Smyth looked as if he’d been denied a chance at a million dollars. “If she runs off and we find she had anything to do with this, I’m comin’ after you!” Smyth jabbed his fleshy finger into Sky’s chest, having to squint up a good ways to glare into Sky’s face.
Calm as the eye of a storm, Sky looked down into the face of the loudmouth. His eyes narrowed. Smyth took a step back and licked his fat lips. The threat was empty. Sky knew it, and all the men standing around knew it.
When Sky continued to eye him indifferently and made no reply to his threat, Smyth stepped back further. Then, in a show of bravado, he pulled the front of his vest downward with a short jerk and swaggered off as though he had conquered the world.
Sky looked back at Jenny and she nodded her gratitude to him, turning her horse toward the woods. He watched her go, praying she would make it safely to the farm.
Swinging back around, he surveyed the men in the crowd thoughtfully, but they had already resumed their conversations. He didn’t think there was any danger to Jenny, or he would have accompanied her. Knowing it was still early in the day with the trial not even started yet, he figured any potential troublemakers would still be interested enough in the goings-on to stay in town. And Jenny had her rifle in the scabbard of her saddle.
After Sky rode out of the yard, Brooke set about getting breakfast on the table. She worried about what to fix. Sky’s parents would be in soon, and she didn’t want them to think badly of her, so what did one fix in order to impress one’s in-laws? Unable to decide, she fixed a little of everything.
Rachel and Sean knocked on the door a little while later. Brooke called for them to enter, and Rachel gasped with surprise when her gaze landed on all of the food on the table.
Brooke had made oatmeal, hot cakes, scrambled eggs, and biscuits. She had grated potatoes and fried them until they were a crispy golden brown. Thick slices of browning ham sizzled on the stove, and fragrant sausages sputtered in another pan. Two jars of preserves stood open on the table next to a loaf of bread. A glass of cold milk stood at each place, and the coffee pot bubbled on the back of the stove.
Brooke, face damp from the heat, was turning from the stove with a hot pan of muffins in her hands. “Good morning,” she said, trying to sound like she meant it.
She hoped her nervousness wouldn’t show too much. For Sky’s sake, especially, she wanted these people to like her. She didn’t want them to go back to their family and report on what an unsuitable girl Sky had been forced to marry. She had wracked her mind all morning, trying to come up with something interesting for the three of them to do today and had come up blank, but the fact that they might find her boring was the least of her worries. In the back of her mind she feared they might somehow be able to read her sins in her face, and she so wanted them to like her.
The conversation at breakfast was stilted. Brooke knew she was trying too hard. If she could relax and be herself, everything would be fine, but she couldn’t force herself to calm down. The tension-filled meal culminated when Brooke, who was offering the plate of ham to Sean for the third time, knocked Rachel’s cup of coffee into her lap.
“Oh! I’m so sorry, Rachel!” Brooke gasped.
Rachel’s reaction was quick. She stood and pulled her skirt away from her body.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Sean and Rachel eyed each other. A silent message passed between them.
What a mess she’d made of the whole meal!
“It’s all right dear, really,” soothed Rachel as she wiped at the stain on the front of her dress. “I’m just going to run out to our room and change. I’ll be right back.”
Sean finished his meal. She could tell he was trying to make easy conversation with her, but as soon as Rachel reappeared, he said, “I saw some harnesses in the barn that need mending. I’ll go out and work on that for Sky, and let you two get to know each other.”
Rachel chatted easily about all sorts of things as they began to clear the table. She told several stories of Sky’s little-boy-shenanigans. And Brooke laughed when Rachel told of the time Sky had taken the whole cookie jar right off the kitchen counter and up to his room.
“When I walked into the kitchen and noticed it was missing I went in search of it, of course.” Brooke washed dishes as she listened and Rachel chattered on as she wiped down the table. “I found Sky lying on his bed looking rather green. He had crumbs everywhere. All over his face, the bed, floor, everywhere! I pretended I had no idea that jar was missing and said to him, ‘Son, I just filled the cookie jar with a fresh batch of cookies this morning and thought I’d come up and let you know you can have some if you like.’”
Rachel chuckled. “I didn’t think it was possible, but he turned a shade greener. Well, I couldn’t help it. I started laughing. He had stuffed the cookie jar under his bed and it was empty! He had eaten every last one, and I’d filled it to the brim that morning. I didn’t even punish him. I told him he would suffer enough before the night was over. He did. I don’t know how many trips he made to the outhouse that night. I stopped counting after ten.”
Rachel, who was now staring off into the past, chuckled again. “He was the sorriest little sinner you ever saw. The next morning at the breakfast table I came out of the kitchen, set the refilled cookie jar on the table, and told the kids I had too much to do that day to cook breakfast, so they should just eat up. Rocky and Sharyah started to dig right in, but you should have seen the sick look on Sky’s face. Poor boy, it was a long time before he ever ate another oatmeal and raisin cookie.”
Rachel came to herself and waved the damp rag in her hand. “Here I’ve been chattering on so that I forgot we were supposed to be cleaning up, and you have it almost all done already. Here, dear, I’ll dry that.” She dropped the rag into the dish water and reached for the plate in Brooke’s hand.
Brooke took a deep breath. Maybe this day wouldn’t be so bad after all.
17
When they finished with the dishes, each woman took a cup of coffee and sat at the table. Rachel stirred cream and sugar into her cup.
“That was a lovely breakfast you fixed, dear. Really, though, I don’t want you to feel like you have to go to so much trouble for Sean and me. We don’t usually eat very much of a breakfast, but we appreciate all the effort you went to.” Brooke looked away shyly, but Rachel went on, “I remember the first meal I ever had to fix for my mother-in-law. I didn’t do nearly the wonderful job you did this morning. I felt so scared. You see, Sean and I weren’t living right at the time….Well, no, I’ll have you all confused if I don’t start right at the beginning.”
She glanced at Brooke. “You see, when I was a little girl, my mother abandoned me on the steps of the orphanage in Shilo. I grew up not knowing anything about my past, or who my mother and father were, and that made me angry. I became very bitter toward God and decided I would have nothing to do with Him.
“But I didn’t count on meeting Sean Jordan or his mama. I was thirteen when I first noticed him.” A smile traced the corners of her mouth as she stared out the window. “He was the most handsome man you ever did see. He still is.” She grinned at Brooke. “I had to walk right past him every day on my way from the orphanage to the school. He worked at a Mercantile as a delivery man then, and every morning it was his job to sweep off the walk in front of the store. He was always there when I walked past. I was a lot younger than him—he is seven years older than me—so it took him a few years to notice the doe-eyed girl who wandered past him every day. But eventually he came to his senses,” she chuckled, “and began to take an interest in me. Of course, by then, he was no longer working at the Mercantile. He had become one of the sheriff’s deputies in town.”
She paused. “Sean now, he came from a very loving home. He had just one brother, Jack—that’s Jason’s daddy. Their daddy had died when they were just youngsters but their mama—her name is Eltha Jordan, and I hope you will meet her one day—loved the Lord with all her heart
. She raised those boys the best she could, but in those days it was so hard for a woman to find a good job.
She had to work very long hours in order to make enough of a living. The boys were left on their own a lot and tended to—” she stopped, as if trying to think of a nice way to phrase what she was about to say—“stray from what they had been taught.”
Brooke listened with fascination to the story.
“Anyhow, Sean and I fell in love and began to get serious with one another. Our relationship was anything but godly. We went from party to party and generally lived to please ourselves. We had decided we would put off marriage, but when I found out I was pregnant—”
Rachel stopped at Brooke’s gasp. But when she turned to look, Brooke was already staring down into her lap. Rachel couldn’t be sure, but she thought she saw tears in the corner of her eyes. Lord, whatever it is, draw her to You. Don’t let her push You away.
“When I found out I was pregnant, we knew we would have to get married. So we married in January, and I had Sky in July. It was right before I had Skyler that my mother-in-law came to stay with us. The first meal I fixed for her was burnt toast and soggy scrambled eggs.” Rachel made a face at the memory. “I was so afraid she would pull Sean away from me. I knew we had hurt her terribly by our sin, but she never even mentioned it. And then I was afraid she would hate me and try to turn Sean and I against one another, but she never did that either. She just loved us the way we were, and I always wondered what made her different.
“Sean and I began to have trouble. We fought constantly, and it was always over something silly. Then Sean began stepping out on me. Oh, I wasn’t innocent either, I probably would have cheated on him, too, but by that time I had Sky to take care of. I remember feeling so miserable. Mother would tell us about Jesus and His love. But I felt I was too wicked a person for God to ever love. I thought I had done too many terrible things for Jesus to ever forgive me.
“I remember walking past Mother’s room one day and hearing her crying. I started to go in and make sure she was all right, but then I realized that she was praying, so I paused to listen. She was praying for Sean and I, that we would come to love Jesus and serve Him with all our hearts. She prayed that God would renew our love for one another and bind us together as a family. And then I heard her pray that God would remove any bitterness that she harbored toward us from her heart. I knew then that Jesus was the One who had helped her to forgive us for all the pain we caused her. It was through her testimony, the way she loved us unconditionally, that Sean and I eventually saw how much we needed Jesus in our lives. We went to church with her one Sunday and gave our hearts to God. It took a long time for Him to get a hold of us, but we have been living for Him ever since.”
Rachel stopped talking and turned toward Brooke, who was crying unashamedly now.
“Oh, honey.” Rachel leaned over and rubbed one hand up and down Brooke’s arm. “I wanted you to understand that I am aware of your concern— having us here and all. Maybe I am being presumptuous—if so, please forgive me. But I want you to know we’re glad you’re a part of our family now. We have prayed for years that Sky would be blessed with a wonderful wife, and now that we’ve met you, we know God has answered our prayers.”
Brooke straightened and wiped at the tears on her face with her forearm. Rachel pulled a hankie from her sleeve and pressed it into Brooke’s hands. She blew her nose noisily and stared out the window for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was hesitant. “Jesus accepted you like that? You didn’t have to do anything first?”
Rachel gave Brooke an understanding look and got up to refill their coffee cups. “I struggled with that concept for a long time before I finally gave in to God. I kept thinking I wasn’t worthy of Jesus’ love yet; that I needed to be a better person before I could give my life to Him. And that is just what the devil wanted me to think. He wanted to keep me under condemnation. But Jesus wants to convict us. There is a big difference between condemnation and conviction. Condemnation keeps us feeling like there is no hope. We know we are sinners and we are miserable, but we don’t see a way out. We keep thinking we need to do something, be something, have something more before Jesus will accept us. Conviction now, conviction shows us that, even though we are sinners, there is a way of hope—and that hope is Jesus Christ.”
Rachel took a sip of coffee, then went on. “Before I gave my life to Christ, I felt only condemnation. I searched to find that something that would make me worthy of Jesus’ forgiveness. Then one day Eltha pointed out to me that I would never be good enough. If I waited to accept Jesus until the day that I was perfect, the day would never come. You see the whole reason Jesus had to come and die for us is that none of us is perfect. We are all sinners, and in God’s eyes one sin is as bad as any other. The Bible says if we have broken the law at just one point, it’s as if we have broken the whole thing.”
Brooke was quiet for a time, but her next question sent silent shock through Rachel. “What about babies? If a baby dies, does it go to hell?”
Oh, Sweet Jesus, help her. Could it be this young girl had already born and lost a child? She wanted to ask. To pull her into a loving embrace and infuse her with comfort. What kind of pain and misery has this poor girl been through? Oh Jesus, I wish I knew more so I could help her deal with the pain.
Rachel could barely speak around the pain in her chest. “No, I don’t believe God would send an innocent baby to hell. Babies aren’t able to make decisions about right and wrong. I believe when a baby dies it goes back to heaven and finds rest in the loving arms of its Creator.”
This statement brought a fresh wave of tears to Brooke’s eyes. She didn’t even bother to wipe them away as she turned to her mother-in-law. “Thank you for caring enough to tell me your story. You have given me a lot to think about. I think I’ll—”
The clopping of a horse sounded outside.
Brooke peered out the window. The rider was Jenny Chang. She watched as Sean, his Stetson tipped back on his head, came from the barn and took her horse, gesturing her toward the house.
“It’s Jenny Chang,” she told Rachel. “The wife of one of the men arrested for Fraser’s murder. I told Sky last night to have her come on out here. I’m so glad he remembered. It would have been awful for her to have to stay in town today.”
Brooke wiped the residual tears from her face as she moved to the door. “Jenny, I’m so glad you were able to come. Come on in. I’d like for you to meet my mother-in-law, Rachel Jordan.”
Jenny eyed Brooke’s tear-stained face but made no comment. Instead, she bowed her head and bent both knees in Rachel’s direction, her hands curled together in front of her. “It a pleasure to meet you.”
Rachel smiled kindly at her. “I’m glad to meet you, too, Jenny.”
“Would you like a cup of coffee? We were just having one,” offered Brooke.
Jenny nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
The women sat around the table making small talk for a while. Brooke found that she felt much more relaxed with Rachel now. It had helped to learn that Rachel and Sean were not the perfect people she imagined them to be.
Suddenly she remembered a story that she had read in Sky’s Bible the evening before. Some men had brought a woman to Jesus saying that they had caught her in the very act of adultery. They asked Jesus what they should do with her. She remembered from Sunday school that it was customary in Bible days for women who committed adultery to be stoned. But Jesus gazed at the men and said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” All the men walked away because every one of them knew he had sin in his own life. Jesus forgave the woman and told her to go on her way, but not to sin anymore.
Maybe there was hope for her as well. Could it really be that Jesus would forgive her for all she had done? To lay the whole burden of her sin on Him and just walk away—how wonderful that would be!
And what about Sky and his family? Would they cast stones of criticism at her when they found out about
her past?
She glanced at Rachel, who was tenderly smiling at Jenny, and suddenly she knew how they would respond; they would love her as Jesus had loved the adulterous woman.
One question still remained for Brooke: Did she want to accept Christ’s love? Sky’s? Sean and Rachel’s? Could she humble herself enough to do that?
“All right, everybody, listen up!”
As Sky listened to John Bymaster, someone came to stand beside him. It was Jason. He appeared disheveled and grim, like maybe he hadn’t slept well the night before. Wonder what kept him up? Hopefully his conscience. Lord, keep working on him. “Hi,” was all Sky said.
Jason nodded. Then both men turned to join the crowd.
“As you all know,” Bymaster instructed, “last night we appointed Hattabaugh to be the judge at this here inquiry.” An older gentleman with graying hair at his temples moved through the crowd to stand by John. “Kettenbaugh is going to be the clerk,” he gestured to a middle-aged man, “and I will act as the investigator. I want these procedures to be conducted with the highest regard for the law and under the presumption that those men in there,” he pointed toward the jail, “are innocent until proven guilty.” Sky’s opinion of the man elevated. “There is to be no drinking during the course of these procedures, gentlemen. Any man found consuming liquor will be thrown into the facilities along with the accused. Does everyone understand?”
A mumbled chorus of acknowledgment rose up from the crowd.
“Fine! Now let me inform you that one of the men who has been arrested has professed that he and four others were the ones who committed this crime, but—” he raised his hands for silence as the men began to murmur threateningly—“he won’t give us any names except Lee Chang’s. So we will proceed as though there has been no confession and see where the evidence leads.”
The sun shone down brightly on the dusty street as chairs were brought out for the judge and the clerk who also had a small table set before him on which he could write. A chair was also placed at the front of the group to serve as a witness stand. Jed produced an old dusty Bible for the swearing in, and the inquiry was put into motion.
Rocky Mountain Oasis Page 20
