Measure of Grace

by Al Lacy

  Pearsall shrugged, chuckled again. “Oh, well. So you caught me giving false information.”

  “Just so you don’t have any false information in those papers you’ve drawn up!” said Hayward. “Come on into my office, and we’ll get this transaction done.”

  The Tylers watched the three men enter Hayward’s office and close the door.

  “Well, honey,” said Dan, “in a few minutes, Knight will be our boss.”

  “Oh, dear,” said Erline. “We’ll have to start calling him Mr. Colburn, won’t we?”

  Dan laughed. “I doubt he will want us to do that. After all, he’s only a year older than me, and two years older than you.”

  “Well, we’d better ask him, anyway.”

  Inside the office, Gage Pearsall guided the two men as papers were signed, which closed the sale of the Elkton Sentinel to Knight Colburn.

  When the transaction was done, Knight grasped Hayward’s hand and shook it. “Of course I’m glad to be the new owner of the paper, sir, but I sure am going to miss you. And I’m going to miss Mrs. Hayward, too.”

  “Well, Beatrice and I will miss you, and all of our friends in Elkton,” said the man, “but we are really excited about moving back to Indiana where we can live close to our children and grandchildren.”

  “So you’re leaving right away?” asked Pearsall.

  “On this afternoon’s train from Ketcham,” said Hayward. “We’ll be in Indianapolis before nightfall day after tomorrow. All I have to do is pack up my things in the office, put them in a box, and pick up Beatrice at the hotel, where we’ve been staying since we sold the house last week. Then we’ll be off to Ketcham.”

  “Well, Claude,” said the attorney, “I want to commend you for the way you’ve trained Knight in the newspaper business, and for selling the Sentinel to him for such a reasonable price.”

  Hayward looked at Knight, smiled, and said, “Well, Gage, there isn’t another man in the world that I would want to have the paper. Knight is going to do well, I know.”

  Knight smiled back at him.

  “And Knight,” said Pearsall, “I want to commend you for the way you have worked and saved your money so you could buy the Sentinel.”

  “It’s been my big dream for a long time, sir,” said Knight. “I’m really happy to see it come true.”

  Pearsall placed some of the papers in his briefcase and closed the lid. “Well, gentlemen, I’ll be on my way.”

  Colburn, Hayward, and Pearsall shook hands, and moved toward the door.

  As they stepped into the outer office, Dan and Erline both stood up at their desks, and Dan asked, “Is everything set?”

  “All set,” said the attorney. “You and Erline now have a new boss.”

  Dan’s face tinted slightly as he looked at his new boss and said, “Erline and I were just discussing this. Should we call you Mr. Colburn now?”

  Knight chuckled, shaking his head. “Please, no! You just go on calling me by my first name.”

  “Good!” said Dan. “I told Erline if you told us to call you Mr. Colburn, we’d just pack up and leave.”

  “Oh, sure!” Knight laughed. “You call me by my first name. All right?”

  “All right!” said Dan, a broad smile on his face.

  Knight looked at Erline. “All right?”

  “Yes, sir!” she said. “I’ll call you Knight.”

  “Now that we’ve settled that, there’s something else.”

  Dan and Erline exhanged quizzical glances.

  Knight put a deep authoritative sound in his voice and said, “Starting today, you will both have to work eighteen-hour shifts from now on.”

  Everyone had a good laugh.

  Gage Pearsall shook hands with Claude Hayward, told him good-bye, and left. Hayward said a few words of congratulations to Knight, then returned to his office to finish packing up his possessions.

  Just as Hayward closed his office door, the front door opened, and Annie Colburn came in off the boardwalk, smiling. She greeted the Tylers, then looked at her son. “Has the sale been made? I saw Gage Pearsall come out and head in the direction of his office a few seconds ago.”

  Folding his mother in his arms, Knight kissed her forehead. “It sure has, Mom. Your son is now the owner of the Elkton Sentinel!”

  “Wonderful!” said Annie, rising on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

  Erline moved close to Annie and said, “Are you enjoying the new house Knight built for the two of you here in town, Mrs. Colburn?”

  “Oh, I sure am,” she replied, her eyes sparkling. “It’s a beautiful house.”

  “Do you miss cooking for the ranch hands at the Bar-S, ma’am?” queried Dan.

  “I miss it in some ways,” said Annie, “but in other ways it is nice to get some rest. And I really enjoy the new house. Now, of course, I hasten to say that my son and I have an agreement about the house. When the Lord brings the right young woman into his life, and marriage is in the offing … he will buy me a small house here in town to live in.”

  “And if there isn’t one available for sale,” put in Knight, “I’ll build her a little house of her own.”

  Dan chuckled. “Well, Knight, as handsome and dashing as you are, it won’t be long till some beautiful young Christian gal will come into your life, and the two of you will fall head-over-heels in love.”

  Knight laughed. “I sure hope the Lord has that beautiful gal about ready!”

  At that moment, Annie noticed a rider haul up in front of the office and dismount. “Knight, it’s Jordan.”

  Knight and the Tylers turned to look out the window. Jordan was coming across the boardwalk.

  “Sure enough,” said Knight. “He’s wanting to know if the sale has been closed.”

  Jordan opened the door, stepped in, and greeted the Tylers and Annie, then moved up to Knight with a sly grin on his face. “Well, ol’ pal, is it done?”

  “It sure is!” said Knight. “As of this day, Thursday, October 10, 1872, yours truly is the owner of the Elkton Sentinel!”

  Chuckling, Jordan shook Knight’s hand. “Congratulations! How about a job?”

  Knight laughed. “Are you kidding? I couldn’t pay you those humongous wages your father is paying you at the Bar-S.” The others laughed, then Knight said, “Seriously, Jordan, how are the plans coming toward having your own ranch?”

  “Well, it’s probably a year or so away. My father is going to give me the money to buy a good spread when he feels the time is just right.”

  “Do you have some particular parcel of land in mind?” asked Dan.

  “I have several,” said Jordan. “There are some choice pieces, anywhere from ten- to twenty-thousand acres south, east, and west of here.”

  “I hope you get the very best parcel of land,” said Dan.

  “Thanks,” Jordan said with a smile, then turned to his friend. “Knight, are you and I still set to go hunting together next Monday and Tuesday?”

  “I’m sure planning on it. With Dan here to watch over the Sentinel for me, I can get away for those two days without a problem.”

  “Good! Well, I have to keep moving. See all of you later.”

  They watched through the window as Jordan Shaw mounted his horse and rode away, then Dan said, “Knight, are you getting anywhere witnessing to Jordan? You told me when we first came that he was still resisting the gospel.”

  “He still is,” said Knight with a sad tone in his voice. “Just like he has for so many years. I talk to him about his need to be saved quite often, as I told you, but he keeps saying he just isn’t ready to do anything about facing God.”

  “What a difference the Lord could make in his life,” said Erline.

  “Yes,” said Knight. “At least Jordan hasn’t been in trouble with the law since those two scrapes I told you about that happened eight years ago, but he still has a bit of a wild streak, and often gets himself into one kind of trouble or another because of his fiery temper.”

  “Mm-hmm,” said Er
line. “I’ve heard some people in town say they are wary of Jordan because of that wild streak.”

  “Jordan just needs to mature and to settle himself down,” said Knight. “I think you’ve met his sister and brother-in-law, Lorene and Mark Hedren.”

  Both Tylers nodded.

  “Mark and Lorene are not Christians, so they don’t have the full picture. But Mark has taken genuine interest in helping Jordan to grow up and become more responsible, but so far, with little or no effect. Mark and Lorene have him in their home for a meal quite often in an attempt to spend time with him. William Shaw has been trying for years to make something of his son, but is also finding it difficult, no matter how old Jordan grows physically. There is still this immaturity and irresponsibility to be reckoned with.”

  “Jordan just won’t grow up,” said Annie. “It’s like he wants to stay a little boy the rest of his life.”

  “That’s about it, Mom,” said Knight. “The reason William keeps putting off giving the money to Jordan so he can buy himself a ranch is because William knows he is too immature to make a success of it.”

  “Both William and Sylvia are hoping Jordan will fall in love with some solid young woman who can marry him and help mature him,” said Annie. “There’s a girl named Belinda Ashworth, and they’re attempting to get Jordan interested in her. They like Belinda very much, and feel if Jordan would marry her, Belinda could help ripen him.”

  “So who is Belinda?” asked Erline.

  “The Hyman Ashworth family are relatively new neighbors on an adjacent ranch to the Bar-S,” said Knight. “They are very wealthy. They have two daughters: Belinda, who is twenty-one, and Jean, who is sixteen. Both Hyman and his wife, Dorothy, have taken a liking to Jordan. And no question, Belinda is quite attracted to him. Hyman and Dorothy are quite concerned that Belinda is almost twenty-two and not married. They would like for her to marry Jordan, which would keep her on the proper social scale, since the Shaws are equally as wealthy.”

  “Jordan hasn’t shown any romantic interest in Belinda,” said Annie. “I think he likes her as a friend. I’m told that he treats her kindly, but that’s as far as it goes. He doesn’t want her as a sweetheart. His parents are doing everything they can to cause romance to blossom between them. This past summer, they often encouraged the two of them to go riding together and on picnics. But Jordan is too interested in hunting in the Sawtooth Mountains and fishing in the Salmon River up there in the high country. He simply doesn’t want to be with Belinda.”

  “He is quite a hunter,” said Knight. “He has deer head and elk head trophies hanging on the walls in his room, and talks a lot about a certain big male black bear in the mountains he is determined to bag one day. He wants to have it stuffed full-body so it can stand in the corner of his room.”

  “So his interests all run toward hunting and fishing, eh?” said Dan.

  “That’s it,” said Knight. “In itself, there’s nothing wrong with that, but my main concern for Jordan is his lost state before God.”

  Annie patted Knight’s arm. “Well, you just keep working on him, son. Once Jordan gets saved, everything in his life will change for the better.”

  “That’s for sure, Mom,” said Knight.

  The door to Claude Hayward’s office opened, and the former owner of the newspaper came out, carrying a box. “Well, it’s time to say good-bye,” he said with a somber note in his voice.

  “Let me carry the box out to the buggy for you, sir,” said Knight.

  Hayward grinned. “All right. I’ll just let you do that.”

  Annie stepped up and said, “Mr. Hayward, I want to thank you for making it possible for Knight to become owner of the Sentinel.”

  “It is my pleasure, Mrs. Colburn,” said Hayward. “Like I told Gage Pearsall, there isn’t another man in the world that I would want to have it.”

  “I know he will do you proud,” she said, glancing up at her son.

  “I have no doubt about it, ma’am. I’ll be writing now and then so I can keep up with the progress of the paper. I know the reports will always be good.”

  “Erline and I will be right here by Knight’s side, Mr. Hayward,” said Dan Tyler. “We are excited about the future of the paper as Elkton and the other towns around here grow. We have no doubt that with what you have taught him, along with his own talent and initiative, the Elkton Sentinel will become well known as a first-rate newspaper all over Idaho and into the territories around us.”

  Hayward grinned. “That’s exactly what I’m expecting.” He looked at the newspaper’s new owner. “Well, Knight, I guess I’d better take that box to the hotel so Beatrice and I can have it transported to the depot in Ketcham, along with the other belongings we’re taking with us.”

  The next day, Jordan Shaw was doing some minor fence repair with a young ranch hand named Guy Tabor. A few white clouds drifted overhead, kissed by the sun and propelled by the breeze. A flock of geese moved across the sky, heading south, squawking loudly as they followed their leader in V-shaped formation.

  Both of their horses stood looking on, whipping their tails at pesky flies.

  As Jordan was tamping dirt into a hole around a fence post in order to make it sturdy, Guy was holding the post steady. While Jordan was giving it a few final tamps, movement on the grassy land caught the corner of his eye. Guy set his gaze on a rider coming their way. “Someone’s coming, Jordan.”

  Jordan looked up and focused on the rider. His back stiffened, and an unhappy look captured his eyes. “Oh no. It’s Belinda.”

  Surprise showed on Guy’s young features. “What do you mean, ‘Oh no, it’s Belinda’? I know a lot of fellas on the Bar-S who would love to have her come to see them.”

  “Well, I wish she would do exactly that.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “I don’t understand. Don’t you like her? Everybody knows she really likes you.”

  Jordan sighed, leaned the tamping bar against the fence post, and said, “Guy, I like her as a person, yes. A friend, you know? She has a nice personality and is reasonably good-looking.”

  Guy frowned. “So what’s the problem?”

  “She’s got romance and matrimony on her mind, that’s what. And to make it worse, her parents and mine are crowding me like you wouldn’t believe to get serious with her and marry her.”

  Guy looked back at her as she was trotting the horse and waving. “I think she’s really quite the gal.”

  “Then why don’t you pursue her? It won’t make me mad. I flat do not see her as marriage material.”

  Guy shook his head. “Oh no, you don’t. If your parents want you to marry her, I wouldn’t go near her. Your father would fire me. I need this job like a turtle needs his shell.”

  Jordan glanced again at the approaching rider with her long red hair flowing in the breeze, and shook his head.

  “Tell you what, Jordan,” said the young ranch hand, “since this is the last post, and all that’s left is to drive some staples to hold the barbed wire in place, I’ll get on my horse and go. That way, you and Belinda can be alone.”

  Jordan frowned at him. “Deserter.”

  “Call me what you want,” said Guy, hurrying to his horse and leaping into the saddle, “but I want to stay on your father’s good side. Maybe if I’m gone, you and Belinda will have a better chance of falling in love.”

  Jordan shook his head. “I’m not falling in love with her, do you hear me?”

  “Well, far be it from me to stand in your way if there’s any chance at all.”

  Belinda drew rein and brought her horse to a halt. Smiling while setting admiring eyes on her prey, she said, “Hello, Jordie. I thought I’d ride out and see you.” Then to his partner, who was about to gouge his horse’s sides: “Hello, Guy. You leaving?”

  “Uh … yeah. I’m leaving. Jordan’s about to finish up there with the fence, so I figured I’d get on back and see if there’s some work to do around the barn.” He grinne
d at Jordan. “See you later.”

  With that, Guy Tabor put his mount to a gallop and headed over the rolling hills.

  Dismounting, Belinda moved up close to Jordan with a sweet smile. “I dropped by the house to see you, and your mother told me where you and Guy were mending fence. She’s such a nice lady.”

  Jordan nodded. “That she is.”

  “She always makes me feel so welcome. Just like your father does, Jordie. They’re both such nice people.”

  “Real nice,” he agreed, his stomach doing flip-flops.

  “And Lorene and Mark. They both treat me so nice. They’re really happy in their marriage, aren’t they?”

  “Uh … yeah. Real happy.”

  “That’s what I’ve always envisioned for myself,” Belinda said, moving even closer. “A happy marriage with just the right man.”

  “Mm-hmm. Well, I hope you find him. I’ve really got to get the rest of this repair job done, Belinda. Thanks for riding out to see me. It was nice of you.”

  With that, he bent over and picked up the hammer and a handful of staples that lay on the ground.

  The redhead moved closer yet. “Jordie …”

  He paused, looked her in the eye. “Uh-huh?”

  She came very close, lifting her face toward his. “You’re such a nice person. We need to do as your parents have so often suggested—spend more time together. I … I really like you.” She raised her lips a little higher. “You like me, don’t you?”

  Jordan cleared his throat nervously. “Belinda, you are a nice girl, and I like you as a friend. But I have to be honest with you—I’m not ready to get serious with a girl.”

  “But most men your age are already married, and have been for at least two or three years.”

  “I’m not most men, Belinda. Like I said, I’m just not ready to get serious.”

  Feeling keen disappointment, Belinda Ashworth did not show it. Her mind was made up that she would eventually win Jordan to herself.

  “Well,” she said, “can’t blame a girl for trying. I … guess I’ll head on back home.”

  “See you later,” he said, feeling relief. “Thanks for coming out to see me. You’re a real friend.”