City Girl (Yellow Rose Trilogy 3)

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City Girl (Yellow Rose Trilogy 3) Page 19

by Lori Wick


  Katy. Reagan was already in the room.

  "Cash," Katy said as soon as she saw him, her voice

  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."

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  "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."

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  "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."

  City Girl 181

  "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 real
ly think one of your ranch hands

  wants to court me?"

  "He might. His intentions might not be 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."

  337

  "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

 

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