“I think we should get a few of those birdhouses for our garden,” Daniel said.
She looked up at him. “I like the sound of our garden.”
They found Will orchestrating teams for a tug-of-war.
“Come on, Dan!” Will gestured with a broad sweep of his arm. “The red team needs you.”
Daniel pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and tied it around his neck. “I guess it’s appropriate I have my red kerchief then.”
Leah patted his shoulder and waved him off.
The teams lined up. Daniel took the lead on his side, with Amos Godwin, Remmy Hagermann, Floyd Yates and other men Leah didn’t recognize.
The blue team’s captain was Reverend Taggart, backed up by D.B. Burrows, Abram Booker, one of the drovers who always wore a fringed leather vest that had the shape of Texas beaded on the back, and a couple more cowboys.
Will raised a pistol in the air. “Get ready. Get set.” He fired the gun, and the tug-of-war began. Leah cheered her husband’s team from the sidelines, while dozens of others called out their favorites’ names and cheered.
Holly, the young woman Dora had been speaking to in the mercantile the day Leah had overheard them, cheered and called out for Rob to pull harder. Holly must have ignored Dora’s advice if she was cheering for the son of the wagonmaker. Leah smiled and shouted at Daniel to put his back into it.
After much cheering by the crowd and sweating by the competitors, the blue team’s flag was yanked over the center divider first, ending the competition.
Daniel used his kerchief to wipe his forehead and neck. The men from both teams met and slapped each other on the back.
“I don’t feel so bad,” Daniel told the reverend. “You had God on your side.”
Virgil Taggart smiled his good-natured smile that split his face and shook Daniel’s hand. “You’re just fortunate I don’t have a horse to enter in the competition then, I suppose.”
“That I am.” Daniel laughed and found Leah.
“You probably need some refreshment,” she said. “I know I do and I was only cheering.”
“Let’s find some lemonade,” he agreed.
They drank tart cold lemonade from sweating jars and sat on canvas chairs in the shade of a canopy. Their neighbors greeted them as they passed. A horn sounded in the distance, so they searched out the event, which was a hay bale toss.
“Do you enter this?” she asked.
“I have in the past.” He winked. “But I’m saving myself for the race.”
A dozen or more beefy farmers lined up, ready to compete, but Judd Ernst, a local rancher, called for the first division, which were children.
Leah looked at Daniel with skeptical surprise.
He nodded. “Wait until you see these kids.”
They were fun to watch, and a strapping eight-year-old lad won with a twelve-foot toss.
The next division was called, and six women lined up. A rancher’s wife won with a spectacular throw of twenty-five feet.
Leah clasped her hands against her cheeks. “That was amazing. She didn’t look like she could have done that.”
Finally the men lined up and threw the bales one at a time. The winner’s bale landed a remarkable thirty-three feet away from the line. Dressed in denim overalls and a faded red shirt, he accepted his ribbon and his prize money.
Leah looked up at Daniel. “I might need a nap.”
He laughed and guided her away to visit the livestock pens, later to watch the plowing competition, and then left her under an awning with Hannah while he went to the livery for his horse.
Hannah wore one of her ruffled creations that had to have been hot. Her fashion choices still puzzled Leah, because she was so skilled with a needle and thread, but chose dreadful ensembles for herself. They chatted and walked together to the outskirts of the fairgrounds, where bystanders gathered for the race.
“Where are the horses and riders?” Leah asked.
A tall, thin youth with dark hair turned to reply. “The start is a couple o’ miles out, ma’am. This here’s the finish line. Judges are posted along the route to watch.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“Simon, ma’am. I work at the hotel. I know you’re Mrs. Gardner.”
“Pleased to meet you, Simon.”
“You’ll hear the starting pistol,” he told them.
The crowd was unusually silent as people waited for the sound of the start of the race. A tingle of apprehension ran up her spine at the apprehension in the air. Hannah fanned herself with a paper fan painted with roses.
In the distance a gunshot volleyed across the plains. A murmur went through the crowd. A few at a time the bystanders gathered along the roped-off track that bracketed the path leading to a wide white ribbon strung across the finish line. Leah and Hannah positioned themselves to be near enough to see the horses and riders cross the line, and others closed in on either side.
“I don’t even know who the competitors are,” Leah said.
“I read the list posted at the rail station this morning,” Hannah said. “One of the horses is Walter Frye’s but he can’t ride because of his broken arm, so someone else is riding. There were several names I didn’t recognize and a couple of the drovers. James Johnson is one of them.”
“I don’t know him,” Leah said.
“He always wears that fringe vest with the Texas beadwork on the back.”
“Oh, yes, I’ve seen him.” She glanced in the direction from which the riders would be coming. “Is this sport at all dangerous?”
“Well, I don’t know. I suppose a horse could fall or a rider could be thrown.”
“Lord, protect Daniel today,” she prayed aloud. “And all the other riders, of course. Let them have fun and no calamity befall them.”
“Amen,” Hannah said. “Just so you know, my father’s been praying for this event for weeks.”
“That’s good to know. I like your father. He’s a kind man. Always smiling. He encouraged each of us on our way here.”
“I see dust!” someone shouted.
Attention riveted on the wide cloud being stirred up from the ground. Silhouettes of the riders came into view. It was difficult from this distance to distinguish individuals, let alone tell who was in the lead, but news passed from those viewing with spyglasses.
“Gardner and Johnson are in front!” someone called.
Leah clasped her hands together beneath her chin and strained to see.
Cheers went up and the crowd called out for their favorites. As the riders drew closer, it was plain two were well ahead of the others.
Leah stood on tiptoe and leaned out as far as she could as others crowded over the ropes. Daniel’s distinctive brown-and-white skewbald pulled ahead, its powerful legs in captivating motion, and he leaned over its neck, his hair blowing away from his face.
The powerful animals’ hooves created a cloud of dust and flung clods of sod into the air as the lead competitors neared the finish line and raced past. The white ribbon stretched and broke as the brown-and-white skewbald tore through it, and the ribbon fluttered against Daniel’s legs. He sat back and slowed the horse.
Wild with excitement, the people clapped and cheered. James Johnson accepted second place with a breathless shrug and slid from his horse. Daniel dismounted and, with grins on their faces, the two men slapped each other on the back and shook hands. Daniel’s green-eyed gaze immediately panned the crowd, and he found Leah on the sideline.
She gave him a broad smile, and he led the horse over to where she stood. Several people reached out to touch the horse’s forehead and sweaty neck. “I’m going to walk him back to the stable to cool off and then brush him down. Will you be all right until I get back?”
“Yes, I’m fine. What’s his name?”
Daniel rubbed the horse’s nose. “This is Woodrow. Woodrow, meet the prettiest lady in Kansas.”
The horse merely snuffed and bobbed its head once.
“He might be more impressed if you had four legs and a tail.” Daniel glanced at her. “Think you’ll want to go home and rest a bit before this evening?”
“Yes, I think that would be best.” She turned and spoke to Hannah. “I’m going to leave for a while. Will I see you this evening?”
Hannah nodded and Leah turned back to Daniel. “Why don’t I walk as far as the livery with you and Woodrow, and then I’ll go on home while you take care of him?”
They stopped to grab their clothing, and John Cleve showed them their portraits. He had framed several and others had been placed in decorative display folders. There were at least a dozen. “I want all of them,” Daniel said.
“All of them?” Leah questioned.
“One day our children will treasure our wedding portraits. Perhaps I’ll send one to my father.”
She thought of all the sentimental things that had been lost when her family home burned. It would be nice to have photographs to leave their children. The thought of more children was too elusive to consider for more than a moment, but she appreciated Daniel’s projection. She could never have seen herself living here, imagined this day—beheld the future that was now possible. She was learning every day to trust God for her future—for their future. She felt exceptionally fortunate in this moment.
She carried the flat, wrapped bundle. The horse plodded beside Daniel as he led him with the reins. They parted at the livery, and Leah continued home for a much-needed rest. She washed away the day’s grime and napped on her bed.
It was nearly dark when Daniel rapped on her door. She rolled to get up and padded to answer his knock. “Are you rested?”
She blinked and pushed her hair back from her temples. “I didn’t think I’d sleep so long. Give me half an hour.”
“Take all the time you need. I’ll put on some coffee and make us some eggs.”
After they’d eaten, they left the house. Daniel had brought around a buggy this time, pulled by a horse she didn’t recognize. “Woodrow has the night off, I assume.”
“He wanted to come see you, but I told him to rest.”
She laughed and smoothed her skirt over her knees as he led the horse toward the fairgrounds. For the evening festivities she’d worn her two-piece sprigged blue-and-white cotton dress with blue trim and had secured blue-and-white silk flowers and stemmed pearls in her upswept hair.
Again they heard the band, and this time they followed the music to the huge wooden dance floor that covered a portion of prairie grass. Lanterns had been strung from posts to illuminate the wood floor and the band of cowboys and pioneers with their fiddles, guitars, accordion and two musicians at upright pianos.
“How long since you’ve danced?” Daniel asked.
“A very long time,” she answered softly.
Chapter Eighteen
They watched as couples paired off and took the floor one at a time. Every woman who lived within a hundred miles soon had a dance partner, while men lined up by the dozens and waited patiently for turns. “Will you honor me with the first dance before the cowboys compromise your time?” Daniel asked.
She took the hand he offered and he led her onto the smooth wooden planks. He led the steps effortlessly, and she soon remembered what a good dancer he’d been. “We’ve danced together before,” she reminded him.
His fingers tightened briefly over hers. “I remember well.”
“You do?”
“The last time you were fifteen, and you were the prettiest girl at the cotillion. You had on a pink dress with ruffles at the shoulders and a sash that hung down the back of your skirt. You wore your hair in long curls that hung over one shoulder, and it smelled like...”
“Like what?”
“Like it does right now. Like lemon and honeysuckle.”
She leaned back to have a good look at his face. “You remember all that?”
Daniel lifted one side of his mouth in a self-deprecating grin and her heart swelled with appreciation for this man. He’d made her life so rich and full, she was able to forget the things she didn’t want to remember for hours—sometimes a day at a time. She’d taken to counting down the minutes while he was away, appreciating the moments they spent together more than she’d anticipated she ever could.
This was dangerous territory, this evolving relationship, this expansion of all that she’d diligently tried to keep carefully contained and manageable. His handsome face was dear, his strong arms a haven of hope around her. She’d found more here in Kansas than she’d ever dreamed possible, but part of her—a very real, very hesitant part of her—remembered to use caution. She didn’t like herself for using Charles as a measuring stick, but if she’d learned anything, she’d learned that people weren’t who they seemed, and once a man got what he wanted, the bubble burst.
Daniel glanced over her shoulder and then led her toward the edge of the floor, where Will stood. “Would you mind finding Leah a seat while I get us refreshments?”
“My pleasure.” Will offered his arm and guided her toward unoccupied wooden benches.
Seating herself, she watched her husband make his way from the dance floor.
“Do you think you’re going to be happy in Cowboy Creek?” Will asked.
She turned her attention to him. “I can’t help but think the Lord’s hand of provision was guiding me. I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Nor happenstance,” Will added.
“No,” she agreed with a smile.
“When you showed up, he was determined you would have a good match. I doubt he slept until he’d decided he would ask you to marry him. He didn’t trust anyone else as a husband. At his insistence, Noah and I went through dozens of prospects. None of them were good enough.”
She couldn’t resist a smile. “I guess he thinks he’s the best.”
“He’s right, isn’t he?”
At his direct question, Leah glanced into Will’s eyes. “I believe so, yes.”
He smiled at her. “I’m glad we can be friends, Leah.”
“So am I. It looks as though we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from here on out.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll be much of a bother.”
Will chuckled and Daniel returned with three sweating jars of lemonade. “Appears as though Will is amusing you.”
Leah enjoyed the refreshingly tart liquid. “He can be amusing when he applies himself.”
She and Will exchanged a friendly glance.
A cowboy with a fresh haircut and new dungarees approached. “Sure would like a dance, ma’am, if your husband approves.”
Daniel acquiesced by gesturing to indicate it was Leah’s choice. She accepted and enjoyed a turn around the floor.
Fittingly, Pippa was the belle of the ball, dancing every dance, laughing, accepting outrageous compliments and so many flowers, she had a heaping bouquet at the corner of the wooden flooring.
Leah finally spotted Prudence, her stance stiff as she danced with Nels Patterson. Hannah sat with her father on the outskirts, watching the merriment, smiling as the dancers whirled past. Daniel asked Hannah for a dance, as did Deputy Watson, who showed up off duty. Leah danced with half a dozen drovers and ranchers before Daniel came to her aid.
“I’m thinking you might need something more to drink and a break,” he said, turning her in a circle and managing to move them toward the outskirts of the throng.
“That sounds good, thank you.”
He found her a chair and brought her a fresh jar of iced lemonade.
The music changed, dancers paired off and formed squares for a quadrille.
; Leah spotted Valentine partnered with the photographer. “Daniel, look at Valentine and John Cleve.”
He settled comfortably on the ground at her knee and together they enjoyed the music and revelry.
“What happens tomorrow morning?” she asked. “It’s Sunday, and the fair is still underway.”
“We will have services under the big canopy over there,” he answered. “The musicians have been asked to attend and play, so it should be a lively service.”
“Yes, indeed.”
* * *
Leah slept like a rock that night. The fresh air, walking and activity had worn her out, but she woke refreshed and ready for a new day. She chose a dress Hannah had helped her alter, this one in a rose shade with a white eyelet overskirt and a V-shaped neckline with an eyelet collar. The dress called for a necklace, so she found one she’d worn since she was a girl that her father had given her. The drops of coral interspersed with filigree nestled against her collarbone and filled the open space nicely, even though the coral didn’t perfectly match her dress.
She smiled, remembering the sentiment behind the necklace, and thankful she had it.
Sunday morning service was lively, with all the musicians present, as well as men and a few wives and several children from outlying farms and ranches. Reverend Taggart did a fine job of preaching about healing and forgiveness after all the country had weathered over the past several years. He spoke of the pride of the people of Webster County and new beginnings, tying it to forgiveness and new life in Christ.
Pippa sang in her lovely, clear soprano voice:
“I hear the Savior say, ‘Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.’
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