After one last glance at the mirror Micah closed the bag with his few belongings in it. No need to unpack until he learned what kind of reception he’d receive at the ranch. He locked the door to his room and pocketed the key. May as well get the trip over with now.
Downstairs, Charlie greeted him again. “Hey, there, Micah, you clean up nice. Bet your sister will be happy to see you. Maggie, I mean Miss Margaret, is always talking about you when she comes into town.”
“I’ll be glad to see her too.” So Margaret no longer wanted to be called Maggie. A smile creased his face. Just like his little sister to decide to use the longer version of her name. She’d be twenty now.
He wondered how his other siblings would greet him. At twenty-two, his younger brother, Levi, probably had more knowledge of the ranch by now than Micah would ever have. Levi had always loved being out on horseback, working the cattle, and couldn’t wait to put school behind him. Micah, on the other hand, rather enjoyed school, though he never dared admit it aloud. He’d never quite seen eye to eye with Levi, and their differing perspectives had caused more than one disagreement between them.
Micah especially looked forward to seeing his little sister Rosie. She’d been only eight when he left, and now she’d be a young lady of thirteen. Would he still be her hero, like he used to be? He rather doubted it.
He crossed the street to the livery, curious as to whom Willy had hired as blacksmith. He must be new in town, because Micah didn’t remember any boys with the strength of a smithy. Of course they could have grown up by now.
Willy greeted him with a huge grin splitting his face. “Why, if it ain’t Micah Gordon. Didn’t know you was coming home. Come on in, boy. You wantin’ a horse? Where’s Red Dawn?”
“Had to sell her, Willy, so now I need one to get out to the ranch.” A clanging noise rang out from the back. “I see you’ve hired a smithy.”
“Sure ’nuff have. Come on and see. I think you may know him.”
When Willy approached the new smithy, Micah’s eyes opened wide, not at the size and strength of the man, but at the color of his skin, dark as midnight. Micah remembered him as the one who had come with the Whiteman family years ago.
Micah stuck out his hand. “Good to see you again, Burt. This town sure needed a good blacksmith.”
The man grinned, his white teeth in sharp contrast to the black surrounding them and grasped Micah’s hand in an iron grip. “Good to see you come home, Mr. Gordon.”
Willy led a horse to Micah. “Let me get this one saddled and you can ride out of here. His name is Gray Mist.”
Burt grinned again. “He picked you out a good one. I put those shoes on him myself.”
Micah grabbed the saddle and helped Willy finish up with getting the horse ready to ride. A few minutes later Willy handed him the reins.
“Thanks. I’ll have him back tomorrow if not tonight.” Micah swung up into the saddle, tipped his hat, and turned his horse to the northwest and the road out of town. As he rode down the street, the bank door opened and an older man and beautiful young woman stepped out. He recognized the man as Horace Swenson, the owner, but who was the young woman with him?
She turned toward him, and her smile froze on her lips. Her eyes opened wide and her hand grasped her throat.
Camilla Swenson. If not for that sunny blonde hair and almost violet eyes, he’d never have recognized her, but she had recognized him right away. Camilla had grown up. Suddenly, returning to Stoney Creek became the best idea he’d ever had.
CHAPTER 2
THE WAGON WITH Hannah’s belongings had been hitched to the post at the back of Sallie’s home. She had explained that it would be easier to get the baggage upstairs from there because the door was wider and the stairway closer than from the front door where Manfred had his office and examining room.
Sallie had jumped down as easily as she had boarded the wagon and took a now sleeping Daniel into her arms. “I’m taking him up for his nap, then we can get your belongings. Do you need help getting down?”
The girls had already hopped down and raced each other to the house. “No, I think I can manage.” Getting down from the wagon proved easier than getting up on it, and once on solid ground, Hannah stood outside and admired the two-story white clapboard box house with green shutters at the windows revealing lacy curtains behind them. Nothing as fancy as their brick home in Mississippi, but very nice by some standards, and it fit a doctor’s family.
When she crossed the back door threshold, Molly and Clara were seated at the table waiting for their snack. Sallie pushed through the swinging door from the other room. “Welcome to our home. We’re so glad you’re here.”
Hannah glanced around the kitchen and gasped. “Oh, Sallie, it’s wonderful.” Her gaze swept around the pale green walls with bright red accents and sturdy pine cabinets. A pine table sat in the center surrounded by eight spindle-back chairs. “Are you sure I won’t be taking up too much space with four children here?”
Sallie laughed and reached into her cupboard for two glasses. “Of course not. Clara and Molly share a room, and the baby’s cradle is still in our room. Tommy has his own room, but Daniel will move into it in a few months. Even with that we have extra ones for guests.”
“Five bedrooms? That’s as many as we had at home. I’m surprised.”
Sallie nodded. “We were fortunate that the doctor Manfred replaced had six children, so they had plenty of rooms for our family.”
Hannah glanced around the kitchen again. “Where is little Tommy?” She’d almost forgotten about the eight-year-old nephew who had been a child of four the last time she’d seen him.
“He’s with Doreen Weatherby, our preacher’s wife. She has a boy Tommy’s age, and they love to play together. She’ll bring him here before supper.” Sallie set the two glasses now filled with milk on the table then laid a napkin beside each. “I’m certainly glad homes out west always have had kitchens indoors and not out in a separate building like Grandma Woodruff’s was. I can’t imagine why folks in the South thought they had to do it different when they built their homes before the war.”
Sallie could speak lightly of the war now, but at the time it ended, they both had seen the worst side of it, and Hannah hoped and prayed nothing like that would ever happen again. She shook off the memories and smiled at her nieces. “Those cookies look mighty good. Maybe I’ll have one with you later.”
Clara held up hers. “You can haf’ mine, Auntie Annie.”
Sallie bent to kiss the child’s head. “It’s Hannah, sweetie, not Annie.”
Hannah laughed and covered Clara’s hand with hers. “That’s all right. If you want me to be Annie, I will be Annie. Thank you for the cookie, but I’ll wait until we’ve put things away and then have one.”
Clara’s broad smile revealed one tooth missing in the center front. Hannah squeezed her hand. How fast she’d grown in the years since they’d been back to Mississippi. Her brown hair hung straight down her back with a fringe of curls about her forehead. They framed a round little face with brown eyes just like her father’s. Living here with the children would be much more exciting than being back home with just Mama and Papa, since Tom and Will had gone their own ways.
Sallie picked up two of Hannah’s satchels. “Molly, you stay here with Clara and have your cookies and milk while I help Aunt Hannah.” She headed for the swinging door. “Since Daniel’s down for a nap, we can get your things up to your room. We’ll save the heavy trunk for Manfred to bring when he gets back.”
“That’s a good idea. I sure don’t want to try to carry it.” Hannah picked up another bag and followed her sister into the hallway.
Sallie nodded toward double doors on her right as she headed up to the second floor. “That’s Manfred’s office. He should be back soon unless the Fairchild baby has complications. She wasn’t due until next month, but that baby had a mind of its own and decided to come into this world right now.”
That had happened often in
Hannah’s nurse’s training at Bellevue Hospital in New York. Whether it was the first baby or the fifth, they came when they decided. Papa had wanted the best schooling for her, so she’d gone north to the new nursing school. She’d only been there two years when Manfred said he needed a nurse, so she’d jumped at the chance to put her new skills to use. A look at the office would come later when Manfred could give her a tour, so for now she let her curiosity concentrate on her new bedroom.
Sallie opened the door and stepped back, smiling widely. “I hope you like it.”
Hannah squealed and clasped her hands to her chest. “It’s perfect. How did you get Grandma Woodruff’s quilt here without my knowing?” She hurried to the bed and ran her hands over the log cabin design quilt that had been on her bed when she stayed with her grandparents.
“Mama decided the room would feel more like home with it, so she sent it as soon as you told them you were coming. She sent a few other things too.”
“I see. Oh, it’s just wonderful.” Hannah touched her fingers to the rose print bowl and ewer set on a side table with a mirror above it. “This was in our room at Grandma’s too.”
She retraced her steps and wrapped her arms around Sallie. “You’ve made me so welcome, and I love it. Thank you.”
“Well, you deserve it, coming all this way to help Manfred with his patients. He has his hands full.” She stepped back from Hannah and held her hands.
“Speaking of hands full, I’d better get back downstairs to the girls. You do what you can to settle in until Manfred brings up the rest of the things when he gets home. I need to put the horses in the stable too.” She headed out then stopped at the doorway. “I’ll get supper started shortly, but soon as you finish, come join me in the kitchen. I want to hear all the news from home.”
Hannah nodded. “I’ll be down soon as I freshen up, and I can’t wait to share news with you.”
Sallie laughed and waved her hand at Hannah before closing the door behind her and heading back downstairs.
Such a lovely room, and it was all hers. Hannah plopped on the bed and ran her hands across the quilt again. Mama always knew what would please her girls, and she’d done a good job this time. Hannah undid the clasps on one of the bags and began removing a few of the items. A chest stood against the wall next to the washstand. She stowed some of her things there and then opened the wardrobe to find pegs and wooden hangers for her clothes.
The laughter of the girls and a man’s deep voice drew Hannah out into the hallway. She leaned over the railing to find her two nieces greeting their father in the lower hallway. Manfred was home. She rushed down the stairs to greet him, only to almost be run over by a bundle of energy.
Manfred grabbed at the boy. “Whoa there, buster, you almost knocked over Aunt Hannah.” His voice scolded, but his eyes and smile only held love for the rambunctious eight-year-old.
Two blue eyes under a shock of red hair stared at her. “Aunt ’Annah? From Mis-sippi?”
“One and the same.” She extended her hand. “And you must be Tommy. What a fine-looking young gentleman you are.”
He grinned, revealing a fine set of snowy new teeth. “Thank you.” Then he ducked his head and ran to the kitchen.
Manfred wrapped one arm around Hannah and the other around Molly. “Now what have you two ladies been up to this afternoon?”
Molly began telling her father about all of the luggage Hannah had brought with her. When they reached the kitchen, Molly slipped from her father’s grasp and ran to throw her arms around Sallie’s waist. “And Auntie Hannah’s going to stay for a long time, isn’t she, Mama?”
With the warmth of love from her nieces, nephews, and her sister, Hannah would indeed stay a long time in the Whiteman household. Who cared whether she attracted a young man? Nursing was what she’d come to do, and she planned to do it with all her heart.
Micah picked up the pace of his horse as he neared the ranch. The overwhelming desire to see his mother and sisters pushed aside the worries about the greeting Pa and Levi might give on his arrival.
The high-arched entry and gate with the Circle G brand at the top welcomed him at the bottom of the rise where the house sat overlooking the thousands of acres making up the ranch. He rode through the open gate and up the path toward the two-story house with its wraparound front porch. Ma’s roses bloomed in a riot of yellow, pink, and red. How she managed to keep them so full and green in the heat of a Texas summer never ceased to amaze him.
As he approached the house, Lasso, the family golden retriever, raised his head then stood alert and curious until Micah drew closer. The dog barked twice and raced at Micah, nipping at the horse’s legs and trying to jump up at Micah.
The front door opened, and two women and a girl appeared on the porch. The youngest of the three flew down the steps. Micah dismounted and reached out his arms to brace himself against the body hurtling in his direction as well as the jumps of Lasso around his legs.
“Micah! Micah! You’re home.” Two arms wrapped around his midsection and squeezed hard. “I knew you wouldn’t stay away.”
Lasso barked and pranced around the two, trying to get his paws on Micah’s hips. With one hand he reached down to pat the dog’s head, and with the other he disentangled Rose Ellen’s arms. “Look at you, Rosie. All grown up, and pretty as a picture.” Not only had she grown in height since he’d left, but she’d begun to fill out in all the right places and at thirteen years of age had become a most attractive girl.
Her cheeks flushed red, and she blinked her eyes to clear away the tears. Ma and Maggie now stood beside him. Ma reached for him and hugged him, her head resting on his chest. He inhaled the familiar rose water scent she used as well as the aroma of cinnamon and sugar. Home. He’d come home.
“Oh, my son, I’ve missed you so.” She raised her head and placed her hands on either side of his face then stood on tiptoe to kiss his forehead. “It’s been so long. Welcome back.”
“Thank you, Ma. It’s good to be home.” And that was the truth, no matter what his father and Levi had to say or how they felt. Ma and his sisters had drawn him back. They were the ones he’d missed the most in the years he’d been gone.
“Yes, Micah, we have missed you.” Maggie crossed her arms at her waist. “You could have at least written and let us know where you were and what you were doing. For all we knew, you could have been dead somewhere.”
Her mouth skewed into a frown that pierced his heart with guilt. Dead he could have and probably should have been. He had no real reason to give her, and even his excuses sounded lame now that he actually had to explain. “I’m sorry, but I was angry when I left, and by the time . . . never mind. I’ll tell you about it later after I’ve spoken with Pa.” He’d almost revealed too much, and around his younger sisters he didn’t care to tell much about what had happened, especially in those early years. He wrapped his arm about his mother’s shoulders.
“I detect a hint of cinnamon and sugar. Does that mean you’ve been baking?”
Ma swatted her hand at his arm. “Of course it does. Now come on into the house. Pa and the others will be back soon, and they’ll all be hungrier than a bear after hibernation. Grubbs is down at the bunkhouse fixing supper for the hands, and ours is almost done too.”
Micah sauntered up to the house with Ma. Maggie and Rosie followed behind, their heads together in conversation, no doubt about his last statement. Their furtive glances in his direction indicated that curiosity guided their words.
When he stepped through the door, the years rolled away, and he became the nineteen-year-old young man who sought answers to questions that had no true answers. He was no closer to knowing what he truly wanted out of life than he had been when he walked out of this house and into the unknown world.
“The place hasn’t changed a bit, Ma.” The fireplace still dominated the large room where the family spent most of their time. At the back, a stairway led to the second floor where he, his brother, and his sisters slept. H
ow would Levi feel about sharing a room once again? Probably wouldn’t be too happy about it. If that was the case, Micah would return to the hotel and stay there as long as the little money he had left held out.
Micah plopped down onto the dark blue upholstery of the pinewood sofa. He ran his hands over the arm supports, worn smooth by years of handling by Gordon children. He gestured to Maggie and Rosie. “Come sit down with me and tell me all you’ve been doing these years. I can see how much you’ve grown, Rosie. You’re not a little girl anymore. You turned into a young lady while I’ve been gone. And Maggie, you’re a woman now.”
Rosie sank onto the sofa beside him, but Maggie stood with her mouth in a firm line and her hands curled into fists by her side. “My name is Margaret, if you please, and Rosie is Rose Ellen or just Rose. We’ve outgrown those childhood names.” She glared at Rose. “You can sit and visit if you like, but I’m going to help Ma with supper.”
She turned with a swish of her skirts and marched to the kitchen. Rose covered her giggle with her hand. “I love Margaret, but she’s always so prim and proper. I’m sure she’s glad you’re home.”
“I hope so.” He reached over and touched his sister’s shoulder. “You’re a very pretty girl, Miss Rose Ellen Gordon. I bet you have boys clamoring all around you at school.”
A deep flush tinged her cheeks, but before she could answer, horses’ hooves pounded the ground outdoors. Micah’s heart lurched, and the bitter taste of fear filled his throat. Pa and Levi had arrived. He stood and wiped his hands down the side of his pants to dry the moisture now coating his palms. Footsteps thundered across the porch, and the door swung open.
Pa stepped through, his head bent toward Levi with some bit of information. He turned and his eyes opened wide when he spotted Micah. Levi’s brown eyes darkened and his jaw clenched.
Micah stepped forward. “Hello, Pa, Levi. I’ve come home.”
Love Finds Faith Page 2
