City Girl
Page 19
urgent. "I need to speak with you."
"All right."
As he brought the chair close, Reagan bowed out with a
few words.
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"I'll be in the kitchen working on Sunday dinner."
"Thank you, Reagan," acknowledged Cash before he
turned back to Katy, who surprised him by reaching for his
hand.
"I did something," she said, her eyes anxious as they
searched his.
"Okay."
"I made a deal with God."
Cash was surprised and didn't bother to hide it. "What
kind of deal?"
"I told Him if He'll let me get out of this bed, I won't run
from Him anymore."
Tenderness filled the rancher's heart. With his free hand,
he reached over and carefully smoothed the iron-colored
hair from Katy's brow.
"And tell me what you'll do with God if you never get
out of this bed?"
Her hand tightened on his. "Do you think He would do
that to me?"
"Not to you, Katy, but maybe for you."
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Her brow deeply furrowed with confusion, she asked,
"How could that be?"
"I can't say that I know God's mind on this matter, Kate,
but maybe you've been running so long that this was His
way to slow you down and get your attention. Maybe by staying in this bed, you can grow to be more help than you
ever dreamed of."
All she could do was ask again, "How can that be?"
"Ask me what I want, Katy." Cash bent closer to her face
to command in tender urgency. "Ask me whether I want
clean clothes and a hot meal or to have you with me in eternity?"
For only the second time in his life--the incidents within
a week of each other--Cash watched Katy cry. He didn't
know when he'd felt so helpless, but he moved gently and
put his arms around her. This act was not a first, but it had
been years since he'd felt welcome to help her.
"I don't know what to do!" she finally wailed. "I thought
this was God punishing me, but if I'm going to be punished,
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why did He send His Son to die?"
* Cash smiled amid Kat/s pain.
"You've been listening in church after all, Katy."
She sniffed and tried to calm herself, but it was a
struggle.
"I'm going to get Reagan," Cash told her.
"Why?"
"Because something happened to her this morning, and
she needs to tell you about it. Will you let me get her?"
Katy nodded, and Cash pressed his handkerchief into
her hands before he left. Seconds later he was in the
kitchen,
"Reagan, would you mind coming in and telling Katy
about your decision this morning?"
"No, not at all," Reagan said right away but then hesitated.
"She looked so glad to see you when you came in. I
could tell something was bothering her."
City Girl 177
"Yes, it is, and I think it would help to hear about this
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morning."
Reagan put aside the food she was working on, wiped
her hands clean, and preceded Cash as he politely waited
to follow.
'Take the chair, Reagan," Cash directed as soon as they
were in the housekeeper's room.
"What happened this morning, Reagan?" Katy asked
the moment she sat down,
Reagan could see that she'd been weeping and hoped
she could explain this thing that was almost too huge to
take in,
"I prayed to receive salvation from God. The pastor
prayed, and I prayed with him."
"Why, Reagan?" Katy asked almost desperately. "Why
now? Why today?"
Reagan shook her head a little. "I hadn't really planned
on hearing what I did this morning, Katy, but Pastor Ellis
said something my father used to claim. It was about God
not being involved in people's lives. But Pastor showed us
how involved He really was and is, and I knew a spark q hope for the first time. I've been asking myself if it could be
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true. I've been wondering if God could really want a relationship
with me, and today it was so clear that He did."
Reagan sighed and went on quietly. "I'm a hard worker,
Katy. I can do anything you ask of me, but sometimes when
the lantern is dark and I can't get right to sleep, I ask myself
who I really am. You have Cash, You have a place. You
belong to someone. I've been on my own since I was a
child. Most of the time it didn't matter. It couldn't matter, or I wouldn't have been able to keep on. I would ask myself
why I needed God at all, and it took awhile, but eventually
I figured out that it's not really whether or not I need God.
The biggest worry was whether or not He would reject me.
After I admitted that was the problem, and then someone
showed me He does want me--" Reagan gave a little shrug.
"There was nothing else I could do."
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Katy's eyes filled with sadness.
"Look at me, Reagan. I'm old and worn out. Why would
God want me?"
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Reagan smiled at her. "I want you/' she admitted, "I
wanted your friendship so badly that I rode my bicycle out
here so you could ride it." Again Reagan gave that little
shrug. "Unlike God, I'm just a person with all kinds of
faults. His reasons for wanting you wouldn't be selfish.
Mine probably were."
It was Katy's undoing. No one had ever told her she was
wanted as a friend. She cried, her hip hurting with how
tensely she held her body, but her heart hurting more. It
was some time before she could calm down enough to ask
for help, but in the next half an hour, Cash questioned Katy
and answered her questions in return before praying with
her as she made the same choice Reagan had made earlier.
For a time the three sat in silence. Cash didn't know
when he'd been so drained, but there was no denying the *
peace that filled his heart He remembered the wonder he
felt when his grandmother had come to Christ, and then
Slater and Dakota. He knew his family was going to be
stunned and delighted when they learned of Katy's salvation.
It also gave him great hope for his parents.
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And Reagan! Cash was still in a state of shock over that
Her heart had been so open, and she had been completely
unguarded for the first time since he'd met her.
"Did Brenda give you lunch, Katy?" Reagan asked with
wonderful practicality.
"No, I wasn't hungry."
"I'll bring something in."
"You go ahead and eat, Reagan," Katy said quietly. "I'm
not that hungry, so go ahead."
"Okay."
"Do you want me to set up a table in here for the three
of us?" Cash offered, not having thought of it before.
Katy smiled at him, an unusual sight. "I'm tired, Cash.
Maybe later."
City Girl 179
"All right"
The redhead bent low and kissed her cheek. Reagan did
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the same thing. The two exited on a
quiet note, each feeling
his own level of weariness. Reagan put Sunday dinner on
the table and they ate together, but there was not a lot of
conversation.
After the meal, Reagan checked on Katy and found her
sleeping. She then felt free to spend some time on her own.
Cash did the same, both understanding that the last few
hours had given them a lot to take in.
S-'S'
Katy was settled in for the night, and Reagan was
headed to her room. Earlier, Cash had come to the younger
woman with a Bible and told her she could use it for as
long as she liked. Reagan didn't bother to tell him that
Holly had done the same thing for her, but now that the
house was completely quiet for the day and Katy's closet
door was shut against the lantern light, Reagan sat in her
room, the lantern turned high, and started on the verses
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Pastor Ellis had given her.
The first was in Romans 10, and when Reagan read it she
saw that that was just what she'd done: confessed Christ
and believed on Him. But the next verses were of a different
sort.
Romans 8:38,39 said, For I am persuaded, that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Reagan read this in quiet amazement. She didn't know
when she'd read such a comprehensive list. And if the list
missed anything, it was covered in the last part about "any
other creature." Reagan was so pleased and surprised
about this that she sat on the edge of her bed and smiled.
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Truly it had never occurred to her that God might rescind
His love, but if the thought ever tormented her, she now
knew where to horn.
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Reagan found the next verses on the list just as amazing.
She read John 10:27-30. My sheep hear my voice, and J know
them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and
they shall never perish, and neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than att;
and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and
my Father are one.
Reagan had not been positive who it was that was
speaking until the last verse. This has to be Jesus Christ, she
thought/ or He would not be claiming to be one with God.
Without warning Reagan knew she shouldn't read anymore.
She had been growing tired, a good tired that meant
she would sleep well, but now questions were coming to
mind that were going to keep her awake.
Setting the Bible aside, she readied for bed, her heart
amazingly full of what she was learning, but her brain
trying to maintain control so she would sleep. Eventually
her mind won over. Reagan fell asleep in the darkness, her
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heart never once wondering who she was.
"Well, now, Katy, have you been lying still like a good
girl?" the doctor asked Monday morning a few hours after
breakfast
"I've been out dancing,"' she told him, a small twinkle in
her eye.
"How's the pain?"
It was on the tip of Katy's tongue to brush it off and say
she'd had worse, but that wasn't true.
"More intense in the morning."
"Thaf s the usual complaint. Another three weeks and
we'll have you up in a wheelchair."
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"Not walking?" she asked, wondering how she'd
missed this.
"No. You'll have to stay off your feet for another three
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weeks after that You don't want to risk falling again. And
even when you start to walk, it's going to have to be slow."
Katy was stunned. She had thought that Reagan could
go home as soon as she could get out of the bed, but the
housekeeper knew she would never be able to help herself
in and out of a wheelchair.
"We don't have a wheelchair," she reminded the doc,
wondering why Cash remained quiet through this whole
exchange.
"I've got one you can use," he said calmly. "And by the
way, you're coming along fine. This is all very normal."
Katy felt herself relax. The news of the wheelchair
wasn't a surprise she enjoyed, but there was no doubt that
she found comfort in the doctor's other words.
3r
Reagan was doing laundry. She'd meant to attack the
kitchen that morning but realized the laundry was piling
up. The washing and dusting would still be waiting for her,
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but at least their clothes would be clean.
/ didn't think a task as mundane as the laundry could be done
with such peace, Reagan thought to herself, even as she
washed. The same strength was needed for the hard
wringing-out after rinsing and the lugging of wet, heavy
clothes, but knowing God loved her somehow made the
burden lighter. Nothing had changed around her, Reagan
understood, but things were certainly different on the
inside.
Even while pegging out the wash in the swiftly
wanning air on the clothesline at the back of the house,
Reagan's thoughts lingered on what she knew about God.
Sheets went up amid thoughts of God's Son. As towels and
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tablecloths were hung, she wondered about heaven. Jeans,
shirts, dresses, blouses, skirts, and underclothing were
pegged out in tidy order, but the work was done rather
unconsciously. In fact Reagan didn't even hear her
employer approaching.
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"Move along," the rancher ordered mildly.
"Move where?" Reagan stopped and asked, having misunderstood.
"I wasn't talking to you."
Reagan frowned at him.
Cash nodded his head, and Reagan looked behind her.
Four ranch hands were walking away, two of whom still
turned to look behind them.
"You don't want them outside?" Reagan innocently
guessed.
"They can be outside all they want, but I didn't think
you needed an audience."
Reagan's brows rose, and she asked before thinking,
"Why were they watching me?"
Cash laughed. "They have great hopes," he explained.
Having been confused by men's reaction to her for a
long time, Reagan asked with candid curiosity, "Of what
exactly?"
"Of catching your eye."
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Reagan nodded and Cash went on.
"You might smile or speak to them. If you do that, you
open the door so one of them could ask you out on Saturday
night."
Reagan shook her head a little, and Cash misunderstood.
"Come now, Reagan. Were there no men who wanted to
court you in New York?"
Reagan looked to where the men had been, her eyes
thoughtful. "Do you really think one of your ranch hands
wants to court me?"
"He might. His intentions might not b
e honorable, but
this can be lonely country. Some cowboys don't figure they
City Girl 183
could ever support a wife and don't even try, but some
work a ranch like this, dreaming of a time when they could
own their own. When a man does that, he wants a woman
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by his side."
Reagan almost asked if Cash wanted that very thing but decided she might not like the answer. She wasn't blind.
She could see that men stared at her, but she also figured
that they knew, just by looking at her, that she was not the
love-and-cherish type.
"Doc just left," Cash said, appearing not to notice
Reagan's hesitation.
"What did he have to say?"
"That she's doing well, and all is as it should be. Right
after the fall she didn't hear him when he talked about her
time in the wheelchair, so that was a surprise to her."
"Where will you get a wheelchair?" Reagan suddenly
thought to ask.
"The doc has one, but what I want to know from you is,
did you hear that she'll not be completely back on her feet
for about six weeks?"
"No, but it doesn't matter."
"You're sure? I didn't know what arrangements you
made with Sally or Russ and Holly."
"I'm still paying my rent, and Sally wants me back no
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matter when I can come."
"She's a good employer, isn't she?"
"Yes, she is," Reagan said. Then her eyes grew huge.
"I've got to tell her. I've got to tell her about Christ!"
Cash blinked at her sudden vehemence.
"Just this morning I read a verse in Matthew about letting
people see your light. I've got to tell her!"
"Do you think she wants to hear?" Cash asked with
maddening calm.
"Does that matter?" Reagan's face and question were so
comical that Cash laughed all over again.
He knew they would have to discuss her evangelism
tactics, but Reagan was already calming. Her mind had
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gone back to the Christians in New York and the first time
she realized Russell Bennett was a Christian.
"I could turn her away from me, couldn't I?" she asked
quietly. "If I don't tell Sally the right way, she won't want
anything to do with me."
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"Ifs entirely possible, and I don't think you want to take
that risk."
Reagan's head tipped to one side.
"How did you tell people?"
"I told a few without invitation, but my family started
asking why I'd changed. Then the door was open. The
same thing has happened with some of the other ranchers