The Heart Answers (Wyoming Series Book 3)

by Colleen Coble

  When he and Franny stopped at Bridger Hotel for lunch, he saw Robert eating alone at a table. Clay hesitated, then walked back to see him.

  Robert looked up and pointed to the other chairs. “Join me.”

  Clay sat Franny down on a chair and dropped into the one beside her. “When are you and Jessica leaving?” he asked Robert.

  Robert looked at him blankly. “What are you talking about? I’m leaving tomorrow morning, but Jessica isn’t coming with me.”

  “I didn’t know,” Clay said lamely, unable to stem the tide of relief that washed over him. She wasn’t marrying Robert! He forced down his elation. It changed nothing. She was still the same person, self-centered and willful. He wished she could be different, that he could be free to love her, but it was not to be.

  Clay prayed over the food, and as they ate their lunch, Clay had an opportunity to talk to Robert about his soul. Robert promised to think about it. As they parted, Robert shook his hand. “Take good care of her,” he said.

  Clay looked down and put his hand on Franny’s golden curls. “I will.”

  “I mean Jessica,” Robert corrected. “She’s more fragile than she seems.”

  Clay’s gaze met that of the other man. “Things will sort themselves out.”

  “She loves you, you know.”

  Shock rippled through Clay’s chest. Jessica loved him? He frowned. Had she told Robert a lie to get out of going with him?

  Robert answered his unspoken question. “She didn’t tell me, but it was obvious. You must be blind if you can’t see it.” He cleared his throat with an embarrassed cough. “Take care, Preacher. Pray for me sometimes.” He gave a small wave and stepped out into the melting snow.

  Clay was still in shock. What made Robert think Jessica loved him? Could it be possible? Much as he’d tried to forget it, he still remembered that kiss. He shook his head to clear the memory. Robert had to be just rationalizing Jessica’s rejection of his proposal.

  §

  Jessica pushed the hair from her face and thrust her hands back into the hot water. Only two more pairs of pants and she was done for the day. She missed Franny’s chatter with a fierce ache. The past two weeks had seemed interminably long.

  One good thing had come from the storm’s enforced togetherness: She had finally seen that most of the fault with her cousins had been on her side. The Lord opened her eyes to her attitudes, and she softened her tone to Miriam. Miriam began to respond, just as Jessica had once responded to Ellen. With time, Jessica felt she might be able to share her faith with her cousin.

  Her uncle had even seemed to be kinder to her mother. She wasn’t sure if he had actually taken a look at himself after their sharp disagreement the morning they were ranked out, but he had told her mother he would begin to look for a striker to help once they got in quarters of their own again. The pinched look around her mother’s eyes had eased, and she looked almost happy lately.

  Jessica still saw Franny three nights a week and taught her lessons, and last weekend Clay had allowed Franny to spend the night on Saturday, but the tiny cabin echoed with silence most of the time. Jessica could only continue to bring her pain to God, trusting that He would somehow work everything out.

  She still hadn’t told anyone that she had accepted Christ. She wanted them to see a difference in her and ask if she had become a Christian. She’d gotten some strange looks, but so far, no one had asked.

  “Help me hold onto Your promise to work all things out for my good,” Jessica whispered. She hung the last pair of pants up to dry and dumped out her water. Her hands throbbed like a sore tooth. The cold coupled with the soap and water had left them cracked and bleeding.

  She put a bleeding knuckle in her mouth and dashed through the rain from the tent to the cabin. It had rained for three days now. First the weather had warmed enough to melt the snow and then the rain had started. She was heartily sick of waking to gray, dreary skies every day.

  Her second paycheck came last week, and she had considered catching a stage to Boston, but she just couldn’t leave Franny. It would be like leaving part of herself behind, so she had grimly continued on with her duties. She was determined to stick it out until God showed her another direction. He seemed to want her here, and here she would stay as long as she had breath and courage left. It was already nearly Thanksgiving, and she thanked God daily that He had helped her make it this far.

  She put a kettle on the stove to boil water for tea, chilled to the bone from the damp. The sound of several shouts outside made her turn, and when the shouts changed to screams, she ran and threw open the door. The sight that greeted her made her stagger back.

  A wall of water roared down the swollen river that ran through the middle of the parade ground. She saw Lieutenant Sanders clinging to a splintered piece of tree before the roaring wave carried him from her sight. Barrels and household goods were carried along by the crest of the water and on past her. When the wave passed, the water lapped at her doorstep and rushed down the sides of the cabin. The back door! She slammed the front door shut and raced to the back, but when she threw the door open, water gushed across the threshold and over her boots. No way out there. She slammed the door shut and went to the front door again. She had to get to Franny!

  She grabbed her shawl and opened the door again. Water rushed in and before she could move, it was up to her ankles. She waded out onto the stoop and across the yard. The water was cold, and soon its icy grip lapped at her knees. The current made it hard to keep to her feet. She heard someone shout her name and turned.

  Clay waved to her from a small boat. “Stay there! I’ll come get you!”

  “Franny?”

  “Safe!”

  Swaying from the fierce current, she nodded and waited for him to reach her. She saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to look. Miriam, her eyes wide with terror, swept past her on the crest of a fresh wave. Miriam screamed, then her head slammed against an uprooted tree. Her eyes closed, and her head sank beneath the waves.

  “No!” Jessica dove into the waves and frantically swam toward her cousin. “Hold on, Miriam!” She had to get to her. Her cousin wasn’t ready to face eternity yet.

  Miriam’s body tumbled with the rest of the flotsam in the flood. Her head went underwater, and she floated limply, then another wave tumbled her again and she floated face up, her eyes closed. A barrel floated by, and Jessica grabbed it. Kicking her feet, she used it as a float and managed to get to Miriam’s side. Holding one arm around the barrel, Jessica tried to reach her. Her fingers stretched as far as she could, but Miriam’s sleeve evaded her. She tried again, leaning out as far as she dared without losing her grasp on the barrel.

  “God, help me!” An infinitesimal stretch further, and she snagged Miriam’s sleeve. Quickly she pulled her toward the barrel. Was she dead? Jessica pulled her against her chest and held on until Clay could come.

  Where was he? She sobbed with the effort of hanging onto Miriam’s dead weight. Just when she thought she couldn’t hold on a moment longer, she felt strong arms grab hold of her.

  “I’ve got you, Red.” He guided her hands to the side of the boat. “Hold on while I get Miriam in the boat.”

  He seized Miriam and dragged her into the boat, then Jessica was lifted free of the frigid water and pulled to safety. He threw a blanket over her, and she huddled into it gratefully. She coughed up the water she’d inhaled as she looked down at Miriam lying on the bottom of the boat. Her eyes were still closed, and blood ran from a cut on her forehead, but her chest rose and fell with her breathing. She was alive! Jessica breathed a prayer of thanksgiving.

  She looked up and met Clay’s anxious eyes. As their gazes locked, her breath caught in her throat. Surely that was love she saw blazing there! She swallowed hard and reached up to touch his face with a trembling hand.

  “You’re different. What’s happened to you? The old Jessica would never have risked her life for someone else.” He caught her hand and kissed
her palm.

  “I’ve found Christ,” she said simply.

  “You’ve become a Christian without telling me,” he whispered. “I saw how much you’d changed, but I was afraid to hope it meant anything but willful determination.” His thumb traced the contours of her lip. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I wanted you to notice by yourself. I told God it was in His hands and He would have to work it out.” She leaned her cheek into his palm.

  “I love you, you know.” He put his other hand against the other side of her face and leaned forward. His lips touched hers, and the warmth drove the last remnants of the cold from her limbs. Leaning into his embrace, she gave a sob and lurched forward, nearly tipping the boat.

  As the boat steadied, Miriam opened her eyes. “I may have looked as cold as a wagon tire, but I’m very much alive. While I’m grateful you saved my life, Jessica, I’ve played dead all I’m going to. Will you two get on with the marriage proposal before we end up in the drink again? Just remember; I get to play bridesmaid.”

  Clay grinned, and Jessica made a noise that was half sob and half laugh. “Guess we’d better make Franny a happy girl and give her the mama she wants. You game, Red?”

  She put her hands around his face and kissed him very deliberately. “Just try to get away now,” she warned with a glint in her eye.

  epilogue

  December 16, 1867

  And what a wonderful day it is, Jessica mused. Her wedding day. They’d had to wait until another preacher could make it to Bridger to marry them, or they would have been wed already. As it was, the delay had allowed the men to throw up the small church building, so they actually had a real church to be married in. It had also given her time to write to Sarah Montgomery and Emmie Liddle. She had wanted to thank them for their prayers and tell them about accepting Christ. Although they had been unable to come to the wedding, she had received warm letters from both of them.

  Miriam fluffed her hair and grumbled. “No one will notice me with you in the room.”

  “I’m the bride. It’s supposed to be that way,” Jessica laughed.

  “I suppose.” Miriam turned and looked toward the door. “What’s keeping Clay?”

  Jessica frowned. “I don’t know. He said he was picking up a wedding gift for me.” She sighed. “Silly man. I told him I was getting all I wanted with him and Franny.”

  Outside the door they heard the wedding music start up. “He must be back,” Jessica said. “Do I look all right?” She pulled the veil over her face and adjusted it quickly.

  “You’d put an angel to shame,” her cousin said. “Let’s go.” She opened the door for Jessica and followed her out the door.

  The seats were packed in the small church. Jessica smiled at her mother as she passed her, then fixed her eyes to the front of the church where the man she loved waited. Reverend Slagel, his bald head shining in the light, stood to the left of Clay. Another man stood beside him, but Jessica didn’t pay any attention to either one of them. She drank in the sight of Clay in his black suit, his marrying and burying suit, only now he was the one getting married. She suppressed a smile. She was almost to his side when she spared a glance at the stranger.

  Red-haired and freckled, the man looked vaguely familiar. Then he smiled at her, and she saw the small gap in his front teeth. She stopped short in the aisle. With a trembling hand she raised her veil and stared.

  “Sissy.” He took a step toward her and smiled that gap-toothed smile again.

  “Jasper?” She took a step closer. “Jasper!” With a cry she threw herself into his waiting arms and burst into tears. “Jasper, is it really you?”

  The entire congregation stood and began to clap and cheer. Tears poured down her cheeks. Was this real? If it was a dream, she didn’t want to ever wake up. Clay took her in his arms, and she buried her face in his chest. “How, where?” she began.

  He grinned and kissed her tenderly. “God helped,” was all he said.

  Jessica finally composed herself and gazed into the smiling eyes of the most wonderful man in the world. With a deep breath she put her hand in his and raised her expectant gaze to the preacher. Love had called, and her heart had finally answered.

  If you love historical romance with adventure and mystery, the Mercy Falls Series by Colleen Coble is one you won’t want to miss!

  The Lightkeeper’s Daughter is a reader favorite!

  The Lightkeeper’s Daughter: Growing up as the lightkeeper’s daughter on a remote island at the turn of the century, Addie Sullivan has lived a hardscrabble life. When a long-lost and wealthy relative finds her and enlists her to work as a governess at a lavish estate, she hopes to discover the truth of her heritage. But at Eaton Hall, nothing is as it seems.

  “Colleen weaves intrigue and God’s love into a story full of carefully crafted characters. If you’re looking for an awesome writer, I highly recommend her!”—Tracie Peterson, best-selling author of Dawn’s Prelude, Song of Alaska Series

  “Colleen is a master storyteller.”—Karen Kingsbury, best-selling author of Shades of Blue

  Watch for Tidewater Inn—coming in July 2012!

  Welcome to Hope Beach

  Where the sea breeze is fresh, sun sparkles on sand . . . and trouble appears with the force of a hurricane.

  I love to hear from my readers! Drop me an email at colleen@colleencoble.com and visit my website at www.colleencoble.com for more information about my many novels.

  Best-selling author Colleen Coble’s novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers’ Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has nearly 2 million books in print and writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail. Colleen is CEO of American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives with her husband Dave in Indiana. Visit her website at www.colleencoble.com.