by Woods, Emily
Alex agreed. “So, now I guess I should go back to Big Jim and see about getting Lady, but I don't know if she'll carry me all the way back.”
“No, it doesn't sound as though she will, but tell you what. You can borrow my horse. She's strong and will make the trip no problem.”
“But won't you need her?” It didn't seem reasonable to take the man's mode of transportation.
“Not today. Bring her back to me before the end of the week if you can. If not, I'll find some other way of getting around. Don't you worry.”
In less than twenty minutes, Alex was on his way back to the ranch, sure that he needed to go back, but less sure why. Perhaps to try again or to give his father a chance to explain. Maybe he needed to vent or ask questions...
He hadn't been traveling long when he saw a rider approaching, riding harder. The closer he got, the more sure he was of the person’s identity. It was Luke, riding as if his life depended on it.
When he saw Alex, he slowed down slightly and kept his eyes on him as he approached.
“Alex!” he exclaimed, pulling his horse alongside the one the preacher had loaned him. Sweat was pouring off his face. “What... Where... You're coming back?” His words came out in starts. He was completely out of breath.
Nodding stiffly, he found it hard to talk. “Running away was childish,” he finally managed. “I just felt overwhelmed and needed to get away, but the train doesn't leave until four o'clock, and well, I realized I don’t want to get on it, not yet.”
Luke’s face crumpled a little. “I hope we can talk a little. I was so surprised yesterday. Even though I hoped and prayed to see you one day, I never really thought about what I would say if I actually saw you.”
His breathing was so rapid that Alex worried for his health. “Let’s go back and talk then. I think I have a lot more to say than I realized.”
After taking a long drink from his canteen, Luke nodded. “But let me rest my horse a bit. I pushed her really hard the whole way.”
They walked over to where a river ran parallel to the town and let the horses drink. Luke sat down on a large boulder and leaned against a tree. Alex saw tears running down his face and felt the backs of his eyes tingle.
“I’m sorry for the way I told you. It wasn’t very thoughtful.”
Luke took a deep breath. “I’ve been wondering why you didn’t just tell us all straight away, but I think I know the answer. You wanted to see who I was first. Is that right?”
Nodding, Alex replied, “My grandparents let me think that you didn’t want anything to do with me, but I never stopped hoping they were wrong.”
His eyes flashing, Luke frowned. “Yes, they were wrong. I want to believe that they thought they were doing what was best, but they didn’t give either of us a choice. Still, I was the adult and should have pushed. Kate encouraged me to go east and find you, but they convinced me they could give you a better life.”
Alex sighed. All the fight had gone out of him.
“I guess there’s no changing the past.”
“No,” Luke agreed. “But I’m hoping that you’ll stay just a little longer before heading off to university?”
The bright day, the smell of autumn in the air, and the preacher’s prayer still in his mind, Alex felt he knew what the right decision was.
“I’ll come back,” he declared. “And stay for a while. I’ll write to my grandparents and let them know.”
“As will I,” Luke said. “I’m angry at them, but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. They’re human too. There’s no point in holding onto anger.”
It seemed a poor excuse for lies, but Alex still loved them despite their faults. They’d raised him, after all. How could he do anything else?
10
Christina nervously entered Kate’s home and was surprised by the warm welcome. The other women seemed genuinely glad to see her. She knew she didn’t deserve such treatment, given that she’d acted so superior to them.
She was glad to see Maddie there, wearing a simple dress. There were four other women she hadn’t met, and she learned that they were wives of other men in the area. Amanda was the wife of the third owner of Triple Range, Carl; Georgina was the wife of one of the foremen, Wyatt; Tallie was married to Wesley, Georgina’s brother; and Elise was married to John, the head foreman.
“The eight of you meet every week?” she asked, both surprised and impressed. “It must be hard to get together like this.”
“Not really,” Valerie replied with a grin. “Our husbands learned that we’re better wives as a result of meeting together to study and pray, so they’re happy to bring us.”
That comment got a chuckle all around.
Marge opened the Bible study with a prayer, asking a special blessing for Christina. The sincerity of the prayer eased her mind and made her relax a little. She couldn’t feel completely relaxed when she thought of how harshly she’d judged women in West, especially those who’d come from the East, as most of them had.
They then proceeded to recount the blessings of the past week: Elise mentioned how her son had recovered from a severe cold, Amanda told them that she’d found her great-grandmother’s necklace that had been missing for more than a month, and so on. It seemed like most of the things they were grateful for were small, but then Valerie said, “I’m thankful that my sister is here, not just today at the Bible Study, but also in the West. I know it’s hard for her here, but it makes me feel less homesick.”
Christina was more than a little surprised. “You get homesick? You never said.”
Valerie shrugged. “There didn’t seem to be any point.”
Her sister’s vulnerability softened her heart. “You always seem so strong. I would never have thought that.”
The other women murmured a little in sympathy.
“We’re very glad to have the chance to get to know you, Christina,” Marge said, giving her a smile. Then she asked, “Is there anything you’d like to tell us about yourself? Anything you’re particularly grateful for this week?”
She squirmed a little, not noticeably, but more internally. “Well, let me see.” She paused, trying to consider what she could say without being false or giving too much of herself away. “I’m glad your young ranch hand is doing well,” she said to Maddie and was rewarded with a smile.
“Thank you. You can imagine my relief as well.”
Marge nodded. “We’re all grateful for that, but what about for yourself?”
The woman wasn’t going to give up, Christina realized. “I don’t know,” she finally admitted. “I came along with Valerie today because I’m looking for some answers. I tried reading a bit of the Bible the other day, but it’s confusing, so I’m grateful that you allowed me to join you.”
Marge nodded. “You’re very welcome here, as are any questions you may have.”
All the women looked to her expectantly.
“Oh… Now? I should ask them right now?” She heard how flustered she sounded. That was unlike her. Usually, she was calm and sure of herself in every situation, but she’d never been in a situation like this.
“Whenever you like. It doesn’t have to be now,” Kate assured her, reaching over to pat her hand kindly.
Although her stomach wasn’t happy with all the attention, Christina found that the women were so patient and kind in answering her questions that she felt free to ask them all. When one was answered, another one popped into her mind.
“But how does allowing His own Son to die save us?” she wanted to know.
“Can I answer?” Maddie asked the group. When each woman nodded, she leaned forward with an earnest expression. “Since we all have done something wrong, messed up in some way, we have to pay a price to balance it out. But the thing is, we don’t have enough, uh, credit, I guess you could say. We’ll never be able to make it even out. And the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. So, since we’ve sinned a lot, we deserve to die, but God doesn’t want that, so He sent Jesus to di
e in our place. Do you see? He paid the price, like a ransom.” Maddie turned to the women. “How was that?”
They smiled and nodded. Valerie put her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Does it make sense to you?”
Christina didn’t want to lie, but she was still a little confused. “In a way, but I can’t quite fathom why the God of the Universe cares so much.”
“Because He made us,” Elise replied softly with a sweet smile. “We are His children.”
Thinking of herself as a child of God seemed overwhelming, a burden even. All parents wanted something from their children. What could God want with her? “I don’t know if I am,” she replied. “My parents say I’m too proud and selfish. That can’t be what God wants in His children.”
Valerie let loose a half-sigh, half-laugh. “You’re right in saying that He doesn’t want us to be either of those things, but you can decide to change. Even if you don’t, He still loves each of us. Even though some children are easier to raise, or even easier to be around, we don’t love one more or less than the others. They’re all precious.”
She understood the concept now, but wasn’t sure she quite believed it. “Thank you for answering my questions,” she said. “Please move onto whatever it is you usually do. I’m happy to sit and listen.”
That was what she did for the next hour. She listened and took in the conversation about Peter and how he doubted Jesus even though he’d been with Him.
“He was one of Jesus’s followers and still didn’t believe that He was the Son of God?” Maddie sounded annoyed. “If Peter couldn’t believe back then, sitting with Jesus every day, how can we convince people these days?”
“That’s a good question,” Kate replied. “The thing is, we can’t actually convince anyone, and it’s foolish to think otherwise.”
Maddie gave her a look of disbelief. “Then why bother evangelizing at all?”
Marge leaned in to answer. “Well, first, people have to learn about Jesus and then decide for themselves if He is who He says. We explain what we know and why we believe and then leave it up to the Holy Spirit to do the rest.”
“But how does that work?” Maddie persisted.
Christina leaned forward a little. She wondered too.
Amanda, the former teacher of the area, spoke up now. “Remember when you were in school and you were learning math? The first time the teacher did it for you, maybe it didn’t make sense, but then she showed it to you again and again until you understood, but you didn’t really understand it until you did it yourself and saw how it worked. It’s not a perfect comparison, but perhaps you can see what I mean. When you do the work yourself and see the results, you really believe it’s true. People have to ask God for faith, and He will give it to them.”
The answer seemed too simple to be true, but Christina felt her heart soften even more.
“I want that kind of faith,” she murmured, unaware that she was speaking out loud. The others looked at her, their faces showing surprise and pleasure.
“Then let’s pray for Christina!” Marge exclaimed. A moment later, her sister and Maddie had grabbed her hands and Marge was praying for her, that God would show Himself to her and send His Spirit. Christina felt hot all over and started to tremble. She felt all her ideas about herself and the world slip away, and all the things she’d learned in that dusty old church suddenly made sense. When Marge said amen, she looked up, amazed that she was crying.
She looked around the circle of women and whispered, “I believe.”
After that, there was much crying and praise. Another child had come home.
* * *
While the women were enjoying coffee and treats a while later, Christina saw Kate huddled up with Valerie and Elise. They wore concerned expressions. When Valerie came to sit with her, she couldn’t help asking if everything was okay.
“Um, well, it’s hard to know right now. It seems there was a problem with Alex, you remember, the new hand?”
She blinked a few times and her heart sped up. Oh yes, she remembered him. She remembered how hard she tried to ignore him and how curious she was about him, but he gave away nothing.
“Is he okay?”
Valerie shook her head. “I’m not sure. It seems he left in the night, and Luke went to find him. There’s something going on that Kate either doesn’t know or doesn’t want to share, but she’s asking us to pray for both of them.”
As she called his face to mind, something finally clicked. “I remember him!” she exclaimed. When they looked at her, she repeated, “Alex, I remember him from the train.”
The women were puzzled.
“But you weren’t on the same train,” Kate replied.
She heard that she’d arrived on an earlier train than she had, but she knew that her memory was finally telling her something. “Yes, but we were at one point. I don’t know why he got off…” But then she had a small suspicion and wondered if she should tell. It wasn’t her secret, and although she would have relished in sharing gossip once upon a time, her newly convicted spirit told her to be quiet. “Maybe I’m mistaken.”
“You must be, dear,” Valerie agreed. “If he knew you, I’m sure he would have said.”
Christina decided to keep what she knew to herself. She had met him on the train, but he was dressed like a gentleman at the time. Why had he gotten off the train? And why had he changed? It didn’t make sense unless he was pretending to be someone else now.
They prayed for Alex and for Luke, and then moved on to pray for other needs in their group. When they were done, it was nearly time to prepare lunch. Some of the women bustled around the kitchen while the others watched the children, who had tired of playing with blocks and coloring and wanted to go outside.
Maddie, Valerie, and Christina volunteered to watch the preschoolers and were in the middle of discussing Peter when they noticed someone approaching in the distance.
“It’s Pa!” Maddie shouted excitedly, scaring two of the toddlers, who then started crying. Valerie picked up one and handed him to Christina while she soothed the other. Christina had only ever held a child once in her life and was worried to death that she was going to hurt this small boy. However, he didn’t seem too concerned and immediately stopped crying when he was placed in her arms. He seemed fascinated with her hair pins and began to pull them out. The delight on his face in doing so made her laugh.
Maddie ran towards her father, and as he got closer, she saw a second rider with him. It was Alex. Whatever had happened to make him leave must have been resolved, at least to some extent. In a way, Christina was glad to see him again, if only to have the chance to discover why he was hiding behind a false identity.
From where she was, Christina couldn’t hear the verbal exchange, but she saw Maddie talking excitedly. Luke also looked happy, but Alex was somewhat somber. The two of them brought the horses to the barn and Maddie returned.
“They’ll come in when they’re done with the horses. Pa says it was just a misunderstanding and Alex is fine.”
Christina thought there must be much more to the story than that, but who was she to pry? No one. Maddie rushed to tell her mother that the two of them were back and then rang the bell to bring everyone in for lunch.
As the men came in and saw Alex, they started questioning him, but Luke intervened. “Don’t bother him,” he said firmly, but not unkindly. “There was a miscommunication about his terms of employment, but it’s settled now. End of discussion.”
It might have been the end of the discussion at the table, but Christina was quite certain that it wouldn’t be the end of things once the men got out on the range or back into the bunkhouse. She wondered if she’d have a chance to talk to Alex at all. She could see from his expression that he was upset. A week ago, she wouldn’t have cared, but the compassion that the women had shown her in the morning seemed to affect her. If she had a chance, she would try to be kind to him. That was the least she could do.
11
Ale
x knew that his return would raise some questions, or more so, his departure. He wasn’t sure how Luke wanted to deal with the men, but he promised that he would tell his family today, tonight, when the children were home from school and the men had gone to bed. Moreover, he wanted Alex to move into the house right away, but Alex didn’t feel that was wise. He liked the bunkhouse and worried how the special treatment would affect his relationship with the others.
It was easy to see that his return had a strong effect on his father. He couldn’t stop grinning, but Alex felt hesitant to believe that everything was going to change for the better. He worried that the other children wouldn’t accept him, or that Kate would worry her children would receive less of an inheritance. He knew that his grandparents planned to leave him their wealth, if they weren’t going to disown him for his actions, so he wanted to make it clear that he didn’t need anything from them. He’d said as much to Luke, but he wasn’t sure that the comment had really penetrated the man’s happy fog.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a haze as he worked alongside Luke building the fence. Alex suspected that Luke stayed close by to prevent the others from asking questions. That was fine with him. Until they figured out how they were going to move forward, he didn’t want to be the center of attention.
“We’ll get everything settled tonight,” Luke had promised.
Dinner was a strained affair, much more than lunch had been. Even though the other families had gone home, there was a tension created by the unknown. Alex wanted to apologize, but of course that would have to be followed up by an explanation, and that would have to wait.
When the men had retired to the bunkhouse, Alex stayed behind. Austin and Cole gave him a questioning look, but the others seemed to either be losing interest or were more concerned about their nightly game of cards.
