by Al Lacy
He pondered the fact that he and Mary had been married for over four years, and would never be able to bear children. He thought about their attempts at finding a child on the orphan trains, but how the Lord gave them no direction on choosing any of the children.
Clay thought about last Wednesday, and how they had planned again to prayerfully look the children over at the depot, but Johnny Smith was abducted by Shad Gatlin, and Clay had to ride away in pursuit immediately. He and Mary were not able to talk about her looking the children over by herself. He wondered if she had chosen a child.
He thought about the genuine affinity he had felt toward Johnny—coupled with the strange stirring in his heart—even before they began the return trip. Lying there beneath the stars, he looked toward heaven and said in a low whisper, “Lord, I know You have put it in my heart that even if Mary chose another child at the depot last Wednesday, we are also to take Johnny into our home as his foster parents. You have made it so clear. I will talk to him about it in the morning.”
After thanking the Lord from the depths of his heart for letting him save Johnny’s life and for allowing him to lead the boy to Jesus, Clay fell asleep thinking about the moment he would talk to the boy in the morning about living in the Bostin home as their foster son.
Chapter Fifteen
The next morning as Clay Bostin and Johnny Smith sat down near the fire to eat breakfast, Johnny said, “Sheriff, I want to thank you for caring enough about me to show me that I needed to be saved, and for showing me how to be saved. It’s so wonderful to know that I’m not going to that awful place called hell that I thought didn’t exist.”
Clay smiled. “It was my pleasure, Johnny.”
The boy shook his head. “Just think. If that Gatlin guy had killed me before you came along, I would have died lost.”
“Yes, but praise the Lord, He kept Gatlin from killing you, and now that you’ve opened your heart to Jesus, heaven is your eternal home.”
The boy’s face was beaming. “I’m so glad I’m saved!”
“I am too, Johnny,” said the sheriff. “Well, let’s thank the Lord for the food and get our breakfast down so we can head for Colorado Springs.”
Clay led in the prayer of thanks, expressing his appreciation to the Lord once more for sparing Johnny’s life and for drawing the boy to Himself.
As they began to eat, Johnny said, “Sheriff Bostin, I—” Johnny swallowed hard and his eyes misted up.
“You what?” Bostin had a smile on his face.
Johnny blinked at the moisture in his eyes and cleared his throat. “Well, sir, I just want to say that it’s going to be very hard to tell you good-bye when I board the next orphan train.”
Clay had formed no exact plan for how he would tell the boy his desire to take him into the Bostin home, but this remark gave him the perfect opening.
“Johnny, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Let me explain some details first, okay?”
“Sure.”
“My wife, Mary, and I have been married for over four years, but we don’t have any children.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You see, Mary is not able to bear children, so we have been trying to find the right child on one of the orphan trains to take into our home. We have prayed hard about it each time before we went to the depot when the orphan trains came in, but the Lord just didn’t give us direction concerning any of the children. We only want the child that God wants us to have.”
Johnny swallowed the food he was chewing. “Yes, sir.”
“You know that Shad Gatlin was my prisoner, and that when I brought him to Colorado Springs last Wednesday, the next move was to have him taken to the Territorial Prison at Canon City so he could be hanged.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You see, Mary was there at the depot to look the orphans over by herself, because she didn’t know when I might be back.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, when Gatlin grabbed you and he and Caddo took off, I only had a moment to let Mary know that I was going to ride out immediately on your trail. We didn’t get to talk about the orphans. So, Mary just might have chosen an orphan and taken him or her home.”
Johnny nodded, wondering what the conversation was leading to.
Clay set steady eyes on the boy. “What I wanted to talk to you about is this: Johnny, the Lord has spoken to my heart about you.”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“Whether Mary chose a child off the train or not, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Lord wants me to take you home so you can live with us. What do you think about that?”
Johnny felt his heart flutter in his chest. “Y-you m-mean—”
“Would you like to be our boy?”
Johnny Smith’s eyes brightened. “You really want me to be your boy?”
“I sure do!”
“Well, Sheriff, I would really love to be your boy, but—”
“But what?”
“Well, are you sure Mrs. Bostin will go along with it? Will she want to be my foster mother?”
Clay looked him in the eye. “I guarantee you she’ll go along with it. Even if she chose an orphan off that train, she’ll still go along with it because Mary and I are of one heart and one mind on this subject. When I tell her the Lord spoke to my heart and told me I was to bring you home, she will be in total agreement. We have that kind of marriage.”
The mist in Johnny’s eyes became dual rivers instantly. He laid his tin plate down, rose to his knees and threw his arms around Clay’s neck. Clay dropped his utensils and hugged him close.
As they clung to each other, Clay said, “I’ll tell you this, Johnny: when Mary has known you for thirty seconds, she will happily say she wants to be your foster mother!”
When Clay and Johnny reached Colorado Springs just before noon, Clay told him they would go to the office first so he could let his deputies Brent Davis and Randy Ashbrook know that he was back, that Johnny was safe and sound, and that the outlaws were dead.
When Clay and Johnny entered the sheriff’s office, both deputies were there and rejoiced in the good news. They welcomed Johnny, telling him how glad they were that he had been rescued.
Clay did not reveal the plans he had to take Johnny into their home. He felt Mary should be first to know, although the Western Union agent would know before Mary because a telegram would have to be sent immediately. Clay knew the agent would never divulge the content of a telegram to anyone.
He asked the deputies to find the owners of the stolen horses and to see that they got them back.
“We’ll take care of the matter, Sheriff,” said Ashbrook. “You’ll be happy to know that we were able to get the horse Gatlin stole in Canon City back to its owners.”
“Good. Now I have to go to the Western Union office and send a wire to the Children’s Aid Society and let them know that Johnny has been rescued. Then I’m taking him home to meet Mary.”
“Oh,” said Davis. “So you’re gonna keep him at your house till the next orphan train comes through, eh?”
Clay grinned. “Something like that.”
The deputies watched as sheriff and boy went to the hitch rail outside. Bostin hoisted Johnny up behind the saddle, then mounted his horse. They rode away with Johnny holding on to the sheriff with his arms around his waist.
When they reached the Western Union office, Clay took Johnny inside with him. Johnny observed as the sheriff worded the telegram for the agent, telling of Johnny’s rescue, and he added in that he and his wife were taking Johnny into their home as their foster son. He told the Society if they would mail the official papers, he and Mary would sign them and return them quickly.
As they left the Western Union office, Clay said, “Okay, Johnny my boy, let’s go home.”
At the Bostin home, Mary was keeping herself busy while praying continuously for her husband’s safe return, along with Johnny Smith.
> On this particular morning, she had been busily cleaning the already clean house. She had washed all the windows until they gleamed in the bright sunlight. She had also washed all the curtains, then ironed them to a stiff crispness. Before hanging the curtains back on the windows, she went to the kitchen and put three loaves of bread in the oven.
It was almost noon when she returned to the kitchen and took the hot bread from the oven. Then, hoping Clay would soon be home to eat it, she placed a pie brimming with succulent apples into the already hot oven.
Mary then sat down and ate a sandwich and drank a cup of coffee. After cleaning up her lunch dishes and utensils, she made her way to the front of the house with a feather duster in hand. She was about to begin dusting the bookshelves when the sound of horse’s hooves reached her ears.
She hurried to the parlor window, and when she saw her husband, her heart skipped a beat. She dropped the feather duster and rushed to the front door, thanking the Lord that Clay was home safe and sound.
When she opened the door, Clay was out of the saddle, heading for the porch. Tears flooded Mary’s eyes. She bolted from the door, calling his name. Clay met her as she reached the porch’s bottom step and folded her in his arms.
“Oh, darling! You’re home! You’re home!”
Clay kissed her soundly, then held her at arm’s length and looked into her eyes. “It’s good to be home, sweetheart.”
“What about the boy?” she asked, wiping tears from her cheeks.
Clay realized that Mary had not yet spotted Johnny, who was still on the horse. “He’s fine, honey. Take a look.”
Mary took a step to see past her tall husband, and set her eyes on the boy. “Oh! You brought him home with you!”
A bit nervous, Johnny smiled at her, slid off the horse, and moved toward them. “Hello, Mrs. Bostin.”
Clay said, “Honey, meet Johnny Smith.”
Mary dashed to him and put her arms around him. “Oh, Johnny, I’m so glad you’re all right!”
“Thank you, ma’am. The sheriff rescued me from the bad men.”
Mary kept an arm around Johnny and smiled through her tears at her husband. “I want to hear the whole story from beginning to end, but first you two come in and wash up. Let me fix lunch for you.”
“Okay,” said Clay, laying a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Sounds good to me. How about you, Johnny?”
Johnny looked up at him and grinned. “Yes, sir! I’m mighty hungry, and something sure smells good in the direction of that door.”
They entered the house, and while the three of them moved down the hall toward the kitchen, Clay said, “Honey, did you find an orphan for us last Wednesday?”
“No, darling. When you rode away to follow those outlaws, I just didn’t feel that the Lord wanted me to look for one at that time. I was too upset over what had happened. My thinking wouldn’t have been clear.”
Clay felt warmth steal over his heart. “Well, we sure want the Lord to lead us so we pick the orphan He has chosen for us.”
Mary smiled up at him. “Right.”
While Clay and Johnny were washing up in a small room next to the kitchen, Mary checked on the pie in the oven, then sliced the freshly made bread and cut chunks of cheese and roast beef. She placed butter and a pitcher of milk on the table, with a jar of strawberry jam and butter pickles. She poured Johnny a large glass of milk and filled cups with coffee for Clay and herself.
When they all sat down at the table together, Clay thanked the Lord for the food, then he and Johnny began eating.
Mary said, “Okay, gentlemen, I want to hear all about the pursuit and the rescue.”
Clay told her about tracking the outlaws and how the Lord made it possible for him to corner them in the cave. He explained that when he approached the cave, Gatlin had his gun pointed at Johnny’s head and was about to pull the trigger. He told her of Gatlin swinging the gun on him and that he was forced to shoot him down; then how Caddo resisted him and how he was forced to shoot him, as well.
Mary closed her eyes and whispered a prayer of thanks to the Lord for sparing Johnny’s life and for protecting Clay, then looked at Johnny and asked him to tell her his story.
Johnny told Mary about the deaths of his parents and his subsequent ride on the orphan train. Mary patted his hand. “I’m so sorry about your parents. It must have been horrible for you. Bless your heart.”
“Yes, ma’am. It was. But I’m doing better now.” He gave Clay a furtive grin, which didn’t go unnoticed by Mary. She had felt a certain restrained excitement in her husband since he first kissed her, and it seemed to be growing by the minute.
Abruptly, she shoved her chair back and stood up. “Hold everything. I’ve got to rescue this apple pie before it burns.”
She snatched up two hot pads from a small table beside the stove, opened the oven, lifted the bubbling pie out, and set it on the cupboard to cool.
Johnny looked on, never taking his eyes from the pie until Mary sat back down.
Mary said, “When it has cooled, you can have as big a piece as you want.”
A wide smile spread over the boy’s face. “I’ll look forward to it, ma’am.” Then he slipped Clay another sly grin.
Looking from Johnny to her husband, Mary said, “Something curious is going on between you two. What is it?”
Clay finished his cup of coffee, took a deep breath, and set his eyes on his wife. “Mary, darlin’.”
She knew by the look in his eyes that he had something important to say. “Yes, sweetheart?”
“From the moment Johnny and I sat down and ate supper in the cave, the Holy Spirit began dealing with me. He continued to speak to my heart as we rode toward home.”
“About what?”
“Well, we’ve prayed hard about His leading us to just the right orphan, haven’t we?”
Mary flicked a glance at the boy, then looked back at her husband. “We most certainly have.”
“And you agreed a few minutes ago that we sure want the Lord to lead us so we pick the orphan He has chosen for us.”
Mary glanced again at Johnny Smith, who was now smiling at Clay. In her heart, she said, Lord, please let it be what I think it is. I already love this boy. Is he the one You have for us? She looked back at Clay. “I sure did. Clay, are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?”
A lopsided grin formed on his lips. “I am if you think I’m telling you that the Lord wants us to take Johnny into our home.”
Tears bubbled up in Mary’s eyes. She looked at the boy, then at her husband. “I can tell by the secret glances you two have been giving each other that you’ve already talked to him about it.”
“He sure has, Mrs. Bostin,” piped up Johnny, “and if you want me too, I’d be the happiest boy in the whole world!”
Mary slid her chair back, jumped to her feet, and threw her arms around Johnny’s neck. “Oh yes, I want you too! Oh, Johnny, you’re an answer to prayer. I can plainly see that the Lord sent you into our lives because we needed a son and you needed a mother and a father.”
Johnny was weeping. He wrapped his arms around her neck and said through his tears, “I’m the happiest boy in the whole world! I promise, Mrs. Bostin, I’ll always do my best to be what I should be as your foster son.”
Clay was wiping tears as he looked on. He wrapped his arms around both Mary and the boy as all three rejoiced together over God’s goodness.
When the emotions had settled down, Clay said, “Something else happened on the trail, honey. Johnny wants to tell you about it. Let’s sit down.”
Mary kissed Johnny’s cheek, let go of him, and returned to her chair.
As Clay sat down, he smiled at Johnny. “Go ahead, son. Tell her.”
With a beam on his face, Johnny told Mary how on the first night he and her husband were together, the sheriff showed him things in the Bible about Jesus, Calvary, heaven, and hell that he didn’t even know were in there. He went on to explain that the next evening on the tr
ail that the sheriff had shown him more Scripture about salvation; and that by the third evening, he clearly understood that he was lost and needed to open his heart to Jesus. And he did so.
A shaft of pure joy hit Mary’s heart and radiated in her eyes. She left her chair once more and wrapped her arms around the boy’s neck. “Oh, Johnny, how wonderful! I’m so happy for you! What a marvelous God we serve. He has given me a precious husband and now a dear son.”
Once again, Clay got up and the three of them embraced each other for a long moment.
Clay tugged playfully at Johnny’s ear. “I love you, Johnny.”
With Mary still gripping him around the neck, Johnny looked up and smiled. “I love you, too, Sheriff.”
Clay sat down again and looked at the pair with praise to God in his heart.
After Mary had hugged the boy a little longer and planted another kiss on his cheek, she returned to her chair, wiping tears. She found Clay’s eyes on her and met his gaze.
He let a pleasant grin curve his lips. “Honey, there’s something else.”
“Well, tell me.”
“I haven’t talked to Johnny about this yet, but the Lord has impressed me that we should go beyond the foster relationship and adopt him as soon as possible.”
While Mary’s eyes were lighting up, so were Johnny’s. He drew a sharp breath. “Really, Sheriff? You really want to adopt me?”
“I sure do. Is that all right with you? It would mean that your last name would be Bostin.”
“Hey, that’s all right. I’ll be proud to be known as Johnny Bostin!”
“We’ll be proud to have you wear our name, honey,” said Mary.
Clay smiled. “I’ll talk to Judge Ackerson tomorrow and we’ll set the adoption wheels in motion. And since it’s going to happen, Johnny, no more calling me ‘Sheriff.’ How about ‘Dad’?”
“Okay!”
Mary looked at him with loving eyes. “And I’m ‘Mom,’ okay?”
“Sure, Mom!”
After Johnny and his new dad had finished off large pieces of pie, the happy couple took him down the hall, past the master bedroom, to the room that would be his.
