Exiting the station, she thought about the other stops she needed to visit. She’d committed to this job and should see it through. Sand Springs sounded like a good place to stop next, but what reason could she give for going all the way out there? She figured the most likely place to get information would be Virginia City. Especially if more of the treasury notes had been cashed in there. Even though that wasn’t what Mr. Crowell had asked her to do, it seemed the logical choice.
Maybe she should go there next instead of any of the other stations.
Climbing back up into the wagon, she looked over at Michael.
He raised his eyebrows. “Well?”
She shrugged. “Nothing to tell. We’d better head home. I want to be there for the afternoon Express.”
“And perhaps to talk to Mr. Johnson some more after dinner?”
Blinking rapidly, she took a deep breath. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Aw, come on, Jack. I’ve seen how the two of you like to talk each evening. How long has he been here? Five, six days? No one ever stays out here that long.”
“I don’t know what you are insinuating, Michael, but there is nothing untoward going on.”
He blew out his breath. Pftt. “I never said there was. But it seems to me that when a gentleman pays attention to a woman, it means he likes her.”
Sitting up straight on the wagon seat, Jackie looked down at her adopted brother and then back ahead to the trail. “He’s just being nice. Besides, he won’t be out here forever and then we’ll probably never see each other again.” As soon as she said the words, her heart plummeted.
“But don’t you like him? I’ve seen the way you like to sit at the fireplace. You two talk about scripture and all kinds of things. All evening.And the others notice it too.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond. “Well, of course I like him. He’s a nice man. But he’s only staying until he hears something from his employer. Then I’m sure he’ll be on his way and we won’t have the pleasure of his company anymore.” The thought made her chest tighten.
It was true. She’d come to enjoy their chats each evening. Elijah was just as interested in studying God’s Word as she was, and his insights were always helpful. He’d said the same to her. And even though logically she knew that he would leave one day and never return, she had to admit that he interested her much more than as just a guest at her station house.
Tilting her head, she tried to think of something else. Because the thought of the handsome Elijah Johnson leaving was enough to make her want to cry.
As everyone from the small station of Carson Sink gathered around the fireplace for Sunday Bible study, Elijah couldn’t help but watch their hostess.
The more time he spent with her, the more he admired her. But then the battle within his mind would rage again. What if she was Charles’s long-lost daughter? Would she think he was only interested because of that?
He still had no idea how to prove it or how to broach the subject with her. But his gut told him he was correct.
Each day it was growing increasingly difficult to persuade his heart not to spend more time with her. Even though he’d convinced himself to keep his distance, he’d find himself searching her out. Whether it was watching her navigate and coordinate the Express when it came through or sitting by the fire in the evenings and discussing scripture, he wanted to spend as many moments with her as he could.
Blinking his eyes and breathing deep to rid himself of the thoughts, he looked back down at the Bible in his hands. Lord, I need Your divine help here. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to this woman, but please keep my mind and heart in check. If this isn’t of Your will, I don’t want any part of it.
If only he would hear from Mr. Vines. So many things hung in the balance, and he needed to hear from his mentor. Especially now that he’d seen the ledgers. He’d sent off three different Express letters to his boss. He hoped they would all reach him in a speedy manner and he would have something to send Elijah in return.
Thoughts of Vines brought him back around to Jackie. Getting to know her better wasn’t hurting anything or anyone. It might even come to his aid later on. Especially if there was proof that she was indeed Jacqueline Vines. Not Rivers. She would need someone to trust. And that could be him.
As much as the thought made him smile, it was another reason he shouldn’t think about having feelings for her. How could he be trustworthy as her friend if his theory proved correct and she found out he’d kept such a huge secret from her? That it was the whole reason he had come here in the first place?
This conundrum was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. If only there were an easy answer.
But life wasn’t full of easy answers. He’d learned that early on through his relationship with Martha. With the thought of her name, a whole slew of memories rushed forward.
As the group around him settled in to read from Daniel, Elijah found that he couldn’t keep his focus on the passage at hand. Instead his thoughts took him back a decade. To a time he’d stashed in his memories, hoping to forget.
A time when he’d been in love with a young working girl. She wasn’t even remotely close to his “class of people,” as his mother and father termed it. They’d arranged for him to marry the beautiful and rich Laura Winslow. While he thought Laura was pretty and nice enough, his heart already belonged to Martha Smith. He’d been young, yes, but society demanded advantageous marriages, with no exception for Elijah Johnson.
Over the months, he’d begged his parents to allow him to marry for love. When he told Laura how he felt, she’d put on a good performance of being gracious but told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to humiliate her in any way. She would find some way to end the engagement, and it would be on her terms.
His parents, however, didn’t appreciate his feelings. His father even threatened to disown him. Elijah had stood his ground and faced his father—telling him that he’d already asked Martha to marry him and itwould be dishonorable to turn back. They finally acquiesced and figured they could weather the storm as long as Elijah held up his end of the bargain and took over the family business dealings. Money could buy a lot of things. Including loyalty and the press.
But life had crashed around him when he’d gone to tell Martha the news. Finding her in another man’s arms, he’d overheard the words that crushed him and pointed him to the path he’d been on for all these years.
“Nothing will change between us, my love. I promise. We can go on as lovers…. I’ll simply be rich and married.”
When he’d confronted her—his heart broken into a thousand pieces—her hard and callous nature came out. She tried to convince him to follow through with their marriage and threatened to tell everyone about how he’d promised to marry her but had taken advantage of her. Her threats could do no more damage than what his heart had already been through. Realizing she had never cared about him at all, Elijah left her and went home.
The greeting from his parents was nothing like he’d hoped. He’d prayed they would forgive him his foolish ways and help him rebuild his life. But no. They’d scolded him and been more worried about the scandal and their reputations than about their son’s future or his feelings.
So he’d gone to Laura and apologized. She’d laughed in his face and told him he got what he deserved.
The next day, every paper in town reported that Miss Laura Winslow regretted to announce the termination of her engagement to Mr. Elijah Johnson in light of his affair with a working-class woman.
There’d been nothing scandalous between him and Martha, which Laura well knew. But the truth—that he simply didn’t love her—was humiliating. So she publicly pronounced him a scoundrel, ensuring he felt as mortified as she did. According to her, he was pretty much evil itself.
The next day, he’d emptied his savings account and left his trust fund sitting in the family bank. He’d left everything behind—even his parents—and headed west to make a new life.
&n
bsp; And he’d promised himself never to fall in love again.
Over the years, he’d wondered what would have happened if he hadgone along with his parents’ plan to marry Laura and how long it would have taken him to recognize that her pretty smile disguised a miserable character.
As soon as he’d told her the truth, her devious, conniving nature surfaced. She’d bragged about ruining more than one of her servants’ lives. Gossip was her best friend. And as Elijah matured, he realized he would have been miserable under such circumstances.
He discovered through that awful situation that character was what mattered.
It didn’t matter that his family had money. That society loved them because of it.
What mattered was that one day he would need to stand before God. And his actions were his testimony.
An elbow to his right arm brought his thoughts promptly back to the present. He blinked. It took a moment to realize he wasn’t that young man starting out fresh on his own, with his heart broken in two.
Michael leaned over to him. “It’s your turn to read.”
Clearing his throat, Elijah looked up at the group. “My apologies. Where were we?”
“Daniel chapter 5, verse 24.” Michael showed him in his Bible.
Elijah cleared his throat again and gave a weak smile to the group as he focused on the reading. Daniel was speaking to King Belshazzar about the writing on the wall. “‘Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Tekel; Thou art weighted in the balances, and art found wanting. Peres; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.’”
As he finished the chapter, everyone looked up at each other.
Jackie raised her eyebrows. “Can you imagine seeing that hand writing on the wall?”
Elijah nodded and pushed the remnants of his past from his mind. “It’s hard to imagine. Then the king’s life is taken that very night.”
“Because he didn’t listen,” Mr. Liverpool interjected. “We’re so goodat doing whatever we want because we think we can. It makes us no better than King Belshazzar here.”
Affirmations were heard around the room.
The blacksmith continued, “It’s been a fascinating study of Daniel so far. But let’s review a bit of what we’ve learned for our guests here.” He nodded at Elijah and Mr. Crowell.
Michael chimed in beside him, “Well, for one, we know that the first half of Daniel is historical. The second half is prophetic.”
“That’s right,” Mr. Liverpool agreed. “And in the first six chapters of Daniel we see kings dreaming and Daniel interpreting. Then in the second six chapters we see Daniel dreaming and an angel interpreting.”
Elijah watched as Jackie made notes across the room. Her pencil flew across the sheet of paper she had laid over her Bible.
Liverpool’s wife gave a heavy sigh. “It’s great to understand that about how the book is divided, but why is this second part so difficult? The stories in the beginning are much easier to understand than all the prophecy later on. Doesn’t God want us to make sense out of this?”
Several of the riders nodded, but they all sat with their arms crossed—almost a challenge not to ask them any questions.
Their posture amused Elijah, but he looked back down at the chapter.
Jackie spoke up again. “What if we talk about the favorite thing we’ve learned so far?”
Mark—one of the riders—leaned forward. “I’ll start with my favorite. I think it’s interesting how King Nebuchadnezzar changes throughout the first four chapters. Especially his view of God.”
Elijah was impressed with the young man’s response, and recollections of the beginning of Daniel came to mind. Since he hadn’t been here when the group first started the book, he flipped back to Daniel chapter 1. “I’d like to hear more of your thoughts on that.” He turned to Jackie. “Would you mind writing this down for me so I can use it as I study later?”
“Of course.” She went back to writing on the paper.
Mark shrugged and looked down at a Bible he shared with John. “Well, I don’t think I have anything really profound to say, but as we’ve been studying this together, it’s stood out to me in a progression. In thefirst chapter, after Daniel and his friends don’t eat the king’s food and determine not to defile themselves while they’re in captivity, they prove that God is better and His ways are the right ways. When King Nebuchadnezzar communes with them, he finds them ten times better than all the others. So at least he’s understanding that their God—the God of the Hebrews—is worth something. It’s almost like they’ve now got the king’s attention.
“Then in chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges God. Here in verse 47, he says, ‘Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.’ So he’s taken a step closer. He at least realized who God is. Then in chapter 3, the good ol’ king of Babylon goes a step even further and says that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are ‘servants of the most high God.’ He blesses God and says that ‘there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.’ He’s beginnin’ to really understand that Daniel’s God is the one true God. Even if he hasn’t grasped it completely for himself yet.”
The whole group sat mesmerized, hanging on Mark’s every word.
The young man didn’t look up—he just kept pointing to the Bible in front of him. “And finally in chapter 4, after Nebuchadnezzar has learned a mighty lesson—after being a beast for seven years, which was a consequence of him not listenin’—it’s pretty clear that Daniel and his friends’ God isn’t just their God. He’s Nebuchadnezzar’s God as well. The king has finally come to understand the full truth.”
Mrs. Liverpool’s mouth dropped open a bit. “Young man, that’s amazing.”
He shrugged. “Ain’t much, ma’am. Just tellin’ ya what I think is my favorite part of Daniel.”
“But that puts it all in a whole new perspective for me. I never saw that before.” Once again, her mouth hung open.
Mr. Liverpool glanced at his wife and chuckled to the rest of the group. “Mark, you’ve done an extraordinary thing.”
“What’s that, sir?”
“You’ve rendered my wife speechless.”
The group laughed together as Mrs. Liverpool swatted at her husband.He wrapped his arm around her in a sweet side hug and kissed her on the cheek.
Mrs. Liverpool’s cheeks turned pink, and she looked at her husband with an expression of love that stunned Elijah.
He looked over to Jackie, who took in the expression of affection like it was a normal, everyday occurrence.
Elijah compared the simplicity of this group to the stodgy church services he’d attended at home. Oh, there were definitely some positives about having the hymns played on the beautiful pipe organ or hearing the smooth voice of the pastor as he read from the Bible, but for the most part, the services were cold and unwelcoming. Whereas here he felt like part of a family. Like an actual part of the Church. “Do you think this meeting is like the gatherings of the first church that we read about in Acts?” He hadn’t meant to ask the question aloud, but it was out.
Everyone started talking at once, and he had a hard time keeping up. He held up his hands. “My apologies, but perhaps we could speak one at a time?”
Mrs. Liverpool was speechless no longer. “That’s exactly what I’ve been telling Mr. Liverpool every time we come together like this.” She gave her husband another adoring look. “We always wanted to be part of something like that. And wouldn’t you know? We found it out here in the middle of nowhere.”
Jackie smiled. “Dad used to say he preferred church in a home because that was how many in the first church did it, not in many fancy buildings.”
As the conversation continued, Elijah watched the animated faces and genuine smiles around the room. There was
something so different about the people here. It made him crave a family even more.
But was that what God had for him?
Could he trust himself to fall in love again?
After all he’d been through with Laura and Martha, he had never thought it was possible. But then his mind shifted back to Daniel. He’d overcome insurmountable obstacles, survived seventy years of captivity, and continued to serve God no matter what came his way. Daniel chose God over everything.
Maybe that was where Elijah needed to focus. Instead of focusing on his work or on pleasing Vines, perhaps the answer was in keeping his eyes on Almighty God. Acknowledging Him at every turn.
With new resolve, Elijah sent a prayer heavenward. No matter what happened from this day forward, he wanted to serve God with the same passion Daniel had.
As he looked around the room, a fresh new thought crossed his mind. Maybe God hadn’t brought him here to finish his quest for Mr. Vines. Maybe God had brought him here to change him from the inside out.
Amen,” Jackie echoed after Mr. Liverpool finished his closing prayer for their little group. She stood to her feet. “Michael and I have planned a picnic for everyone at the lake today, so we’d like to invite everyone to join us. If I can get all the men to help carry the food and blankets to the wagons, we can make our way there.”
“How lovely.” June clapped her hands.
“What a nice thing to do, Jackie.” Elijah gave her a broad smile. There was something different in his expression. She couldn’t tell what it was at the moment, but hopefully she’d get the chance to talk with him at the lake. Their conversations had been brief lately, and she found herself longing for more.
In a flurry of activity, everyone scrambled about. Some went to their rooms or the bunkhouse to put away their Bibles. Some went to the kitchen where she had baskets of food ready to be taken out to the lake. Some went to the stable to get the wagons.
In a matter of minutes, everyone from their little station at Carson Sink was loaded into wagons and headed to the lake to enjoy the beautiful day. As she looked from person to person, her heart overflowed. And another pang of grief hit her chest. Oh Dad, I wish you were here.
The Express Bride Page 12
