The girls quieted.
“For Christmas, right?” Libby demanded.
“I hope and pray so.” Clara could promise them no more.
“I wish it could be here,” Eleanor whispered.
Clara nodded. “I know you do, but it can’t.” Today had reinforced that fact in her mind. Every time someone rode into town, she would fear it was someone looking for her. Fort Calgary was farther north, less settled. Surely it would be less inhabited. If she understood correctly, the man she hoped to work for lived on a farm. Perhaps, God willing, it was far enough from the fort she could remain unnoticed.
She finally got the girls’ hair dried and tucked them into bed. They didn’t whisper or giggle. In fact, they seemed subdued, convincing her she needed to get them settled in a new home as soon as possible.
Sunday dawned bright and clear. She’d told Bonnie not to expect them over for meals, insisting the woman deserved time off from cooking for them. Instead, she had brought over food from the evening meal.
They ate together at the tiny table. As they cleaned up afterward, the beat of horse hooves grew close. She peeked outside. Blue sat astride his horse. He pulled the animal to a halt and met her gaze, then touched the brim of his hat and continued on his way.
She stared after him. How long would he be gone? Likely all day, for he had no reason to hurry back. She sighed. Why should it matter to her? Her plans did not include him. Yet the hours suddenly stretched ahead of her—a long, lonely day.
The girls called for her attention, and she returned to them. “I’ll braid your hair, and then we’ll go over to the church.”
Eleanor stood quietly as Clara did her hair but Libby twisted and turned. “Will Blue be there?”
“No. I told you that last night.”
“Well, maybe you’re wrong.”
“I saw him ride out of town a few minutes ago.”
“Oh?” She grew quiet a moment. “Where was he going?”
“Libby, I’m sure I don’t know. Perhaps out to the ranch.”
Eleanor watched Clara finish Libby’s hair. “Maybe we should wait for him.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.” She fixed her hair, handed the girls their coats, put on her own and picked up her Bible. “Let’s go to church.”
The girls followed without arguing. When they entered, the church was still warm. Blue’s bedroll was stashed neatly in one corner. The tools had been cleaned and put away, the wood neatly stacked, the floor swept clean. Plenty of evidence of Blue’s presence. Everything but the man himself.
Not that she missed him. She was only used to seeing him here. She pulled her thoughts back to her plan and indicated the girls should sit in the front pew. She sat between them and opened her Bible.
“You have to stand in front,” Libby said. “Or it isn’t church. It’s just our mama reading to us.”
Clara nodded and stood before them. “I’m going to read from Exodus chapter fourteen.”
“Don’t we need to sing first?” Eleanor asked.
“What song would you like to sing?”
Eleanor beamed as she answered. “‘A Thousand Tongues.’ It makes me smile.”
Clara cleared her throat and sang the words, “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise.”
Eleanor knew most of the words, and her voice rang clear and certain.
Libby’s voice was equally clear, though the words were a bit muffled.
Clara’s heart swelled at the joy of their united voices.
“Let us pray,” she said when they finished. She smiled as the girls folded their hands and bowed their heads. She had much to thank God for—life, health, peace and, most of all, God’s love and protection.
Then she read from her Bible, the words catching in her throat as she read how Pharaoh thought the Israelites were entangled in the land, shut in by the wilderness.
It echoed her own thoughts. She felt entangled and lost, but God was in charge. She would trust His guidance.
She continued on until the fourteenth verse, when she had to stop. The words had hit her with such assurance she couldn’t speak.
“Mama?” Eleanor’s brow wrinkled with worry. “What’s wrong?”
“Girls, listen carefully to this verse. ‘The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace.’ Isn’t that a wonderful promise that God will take care of us?”
They nodded obediently.
She reached the part where Moses held out his rod, and the waters of the Red Sea parted.
Libby’s eyes grew wide with amazement. “That was exciting.”
Clara nodded. “God can do anything. Nothing is too hard for him. He is our guide and protector.” The words of a hymn came to her mind. “We’ll sing ‘My Shepherd Will Supply My Need.’”
“In pastures fresh He makes me feed, beside the living stream.” The final words calmed her soul. “No more a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home.”
She dismissed the girls, then sat on the pew and meditated on the words. A home. Safety. Belonging. Acceptance. The words circled through her thoughts.
Would she ever know such things? Would God provide them? She couldn’t ask for a better Christmas present for them all than that.
She silently poured out her longing to her God and Savior, asking that He would give her the desires of her heart.
Realizing the girls waited at the door for her, she rose. They left the church to return to the shack.
They removed their coats and sat staring at one another.
“Girls, why don’t we play a game?”
They nodded, eager for some amusement.
“I’m going to Grandmother’s house, and I’m taking a satchel.”
They went round and round, adding things to take with them and having to remember everything that had gone before.
Eleanor was every good at it, but Libby kept forgetting items. When her turn came next she said, “Will we have to go back to Grandfather’s?”
Clara recoiled. “I thought you understood that we are going to make our own life.”
“Yes, but I heard—”
“Shush,” Eleanor said.
Obviously the pair had a secret. “What did you hear?” Clara asked.
Libby gave Eleanor a defiant look and answered. “Mary said Grandfather would never let us go. She said he would find us and make us go back even if you didn’t want to.”
Clara swallowed her swelling fear. Her father would not hesitate to do as he said. What could she do? Nothing except keep running until she felt safe and then build a life that proved she would provide for the girls.
She needed to leave Edendale while she could.
The girls waited for her answer. “Who are you going to believe? Me or Mary?”
Libby giggled. “You.”
“There you go.”
She fed the girls from their dwindling leftovers. Her inability to provide for them mocked her. She looked about. If Father saw where she lived, he’d have no trouble convincing everyone she’d failed.
It was stuffy inside. The walls closed in on her.
“Girls, let’s go outside and enjoy the sunshine.” She hurried them out the door and lifted her face to the warmth of the sun.
“Can we go down to the river?” Eleanor asked.
Clara granted permission, and they followed the path through the trees and down the bank to the water.
She looked at the place where she’d fainted. Where Blue had found her and carried her to the church.
As the girls played along the water’s edge, she brushed off a fallen log and sat down.
Here she was. Back where she started. It wasn’t an encouraging thought.
Like the children of Israel, she felt entangled in the land. Up against the wilderness.
God had guided the Israelites through.
What trials must she face before she reached safety?
Chapter Nine
Blue had resolutely ridden away from town
but not toward the ranch. He didn’t have any desire to go out there and face the questions and curious glances from those who would have heard about a woman and two children keeping him company at the church.
However, the horse needed exercise, and he needed to be alone. He’d galloped for several miles, the rushing air sifting past his ears. He slowed the pace and looked about. Two years ago when he came out to Alberta, he could ride mile after mile without seeing anyone, but now there was a house to his right, smoke coming from a chimney to his left and likely more of the same up ahead.
It was getting harder and harder for a man to be alone.
Edendale, too, was growing. More businesses. More people.
His insides tightened. Too many people coming and going. He pulled the horse to a halt. People coming and going and no one there to look out for Clara and the girls. What was he thinking leaving them in town alone? Someone could have approached from the other direction and he’d never know.
He reined around and urged the horse to a gallop. His heart thudded in time to the hoofbeats.
He skidded to a halt before the church and left the horse at the hitching rail, then jogged over to the little shack. This time he remembered to call out first.
“Clara, it’s Blue.”
His announcement was met with dead silence that grated up his spine and jabbed into the base of his head. “Clara? Girls?”
No answer. Perhaps they were having a Sunday afternoon nap. He jiggled the door and gave them enough time to waken but still nothing.
He glanced around, saw nothing to alarm him and no one watching. He pushed open the door. It took less than a second to see the place was empty. His heart banged into his ribs hard enough to make him flinch.
They were gone.
He clattered back outside and looked around. He could detect no tracks. Had Bonnie or Claude seen anything?
A sharp noise caught his attention. Like a child yelling in play. Was it them?
He stilled his ragged breathing and listened. Yes. Down by the river. He jogged down the path and saw the girls and Clara. His breath whooshed out. They were safe.
For a moment, he didn’t move. How had he let himself care so much? He shook his head. It was only concern about their safety. Nothing more. Almost convinced, he made his way down to the river.
“Hello, Mr. Blue,” Eleanor called.
Libby grinned from ear to ear. “Hello, Mr. Blue.”
“Hello, you two.” Only then did he allow himself to look in Clara’s direction.
“Hello, Blue.” She smiled, and his heart threatened to melt. He sucked in air and stopped the notion.
“I thought you’d be at the ranch longer.”
“I was only out riding.” He went to her, and they sauntered along the rocky shore.
“It’s good to be outside. The girls are really enjoying it.”
He could think of nothing more to say.
“I thought you intended to go to church at the ranch.” She sounded concerned. “Would you go if you were there?”
“I go when I’m at the ranch.” She already knew he didn’t have much faith left, so he felt no need to explain further.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I took the girls over to the church and we had a little service by ourselves.”
“I don’t mind.” In fact, if he’d known, he might have joined them.
Clara stopped and tipped her head back to study him.
He forced himself not to blink before her intensity and knew she’d tell him soon enough what was on her mind.
“I read Exodus chapter fourteen and was very encouraged.”
“How’s that?” If anyone else had said the same thing, he would have closed his mind to what they had to say. Yet he wanted to know exactly what had provided encouragement for Clara.
She told him about the children of Israel being up against the Red Sea. “The sea or the desert. It looked hopeless, but God led them there so He could show His power and they would know He was God. I feel like I am between the desert and the sea, but I know God has brought me here to show me the way through. Isn’t that wonderful?”
He nodded, glad she had found such courage through reading the Bible.
“Do you ever feel against the sea or lost in a desert?”
Her gaze demanded honesty, and he couldn’t stop himself from giving it. “I’ve been in the desert since my family perished. A hot, dry, burning desert.” He tried to contain the way his voice crackled with emotion. He failed.
Her hand came to his arm, and she rubbed gently, soothingly. “Blue, did you ever think that God could bring you out of the desert into a land flowing with milk and honey?”
He shook his head. “I figured to live in the desert the rest of my life.”
“Oh, I hope not. God says He will fight for us that we may go forward. Maybe it’s time for you to go forward.”
Forward? His heartbeat thudded in his ears. Did he want to move on? How could he? “How can I leave the past behind?”
“Maybe you don’t. Maybe you take it with you and make it part of your future.”
He rocked his head back and forth. How was it remotely possible? “I can’t forget the past, and I don’t see how I can take it into the future. Seems I’m stuck.”
“I wish I could help. After all, you’ve been so kind to us. I’ll pray you find a way to come unstuck.”
A shriek rent the air, and they spun toward the sound. Eleanor stood on the bank screaming her lungs out. She pointed, and Blue saw what upset her.
Libby had fallen into the river. She floated away, weighed down by her wet clothes.
His whole body tensed. Ice filled his veins. He shook away the sluggishness and rushed past Clara. “I’ll get her. You stay with Eleanor.” Please don’t try and get Libby yourself. I don’t need to try and pluck both of you from the waters.
The rocks bit into the soles of his boots and caught at his toes, slowing his progress. His legs pumped but seemed incapable of forward movement. Move. Move. Move. He ordered his limbs to rush onward and ran downstream until he was even with Libby. His heart thundering in his ears, he plowed into the river. Shock seared through him as icy-cold water soaked his legs and filled his boots. Libby had been in the water several minutes. Her blood would be ice by now.
The water impeded his movement.
He forged on, his muscles strengthened by the remembrance of running to save Nancy and Beau and Alice. He’d arrived too late that time.
He would not fail this time.
Libby was almost within reach. If she would lift her arm, he could catch her.
“Libby, give me your hand.”
She turned her head slowly. The cold had already numbed her. She drifted on, out of reach.
He dived for her, the cold water penetrating his clothes. His brain begged to be free of this torture, but he did not listen.
He caught the tail of Libby’s coat as it floated behind her.
“Don’t let it come off,” he yelled, hoping to get through to her numbed brain.
He planted his feet and pulled her to him. The coat hung from her elbows, but it held, enabling him to catch her. It saved her.
He crushed the child to his chest as his heart thundered in his ears. She was like holding a block of ice. If she didn’t get warm soon—
He would not think of the consequences and rushed out of the water and up the bank.
Clara and Eleanor raced toward him.
“Is she—” Clara’s voice caught.
“She’s cold. I need to get her to the shack and get her warm.” No need for both of them to think the worst.
Clara made it to the door first and threw it open. “Bring her in.”
He carried Libby toward the stove. Clara was already adding wood to the coals and stirring up the flames. He snagged a chair and sat down, Libby on his lap. He worked off Libby’s dripping coat.
Her eyes were big, her skin bluish.
Clara grabbed a blanket and held it toward the sto
ve to warm it.
Libby sat in her wet dress. If this were his child, he’d have no worry about removing it. “She needs to get her wet things off.”
Clara handed him the warmed blanket, and they switched places.
He should leave them to their privacy, but he couldn’t go until he was certain Libby was okay. He held the blanket to the stove as Clara removed the wet dress and petticoat.
With the blanket before him to shield the child, he waited for Clara to remove the last of her wet things; then she wrapped Libby tightly in the warm blanket he handed her.
Clara rubbed Libby hard. “Thank you.” A sob caught in her throat. “Thank you.”
His teeth chattered.
Clara brought her gaze to him. “You’re cold and wet.”
“I’ll go change.” He rushed from the shack and over to the church. He quickly shed his wet clothes and put on dry things. He’d been able to save her. He fell to his knees. Why, God? Why could I save someone else’s child and not my own?
But there was no answer. Only regret and sorrow. Also satisfaction that Libby had not drowned.
But she had been frightfully cold. Was she really okay?
It took him several minutes to pull his wet boots on again, and then he trotted back to the shack.
He paused outside the door. “It’s Blue. Can I come in?”
“Come ahead,” Clara called. She glanced up as he entered. “Where’s your coat? You must be cold. Come and sit by the fire.”
He obeyed without thinking and lifted the corner of the blanket to peek at Libby swaddled in her mother’s arms. “Is she okay?”
Her blue eyes were wide and watchful. “You saved me.” Her voice filled with awe.
He chuckled. “I guess that answers my question. Mind telling me how you fell in the river?”
Clara caught Libby’s chin. “I’d like to hear, too.”
Libby sat up and clutched the blanket around her.
Seeing Eleanor watching with such longing, Blue lifted her to his lap. She snuggled close.
“I was trying to be Moses.” Libby seemed disappointed.
“I told her she couldn’t make the waters part.” Eleanor’s voice was muffled against Blue’s shirtfront. “But she wouldn’t listen. She never listens to me.”
Love Inspired Historical October 2015 Box Set Page 77
