Bride's Flight from Virginia City, Montana

by Murray Pura

  “Well, there was God in it, I know that for sure, and love for his sister, too. He had to fight off what was left of his gang in order to save her life. They took exception to her preaching. It shamed him, but didn’t sit well with the others.”

  “Raber would never turn, I tell you.”

  “But I was there that day, Mister King, and I tell you he did. I guess you’ve got the same choice to make as he did, heaven or hell. I hope you make it before the trapdoor springs.”

  “They’ll never hang me.”

  “Well, now, don’t you bet your life on it.”

  Zeph stepped back and looked up at the driver. The man nodded and flicked his reins.

  “Hey yup, hey yup,” he cried.

  Austen leaned forward in his seat and touched the brim of his black hat. “My regards to Miss Raber. I will see her again at your wedding. It will be an honor to stand for you, Captain Parker.”

  “And an honor for me as well, Colonel Austen.”

  The stage rolled down the street, kicking up dust. Then it was gone. Matt was at Zeph’s side.

  “You still a deputy marshal?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, let me know when you do know.”

  They walked back down Main Street with Luke. Their horses were tied off in front of the law office. All three of them swung up into their saddles.

  “Luke and I need to pay a visit to the Kings,” Matt said.

  “You think there’ll be trouble?” asked Zeph.

  “I think they’ll be as surprised and upset as we were. Don’t know how they’ll feel about it down the road.”

  “Will they hang Billy in Cheyenne, brother?”

  “With his connections to the Raber Gang? I believe Wyoming might.”

  “None of this feels good to me. We were all best friends.”

  “I know it. Jude said something about it the other night, quoting the Bible, of course. Zechariah, I think it was: ‘These are the wounds I received at the house of my friends.’”

  Luke and Matt rode off, and Zeph turned his horse toward the trail north that led to the Sweet Blue. The town was waking up and wagons went rattling past. People crossed the street in front of him and behind him. He didn’t pay any of the hustle and bustle any mind. He was thinking about how much a life can change not only from one year to the next, or one month, but one moment to another. And how you hardly ever saw it coming.

  Chapter 35

  It was the middle of June and warm as a wood fire, Lynndae thought. She coaxed Daybreak along the ridge and looked at the mountains that seemed purple in the distance. A few still had snow, but most had sent it down by way of creeks and streams and rivers to water the valleys and pastures below. “Heartland,” she murmured. “Why, hello,” came a cheerful voice.

  Lynndae smiled as Zeph cantered toward her on Cricket from across a small stretch of meadow. He touched his hat brim.

  “Hey there, palomino.”

  “I’m never sure if you’re talking to my horse or you’re talking to me,” she teased.

  “Maybe both.”

  “Which is it?”

  “I think you know.”

  “Hm.” She glanced around her at the vista that surrounded them on all sides. “I had my head down most of the way up watching her steps. My goodness, this land gets more beautiful as each day goes by.”

  “This land. And some of its inhabitants.”

  Lynndae smiled over at him. “Always gallant.”

  “And always truthful.”

  Lynndae looked at her man, at the tan the western sun had already fashioned over the skin of his face and hands, at his brown eyes and hair, at his smile and rugged good looks, at the kindness as well as the strength that was there, and felt an enormous surge of gratitude toward God for the entire journey from the Montana Territory to Pennsylvania and back again. It had been fraught with danger, but the outcome had been blessing upon blessing. She needed to know if he felt the same way.

  “Z?”

  “Hm?” He was looking at the sun as it moved closer to the tops of the peaks.

  “Was it worth it?”

  “Was what worth it?”

  “The trip, the journey, the whole thing we’ve been part of since February.”

  “What sort of crazy question is that?”

  “My crazy question. If you had to, would you do it all over again?”

  Zeph moved his eyes from the sun to her. “Let me see. You’re in new denim pants, Levi Strauss, like mine, and a long-sleeved cotton shirt in pale white. You’ve got a black-and-white pattern bandana around your neck and your silver earrings are catching the sunlight. Your golden hair is pulled back and braided and dropping like a glittering rope down your back. Your Stetson is as new as your pants and black as midnight, and it ties together all your handsome whites and darks and golds at one beautiful summit.”

  Lynndae felt the heat in her face. “Z, please stop. A woman can only take so much of your chivalry in one go.”

  “Then there are your eyes. A man could live forever just gazing into that blue.”

  “Are you finished playing Romeo?” she asked. “When are you going to answer my question?”

  Zeph smiled. “Was it worth it? Bess and Samuel are alive, so is the village of Bird in Hand, so are you. Your brother’s in heaven, which he had small chance of getting into before, and the Raber Gang isn’t around to terrorize innocent folk anymore. Colonel Austen and I met up again. I made a hundred new friends in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We discovered Black Jack gum.”

  She waited for him to continue. “So, is that it?”

  “Our ranch’ll be the biggest spread in southeastern Montana once we buy that little strip that separates Two Back from Sweet Blue. Your brother Ricky’d like that.”

  Lynndae felt an impatience stirring inside her. But she was also pretty sure he was toying with her. He laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

  “You are. Because you think I’m done.”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Not by a long shot.”

  He brought Cricket closer so that they were only inches from each other. “We finally got our sunset ride,” he said.

  “We did.”

  “Took a long time to get here.” “It seems that way, doesn’t it?”

  “Trains and stages and walking on foot. Might have saved ourselves the trouble by just staying put.”

  He reached out a hand and ran it gently down one side of her face. “Except if I hadn’t made the journey, I wouldn’t have gotten to know you half so well. Wouldn’t have seen all your courage and tenderness and charm. Truth is, before we left Iron Springs, I thought I knew you pretty well. But I didn’t know you at all. There’s a difference between looking at a stretch of heartland from a distance, thinking it’s fine, and riding through that same country for a week and seeing every well and spring and blackberry bush, and knowing for a fact it’s fine.”

  He leaned over and surprised her with a soft kiss on her lips. Then he kept his face near. “Well, I guess you could say God took me on a ride through a heartland till I got to see every stone, every flower, every ribbon of fresh water, every green place, and once I made that ride, I understood what He meant when He said He made that land and called it good, very good.”

  Lynndae felt a flush rising to her cheeks. How was he always able to do that to her? He kissed her again, and she wished he would never pull away, never stop. Then he was cradling her head against his chest, and she could hear the beating of his heart.

  “Was it worth it? I fell in love with the most beautiful woman God has ever placed upon this earth, a lady who outshines Esther or Cleopatra or Helen of Troy. But what’s even more astonishing is that this woman fell in love with me and said she’d be my wife. Do you know how long we’d been gone when she said yes? Maybe two weeks. Do you think she would have promised to marry me after just two more weeks of living in Iron Springs and neither of us setting a foot outs
ide the Sweet Blue or Two Back Valley? If I’d come to your door with roses and daisies and chocolates and kisses and said, ‘Miss Spence, will you marry me, it’s been two weeks,’ would you have thrown your arms around me and cried, ‘Oh yes, oh yes, marry me, Z, it’s been two whole weeks of courtship, and we’ve scarcely seen each other in all that time?’”

  Lynndae laughed into his shirt. “I would have got the boys to throw you out on your ear.”

  Zeph carefully lifted the new Stetson and kissed the top of her head. “So there you have it. The journey was hard and not without its moments of great darkness, but in the end it was a miracle. With the kind of ending to the story I’m holding in my arms right now, I’d do it again. And again. There is no doubt of that in my mind, and there shouldn’t be any in yours.”

  “There isn’t.”

  “Then we are in agreement.”

  All the land was sheeted in copper and gold now, and Zeph tilted her face back into the sunlight.

  “Look at you,” he whispered, “my lovely palomino, ready to throw back her head and toss her golden mane and fly across God’s earth like a shooting star. I love you.”

  Lynndae was about to respond with the same three words when she felt him slip something cool and round and thin on her finger. She pulled back in surprise and sat upright in her saddle, looking at her left hand. A ring and its jewels sparkled in the setting sun.

  “Z!” she exclaimed.

  “The sapphire is for your eyes, of course, those eternal windows to your soul. But the amethyst is there for the same reason. I was able to procure two of a deeper shade of violet, the shade that comes over your eyes in certain moods and changes in the weather. Did you know the British crown jewels have amethyst? I had them put these four stones in a circle around the diamond. You understand that the diamond is you, all of you, in one perfect gem? It catches the light, makes rainbows, shines like the moon and stars and all the heavens. That about says it all, don’t you think?”

  Lynndae didn’t want to cry, but the tears came anyway. “Oh, Z, what girl was ever given such a beautiful ring in such a beautiful place by such a beautiful man?”

  “I just wanted to make it official. And I was waiting for the right moment.” Zeph put his hand under her chin again and gently lifted her face toward his. “Lynndae Sharlayne Raber, will you make me the happiest man on earth? Will you be my bride?”

  Lynndae cried out and threw her arms around his neck. She kissed him so hard and so long he didn’t know if she would ever let him go. When she finally did, he caught his breath and asked, “Is that what you call a yes in Amish?”

  She laughed a silver laugh and took him in her arms again. Just as she did so a shooting star streaked across the Montana night. A good shiver went up her spine.

  “Don’t ever leave me,” she whispered.

  He kissed her forehead so lightly she thought it was moonlight.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, “in this story we ride as one from here on in.”

  Author, Baptist pastor, and historian, Murray Pura began writing at an early age. He has since published numerous works of both fiction and nonfiction. Murray lives in Canada where he enjoys the frontier landscape and its people. To learn more about Murray, visit his website at www.murraypura.com.

  Discussion Questions

  Charlotte Spence is a woman on her own who has to run a large ranch. Can you identify with her situation in any way? Are there things you have had to do on your own, without help from a boyfriend or spouse, that have called on inner resources of faith and strength you might not have been sure you had?

  There are many men in Charlotte’s life, including a pastor brother of Zephaniah Parker’s. What traits or aspects of Zephaniah’s personality do you think draw Charlotte to him rather than to the other men around her? Would you feel the same degree of attraction or not to those traits?

  Charlotte has many secrets, and she does not confide in Zephaniah regarding many of them. Why do you think she chooses not to do so? Do you think keeping her secrets from Zephaniah was a good decision? Is it right to keep secrets from those you love?

  Charlotte has no children of her own, yet she treats the two orphaned children like gold. Can you explain why she might have such strong affection for the boy and girl and why she is willing to risk her life to save them? Do you know people like Charlotte?

  What is it about Charlotte’s personality do you think Zephaniah likes the most? Do you understand why he reacts so strongly when he finds out she has been keeping secrets from him? Do you feel he is overreacting? How would you feel if someone close to you did the same thing to you?

  Zephaniah is reluctant to carry a firearm because of his negative experiences during the Civil War. Do you empathize with him, or do you feel he is being unrealistic about what is required for self-defense or the defense of others? Why does he finally feel he must use a gun? What is your stance on self-defense and the use of guns and where God stands in it all?

  How close do you think Charlotte is to the Amish and their faith? Out West in Montana, it seemed like she had severed her ties with them forever. Back in Pennsylvania, do you think her feelings about cutting herself off from all things Amish undergo a drastic change? Have you ever undergone such a thawing of hard feelings towards others over a period of time?

  How important is the Bible Zephaniah carries with him and Charlotte? How often do they consult it? Does their Christian faith make a great deal of difference to what they decide to do on a day-to-day basis or not? Do you try to use the Bible in the same way, or do you find it difficult to have quiet time with the scriptures every day?

  What circumstances do you feel combined to make Charlotte’s brother into a hard-hearted killer? Why did he finally repent of his life of crime and violence? Do you think his repentance was sincere? Have you known people like him—perhaps not murderers—who drastically changed their ways because of returning to God, whether on their deathbed or not?

  Why are the Amish able to embrace Charlotte’s brother in death when they could not embrace him while he was alive? Do you think they should have shunned the Raber family to begin with? Could they have done more to reach out to Charlotte’s brother during his lifetime? What are your own opinions about church discipline directed towards individuals and families?

  Charlotte (Lynndae Raber) and Zephaniah face a hard decision over whether to stay in Pennsylvania and adopt an Amish lifestyle or return to Montana. If you were in their shoes, what might you have done? Stayed or returned? How have you handled decisions to move or stay put when the choice to go or stay was in your own hands and prayers?

  How do you think Charlotte (Lynndae) and Zephaniah will make out as a married couple? They both have strong personalities, and Charlotte has been used to making her own decisions and running things her way—how will she adjust to making those decisions alongside a husband, and how will Zephaniah adjust to her strong will? How easy is it going to be to combine their ranches? If you were their pastor and counseling them before their wedding, what four things might you emphasize when it came to offering advice on how to work things through together?