“Did you make these creamed carrots?” Gil asked.
“Are they still your favorites?”
He grinned. “Yes.”
“Then I made them.”
They shared a quiet laugh.
Gabe finally noticed Libby waiting for the mashed potatoes and handed her the bowl. “Abby and Anna told us all about how you prevented those robbers from getting their mama’s ring,” she said to him. “Elisabeth sets great store by that ring, so I know how much she appreciated you coming to her rescue like that. It was a very brave thing you did.”
Uncomfortable with the subject, he decided explanations would only draw more attention. He was at a loss for a reply, and she was waiting. “Miss Hart does favor that ring.”
“Do you have anything special that belonged to your mother?” she asked.
“Well…” He thought a few seconds. “I have a tin-type of my parents on their wedding day. And some books…and a silver comb and brush set I’ve been saving for Irene. Guess she can have it now that she’s not at school.”
“You never mentioned that, Gabriel,” Irene said from his other side. “Where are they? When can I see them?”
“They’re in those crates in my room. Station delivered them a couple days ago. Had ’em stored all these years.”
“You’ll have to sort all that out yourself,” she said. “Elisabeth and I didn’t touch your things.”
“I wouldn’t have cared.” He glanced at Elisabeth. “But I can take care of it.”
Gil’s parents, seated at Sam’s right side and across from Josie, were engaged in a conversation with their hosts. Patience, Anna and Abigail held their own quiet conversation, which left Libby free to ask him more questions.
Gil glanced over a couple of times, and he and Elisabeth shared a look. It wasn’t until that moment that Gabe realized Libby had been flirting with him all along, engaging him in conversation and showing avid interest.
“How old is Libby?” he whispered to his sister when no one else was paying attention.
“She’s out of school, so maybe eighteen?” She gave him a curious look. “Why?”
He simply tilted his head to indicate he was merely curious and tasted the creamed carrots.
“Josie tells me you’re building a house,” Arlene Stelling said to Gabe.
He glanced from Gil to his mother beside him. “The work will get underway next week,” he told her.
“Gil has mentioned getting a house of his own,” she said. “Do you want one that’s all ready to move into or will you build a new place?”
Gil shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t need a very big place or anything special.”
“You’ll have a wife one of these days,” his mother reminded him. “Maybe you do need something special.”
“I guess I’ll figure that out when it happens.”
Elisabeth didn’t blush or glance at him as though that idea held any significance for her. She asked Kalli to pass the bread, which had ended up on the far end of the table by the boys.
“Are there many homes available?” Irene asked.
“There must be enough to keep Thomas Payne in business,” Sam replied. “He handles local real estate.”
“Daisy Martin and her family moved to Denver,” Abigail said. “They had a nice house on Spencer Street. The brick one with the porch and the foliage that grows up the chimney.”
“That house is empty?” Gil asked. “I remember going to birthday parties there when we were kids. Remember, Lis?”
Elisabeth nodded. “It has a great big kitchen. Mrs. Martin had it painted bright yellow.”
Gil’s expression showed interest. “Maybe I’ll visit Tom and ask to see the place.”
“My schedule is open,” Irene said with a grin. “I’m available to go with you.”
Several sets of eyes turned to Irene.
“If you’d like company, that is,” she added. “I was just thinking…I’m free and all. I could give you a woman’s perspective.”
Gil’s parents deliberately surveyed their plates. Elisabeth locked gazes with Josie for the briefest of moments. Gabe turned to look at Irene beside him. Her cheeks were flushed, and she wore a hesitant smile. Now she was flirting! Right in plain sight of everyone at the dinner table.
Gil returned her smile with a hesitation, but interest. “That would be nice,” he said finally. “I’ll talk to Tom and let you know.” Then he glanced aside, as though he didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. “Anyone else want to come along?”
No one took him up on the offer.
“Lis?” he asked, looking directly at her.
“It would depend on my schedule,” she replied. “If I don’t have an appointment, I can join you.”
After they’d finished eating, Sam asked Abigail and Anna to clean up the dishes. Elisabeth and Patience joined them. Josie directed the others into the great room.
“Remember when we were the ones doing the dishes?” Arlene took Rachel from Josie’s arms. “Now we have all these grown children.”
“Children are a blessing from the Lord,” Josie agreed.
Gabe got his first good look at the baby as Arlene uncovered her scrawny legs and held her for Chess to see. “Can you remember when our babies were this tiny?”
“At that size I was scared to death of ’em,” the man replied. “Still am.”
“The girls keep a checkerboard in that side table drawer,” Gil said to Irene. “How is your game?”
She gave him a warning look. “I have skills that will amaze you.”
Obviously familiar with the room and comfortable helping himself as though he’d done it a hundred times, Gil found the board and disks and set up the game on the side table, then arranged chairs for the two of them on either side.
Libby took a chair across from where Gabe sat on a divan. “If their game doesn’t last too long, perhaps you’d like to play.”
Chapter Thirteen
“I don’t know how.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You’ve never played checkers?”
“Nope.”
“I can teach you.”
If this was what civilized people did after dinner, he guessed he might as well learn. “Okay.” And realizing polite conversation was expected, he came up with a question. “Do you…are you involved in any studies?”
“Studies. Like school? No, I graduated two years ago. I now work for Opal Zimmerman, the dressmaker.”
“Oh. Do a lot of women need dresses?”
“All women need dresses. Some more than others. Coats, too. I only just made my first coat. It’s in the window at the shop if you should walk past.”
“I’ll have a look.”
“Appears you’re healing,” Chess said then, taking the seat beside him. “Feeling better, are you?”
“Much better,” Gabe replied, relieved to have another person join the conversation. “I’ve been riding, and it’s getting easier.”
“I broke ribs once, and you couldn’t have made me get on a horse,” Chess told him.
“He didn’t have any trouble coming to the dinner table, though,” his wife remarked, eliciting a laugh from those nearby.
“Well, this one’s cracked, so it’s probably not as painful,” Gabe said in the man’s defense.
Chess gestured to Gabe and tilted his head at his wife. “You see?” He grinned. “At any rate it’s good to see you doing well. Last Sunday you were still lying abed, but I reckon we’ll see you at church day after next.”
“Church?” Gabe glanced from the man to his hosts, who were smiling encouragement. He’d been taken in by the minister’s family. Of course they’d expect him to come to church. “Well, I—”
“We’re looking forward to services,” Irene said. “If we ever attended church together before, I was too young to remember. I can’t wait to meet more residents of Jackson Springs, especially if they’re all as nice as those I’ve met so far.” She gave Gil another meaningful glance.
&nbs
p; Elisabeth entered the room in time to pick up on the topic. “Father is an inspiring preacher. He plans his sermons for days, sometimes weeks in advance, and delivers them with conviction and compassion.”
Sam caught her hand. “Elisabeth is my right hand. She sees to all the tasks that would keep my attention from preparing lessons or seeing to the spiritual needs of the congregation.”
“Don’t glorify straightening hymnals and baking communion bread.”
Sam looked straight at Gabe. “She’s humble. She does a great deal of research for me, finding scriptures I need and locating details of history and Bible interpretation in my library. She used to do all the cleaning and preparing of communion, too, but now she delegates those jobs. She even counts the tithes and offerings and makes the bank deposit each week. And she often accompanies me to visit the sick and elderly.”
Gabe had never even thought about all the work that went into being a preacher. He’d seen how much Elisabeth did in this home, what with sharing meal preparations and changing bedding. In addition she managed to fit in her notary duties.
She was of an age to marry. Considering all her attributes, it was a wonder no man had offered for her yet. Perhaps the idea of marriage didn’t appeal to her.
He studied Irene and Gil at their checker game. Why hadn’t Gil proposed to her? Why hadn’t the banker? Maybe one of them had and she’d turned him down. Elisabeth seemed as headstrong as his sister.
“Each one of my children is a blessing,” Sam assured them. “Each unique and special in his or her own way.”
“And now you have yet another blessing,” Arlene Stelling said with a warm smile.
“My cup runneth over.” Sam looked directly at his wife as he said the last.
More than once Gabe had picked up on the looks that passed between them. They shared something special. Something unfamiliar in his experience. As unfamiliar as attending church. He didn’t want to let on to Irene that he hadn’t set foot inside a church since their parents’ funerals. She took God as seriously as these others did, and he didn’t want to appear the only heathen in their midst.
An hour later, Elisabeth got up. “I’ll set dessert and coffee out on the sideboard in the dining room. Once I have it ready, you can eat in there or bring your plates and cups in here.” She turned directly to John and Peter, who had arranged their blocks into corrals for their toy horses. “That doesn’t include you boys. You will eat at your usual places.”
She glanced around and Gabe figured she was looking for help. A couple of the girls had only returned from finishing supper dishes and cleanup a few minutes ago, and Irene was still occupied at the checkerboard.
“I’ll help,” Gabe said.
His offer caught her by surprise. “You?”
“I have two hands.”
“Of course. All right then, thank you.”
In the kitchen, she heated the coffee she’d made earlier and pointed to a cupboard. “The dessert plates are in there.”
He opened it and figured the smaller ones were dessert plates. “How many?”
“All of them.”
He lifted them out. “Dining room?”
“On the sideboard please.”
He delivered them and returned. “Are you disturbed about Irene making friends with your deputy?”
“Not at all, and he’s not my deputy.”
“But there’s something between the two of you, isn’t there?”
She uncovered two baking dishes that held something with a golden crust. “Something like what?” She glanced up. Her expression changed to one of surprise. “Do you mean…romantic? Goodness, no. Gilbert and I are friends, and that’s the extent of it. I have never considered him in any other way.”
“What about him? Maybe he has designs on you, but he doesn’t let on.”
She shook her head. “No,” she said firmly. “It’s not like that. We’ve always had an easy, comfortable association. Anything else would ruin that. Huh-uh. If you had any inkling that he took a romantic interest in me, how would you account for the rapt attention he’s been paying your sister all evening?”
“You noticed?”
“It would be difficult not to notice. They’ve been making eyes at each other and smiling.” She gave an impression of a silly smile.
“I was afraid of that.”
“Of what?”
“He isn’t the sort I’d want to see her involved with.”
She stopped in the middle of reaching for a china sugar bowl. “Why ever not?” she asked as though he’d personally insulted her. “Gilbert’s a trustworthy and honest person. He’s a deputy, for goodness’ sake. What does that say about his character? He’s kind to his sisters and good to his parents and he’s a very loyal friend. He attends church every Sunday, unless he’s on duty at the jail, and he’s not hard to look at. He’s rather handsome actually.”
“I’m sure he is all of those things you say,” he told her. “It’s the deputy part that bothers me. If she was to marry him—and I’m not saying that after one evening and a checker game she’s going to marry him—but if she did…a lawman’s job is dangerous. I wouldn’t choose a lawman for her.”
She poured fresh cream into a small pitcher that matched the sugar bowl. “Well, it’s not up to you, now is it?”
He should have guessed she wouldn’t see the subject from his perspective. He’d be hard-pressed to think of anything they’d agreed upon yet. “That Jackson fellow,” he said. “Now he has a safe job at the bank. Unless of course…he’s the one you have your sights set on.”
“Again,” she said, “if you start pressing her toward marriage or a husband she doesn’t select for herself, you will push her away.” She placed a handful of forks on the tray beside the cream and sugar. “And just how many more men can you imagine pairing me with?”
“He does have designs on you,” Gabe said. “I saw it.”
“I’ve never encouraged him.” She hadn’t denied Jackson’s attraction to her, only her encouragement. “You flatter me if you think every man in town finds me irresistible.”
Odd, the relief he’d experienced at her denial on both counts. “I can only think you have discouraged them because of your desire for independence, because you’d make any one of them a good wife.”
She had picked up the tray, but she paused with it hovering inches over the table. “If God shows me a man He wants me to marry, I’ll consider it then.”
“How will you know?”
She looked down. “Can we finish this conversation later? I need to set out dessert before the boys have to go to bed.”
“We don’t have to talk about it at all if you don’t want to.”
She met his eyes briefly and headed for the dining room.
He appreciated her advice regarding his sister. She understood females far better than he did. The last thing he wanted was to offend Irene again, but if she took a shine to the deputy, he was going to have a rough time keeping his nose out of it. For now, he would stay in the background and see what happened. Except…
“If she goes to see the house with the deputy, go along, will you, please?”
Her eyes held humor when she looked at him. “It was the please that got me. Yes. I will accompany her.”
“Thanks.” He held up a hand before she could say it. “No, that wasn’t hard at all. Thank you. See?”
Her laugh melted something inside him.
Later that night after they’d arrived at the tiny house and Irene had gone to her room, he pried lids from the crates. Minutes later she opened her door to his knock.
“I found these for you.”
Her gaze dropped to the silver-handled comb, brush and mirror he held. Tears welled in her eyes. “Oh, Gabriel.”
“They’re tarnished.”
“I’ll polish them.” She accepted the set, carried them into her room and placed them on the bureau before turning back.
“Thank you for saving them for me all this time.” She wrapped
her arms around his neck and hugged him soundly. “I prayed for this time to come. I prayed that God would keep you safe all those years, and He did. Even if we never got a bigger house, even if we lived here forever, I’d be content.”
If there was a God, Gabe figured he was on the bottom of the list as far as prayers went, so his safety had to have been purely by coincidence and sheer wit. “We’re getting a bigger house.”
Before the service began Sunday morning, Elisabeth was tying Peter’s shoe for the third time when the hum of conversation faded out, and the sanctuary grew unusually quiet. She glanced up, noting heads turning toward the rear of the building. Conversation buzzed again, this time with excitement.
“That’s him, the man who saved the whole car full of people from the robbers.”
“The Taggart fellow is more handsome than I expected.”
“Is that his wife?”
“No, I heard his sister has joined him.”
Elisabeth got to her feet and helped Peter get situated with the rest of family in the two front rows. She turned then, spotting Gabe and Irene as half a dozen people greeted them just inside the doors. Though it was a warm morning, Gabe wore a dark jacket over his white shirt and string tie. He held his hat in both hands, worrying the brim in a circle, his discomfort evident. She hurried to extricate the two of them from the gathering, showed him where to hang his hat, and ushered them to the join the rest of the Harts.
Just as they took their seats, the strains of the first hymn came from the organ as Constance Graham opened the service with A Mighty Fortress Is Our God and the choir led the singing. Voices rose around them, the various sopranos and baritones blending into a joyful chorus of praise. Elisabeth’s father stood at the podium, his smile showing his pleasure at the sizeable turnout that morning.
About halfway through the last song, the doors at the rear of the sanctuary burst open.
Music and song came to an abrupt halt.
Marrying the Preacher's Daughter Page 11
