Taking a Leap of Love: An Inspirational Historical Western Romance Book

by Lilah Rivers

  Bella had to nod, unable to contradict her mother’s logic. She turned to glance out the window again, the breeze soft against her face.

  “Do you think they’ll be all right, Mother?”

  “I … I wish I could promise that they will be, but you know I cannot.” After a long, frightened silence, Sybil said, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lay down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside quiet waters, he restoreth my soul.”

  Bella joined her and the two recited together, “He guideth me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Ya, though I walk through the darkest valley, I shall fear no evil, for you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.”

  Knock knock knock.

  Bella and Sybil shared a worried glance. There were men who could make good use of both Archer women, as they well knew. It among the principle reasons for putting them up in town in the first place. It wouldn’t be a great feat for their enemies to have found them.

  Knock knock knock!

  Bella stood slowly, her mother shaking her head as she made her way to the door. Her feet carried her slowly across the little room, hand reaching for the knob.

  Knock knock knock!

  Bella asked, “Who’s there?”

  Chapter 51

  Josh knocked on the hotel room door.

  “Who is it?” He recognized the voice immediately.

  “It’s Josh, Bella.” Bella pulled the door open in front of him, her face wide with joy; brows high, eyes big, mouth a happy gape. She threw her arms around Josh and hugged him very tightly, pressing the side of her head against the side of his, feet lifting up off the floor. Bella felt so good in his arms, a sensation Josh thought he would never know.

  They pulled back and looked into each other’s eyes. “Bella, I … I don’t know what to say.”

  “There’s nothing to say, Josh. Just hold me, hold me and never let me go.” He pulled her close again, another long and languid embrace.

  “I wish I could hold you like this forever, but …” The sad truth crept up between them, and Bella seemed to realize they would have to let go, at least for a little while. Josh turned to Sybil. “Missus Archer, how are you faring through all this?”

  “Well enough, Joshua, thank you for asking. And your own family?”

  Josh tried to smile. “We’re … we’re ready,” was all he said and all he needed to say. “Though there may yet be hope! The land man Bristol is coming in from Lincoln with information which may run Decker right out of town. That could prevent the massacre at the commons.”

  “At the commons,” Sybil said, “that’s where they’re going to fight?”

  Josh nodded. “At high noon, I’m told. I only hope Bristol makes it back before then.”

  Bella said, “Well, if he knows you need the information, he’ll make every effort, I’m sure.”

  “But he doesn’t know about the timing of things at the commons. I know he’ll come promptly, but to assume he’ll be here by noon is, well, other assumptions might be safer.”

  Bella seemed to think it through, eyes glancing around. “How long a ride is it to Lincoln?”

  Josh thought it out. “About three hours, I would think. You think I should ride out and bring him back?”

  “I do, yes. This business he has, at some land office, I imagine?” Josh nodded, both he and Sybil looking on, impressed. “They’d open at eight … that gives you an hour to get his business done and get back to the commons before high noon. What do you think the odds are that he’s already gotten the work done and is on the way back?”

  Josh could only shrug. “Can’t say.”

  Bella nodded, a finger raised to her chin as she bit her lower lip. “Where’s he coming when he arrives?”

  “My place.”

  “Leave him a note to go straight to the commons if he arrives and you’re not there. But you have to ride out, make sure he gets here in time.” Josh nodded, unable to disagree. He stood.

  “I’ll head out now, get there just before dark, and take a hotel. That’ll give me time to track him down. Good thinking, Bella.” She offered him a coy little smile in return. “But … what if we don’t make it back in time?”

  Bella glanced at her mother, then said to Josh, “We’ll go down there and stand between them, stall for time.”

  Sybil said, “Daughter?”

  Josh said, “No —”

  But Sybil interrupted, “Think it through, Josh. Neither side will gun us down, they wouldn’t dare. And all we’ll have to do is stall them until you arrive, and that’s only if you don’t arrive in time. Probably, you’ll find that Bristol tonight, he’ll already have done what he needed to do, and you’ll be back just after sunrise.”

  “No, Mr. Archer went through the steps to remove you from harm —”

  “And now we have to take steps to remove him from harm,” Bella said, “him and the rest of our family and friends, our neighbors, fellow creatures under God.”

  Josh wanted to disagree, but he couldn’t. He looked at Sybil, but she seemed just as stymied by her daughter’s pluck and logic as he was.

  “It’s too dangerous for you two to go down there.”

  Bella said, “No, Josh, it’s too dangerous for us not to go.” A knowing silence passed. “Well,” Bella went on, “what are you waiting for? Daylight’s wasting.”

  Josh looked at her, at Sybil, then he gave Bella a little kiss on the forehead before turning to step out of the room, closing the door behind him.

  Chapter 52

  Josh rode Patches out to Lincoln, the sun bleeding orange and blue with streaks of dusk’s blue and purple. He was racing against time, and he knew what was at stake. What he didn’t know was what he was facing. He’d never been to Lincoln, had no way of knowing where Parker Bristol might be, and was running a chance of missing him altogether.

  But he rode on, fixed on his course, with plenty of time to go, and too much time to think.

  Hugh, Josh had to reflect, I was too hard on Hugh. I didn’t mean to be, but … the news took me by surprise. I suppose that moment is proof enough that my judgment is still far from perfect. Emotionally, Bella has an effect on me which I cannot deny or often control.

  Love.

  I’m not used to it, and I know I have this one chance to rise to its demands, or run the risk of losing it, and losing all else. Without love, what else matters?

  Patches rode hard beneath him, hooves thumping against the wet grass. The animal was strong, capable, powerful. Josh had to wonder if he’d be the same when it came down to it. He knew the likelihood of winding up in mortal combat.

  Flashes of him fighting and shooting, stabbing and being stabbed, men falling from horses or crushed underneath them; war was a kind of hell he did not wish to face. But he knew he would if called upon. His own father would be in the contest, as would young Hugh.

  Hugh. I must apologize as soon as I see him next. He’s a fair-minded young man, even more than I perhaps. He’ll understand … he’ll have to understand!

  A band of five riders appeared riding toward him, from the west. Josh took note but kept his course, knowing they could just as easily be riding in the same proximity, toward him but not at him. Still, he was ready to draw if he had to.

  As Josh rode on, the band got closer, and Josh could make out the details of their finery; the paint on their ponies, the feathers in their hair.

  Comanche.

  Josh was more ready to fire than before, knowing that Nation’s ferocious reputation. But there was also the tale brought back from Jesse Hayden and Samuel Meyerson about the merciful disposition of the band who’d threatened them off the commons a week or so before.

  They were likely to be the same band. If so, Josh was about to be in a good po
sition to discover why they were so merciful before, if they were inclined to be so merciful again. Josh’s gun hand was ready, but he knew that drawing would be among his last acts; he’d have little chance of killing all five without being shot himself. Josh wanted none of those things to occur, though he was hardly convinced he’d be able to do that.

  They rode up on Josh, and his instincts told him to slow to a stop. The band took positions in front of him and to the side, a deadly arch that closed into a full circle, trapping him. Josh held his ground, having no choice.

  One of the band rode his pony a bit closer in, eyeing Josh, who took the warrior as their leader. Josh stood tall in the saddle, proud and unflinching. But he showed his open hands, hoping it would illustrate his peaceable intentions.

  The other warriors eyed Josh, all eyes upon him, ready to draw on him and cut him to bits there and then. But they didn’t. Instead, there was a tense silence while their leader took in as much measure of Josh’s character as he could. That seemed to be quite a bit, even in that tense silence. The warrior slowly rode his pony around Josh and Patches, taking in the different facets of his adversary, if in fact that was what Josh was to him. He couldn’t be any surer than the warrior himself.

  This must be the same band, Josh reasoned. He could easily imagine them intimidating Jesse and Samuel and the others, sending them home unhurt. It didn’t seem as if he intended to attack Josh himself. But … why?

  He looked deep into the eyes of their leader. The man looked back, each sizing up the other. Josh could see in his eyes rationality, a sense of reason. This was no savage, no brutal murderer.

  Rather, Josh saw the eyes of a man; a man who loved his family as Josh loved his own, a man who was dedicated to his way of life just as Josh was, just as all in Barnock were. They had more in common than the sum of their differences, and the Comanche seemed to realize that as much as Josh did, without a word being spoken between them.

  The warrior completed his circle around Josh and Patches, returning to his position in front of him, completing the ring of Comanche surrounding him. The men stared him down, and Josh waited, ready for anything.

  Finally, the leader nodded and glanced at his fellows. He turned his pony and galloped off, the others riding behind him. The band trailed off in a single line, leaving Josh in peace and in a very troubling quiet. Josh glanced around, nothing else out of the ordinary. Josh could only guess as to what the reasoning behind the warriors’ actions were; he could only know those actions and there was no more time to think about them.

  Josh kicked Patches, and the stalwart steed jumped him into a quick gallop toward Lincoln. He had to find Bristol, get him through his chore and back to Barnock before all hell broke loose, which it was certain to do.

  Chapter 53

  Elroy rose early the next morning. He fixed a breakfast of fried eggs and bread. He knew he and his sons would need their strength. The house was eerily quiet without his wife and daughter, and there was an ominous feeling of loss and death in the house. Is this what it will be like for Sybil and Bella as soon as tomorrow morning, when they have to come back to the house alone? Is this the feeling they’ll wake to every morning and go to bed to at night, night after lonesome night?

  Lord, Elroy silently prayed as his sons came in, freshly dressed, I am ready to sacrifice my life, if I must. But I pray that Your great plan includes my sons’ survival. They’re good young men with the rest of their lives in front of them. I’ve had a wife and children, I’ve done what I can to make this a better world. I will hand the work over to them now, if You so see fit.

  The boys sat down and ate their eggs in a tense silence, tearing off pieces of sourdough from a loaf that would have gone stale otherwise.

  Elroy watched his boys eating, unable to rid himself of the memories of their childhood years. They’d always been close, closer than any two people he’d ever seen, as if they were indeed two halves of a single whole. They’d always been together; they’d always supported one another.

  But Elroy couldn’t miss the chasm that was breaking between them. He didn’t blame Bella or Josh or their union for that tension, though he knew they were related. It had been Decker and those other big-timers who were creating the conflict; only interlopers could have come between the two twins.

  Dean said to Jonah, “You ready?”

  Jonah slumped over his breakfast. “You just worry about yourself … as usual.”

  “Boys,” Elroy said in a cautionary tone. But he knew the import of the day. The two were to be joined in mortal combat, so the time for propriety and for fearing their father’s wrath had come and gone. On that day, more than any other, they were free men, free to speak their peace. Elroy felt that he could hardly deny them that one last rite of manhood.

  Dean said to Jonah, “Perhaps if you didn’t act such a fool, I’d have taken you into my confidence. But go on moping like a child and then tell me I didn’t make the right choice.”

  “I’ll show you the right choice!”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean? Am I going to have to watch my back against you?”

  “Now that’s enough, boys! I won’t have talk of that sort, no matter the circumstances!” An echoing silence hovered over the breakfast table as the boys went on eating and drinking their coffee.

  “Why don’t you skip the fight entirely,” Jonah said, “and elope with your iced-cream parlor girl?”

  “Why don’t you shut your mouth?”

  Elroy barked out, “Now that’s enough! I don’t mind you conversing like men, but I won’t have you bickering like children! You’re speaking of pettiness, stupidities, beneath you both! You both know what today holds for us! Are you sharing thoughts of your mutual admiration? Are you wishing each other well and reassuring each other? Are you apologizing to each other for your minor transgressions, sharing precious memories, or bidding to enact the final wishes of the other in the case of the worst? No, you’re chattering and biting at each other like coyote!”

  The boys sat in a guilty silence.

  “Give some thought to your mother and sister, who are holed up in Barnock! They need us to be strong for them, and not give in to these absurd vulnerabilities, these cracks in the wall we must present; strong, impenetrable.”

  Dean and Jonah shared a glance, and then looked back up at their father.

  Elroy said to them, “In 1 Corinthians, St. Paul writes, ‘I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.’”

  Dean and Jonah’s eyes sank to their plates, guilt pushing their heads down.

  Elroy went on reciting from memory. “‘Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God; that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.’”

  Elroy looked at his sons, unsure if the lessons of the Lord had sunk in. But he knew he’d done all he could; to raise them well, to teach them right from wrong. Events of the day would determine his success or failure, and their lives would be hanging in the balance.