by Heather Gray
“Ladies,” began Mayor Smith. “I have some things I would like to discuss with you this morning before we head over to the church.”
Sarah fixed her eyes upon the mayor expectantly as he continued.
“Minnie asked if she could remain at home today, but I fear that would send the wrong message to the people of Larkspur, so I have told her she must come with us. If I keep my family home today, the assumption will be that I didn’t think it was safe for them to be out, and that’s not a message I want to send. People will be watching to see how we react to the situation in town. We need to show confidence, but we also need to remain cautious. Sarah, I would like you to please stay with Minnie today. After church there will be a lot of events going on, and I will be expected to speak to the crowd. I will have to tell the crowd I know who placed the ad and that it was not intended to be malicious. Some people may get upset. With all of the newcomers in town, there may be trouble. Because it is likely I will get caught up with town business, I have asked the sheriff to provide a deputy to remain with the three of you at all times. In fact, I asked he deputize Samuel for that purpose. Samuel is already spending a lot of time with Sarah, so no one will give it a second thought if he stays with the three of you today.”
Sarah thrilled at the thought of being near Samuel all day.
“Minnie,” the mayor continued, “if there is any trouble at all, Samuel has strict instructions to get the three of you home and to stay with you until I arrive, however late that is. You may think it will help things if you stand up and confess to the town what you did. I am telling you now that I forbid you from doing so. Under no circumstances are you to say anything. Speaking up would draw attention to yourself and put you, your mother, and Sarah here at risk.
“Sarah,” the mayor said as he turned to her now and gave her a pointed look. “I am counting on you to stay with Minnie and alert Samuel immediately if you sense any danger at all.”
Sarah listened to what wasn’t said and knew the mayor was worried about Minnie’s wellbeing as well as what Minnie might say and do if she became overwrought.
Taking in all three of the women at his table, Mayor Smith concluded by saying, “I hope there is no trouble today, I truly do. I cannot gamble with your lives, though, and so I have taken precautions to keep you safe. No matter what happens in town, you do as Samuel says, whether you agree with what he is saying or not.”
Sarah hoped it was just her imagination that made her think the mayor was staring pointedly at her as he added, “No matter how much I may trust him to keep all of you safe, he can only do his job if you allow him.”
****
Reverend Green’s sermon was well received by some of the parishioners and not so kindly received by others. Clearly the reverend knew what he was up against with the crowd this morning. He preached on chaste behavior among men and women.
Sarah thought her blush might be permanently stained to her cheeks by the time Reverend Green was halfway through his message. Nothing he said was inordinately offensive, and Sarah had even heard him preach on this exact subject before. Never before had it applied to her, though, and she suddenly found herself feeling mighty uncomfortable as she sat in the pew and listened to him admonish women not to behave or dress in a way that would lead men into temptation. Her conscience was fairly well pricked today.
On the bright side, Sarah found she had no trouble concentrating on the message. At least that was one sin she wouldn’t have to confess next time she prayed. With a chuckle, Sarah admitted to herself that she didn’t want to think about all the other things she was going to have to confess following the morning’s sermon. Sarah grinned cheekily as she thought of her own silliness. Whether he intended to or not, Samuel was unmistakably having an impact on the way she thought and acted. She rather liked some of the light-hearted changes she was seeing in herself.
As soon as Mrs. Smith, Minnie, and Sarah stepped out into the sun following the morning’s church service, Samuel was there to greet them. He led the three ladies over to a shady area under a tree where he had already spread their blanket for them. Their basket was already there, as were their parasols, bonnets, and everything else they had packed into the buggy that morning. The food they had brought for the picnic meal had even been delivered to the tables set up to hold the food.
“You’ve certainly been busy!” Sarah exclaimed. She had been looking forward to having something constructive to do outside. Now that all the work had already been done, she found herself feeling at loose ends and wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Typically one to do for others rather than having others do for her, Sarah found her new lack of direction to be somewhat disconcerting.
****
Still not looking her best, Minnie spoke up, “Please tell us, Samuel, that you did not do all of this work solely to escape hearing the good reverend’s message this morning?”
Samuel wasn’t sure what to think of Minnie’s tone and swung his gaze to Sarah for help, only to see her blushing brighter than he’d ever seen her blush before. Turning his attention back to Minnie, he answered, “I would have loved to hear the sermon, but these things needed to be done. It couldn’t be avoided. I was hoping the three of you could tell me about Reverend Green’s message once we have our food and are settled back down here in the shade.”
Joining in the banter, Mrs. Smith mischievously declared, “I think, kind sir, that Sarah would best be able to tell you about Reverend Green’s message. Don’t you agree, Minnie?”
Looking back and forth between the three women, Samuel wished he knew what he’d gotten himself into. He felt like he was in the middle of a children’s game without anyone having told him the rules. Consequently, he was trapped with no way out.
Trying to convince himself the women meant no harm, even though their expressions left him wondering, Samuel swallowed a couple of times and finally said, “Well, ladies, I recommend we go get ourselves into line, or I fear the food will all be gone before we have a chance to eat.”
“I doubt it will all be gone anytime soon,” Sarah finally spoke. “We always have so much food left over after these gatherings.”
“Oh ye of little faith,” Samuel said with a shake of the head. “You don’t realize how much food a bunch of roaming bachelors can eat. I think you will be surprised at how quickly the food goes today.” With that, Samuel swept out his arm and indicated the ladies should precede him toward the tables of food.
As the women gathered up their plates from their basket, Mrs. Smith gave Samuel’s plate to Sarah so she could pass it to him. Mrs. Smith led the way, followed by Minnie. Sarah was right behind Minnie, but she paused long enough by Samuel to hand him his plate. When he took it from her, his fingers brushed across hers. Sarah jumped back as though she, too, had felt lightning dance between them at that passing touch.
Looking into her eyes, eyes that reminded him of the greenest lake kissed by grey clouds, he saw something that made him want to sink into her expression. Taking him entirely by surprise, though, a flash of shame crossed her face, and then she averted her gaze. Puzzled, he walked with the women toward the food tables. Shame was not a word he would have ever thought to associate with Sarah Jenkins.
Following behind the women, Samuel arrived at the tables of food in time to realize he was going to be standing in line for a good long while. Not only had Samuel not expected a line to form this quickly, but he had also forgotten Mrs. Smith’s role in the community. He was accompanying the wife of the mayor. Everyone wanted to ask her what she knew and what she thought about the goings on in town, from the placement of the ad to the topic of this morning’s sermon.
“Shameful, I tell you!” one woman screeched at Mrs. Smith as Samuel stood by. “I cannot believe Reverend Green would speak on such an unseemly topic. That man is getting too old for the pulpit. That’s my opinion. He’s not thinking right anymore!”
Mrs. Smith gave a stiff smile as she disentangled herself from the woman’s grasp. She took two
more steps toward the tables of food before another woman clamored for her attention. “Such a wise choice the reverend made this morning, wouldn’t you say? Brave of him to speak on such a topic with today’s crowd in attendance.”
Samuel found that Mrs. Smith made a wonderful politician’s wife. She nodded, her smile solidly in place, and replied, “It’s good to have a reverend who seeks God’s will about his sermon topics.”
While being completely truthful, Mrs. Smith said not a word in favor of the sermon or a word against it. Samuel’s interest was piqued. He was definitely going to have to find out what this sermon had been about.
As they made their way through the food line, they could not take two steps without somebody else stopping the mayor’s wife to speak to her. While Samuel had expected most people to be asking about the ad and if they knew yet who had placed it or to express concern about the still large number of men in town, that did not turn out to be the case. Over three quarters of the inquiries and remarks directed at Mrs. Smith were all about this morning’s sermon.
Samuel saw Reverend Green standing to the side as they neared the end of the food tables. While keeping an eye on his charges, he stepped over and spoke to the reverend.
“I’m hearing a lot about this morning’s message, Reverend, but nobody is mentioning what it was actually about. I was setting up outside and helping with security and missed the sermon. Can you enlighten me?”
Reverend Green answered with humor. “Yes, I imagine you are hearing quite a bit about it.” The reverend grew somber as he made eye contact with Samuel. “Do you sincerely wish to get to know Sarah Jenkins better?” The reverend’s penetrating look made Samuel feel that the man could see straight into his soul.
“Yes, sir, I do,” he answered honestly.
Seemingly pleased both by the words and by whatever he saw in Samuel’s eyes, the reverend continued softly, “In that case, I recommend you ask Miss Jenkins about this morning’s sermon.”
Stunned, Samuel felt his eyebrows hitch higher up onto his forehead. Clearly the reverend did not know Sarah all that well.
As if speaking in answer to his thoughts, Reverend Green continued, “Sarah is not always an easy person to get to know.” The reverend paused as Samuel chuckled and then continued, “If you want to get to know her better, though, in the ways that truly count between a man and a woman who want to build something lasting, then you need to ask her about this morning’s message. It is important for two people who are considering courtship to be able to have open discussions about difficult topics. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Samuel was trying to gauge how to respond to the remark about courtship when he realized the three women he was supposed to be guarding were standing nearby watching him. They were ready to head back to their blanket in the shade, and his conversation was delaying them. None of the women appeared impatient or put out, but Samuel felt he needed to get them back and settled with all due haste.
The reverend placed a hand on Samuel’s arm and said, “It is not a conversation you should have with her in private. I think Mrs. Smith would be a good chaperone for such a topic.”
Samuel nodded his understanding as he started to step away. In truth, though, he understood little of what the reverend meant. What sermon topic could be so volatile that even the mere conversation about it required a chaperone? Just what kind of preaching was done out west?
A woman shouldered her way past Samuel to get to the reverend and began gushing about what a wonderful sermon the reverend had preached. Samuel did a double-take as he realized this was the same woman who had moments ago described the sermon as shameful. Shaking his head in sympathy for the reverend, Samuel escorted the women back to the blanket in the shade. They may have had to stand in line a long time to get their food, but he felt certain that as the afternoon wore on, this spot in the shade would be a welcome relief for all three of the women in his charge.
Chapter Nine
As the group arrived at their blanket and settled down to eat their meal, Minnie asked Samuel, “So tell me, Samuel, are you in actual fact a deputy?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said with a flourish, removing his hat and bowing. Then he gave Minnie an impish grin and added, “For today anyway.”
“Why aren’t you wearing a badge?” Minnie asked as she poured lemonade from the canteen into tin cups for everyone.
Samuel laughed. “Well, it’s like this,” he began. “I didn’t think it matched my nice, fancy, Sunday-best suit, so I asked the sheriff if I could skip the formality.”
Samuel winked at Minnie as he accepted his cup of lemonade. The truth was that the mayor had asked him not to draw attention to himself, and the sheriff had run out of badges long ago, making it a moot point. More men were deputized right now than ever before in the history of Larkspur. Tensions were running high all over town, but he didn’t think the women here needed to be apprised of that. Besides, the mayor had asked him to especially downplay any danger for Minnie’s sake. She already felt so badly about everything, and the mayor was afraid her conscience would get the best of her and put all of them in an even more precarious situation.
Little was said for long minutes as everyone ate their fill. Samuel had been so busy watching everyone around him he hadn’t put enough food on his plate to feed a sparrow, let alone a grown man. Done long before any of the ladies, hunger still gnawed at his belly. Eyes focused on the crowd, Samuel was constantly scanning faces as well as the actions and behavior of people within the vicinity of their tree. He couldn’t stop himself from one last, longing glance at his empty plate.
Before Samuel could even lift his eyes back to the crowd, another plate of food appeared in front of him. Samuel inclined his face to see Sarah handing him her plate, heaped much higher than his plate had been with tasty looking samples from the food tables.
“Minnie and I both took more than we could eat. We don’t want the food go to waste. I’m going to help Minnie finish what’s on her plate. Could you possibly eat the rest of what’s on mine?”
Looking back and forth between the two friends, Samuel finally asked, “I’m starving, and I’m not going to turn down an offer of food, but I have to know, did you plan this?” Samuel knew he’d hit his mark. Sarah couldn’t lie, and she averted her face to try to avoid answering.
Minnie, on the other hand, had no compunction about speaking freely. “We could see you were too busy doing your job to properly fill your plate, and I felt bad because Mum told me to bring two plates for you, but I forgot, so we made do with what we had.”
“Well, I must say thank you. I won’t let a single morsel go to waste.” With that, Samuel began devouring the delicious home-cooked fare. His eyes still scanned the crowd, but his heart felt light. It pleased him that Sarah had thought of him and, in addition, was trying to spare his feelings by saying they’d taken too much food. Had she been up front about it, his feelings would not have been hurt. Nonetheless, her choice to try sparing him any hurt feelings touched him.
Samuel enjoyed his food, did his job, and listened to the girls chat conversationally with each other. It gave him an insight into Sarah he’d not seen before. When she spoke with him, Sarah was sometimes open and sometimes guarded. At times she seemed so guarded as to be completely closed off. Speaking with Minnie, though, she was completely open and unreserved. There was no shadow of caution on her face, no hesitation in her words. All the walls she had built up around herself seemed to be down. Samuel enjoyed this view of her fully at ease. It was a delight to behold, and it reminded him she was worth the trouble. They might have the occasional awkward conversation, but if it helped the two of them to reach a point where she could be as comfortable around Samuel as she was around Minnie, then it would be well worth it.
“Did you see Mrs. Winchel when you put the pot pie on my plate?” Minnie asked.
Sarah chuckled and answered, “I never knew a person’s eyes could get that big! We must have been a sight!”
Minnie cont
inued, “My plate was so full by then I couldn’t hold it one-handed and scoop my own food. And the elder Mrs. Johnson,” Minnie said referring to Mrs. Johnson’s elderly mother-in-law who had come to live with her son a couple of years ago, “seemed to be gearing up for a lecture on decorum. Thank goodness Samuel finished talking with Reverend Green when he did!”
Samuel’s eyebrows rose in question, and Sarah answered his inquiry before he could voice it.
“The elder Mrs. Johnson is from back east. Moved out here a couple of years ago to live with our Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, her son and daughter-in-law. Everyone refers to her as ‘the elder Mrs. Johnson’ so they don’t get the two women confused. She is used to fancy tea parties and social events from the big city. Making friends did not come easy when she first moved here. She was harsh with most of us. Our country ways didn’t suit her, and she took it upon herself to correct every single one of us. Our etiquette was not up to her standard.”
When Sarah paused to take a bite, Mrs. Smith stepped in to finish the story. “Mr. Johnson was hurt about eight months ago. He broke several bones and was laid up for quite a while. He’d been felling trees and got trapped. It was terrible. Many weeks went by after the accident before we even knew whether or not Mr. Johnson would survive. Everyone in the community stepped in to help work his land. People took care of his farming, his animals, everything. The elder Mrs. Johnson had never seen kindness like that before. She was shaken when she realized how harshly she’d been judging those same people who had poured out so much love on her son and his family. One Sunday in church, she stood up, asking everyone for forgiveness and another chance. Anyone can see how hard she is trying to get to know people better now. It’s been a beautiful thing to watch.”
If the girls’ expressions were any indication, there was more to this story, but Samuel would not be hearing about it today. Mrs. Smith gave both Minnie and Sarah a look that made it clear they should not be telling tales on other people.