Blessed With a New Beginning: An Inspirational Historical Romance Book

by Lilah Rivers

  Chelsea was slower than Clementine, and Clementine continuously looked to make sure that she wasn’t getting too far ahead. It didn’t appear that the person was chasing them down, but they were still following.

  She hoped that she was being foolish. Maybe it was Hank or David coming to tell them something? Or maybe it was someone from town who was just coming to get some beef.

  But there was something terribly uncomfortable about the whole scenario that left Clementine certain they needed to be somewhere safe.

  They were close to the barn when Hank and David looked up, as if startled by the sight of two young ladies running at them so indignantly.

  “S-some-someone’s c-coming,” Clementine said through heaving breathlessness.

  “What?” David asked.

  Chelsea came up right behind and stopped as well.

  “There’s someone,” Clementine breathed. “Someone after us.”

  “Someone is after you?” David asked, panic flooding his face.

  Hank was up and by Chelsea’s side in an instant, unwilling to leave her vulnerable to whomever it was that was coming after them.

  “Who was it? What did you see?” David asked.

  “We don’t know. Maybe we are overreacting, but it didn’t seem like someone who was just coming to see Aunt Roberta. There was something very fierce about them. We could see that much. But the sun was behind the person so it was just a silhouette coming closer and closer,” she explained, still catching her breath.

  “I don’t like this at all,” David said to Hank who nodded at him in reply.

  Clementine didn’t know what he meant by that. Was there something that the two men knew that she didn’t?

  “Now, what’s this all about?” she asked.

  David turned to her with hesitation.

  “I’m not comfortable with how things are going these days. Something is wrong. I’m uneasy. Anyway, let’s get you ladies inside with your aunt. Hank and I will sit with you both once we are there,” David said.

  Clementine was grateful and she clung to Chelsea once more as they made their way to the house.

  Aunt Roberta was shocked to see them looking so shaken, as if the barn had caught fire all over again.

  “Someone is after you? Here? On my property?” she asked.

  “Either that or we are about to be dreadfully embarrassed if someone comes to buy cattle,” Clementine said, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

  “No, I don’t think anyone is coming here for that. That’s what the butcher is for. Now, you two sit and rest. I’ll take care of everything else. David, Hank, please stay with them,” Aunt Roberta said.

  In the living room, they tried to rest, but Clementine heard the sound of her aunt going out the front door. A few moments later, she could see Aunt Roberta in the window, holding her rifle and looking around.

  By the time she came back inside, Clementine was beginning to settle, her heart now a decent pace again.

  “There’s no one out there. Whoever it was, they must have been scared off,” Aunt Roberta said.

  “I hope they were scared off for good,” Chelsea replied.

  “Well, I don’t know about that. But I do think the two of you are better off staying in here for now. I don’t like the idea of you girls going out there and being startled all over again,” she said.

  Clementine was relieved to hear it.

  “Now, Miss Chelsea, I know that you’ll be wanting to get home later. I think the only thing for it is if Mr. Hank escorts you by horseback. I will send a letter with you for your father so that he knows it was my doing,” Aunt Roberta said.

  As usual, Clementine was proud of her aunt. It was as though the woman would do just about anything to make sure true love came to pass in good time.

  For the moment, she was sending Chelsea and Hank together, but she had often given Clementine and David opportunities to be alone and talk.

  Everything was frightening in that moment, but when Clementine looked at David again, she felt a sense of calm.

  Chapter 20

  Something was very wrong. That much, David knew.

  He couldn’t bear to just sit by anymore. Of course, what was he supposed to do? How could he fight an unknown villain?

  David knew exactly what he had to do if he was going to fight something that he couldn’t see, something he didn’t know how to identify.

  He remembered a few verses from Psalm fifty-nine which said,

  “Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defense.

  The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.

  Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.”

  Yes, the Lord God would be his defense, his shield. Nothing else needed to frighten him.

  Because he knew that God was his only refuge in his uncertainty, David made his way into town, heading to the church so that he could take some time to pray.

  When David walked through the doors of the church, he breathed in the lovely scent of the pews and the Bibles that were kept in the building. It was a dark, musky smell, but one that he loved and which made him miss his church back home.

  He found a seat and took his place in the pew, leaning his head forward and beginning to pray.

  It was not a difficult prayer, but it was a confused one. After all, how was he meant to ask God to protect them from an enemy when he really didn’t know if there was an actual enemy.

  Maybe there really had just been someone walking around the grounds of the ranch, not realizing it was someone’s property. And maybe the fire was started by some strange accident.

  It was all certainly possible.

  But regardless of what David thought the explanations could be, he knew that he had to lean in and depend upon the Lord to bring him strength in the midst of these trials.

  “Who’s there?” Came a voice.

  David’s head shot up and he saw the Reverend standing in a doorway behind the altar, appearing concerned.

  “Oh, David? Mr. Brown? Is that you?” he asked.

  David tried not to groan internally. The last thing he wanted was for the Reverend to think that this constituted some attempt to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

  “Yes, it’s me, Reverend,” he said.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, walking over and taking a seat in the pew in front of David, turned to him.

  “Well, I’m not rightly sure,” David said.

  “Tell me. What’s going on?” the Reverend asked.

  He didn’t have the same irritating insistence that he had once had with David, as if he was no longer hoping for the outcome of a union that he had previously wanted.

  “Well, things have been very strange at the ranch,” David said.

  “Strange how?” Reverend St. Claire asked.

  “You heard about the fire, I expect,” David said.

  “Yes, I did, indeed. It was a very tragic thing,” he said.

  “It truly was. And it left us quite upset. But then, just yesterday, well, you know that your daughter came back early,” David said.

  “She did. She was rather frightened,” the Reverend said.

  “I had an uneasy feeling from a few weeks ago, as if something wasn’t quite right. But I ignored it, even though I…well, I know that you wanted a match between myself and your daughter, but Reverend St. Claire, there is someone else I care for,” he said.

  “I expected as much,” he replied, as though he had come to accept it.

  “Anyway, I’ve been wanting to try and court her, but I always feel as though something is stopping me. Like there is something unsafe and I can’t tell her how I feel without putting her into danger,” he said.

  The Reverend looked at him with eyes that held a great deal of unease.

  “Do you know why I came to the house that morning? When I was angry with Hank?” the Reverend asked.

  “N-no.
We were all wondering but didn’t think we could ever get a real answer. Besides, we didn’t know how to question a minister,” David told him with honesty.

  He appeared somewhat ashamed as he confessed.

  “I had received a letter. A note, I guess. It was very threatening. It told me not to let my daughter near you. That I would regret it if I did,” he said.

  David’s blood ran cold at that. How could anyone have been threatening the Reverend all for the sake of David?

  “What do you mean? They said to keep Miss Chelsea away from me?” he asked.

  “Yes, more or less. Naturally, I assumed that it was from Hank. You know as well as I do that he loves my daughter. I figured that since the two of you were working together, you might have told him how I wanted to make a match of you and Chelsea,” the Reverend said.

  “And you thought that he would respond by threatening you?” David asked.

  “It would have been very out of character for Hank, but as there was no name at all, why wouldn’t he? It would be easy enough to say that it wasn’t him,” the Reverend reasoned.

  “Do you still think that?” David asked.

  “No. No, I can’t say that I do. I am beginning to question everything,” Reverend St. Claire said.

  “So do you think that we really might be in danger?” David asked.

  “I wish I had an answer for you, but all I can say is that it would be wise for you to be careful,” the Reverend said.

  David didn’t like that reply. It felt like a way of warning him without being forthright.

  “Is there something…or someone…in town that I ought to be wary of?” David asked, swallowing his fear.

  “Oh, heavens no!” the Reverend answered, appearing shocked that David would even ask that. “There is no one to fear. But even if someone jealous wrote me that letter, I cannot imagine anyone in town would burn down the barn or follow my daughter and her friend.”

  That gave David at least a little bit of peace. If the Reverend—who knew the town well—did not believe that there was anything to fear, why should he fear it?

  “Anyway, I did not mean to disrupt your prayer. But I am glad to know what it is that has been concerning you,” Reverend St. Claire said.

  “Yes, I thank you for listening. It feels good to get the weight of it off my chest. Both to God and to you,” he said.

  “If anything changes, I mean if you think that you are truly in a state of danger, please tell me. I will do all that I can to help. And as this apparently involves my daughter as well, I should very much like to know that you are all safe,” the Reverend said.

  “I promise. If anything changes, or if anything else occurs, I will let you know,” David said.

  The Reverend went back through that door behind the altar and David continued to pray, asking God for safety and wisdom. He truly wanted to ensure that he was making the right decisions, things that would keep him safe.

  More than himself, David wanted to keep Clementine safe. Clementine, Chelsea, Mrs. Roberta, and Hank. All of them. They had become like family to him now and he hated to consider what might happen if a single one of them got hurt.

  David finished praying, but didn’t particularly want to leave the sanctuary. It was such a beautiful place. The smell, the air, the closeness to his Lord. All of it was comforting.

  But, alas, David knew that he needed to get back to the ranch, so he got up and made his way out into the town and to the edges.

  He saw Chelsea, not far off, milling about with a few other young ladies, but Clementine was not among them. As Chelsea didn’t see him and he would have felt strange going over to speak with her among all of her friends, he went on his way and made it back to the house in time for Mrs. Roberta to be making her coffee.

  He sat with her and Hank and Clementine and recounted what he had spoken about with the Reverend.

  “He thought I had written a threatening letter?” Hank asked.

  “Apparently. But I wouldn’t worry about it. He is confident now that you didn’t. Maybe that’s why he has changed with you,” David said.

  “I agree with Reverend St. Claire,” Mrs. Roberta said. “No one in town would intentionally set fire to our barn. No one would go out of their way to follow or chase or harm any of you. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I can’t imagine it is possible.”

  Hearing this confirmation, David was relieved all over again. It had been one thing to hear it from the Reverend, but it was good to hear it from Mrs. Roberta as well. It was nice to know that two people who were older and wiser and had been in town far longer both saw only that the town had good people.

  Hank looked less certain, but he shrugged and looked as though he wanted to think the same thing.

  Clementine, however, remained quiet. She still appeared shaken from the other day and being followed. David saw her fear and her hesitation. He saw the way she looked around the room with darting, anxious eyes.

  It was painful to see her in so much distress. A woman like her was too beautiful to have to endure this kind of upset.

  David wished that he could bring her some peace, but Clementine was clearly wanting to be alone that afternoon, as she went upstairs immediately after the coffee.

  “Don’t take it too personally,” Mrs. Roberta said to David and Hank after Clementine’s departure. “She’s terribly frightened and I think she just needs the rest of the day to calm herself. She will be back to herself in no time.”

  David certainly hoped that would be the case. But until he saw Clementine again, he had no way of knowing if she was really all right or not.

  He went back outside with Hank and they did a fair bit more work, but Hank was hardly able to contain himself as he asked David about the Reverend.

  “So did he say anything else? About me, I mean?” Hank asked.

  “I’m afraid not. We really didn’t talk much. Other than the fact that he trusts you enough to know that you didn’t write that note, we really only talked about making sure that we are all safe. And then I got back to praying,” David said.

  “I guess I should get down there soon again, then. I want to talk to him some more. I honestly think he is going to give me permission so long as I keep showing him more and more that I am an honest and decent fella. And if I can prove that I love Chelsea and will take care of her, how can he reject me?” Hank asked with a laugh.

  “He can’t. You’re too good a man to reject, Hank,” David said.

  “So are you, David. And I bet that before long, you and Miss Clementine will be standing side by side, just like me and Chelsea. Everything will come together. It has to,” Hank said.

  David appreciated the optimism and tried to cling to it himself.

  He had been through a long string of emotions of late, but the fear and worry had been the ones he hated the most. He tried to remember, now more than ever, that he could always cling to the Lord for peace.

  Chapter 21