by Danni Roan
Barr looked into Mary’s eyes seeing the deep caring of her nature. She had such compassion, and he loved that about her. It was why she’d stopped that day to help him. He should have died that day when his plane had plummeted like an injured bird, but a young woman from Wyoming had given him a second chance. He only hoped that she would now be willing to take a chance on him and risk her heart.
Mary looked up noting a soft light in Barr’s eyes and smiled at him. He was a very different man than the one she had met that fateful day, but she liked the man he had become.
“I hope that when I start my work in Cheyenne I can do something like this,” Barr said. “I’m just not sure I can do it on my own.” His gray eyes searched Mary’s face.
“I thought you were going to work with the pastor you mentioned,” she queried.
“I will, but a man isn’t meant to be on his own,” Barr studied Mary’s expression wanting to ask something but afraid to do so. “Perhaps you would be willing to come and work at the Mission there in the city.”
Mary looked at Barrister, seeing the hope on his face. “I don’t know,” she said. “I only just got home myself.”
“And are you content to stay here?”
Mary’s eyes grew sad as she looked around at the men in the little church and shook her head. “I think I’m supposed to do something different,” she finally admitted. “I don’t know what yet, that’s all.”
Barr took Mary’s hand in his imploring her to look him in the eye. “I know it hasn’t been long,” he said. “I’ve only been on the ranch a week, but I want you to think about something and pray about it. Consider coming to the city with me. Since the moment I opened my eyes on that field in France, I’ve felt some connection with you, Mary Bridgette Robertson. I hope I haven’t been mistaken.”
Mary shook her head so slightly he would have missed it if he hadn’t been watching. “You’re not mistaken,” she whispered. “Every time the planes took off it was as if a piece of my heart went with them. Perhaps I was there that day when you crashed simply to save your life, but perhaps we were brought together for a reason as well.”
Barr smiled squeezing her hand gently. “We can at least try to find out,” he said his heart soaring higher than he ever had in an airplane.
Chapter 21
“What you doing Miss Mary?” Blake Clayton called as he rode into the yard the next day. He’d been out riding fence line and had ridden back to the ranch for nails.
“Hm?” Mary asked looking up at her younger cousin. “Oh, I’m just thinking,” Mary admitted.
“Why don’t you ride out with me,” Blake asked impulsively.
“I can’t just ride out with you,” Mary chafed. “Mother will expect me to help with supper.”
“She managed before when you were gone,” Blake teased. “I bet she can manage again.”
“Blake not everyone can just jump on a horse and ride out anytime they want to you know.”
“Sure they can,” Blake countered. “Watch.” About two minutes later he was back with a saddled horse and a bright grin. “You need to get out and see the mountains,” the young man said. “Fill your lungs with some wild air and clear your head.”
Mary took the reins Blake offered and swung up. Barr was in the smithy with Eric and together they were busy talking to Reese who had come down for breakfast.
Mary felt her doubts and worries riding her shoulders as she trotted out of the barn yard along with Blake even as she turned her eyes to the far Blue Mountains.
“So what’s eatin’ at you anyway?” Blake asked as they turned along the taut fence near the barn.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been hanging out with Mr. Abrams a good bit, and now you’re worrying something like a dog worries a bone.”
Mary shook her head. There was no way that Blake could understand what was in her heart.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
Mary shook her head again but began to speak. “Mr. Abrams asked me to go work at the mission in Cheyenne.”
“You thinking about it?”
“I don’t know,” Mary admitted. “My feelings are all mixed up.”
“Why?” Blake asked pinning her with his amber eyes. “Don’t you like him?”
Mary blushed. She knew it was ridiculous, but she liked the man more and more each day.
“Oh, it’s like that,” Blake said with a grin. “Well why don’t you tell him and be done with it then?”
“I can’t do that,” Mary said horrified at the suggestion.
“Mary,” Blake said pulling rein and slipping off his horse at a fence post with a loose nail. “It’s obvious to everyone that the man is smitten with you. I’ll bet he’s said as much to you.”
“He has not,” Mary protested.
“Are you sure?”
Mary blushed thinking back to what Barr had said about the connection between them. She couldn’t deny that something had brought them together, and that even now there was a draw to be with him.
“Well there is something,” she finally admitted.
“See, simple. Now all you have to do is tell him about it.”
“Blake, women don’t do those things.”
“I don’t see why not. All this beating about the bush is just nonsense. If you like him, and he likes you, and you think you’d be good together why not just go for it?”
Mary started to giggle at her cousin’s simple assessment of the situation. “Life doesn’t work that way,” she insisted.
“Well it should,” Blake growled swinging back up on his mount and heading on down the line. “If I ever meet a girl I fancy, and she’s a good sort, I’m just going to up and ask her to marry me and be done with it.”
“What if she says no?” Mary asked her eyebrow raised.
“Then I’ll find someone new.” Blake’s matter of fact attitude was refreshing and Mary wondered if it would actually work the way he said.
“Look Mary,” Blake continued. “If you like him, tell him, and if you think you could be of use in Cheyenne tell him that as well.”
Mary continued down the fence line with Blake, stopping periodically as he pounded in another nail where needed. Just like that nail Mary felt she had a purpose. She wanted to do good in the world and perhaps Mr. Abrams was not just the man she had saved but her destiny as well.
***
That night after supper Mary asked Barr if he would like to go for a walk. He’d been on the ranch for two weeks now, and she felt as if she’d known him much longer.
Each week he had been a big help at the Wednesday meetings in the school house, and he’d spent long hours talking to Eric and letting her cousin work through some of his own unique pain.
“I’ve been thinking about you question,” Mary said as they walked toward the stream. It had become one of their favorite places to go when walking. “I think that if you really think I could be of use in Cheyenne, I’d like to go,” she finally said.
Barr smiled but his heart plummeted at the same time. He wanted to think that he and Mary were more than coworkers at this point. His impetuous kiss had said as much in his mind.
“Mary,” he said using her Christian name as he took her hands in his. “I don’t just want you to come to Cheyenne and work with me. I have very deep feelings for you, and I was hoping that you might be developing feelings for me as well.”
Mary let out a breath. “I do have feelings for you Barr,” she said. “I don’t always know what to make of them, but I feel,” she paused unsure of what to say next.
Barr pulled Mary Bridgette into his arms, dropping a kiss to her lips as bright stars sparkled above. He wanted her to know that his heart was hers, that he would gladly love her for the rest of their lives if only she would give him the chance.
Something had been written for them long ago, and though he had no words to express his feelings, he begged heaven above that Mary might understand what he couldn’t
find words for.
Mary leaned back breathless after the kiss. He shouldn’t have done it, and for a moment her mind flashed back to Doctor Niven’s unwanted attentions.
Barr turned his back on Mary, once again he’d over stepped his bounds and was sure she would send him away. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll go.”
Mary Bridgette reached out plucking at Barr’s sleeve. “I’d rather you didn’t,” she said.
Barr spun on his heel his heart soaring once again. “Why?” he asked, his voice sticking in his throat.
“Because I care for you,” Mary admitted. “Since the first day I saw you, I knew you were different. I just didn’t understand at the time.”
Barr smiled, a slow easy grin that filled his eyes with light. “You mean it?”
“Yes,” Mary said. “This past week I’ve felt so at home with you. You have a new passion to help others, and so do I. Perhaps we’re meant to work together as partners.”
“Mary,” Barr said, her name tripping off his tongue like honey. “I want you to know that I truly have feelings for you, and I want to have a future with you.”
“I think I’d like that,” Mary said. “Perhaps we can use the next few weeks to get to know each other better.”
“I think we should head back,” Barr said when all he really wanted to do was pull Mary back into his arms and kiss her again. Somehow he knew that she was his future and that in time they would start a whole new life together.
Chapter 22
“Mary, you look so happy,” Lilly commented as she and Mary walked to the barn to feed the spring lambs.
“I am,” Mary confessed.
“You really like Mr. Abrams don’t you?” Lilly continued stepping through the door and heading to the stall where two orphaned lambs lay in the straw.
“I like him a great deal,” Mary admitted smiling. “We have so much in common, and a complementary purpose.”
Lilly shook her head, her dark locks rippling down her back. “Only you would focus on that,” she chided. “Honestly Mary, the man is head over heels for you, and everyone can tell.”
Mary felt the soft blush infuse her cheeks and grinned. “I did gather that he was somewhat fond of me,” she joked lifting a lamb into her lap and letting it take the bottle.
Lilly giggled. “Tell the truth, you love him don’t you?”
Mary looked down at the little lamb in her lap thinking about the days she and Barr had spent in each other’s company recently.
He was so easy to talk to and so full of a desire to make up for lost time in helping others. Mary was sure that God had a purpose for Mr. Abrams, and that it was for this reason she had been there when he needed someone to pull him from the plane.
“You want an honest answer?” Mary asked looking up into the lovely hazel gaze of her cousin.
“Yes,” Lilly stated flatly.
“Then yes, I do love him. I’ve been getting to know him, and he is a very special man. He’s full of ideas, hardworking, and always ready with a smile.”
Lilly rolled her eyes, holding tight to the bottle her lamb was rapidly draining. “Seriously Mary is there something wrong with you?” she chafed. “A young man you only met once in France when you pulled him from a burning aircraft comes all the way to Wyoming to see you and this is what you have to say.”
“What do you think I should say?”
“You should say he’s dreamy, and handsome, and everything you ever wanted in a man,” Lilly said.
“I don’t know that I actually ever dreamed of the perfect man,” Mary said. “I remember listening to grandpa Joshua talk about falling in love. Each time it was different for him, so I didn’t really know what I should expect.”
“But you do love him?” Lilly pressed.
“Yes, Lilly I do love him. We seem to go together and it makes me happy.”
“Well when I fall in love, the man had better sweep me off my feet and buy me all kinds of flowers and chocolates. Everyone around here is just so boring and settled. I don’t want to be like that. I’m going to have a great romance.”
Mary smiled. “I hope you get everything you want,” she said shifting the lamb, who had finished its dinner from her lap. “I think everyone’s love story is different. All I know is that I’m happy, and that Barr will be the perfect husband as soon as he gets up the nerve to talk to Pa.”
Together the girls burst into laughter as they left the stall and for a moment it felt like being kids again.
***
“Mr. Robertson?” Barr said making his way around the house to where Will was chopping firewood.
“Barr,” Will said looking up with a grin and wiping his brow with a bandana.
“I was wondering if I could talk to you?” Barr asked looking down at the pile of split wood. Mr. Robertson, though already in his fifties, was still a strong fit man and for a moment Barr felt a little uneasy about his next question.
“Grab an axe,” Will said with a grin, “you can talk and work at the same time can’t you?”
“Yes sir,” Barr said grabbing an axe and falling into step with Will. In a few moments the rhythmic swish, fwap, of the axe falling on aged lumber filled the air.
“So what did you need to talk about?” Will asked hiding a grin as he pried the axe head from a half split log.
“Well sir, I’d like to talk to you about Mary Bridgette,” Barr said. He could feel a hint of perspiration around his collar but wasn’t sure if it was from exertion or nerves.
“What about her?” Will said continuing his work.
Barr let the axe fall splitting the next section of log cleanly and reached for one half setting it for the next blow. “I’d like your permission to marry her sir,” Barr said swinging the axe but not looking up. Barrister Abrams was sure he loved Mary Bridgette with every ounce of his being, but would her father know it too?
“And what does Mary say about this notion?” Will asked quietly. In his heart, he was battling with the idea of giving up his little girl even as he thought of his own father-in-law and how he had gone through so much to see that his daughters were happily wed.
Joshua James had realized that a man and a woman were meant to complement each other. That together they could accomplish much if they held to each other and to God. Still it was hard to let go.
“I haven’t asked her outright exactly,” Barr admitted. “She knows how I feel though and that I’d like her to be a part of the ministry in the city.”
Will Robertson looked up, his dark eyes serious as he stared at the man across from him. “Do you love her?”
Barr lifted his chin meeting the serious gaze of the man and nodded. “I do,” he replied seriously. “I think I loved her the minute I opened my eyes there in France the day she saved me. Your daughter was meant to be there that day,” he continued. “She was my saving grace, but more than that her act gave me a chance to find true salvation.”
Will smiled slowly reaching across the short distance and placing his hand on Barr’s shoulder. “Then you have my blessing,” he said his voice soft to disguise the lump in his throat.
Barrister smiled slowly his heart soaring like a bird in flight. He felt like he had when he first lifted from the ground in his bi-wing.
“Thank you,” he said reaching out and shaking Will’s hand. “I need to find Mary.”
Will smiled as he watched his future son-in-law hurry across the yard, the axe forgotten in his haste.
“Excuse me Lilly,” Barr said as he hurried to the barn, “I hope you won’t mind if I steal your cousin away.”
“Not at all,” Lilly said her lips twitching into a smile. “I’ll see you at supper,” she said hurrying away.
Barr grabbed Mary Bridgette’s hands his eyes bright with excitement. “Mary,” he said his voice full of emotion. “I just spoke to your father,” he continued smiling at the slight gasp that escaped her lips. “He says he’ll give me his blessing if you agree to marry me. Will you?” he pleaded squeezing
her fingers in his.
A warm glow seemed to fill Mary Bridgette’s heart as she stared at Barr. A spark that had been a mere ember before blossomed into life and happy tears filled her eyes.
“Yes,” she said, “Yes I’ll marry you.”
Barr gathered Mary into his arms with a yip lifting her from her feet and swinging her around until he was dizzy. “I love you Mary Bridgette, you saved my life, and now you’ve made me the happiest man on earth!” Bending his head he placed a sweet kiss on Mary’s lips as the world seemed to open before him.
Chapter 23
By Easter the Broken J was in bloom and the warm spring sun glowed over new life, new hope, and new love.
Barr couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting with his stiff collar and new coat as he stood at the front of the church awaiting his bride.
“Stop fidgeting,” Eric said bending the fingers on his left hand. Reese had finally convinced the big cowboy to let him do surgery on the damaged arm and he had restored much of the loss use by opening up the old wound and reattaching ligaments that had been severed.
“You weren’t nervous on your wedding day?” Barr jibed.
“Nervous,” Eric laughed. “I’d never even met the woman before. “I felt like ever kind of a fool right up until the moment I looked into her eyes.” The big man’s grinned widened. “There aren’t many women I can even look in the eye,” he added. Joan had been certain that her height would be an issue for her new husband, but instead they had been a perfect match.
Soft music began to play, and Barr stood straighter, as Mary Bridgette stepped into the aisle on her father’s arm.
On the other side of the church Celeste giggled where she stood for Mary. She’d been thrilled when Mary had asked her to be a part of their wedding.
Mary squeezed her father’s arm as they took the first step down the aisle. So much of her life had been played out in the little church and school house.
She and her cousin’s had studied here, learning and growing as they moved from childhood to adulthood. It seemed fitting that the moment that would change her life forever should happen here as well.
