First Street Church: Love's Blessing (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Clear Creek Legacy Book 1)

by Linda K. Hubalek

  "Planning on living alone forever with only your dogs and sheep as companions?" Why did he ask that? Probably since Jenna mentioned she missed her marriage.

  Jenna took a deep breath. "No. I'm ready to take the next step. If someone asks me out on a date, I'm going to accept it." She gave a determined nod as if just making the decision.

  Riel's shoulders tensed, thinking of a man in his late thirties who talked to Jenna in church last Sunday. Riel sensed then the man was circling Jenna, waiting to pounce on her, or anyway ask for a date. Why did that bother him?

  "Okay, your turn. What're your plans after you visit your grandfather?"

  Riel could honestly say he was taking it one day at a time since he showed up unexpectedly at his grandfather's ranch. His grandfather hadn't pushed him for how long he was staying or what he planned next, just given him time to heal.

  And while talking to Jenna now, he did feel like he was making progress on the transition back to the civilian world.

  "I've spent the last eighteen years as an infantryman, so I have no special skills, besides guns."

  "Could you attend college now?"

  "No interest in that whatsoever. Probably a cowboy on our spread in Kansas, or..."

  Why did he add the "or" and think of the large cardboard box still sitting in the back seat of his extended cab pickup?

  "Or, what?" Jenna noticed his thought like a puppy chewing on his boot.

  "Something, my dad, told me when I left to drive here. That I had a legacy waiting for me and he handed me a box."

  "What was in the box?"

  "I have no idea because Dad shoved it in the jump seat of the pickup and I haven't looked at it since."

  "Plan to open it after supper tonight. If you can't figure out what it means, I bet your grandfather can." Jenna pushed a puppy off her lap and stood up.

  "I need to start supper. See you at six."

  Riel thought about their conversation about plans. Jenna seemed ready to push past her misfortune and start living her life again. When would he be ready to do the same?

  Chapter 7

  Jenna was more excited than Riel was about what was in the box. Probably because she was a curious woman, but supper dragged out to the point she got up to stack the dishes off the table before Russ finished his coffee and pie.

  "Got plans for this evening since you're hustling me through dessert?" Russ asked as he raised his cup of coffee. "Or can I have a second cup?"

  "Go ahead and have your second cup, Grandpa. I need to go out to the truck to get something."

  Jenna kept busy with the dishes, not saying a word until Riel was out the back door.

  "Do you know about a box his dad gave him, Russ? It's been in Riel's trunk this whole time."

  "Maybe. Is Riel finally going to open it?"

  "I suggested after supper tonight, and he agreed."

  "Good, he's making progress with his recovery then. Let's hope what's in the box sparks his interest."

  Jenna hastily wiped off the table with a towel, so the surface would be clean for the cardboard box Riel was carrying in. It was about two feet wide and three feet long.

  "Dad put this in the back of the truck. It's heavier than I thought it would be now that I lifted it out."

  Riel set it in the middle of the table, still standing to pull back the flaps on the two-foot-tall box. He paused to look inside, and Jenna bit her tongue not to ask what was in it.

  "Uh, rolled up leather to start with." Riel pulled out aged leather, which smelled like saddle soap with a hint of mustiness to it.

  He unrolled the leather and held it up. "It's a pair of chaps."

  "Looks pretty old." Russ pointed out. "What's stamped on the bottoms?"

  Riel held one side up so that they could examine them better. Stamped in the scrolled design of the leather were the letters "GRS."

  Riel laid them across the top of one of the kitchen chairs and looked into the box again.

  "There's a wooden chest inside. No wonder it was heavy."

  He pulled the chest out of the box and set it on the table, then set the cardboard box on the floor to get it out of the way.

  The wooden box looked to be oak, finished at one time with oil, which had darkened with time. "Shepard & Sons Saddlery" was carved in the box lid.

  "My ancestors had a leather shop in Clear Creek back in the late 1800s. Think this box dates to then?"

  "By its age, I'd bet so, " Russ answered. He glanced at Jenna. Did Russ know what was in it?

  Riel fingered the clamp on the side of the box, pulled on it, and opened the lid up to reveal the inside.

  On top was a hand-written piece of paper. Riel lifted it up to reveal an old cardboard photograph underneath, and then tools, individually wrapped in thin suede leather.

  "What's the letter say? Hopefully, it will explain the contents," Russ asked Riel.

  Riel glanced at the page, turned it over, then back to study it.

  "Looks like family history. Here's what it says.

  "These leather tools belonged to Gabriel Reuben Shepard. His father, Rueben Shepard started the Shepard and Sons Saddlery in Clear Creek, Kansas in 1873 when Gabriel was fourteen. Gabriel was born to Reuben and Matilda Shepard in Rochester, New York, but moved to Kansas with his father in 1873. Reuben married Darcie Robbins that year, and they combined their children to make a family. Gabriel and his sister Mary, along with Darcie's children, Tate and Amelia.

  "On February 27, 1887, Gabriel married me, Iva Mae Paulson. The photograph is of our wedding."

  Gabriel stopped to study the photograph a moment then passed it on to Jenna. She thought there was a family resemblance between Gabriel and Riel.

  Riel continued reading.

  "My mother, Helen, and her four daughters, me, the oldest, Maridell, Avalee, and Luella came from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Clear Creek as Mother had signed up to be a mail-order bride. The man she was to marry was a crook, so instead, she married Ethan Paulson, and they had four daughters together, Nadine, Daphne, Cecilia, and Phoebe. Our family ran the hotel in Clear Creek.

  “Gabriel and I had two sons, William, who died in WWI, and John, whose son Joseph is our only grandson.

  "Whoever next in the family, in generations to come, is named Gabriel, he is to receive this box as his legacy. Maybe he could use these tools to make his living as the first Gabriel did. Saddles and chaps were his specialties.

  "It's signed by Mrs. G.R. Shepard and dated March 2, 1940."

  "His wife packed these tools and wrote the letter?" Jenna asked incredibly.

  "Looks like it. If I remember my family history, he died in 1940.” Riel stared at the letter.

  “So, no one in the family has been named Gabriel again until you," Jenna observed.

  Jenna glanced again at the photo in her hand. The man had a mustache and maybe lighter colored hair than Riel's, but their eyes had the same intense stare. Gabriel wasn't much taller than his wife was in this picture, so Riel got his height from his maternal members over the generations. Russ was tall, even at his age.

  "So, this picture is of your...would it be your great-great-grandparents then?" Jenna handed it to Russ to study next.

  "Yep, that's right if I remember my daughter telling me the Shepard history,” Russ answered as he studied the picture. “Did you notice the cardboard frame is stamped in the corner, Fergus Reagan Photography Studio?"

  "There are still a lot of Reagans around Clear Creek so that it wouldn't surprise me," Riel said as Russ handed him the photo to study next.

  "So, do I look like him, or her?" Riel asked, turning the photo one way, and then the other to get the best look at the surprisingly well-kept portrait.

  “You do look like Gabriel, more so than my side of the family," Russ remarked.

  "Did my parents know about this box when they named me?"

  "Don't think so. They looked at the family tree and just liked the name Gabriel."

  "Who's had this box then?"

 
; "Your mother said someone bought and was remodeling the old Shepard house in town, and found it in the attic. Brought the box to your parents since it had Shepard carved in the chest."

  "So, you've known what was in the back of my pickup this whole time and hadn't said anything to me?" Riel queried Russ.

  "You needed to be ready to look in the box first, son. And your mother ordered a whole tanned cowhide that arrived about a week after you got here. You'll find it hidden in my closet, a cardboard box about four feet tall and a foot square so it must be rolled up."

  "So, I have tools and leather? Now what?"

  "Try your hand at it. Maybe leather work is your legacy," Russ patiently told Riel. "If nothing else, it could be a hobby."

  Riel picked up the first roll of thin suede leather and unwrapped it, revealing a prong punch. The next rolls produced three awls, and then the next, needles, the tips threaded through the leather.

  "Look at those stamping punch tools. He would have used them on saddles, belts, chaps."

  Russ picked up the chaps and laid them out on the table, tracing his finger over the worn leather.

  "GRS. Gabriel Reuben Shepard. Those were his chaps, and he would have used those very tools on them. I bet he used the chaps when he rode horseback since they look well worn."

  Riel reverently rubbed his fingers across the wooden handles he'd laid out on the table. He picked up the star punch tool, looked over the chaps, and found the design. The tool perfectly fits in the leather it had punched over a hundred years ago.

  "I wonder if there are still any saddles around he'd made. Can you imagine using it, while wearing the chaps?" Jenna was excited about the mystery of these items.

  "I'd bet there's still some saddles around in barns around Kansas, maybe some still being used," Russ answered as he picked up another punch and matched it to the leather.

  Riel had unwrapped all the leather bundles, but there was more in the box.

  "Look at this bookmark. Maybe Gabriel made it for Iva Mae?" It was about two by a nine-inch strip of punched bordered leather with a rose stamped on top, "Iva Mae" down the middle, and the date 1887 on the end.

  "Wow, that was the year they were married." Jenna traced the embossed leather.

  "What's this? They look too fragile to pick up."

  Riel carefully picked out thin cardboard pieces and laid them on the table. They smelled of old dust and mold.

  "Huh. They're templates to the leather pieces you'd fit on a wooden saddletree. I wonder if Gabriel made his trees or bought them." Russ pushed the pieces around the table to show where they would fit together.

  "I wonder if I can find a wooden saddle tree pattern online. I've love to carve it before attempting to use these patterns on the leather my parents sent me."

  "Can't all things be found on the internet?" Russ asked although he’d never owned a computer himself.

  "Yeah. I'll even hunt for my ancestor's saddles online. Maybe there's information or an old saddle for sale."

  Riel’s eyes shone brightly with interest. Maybe leatherwork would be his future.

  The question would be if he'd stay here, or move back to Kansas.

  Chapter 8

  “I think the Cupcake Escape is still open. Let’s pick up some cupcakes on the way home.” Grandpa suggested as they walked out the door of the First Street Church after the veteran’s meeting.

  Riel finally felt as if he was slowly settling back into civilian life, due in part to these meetings, but mostly living on the ranch with his grandfather, and Jenna.

  Now he needed to decide where he wanted to settle. Riel thought he'd always go back to Kansas, but there was a pull in Texas he couldn't deny. He liked Sweet Grove and the people who lived here. The small town had just enough stores you rarely needed to go into Austin.

  Riel set up a workshop in the barn by remodeling a grain storage room, and he loved working with leather. So far, he’d only practiced using the tools, trying to copy his ancestor’s designs he’d done on the chaps. Riel bought a laptop and spent most evenings watching how-to videos online. He needed a lot of practice and guidance before being able to sell his work and make a living at it though.

  "Can I ask your advice, Grandpa?"

  "Of course. But I'd recommend the red velvet cupcake over any other flavor," his grandfather answered while sliding onto the passenger seat of Riel's truck.

  Riel started the engine, but then turned it off again and turned to his elder.

  "I'm finally thinking about my future. Thanks for letting me spend the past six weeks with you. I just butted into your life, and you accepted me without question."

  "You're welcome. I've appreciated helping, and getting to know my only grandson, so stay as long as you want."

  "That's just it. This visit was supposed to be a few weeks away from home, and now...this is starting to feel like home."

  "Why is that?"

  "I suppose because I left home when I was eighteen and haven't lived there since. Between living on army bases, I've spent my adult years in Iraq and Afghanistan."

  "You miss your folks though?"

  "I do, but again, I'm used to visiting them instead of living with them. While I was in the Army, I dreamed of what I'd do when I retire, but the dream seems...to be in a fog, swirling and changing. Does that make sense?"

  "Nowadays most people have several careers before they retire, versus being with one company or one ranch for their whole life. You don't have to decide what you're only going to do for the rest of your life now."

  "That's just been drilled into me since I was young. I bucked my folks when I left the ranch to join the army."

  "But they were proud of your choice, never doubt that son."

  "They've said that, repeatedly.”

  "Which leaves you guilt free to go in another direction."

  "Yes, and I must say I finally feel that I have one." Tears watered his eyes in relief as his grandfather patted his shoulder. He was ready to live again.

  "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." Grandpa patted his back again.

  "Okay, now I'm ready for a cupcake after you said the first line of the Doxology. We always sang that at the Clear Creek Community church potlucks before we ate."

  "Sounds good to me. You're driving so let's go. There's a red velvet cupcake waiting for me."

  Later they sat in the pickup again, each eating a cupcake from the boxed assortment they'd picked out. Riel licked the cream cheese frosting off his fingers before rubbing his right hand down his thigh to get the last of the stickiness off.

  "Man, that cupcake was good, Grandpa. Thanks for recommending the red velvet, but I'm glad we also bought a box of variety cupcakes to enjoy later."

  "Just don't eat the pumpkin spice cupcake. That's Jenna's favorite, so save it for her."

  "Doesn’t seem like it’ll soon be Thanksgiving. I can't believe this warm fall Texas weather. Frost hits Kansas by mid-October and by now we'd be freezing as we brought in the herds to sort off the calves."

  "That's why I've never moved up to live with your folks. I can't stand those Kansas blizzards and biting cold." Grandpa shivered to make his point.

  "Well, Dad says winters are milder than they used to be when he was growing up, probably due to climate change. I was looking forward to the Kansas cold after being in extreme heat, but now I think winter in Texas might be better."

  After a long second, Riel looked over at his grandfather because he didn't comment as he usually did.

  "You okay, Grandpa?" He was staring out the pickup window deep in thought but then turned to Riel.

  "Yes. Just thinking of your grandma and when we moved onto our ranch as newlyweds. It was a fall day like today. The ranch was a run-down place we bought cheap, then spend years and hard work rebuilding the house, barn, and fences. We were blessed with our daughter and thought she and her future husband might take over the ranch someday."

  "But instead she met Dad in college, married, and moved to Kansas."


  "And that was fine. My daughter followed her heart which she was meant to do."

  Riel waited as his grandfather sat in silence thinking of the past. He had his future ahead of him, and his grandfather's time was starting to end. Right then, Riel made the decision. He'd stay in Sweet Grove to take care of his grandfather in his last years. It just felt right.

  "I've made up my mind, Grandpa. I'm staying in Sweet Grove and pursuing my legacy here. I'll find a place in town to live, and probably a part-time job to give me some income to supplement my army benefits. I've seen an advertisement for a workshop put on by a master saddle maker in Austin next month, so I'll sign up for that to get the right start."

  "I'd love for you to stay in Texas if that's what you want to do. Unless you want the privacy, you can stay on the ranch with me."

  "I've love to, but I don't want you to feel like I'm taking over the place."

  Grandpa laughed. "You can take over the place anytime you want to. I've already talked to my lawyer about deeding it over to you."

  Riel sharply turned to face his grandfather. "What do you mean?"

  "Now that I've gotten to know you, I've decided to give you the ranch instead of selling it. It's your choice what you do with the place, but I'd like to live in the house, or the bunkhouse until I need to move into assisted-living."

  "Seriously? I'd be so honored, and of course, you'll live there until you wished otherwise."

  Then Jenna popped into his thoughts.

  "What about Jenna? She said you two have a deal about her raising dogs and running sheep this next year. And she's fixed up the bunkhouse as her home."

  "She could rent from you, or...become your bride."

  "You trying to push us together, Grandpa?" Riel started the truck and put the gearshift in reverse to get out of their parking spot. He needed to think about something other than Jenna. She'd been in his thoughts too much lately anyway.

  "You two are perfectly matched. No doubt about it. Why not ask Jenna out on a date to see if it might work out?"

  Spending these weeks with Jenna had proved they were a good match, but unlike deciding his next career—which could change again—marriage was forever. After his discharge, he thought he'd never marry because of not wanting children. But if he found a mate who also didn't want children, or couldn't have them... Maybe meeting Jenna on his grandfather's ranch was God's plan after all.