ON the dirt and debris that Dusty’s horse kicked up as he rode in the direction out of town. Panic welled inside her as he left her behind, the last thing she expected him to do after she chose him.
You deserve it, vain and frivolous little girl. The elements left her bare and exposed, as if the whole world could see her folly and laugh.
She would not go back inside that church. All those people, her friends, family, Chad. She couldn’t face them. It was all over.
She ran down the path leading to the farm. Behind her, people scuffled out of the church, calling her name. Someone would come after her soon, but there could be no stopping. No turning back.
Sophie carried an armful of tulle as she ran through the forested area and past the lake shore. Mud splattered on her legs. The weight of her train dragged as it collected stagnant water and silt. She continued to pull it along. The strength of her legs waned as the path sloped upward.
She was halfway to the farm when she heard her father yell behind her. The wagon wheels creaked and the axles groaned as he drove the wagon hard through the path strewn with ruts and uneven terrain.
“Get in this wagon now,” he thundered, exertion and anger turning his face a deep shade of red.
Sophie’s legs quaked beneath her layers of petticoats and bustle. She had to be strong and stand up to him. “I’m not going back to that wedding. I will not marry Chad.”
“I didn’t say you were going back to church. I said get into this wagon.”
She looked down at her dress and realized just how ruined it was. Beads torn from the bodice, seams torn all along the skirt. Linda’s work had completely gone to waste. “I want to go home.”
He extended his arm to aid her onto the bench. With effort she pulled her straggling train up after her and climbed back to the floor of the wagon where she could keep the train from getting caught in the wheels. The canvas cloaked her from the world as her father drove her the rest of the way home.
“Go into the house,” he told her once he helped her from the wagon. He and Mr. Kent set to unharnessing the horses. The new hired hand spared her and her bedraggled attire a curious glance, but kept his mouth shut.
Sophie looked up the road and saw another wagon coming. Her mother and siblings rode with Linda’s family. As they got closer, she could see that her mother was livid.
“I said to get into the house.” Her father lost patience and shouted again.
She made haste for the door, shutting it behind her. Outside she heard him talking, thanking Mr. Walsh for taking the family home. She walked through the hallway to get to the stairs before they came in.
The door opened and shut. “Sophie, where are you?” Her mother’s voice rang.
She walked back to the front of the house. David and her younger siblings passed her to go up to the second floor, hardly daring to look at her. Her father was the last to come inside. Sophie braced herself for the storm that was about to ensue.
“What were you thinking?” he roared. “Chad Hooper is the mayor’s son. You’ve humiliated yourself, the Hoopers, and this family in front of the whole town!”
“I’m sorry I embarrassed you, Daddy, but I couldn’t go through with it.”
Her mother grabbed her arm, fingers pinching, and led her into the sitting room. Sophie noticed her trousseau trunk and valises set in the corner, still waiting to be taken to the mayor’s residence. They would have a long wait.
“This is a disgrace, you rejecting Assurance’s most eligible bachelor. Anyone can get a man, Sophie, but you have to earn someone who has high status.” Her mother turned her loose in the middle of the room. “Don’t you realize the odds are slim for a young lady to marry up in this town? Have you forgotten our struggles in Louisiana?”
Her mother’s constant reminders of their lean years hit Sophie like rotten fruit at a county fair dunking booth. Ever since they arrived in Kansas, her parents groomed her to rise above her humble beginnings to a life of privilege, even at the expense of happiness. She couldn’t tolerate the idea any longer. “I don’t love Chad.”
“What did you say?”
Sophie tore off her gloves and kicked off her white silk wedding slippers on the elaborate woven rug of the sitting room. Little remained of them after her race past the lake, humiliated and heartbroken. “I won’t be trapped in a loveless marriage just so I can be comfortable.”
Both parents scoffed. “Be seated,” her father directed.
She plopped onto her mother’s white fainting couch, barely able to hold down the dirty mass of lace and tulle that fanned over her lap. Why did she choose such an ornate wedding dress, as tiny as she was? The frock may have looked good on the girl in Godey’s Ladies Book, but it made her feel like the cream filling in a pastry puff.
“You don’t know what makes a good marriage,” her father rumbled on. “You could have had one today instead of running after that cowboy.”
“He was your hired hand, Daddy, and you used to think highly of him.”
“That was before he went to great lengths to entice you to throw your life away and to turn my own son against me.
You and David were never so disobedient. Sterling’s ruined this family.”
“Dusty didn’t do those things.” She got up. Her father made her return to her seat.
“If I see him near you again, if he comes upon this land, I will take action with the full force of the law behind me.”
Sophie almost put the fainting couch to its intended use as her head swam with the realization that her father intended to have Dusty shot or thrown into jail. “Please don’t hurt him.”
Her mother threw her hands in the air. “I can’t believe you persist in defending that scoundrel. If he is without fault as you claim, then why did he leave you calling after him outside the church?”
Sophie’s heart broke again as she relived the moment that he turned his back on her for good. “I made my choice too late.”
“You made the wrong choice. Now no eligible man in this town will have you. I don’t see how you will ever get past this scandal.”
She didn’t argue with her mother. Scandal was not the most pressing matter. With Dusty gone, she couldn’t see how she would get past the following days and weeks without despairing of what she truly lost.
The clop-clop of Gabe’s hooves did little to drown the pitch of Sophie’s cries that still echoed in Dusty’s ears. A part of him had wanted to turn his horse around and lift Sophie into the saddle with him. However, a voice in his head had kept him riding for the horizon.
How can you be sure she will actually leave her family and the comforts of wealth behind for you?
For years he waited for Sophie to choose him, but the events of the past summer and seeing her today, about to marry someone else, succeeded in tearing him up and sowing doubt in his mind. Even if she doesn’t want Chad, ultimately her loyalty lies with her folks. Not you.
That’s what made him turn so cold. That’s why he left her at the church. Her parents would never accept him, never respect him. Even if Sophie did marry him, could she handle living without the blessing and support of her pare
nts? Could he? And after all the comforts she had grown used to, could she be happy living with the hardships of ranch living?
Dusty blinked and the entrance to the Zephyr Ranch was before him. Now he’d never know the answer to those questions. Maybe Sophie’s father had already smoothed things over and got her to marry Chad. She had her life. Now he had to make his.
You could never make her happy. The wind made the sign creak on its hinges like an old door closing. That same force attempted to press on Dusty’s heart to close it to Sophie for good.
Sophie spent a sleepless night in bed that evening and stayed home from church Sunday morning. She gave her father the engagement ring to return to Chad’s family, glad to be rid of it but remorseful that she allowed events to culminate to such a point.
Reverend Winford paid her family a visit in the afternoon. She was drying dishes in the kitchen when she heard him talking to her mother in the hallway.
“If it’s possible, Mrs. Charlton, I would like to have a word alone with your daughter. Is she able to receive visitors?”
“Just a moment, Reverend. I’ll see.”
Sophie dried her hands on her apron. Why couldn’t he have given her time to bear her shame in private before coming over to lecture her on how sinfully she behaved the day before? She considered telling her mother not to allow Reverend Winford to come in, but knew it would be of no use. Her parents were still irate and thin of patience with her, and would be for some time to come.
Her mother stuck her head in the kitchen doorway. “Reverend Winford is here to see you. Straighten your appearance and go into the sitting room.” She left without waiting for a reply.
Sophie removed her apron and smoothed down her hair. She walked into the sitting room where her mother offered the Reverend a slice of pumpkin pie, a dessert that was originally intended for the wedding reception.
“No, thank you, Mrs. Charlton. I don’t intend to stay long.” He sat down in her father’s chair across from the couch.
Sophie greeted him after her mother left. “I’m told you wanted to speak to me.”
“I’ve come to see how you were feeling since yesterday. Can we talk?”
She remembered the old pastor Reverend Thomas coming to the house years before he left town with his family. Sophie couldn’t see herself being counseled by Reverend Winford, a man not so much older than she, and one who witnessed her snub Chad at a dance last year. A new flood of embarrassment carried over her. “If you don’t mind, Reverend, I’ve been admonished many times since I ran from what would have been my wedding yesterday. My mother and father will no doubt continue to reprove me for months to come.”
“I didn’t come to scold you, Sophie. Since yesterday, I’ve been praying for you to have strength to carry through your decision.”
Startled, she dropped onto the couch. “Why would you do that? Everyone else wishes I had married Chad.”
“It’s not what other people want that matters here. Marriage is a union between man, woman, and God. How can you honor God in your marriage if you can’t love the person you’re with? Yes, a wedding is meant to be a celebration of the whole community when a couple is joined together, but without love between man and wife that celebration is a sham and a lie.”
She realized that he was sensing the pressures that had led to her decision, perhaps even blaming her parents for the botched wedding. But she knew she’d played a part too. She looked at the pattern on the rug. “I was wrong for leading Chad on in the beginning. I let him court me because I thought he was dashing. He seemed quite the catch after he came back from college. He was successful at the bank and had a good name.”
“Money and status don’t always ensure a happy marriage, Sophie. I know that’s not the popular view but it’s the truth.”
Sophie hoped her parents were somewhere listening. “No one would ever have approved if I confessed to caring for Dusty.”
The Reverend smiled sympathetically. “But you did confess it.”
“Yes, and it didn’t matter. I waited so long and did so many things to make him fed up with me.” She looked into the Reverend’s discerning gaze. “You don’t have to be kind. I know you remember some of the ways that I’ve treated him. It’s no wonder that man despises me.”
“I don’t think Dusty despises you. He may be hurt or angry, but he’s been smitten with you for a long time.”
“You didn’t hear the words he had for me yesterday. He’s not coming back this time.”
Reverend Winford was silent as the clock ticked through half a minute. “What are you prepared to do if he does come back?”
The possibility of such an idea brought light to Sophie’s gloom. “I’d ask him to forgive me, and tell him that I’d never be so callous with him again.”
“And if he doesn’t come back?”
The gloom returned. “I don’t think there’s much I can do in that circumstance, now is there?”
“You can do something. Dusty may not be here today for you to talk to, but God is. You can pray to Him for forgiveness and healing.”
Sophie bit her lip in trepidation. “If my earthly parents are cross with me I know that I’ve displeased my Father in heaven even more so.”
“The Lord’s ways aren’t your family’s ways, Sophie. He’s always patient and ready to listen. You can’t drive Him away.” Reverend Winford stood. “If you like, we can pray before I leave.”
Sophie got to her feet. “You may be standing awhile. I have quite a bit of forgiveness I need to ask for.”
CHAPTER 28
One month later
D USTY DROVE THE last nail into the wood shingle. There. The roof to his house was complete, with time to spare before the first hard frost. He climbed down from the ladder and stood back to admire his handiwork. Footsteps came from behind.
“Got another letter for you, Sterling.”
Dusty caught the envelope Joe tossed his way. He didn’t need to glance at the lacy handwriting on the front to know who sent it. “Thanks.” He pocketed the letter without opening it.
“You know, I should start chargin’ a fee for bein’ a messenger. This is the fourth letter in three weeks.”
“Where’d she leave it this time?”
“Her brother followed me into the general store and handed the letter to me. He knows I go into town each Saturday. Guess some folks are too particular to use the post office.”
“She doesn’t want people to know she’s writing to me.” Especially her parents. Dusty reflected on the bitter edge of his thoughts and made himself focus on something other than Sophie. Despite not writing back to her and staying away from town, thinking about her was one old habit that refused to lie down and die. “Got the roof on.”
Joe looked from him to the new roof over the house. “You’re ’bout to have that house completed by winter.”
“Looks like it.” Dusty gathered the box of nails and tools beneath the ladder to take back to the ranch. He carried it over to the supply wagon used to transport the wood to his land.
“You ever read those letters Miss Sophie sends you?” Joe grabbed the ladder and followed him.
&nbs
p; “Yeah.” He recalled the words from the last three he kept in his saddlebag. Words of apology, asking for forgiveness. He already forgave her, but that did nothing to solve the other obstacles in their path.
“She must have something important to say. You ever think of writin’ back?”
“Got nothing to say to her, Joe. Not with her folks dead set against me.” He dropped the hammer and box of nails on the wagon floor.
“They may have changed their minds. Go see about her.”
Dusty sighed. “I’m not playing that fool anymore.”
Joe placed the ladder inside the wagon. “It sounds like you’re playin’ a different one.”
The severity of Joe’s declaration made Dusty pay attention. The man wasn’t normally harsh. “You haven’t been in this town as long as I have. You don’t know how her folks value wealth and status over all else.”
“Is that what’s botherin’ you, not being rich? It seems to worry you more than it does Miss Sophie. You said she apologized when she ran after you at the wedding. Instead of acceptin’ it, you rejected her in front of the whole town.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“It sounds like an eye for an eye to me.”
“I didn’t do it for revenge.” Dusty kicked at a wagon wheel. One thing he didn’t want to hear from his friend was a church sermon. “Her father will never accept me, and without his blessing I doubt she’d be happy.”
“Have you even asked?” Joe shrugged his heavy shoulders. “How long are you gonna keep playin’ the hired hand, doing what you think Mr. Charlton wants? You gotta step up, speak up, if you want his respect.”
Dusty stared at him. What if Joe was right?
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