Love Inspired Historical October 2015 Box Set

by Lacy Williams

  “I suppose it’s safe to say Paco and I won the competition.”

  He took off his hat and swiped a sleeve over his forehead. “I suppose.” The glimmer of good humor in his gray eyes gave her hope.

  “You want to talk?”

  “Do you?”

  She nodded. “Let’s clean up and get changed. I’ll meet you in the parlor in a half hour.”

  “Fine by me.”

  This time, instead of walking away from her, he walked beside her to the wash table, which encouraged her about their courtship for the first time since Aunt Maggie’s letter arrived.

  As she washed her face and hands, she had a mind to dump her porcelain bowl on Jared, but he beat her to it. Being considerably taller, he managed to pour the soapy, lukewarm water down her back. She squealed with false indignation, grabbed her own basin and flung it in his direction. He couldn’t quite dodge the spray of water, and it splattered down his front. Not to be left out, Cal and Paco emptied their bowls, partly on each other and partly on Emma and Jared. Laughter rang across the barnyard in celebration of the barn’s completion. It didn’t take long for the wind to cut through their wet shirts, so everyone scurried into the warm kitchen.

  “Oh, my, just look at all of you.” Ma stood over the stove stirring a pot of her special taffy. “You’d better get changed before you catch your death. Paco, you stay here, and Job will fetch you a change of clothes from the bunkhouse. By the time everybody’s dressed, I’ll have dinner ready.”

  Changing clothes and stoking fires to ward off their self-inflicted chills took a while, but at last Emma and Jared made it to the parlor. As if understanding their need for privacy, everyone busied themselves elsewhere. Emma’s pulse raced as she sat on the settee, hoping Jared would sit beside her rather than in a chair.

  *

  Jared would have preferred to face Emma for this conversation, yet her vulnerable expression gave him no choice but to sit beside her. He’d come to recognize the subtle dip in her eyebrows and downward turn at the corner of her lips that said she feared being hurt. As he’d promised himself since coming to the Sharp ranch, he would never willingly hurt her again.

  Just for fun and to lighten the moment, he sat as far away from her on the settee as he could and leaned in the opposite direction. “Ahem. I understand, Miss Sharp, that you wish to speak to me.”

  She gave him the smirk he’d hoped for. “I did, indeed, Mr. Mattson.” She cupped a hand beside her mouth as if calling across a far piece. “But not if I have to holler at you way down there at that end of the settee.”

  He wasted no time in closing the gap between them, coming near enough to brush against her shoulder. “That better?”

  She lifted her chin and gave a fake sniff. “If that’s the best you can do.”

  Nothing she could have said would have made him feel better. “Is that an invitation?”

  “If you want to take it that way.”

  Now she looked downright cute with those blue eyes looking up at him and her full, black hair framing her pretty, tanned face. For the first time since knowing her, he noticed three or four tiny freckles on the bridge of her straight, slender nose. Oh, my, how he wanted to kiss those freckles. But they had important things to square away before he had that right. Instead, he accepted her invitation and put one arm around her slender shoulders.

  “That better?” he asked.

  The way she snuggled up close to him gave him the answer he’d hoped for. He pulled in a long breath. Although he’d been planning what to say since talking to Pop the other night, he was afraid to begin, afraid he’d say it wrong.

  “Jared, I—”

  “Emma, would you—”

  They started and stopped together and then laughed.

  “You first.” He gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze.

  “All right.” Tears came to her eyes, but he’d been prepared for that, so it didn’t throw him off. “I have to go help Aunt Maggie.”

  He nodded but kept quiet. The other night, Pop had told him how much he regretted not listening to Mama. Women need to talk things out, son, so we need to listen to them.

  “I felt awful telling you I’d marry you and then five minutes later saying I’d go help her.” Emma sniffed, this time for real. “But I do have to go,” she repeated, and her voice broke at the end.

  She looked up at him with those blue eyes all rimmed with tears, and he had a hard time breathing. If she expected him to speak, he wouldn’t be able to. He gave her a rueful grimace and nodded again.

  “What are we going to do?”

  Her question surprised him. This was his smart, feisty Emma who always had an answer for everything and everybody. Yet she was asking him what they should do. All the ideas he and Pop had talked about the other night came clear in his mind, with one addition.

  “First, we’re gonna pray.”

  Seeing her trust-filled eyes and eager nod, he removed his arm from around her and gripped her hand. “Lord, give us Your direction about what You want us to do. We know Aunt Maggie’s in need, and we want to help.” Something vague itched in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t pull it into focus to scratch it, so he continued. “You know I’ve got a plan, but please show us what Your will is real clearly, ’cause sometimes we’re as dumb as old Homer the mule. Well, I am, at least. Emma’s not. She’s…”

  She nudged him with her elbow and giggled in her cute way.

  “Anyway, Lord, please guide us. Amen.” He finished and looked down at her. Those blue eyes sparkled with admiration, and his heart warmed as never before. Tumbleweed! He felt proud having this sweet little gal love him. “Sweetheart, I’ve worked out a plan with my pop, and if you like it, it’s what we’ll do.” He needed another deep breath before continuing. “You can probably guess how crowded things are over at our place with Pop, five grown sons and a grandson. Even with Cal’s moving over here, it’ll still be crowded.”

  “I’ve wondered about that.” Curiosity and a hint of hope now filled her eyes. Maybe they’d gotten past the emotional part of their talk. “What’s your plan?”

  “Being one of the younger sons, I’ve always dreamed of having my own place where I can spread out and be my own person instead of taking orders from Pop and Rob and Will and Andrew and—well, you get the idea.”

  “I do.” She grinned, so he kept on going.

  “Pop’s going to stake me in buying a ranch in Colorado.”

  She sat up straight and pulled away from him. “Colorado? Why Colorado?” Tears started again, so he hurried to explain.

  “If I can get a ranch built up while you’re in Cleveland, then you’ll have a place to come home to. One that I’ve built for you so you don’t have to do a man’s work anymore.”

  She looked away and pondered his idea for a moment. “That doesn’t sound half-bad.” Even so, she slumped against his shoulder. “I don’t know how long I’ll be with Aunt Maggie. It may be years. I don’t know whether I can wait that long to marry you.”

  Jared gave her another encouraging squeeze. “Remember the Bible story where Jacob worked seven years to earn the right to marry Rachel? Then when Laban gave him Leah instead, he worked seven more years to earn the wife he wanted?”

  “Humph. I don’t much like that story. Doesn’t seem fair to Leah or Rachel.” She eyed him. “Don’t you be thinking of marrying somebody else while you’re working on our ranch.”

  “No, ma’am, I won’t. But you missed my point. The Bible says those years passed quickly because of the great love Jacob had for Rachel.”

  She gave him her saucy grin, even though her eyes still held sadness. “Are you saying you love me? ’Cause if you stop and think a minute, you may recall you’ve never said that to me.”

  “Did, too.”

  “Did not.”

  He thought real hard for about half of that minute. “Tumbleweed! I do think you’re right.” He slid off the settee down onto one knee and grasped her hands. “Miss Emma Sharp, I love you
more than anything in this world, more than anything in the universe except the Lord. There, now. What do you think of that?”

  All serious now, she gazed at him with a tender look that near to melted his heart. “Mr. Mattson, I do love you the same, only more so.” Even with that joyful confession, tears rolled down her cheeks, and she closed her eyes. “Oh, Lord, make those years pass quickly. Help us both endure through them, and may we both live long enough to see our dreams come true.”

  A cold chill swept through Jared. He’d never considered one of them might…but he wouldn’t think about that now. Pop’s frequent admonition of “No time like the present” came to mind, but this was one time it wasn’t the best advice.

  “Emma, may I kiss you?”

  “You may.”

  He stood and pulled her up into a gentle embrace. For all her hardiness, she was still a fragile soul. In fact, at the moment, he wouldn’t make claims to being all that strong himself, ’cause his knees felt like jelly. He brushed back her wonderful, unruly hair and kissed those sweet full lips. This was the first time he’d ever kissed a girl. From the way she stood on tiptoes and kissed him back, he must have been doing it right.

  *

  Emma had never been kissed. When she’d seen Cal kiss Julia after they got engaged, she’d wondered what all the fuss was about. Now she knew. As she melted into Jared’s embrace and he touched her lips with his, a brand-new kind of happiness filled her being. Did he feel it, too? From his soft sigh, she reckoned he did. But all that happiness was tempered by thoughts of their coming separation. Now that they’d kissed, it was just about unbearable to think of leaving him.

  They sat back down on the settee, and he took her hand again. “Tomorrow, Cal and I can haul hay into the barn and make sure the bull and the milk cows are settled. Then it’ll be ready for tomorrow night’s guests.” He thought for a moment. “Your pa plans to go down to Riverton this afternoon and pick up some replacement supplies, so maybe you and I could go with him.”

  Ordinarily, Pa told Emma about such plans. Even so, it didn’t bother her that he’d told Jared instead. It showed how much Pa respected the man she loved. “I’d like to go. I still haven’t bought that candy for Robby. Ma’s taffy can’t be beat, but store-bought penny candy is something special.”

  Jared got a speculating look in his eyes. “You like young’uns, don’t you?” His words held a pinch of doubt.

  She knew why. Her outburst over Aunt Maggie’s letter when she said she didn’t know anything about taking care of children. “I do like them.” Should she tell him more? Did a lady say such things? Maybe not. Yet they’d watched together as the kittens were born. They planned to marry one day. So it wasn’t as if she was speaking the unspeakable. Still, she felt her cheeks warming up something fierce. “I’d like a half dozen or so of my own. How about you?”

  His grin was a mile wide, and his eyes beamed with relief. “I’d say a half dozen would be just about right.”

  Even with their shared joy, the next day Emma couldn’t help feeling sad. With some difficulty, she managed not to show her growing depression as they made their way to Riverton Mercantile with Pa. Thanks to their good neighbors providing supplies to rebuild the barn and being willing to wait for payment until after spring sheep shearing, Pa had enough money to buy tack, chicken feed and a host of other items to replace those lost in the fire. Jared bought a new whetstone, and Emma bought a pound of candy. In addition to Robby’s gift, she’d need to have something for her little cousins.

  December 24 arrived, and with it an overcast sky that threatened snow. Messages were sent back and forth among the townsfolk about whether to celebrate this last night of Las Posadas. When the sun made a midafternoon appearance, everyone agreed to proceed as usual.

  Emma had long looked forward to entertaining the community for this event, but now she wished she could pull back on the reins of time to slow down the day of her departure. Each look she traded with Jared conveyed an increasingly sadder mood in each of them. As much as she tried to shake it off and enjoy the beauty and wonder of Christ’s birth, her own longings intruded all too often.

  Because Pa was to play the part of the innkeeper, the family didn’t join the procession from town but instead stayed home to finish decorating. A tree graced the parlor, covered with ribbons, bits of lace, strings of popcorn and two hand-painted glass ornaments, and grandly topped with a silvery glass star Pa had bought for Ma some years ago. The house and barn doorways were festooned with evergreen branches tied with red ribbons. In anticipation of a grand feast, plank tables in the center of the barn awaited food now being kept warm in the house, with more expected to arrive with their guests. And, of course, the clay piñata hung from the cottonwood tree in the side yard. Finally, as darkness descended, Jared and Emma prepared the farolitos that lined the path from the road to the barn. When the last candle was lit, Jared put his arm around Emma’s shoulder.

  “My, what a beautiful sight.”

  Emma nodded. “They are, aren’t they?”

  He chuckled. “I wasn’t talking about the farolitos.”

  She looked up into his adoring gaze. “You don’t look so bad yourself, cowboy.”

  He placed a quick kiss on her nose. “Better get that done before everybody arrives.”

  “Yes, you’d better, ’cause here they come.”

  The procession appeared in the distance, this time led by a little girl dressed all in white and carrying a candle. Behind Maria and Jose, lanterns and candles held back the darkness. As they drew nearer, Emma’s heart lifted. She would choose to enjoy this celebration. She would. God had been merciful to her family when the old barn burned down and in the building of this new one. Surely He could be trusted to take care of her future with Jared.

  Taking her sweetheart’s hand, she hurried to the barn to join her family in greeting their guests. Just as the procession reached the drive from the road to the barn, snow began to fall lightly across the landscape.

  Jose led Maria’s burro to the barn and asked, as he had for the eight previous nights, “Señor, my wife is about to give birth. Do you have any room in your inn where we might rest?”

  Due to Pa’s heightened emotions, his eyes were rimmed with red, a rare thing. “I sure do. Come on in.” It wasn’t exactly the script, and everyone laughed with good nature and high spirits.

  Perhaps forty people crowded into the barn to hear Emma and Julia sing “Silent Night” as their song of welcome, accompanied by Ma on her concertina. Then food was laid out on the planks, coffee served, and everyone filled their plates high. Jared sat on a blanket beside Emma eating a bowl of chili, while she chose a tamer dish of fried chicken.

  “Uh-oh. Look at that snow.” Jared jutted his chin toward the open barn door.

  Indeed, the white sprinkle had turned heavy, with a howling wind stirring it up into frantic flurries.

  “Oh, my.” Emma liked snow, but not blizzards.

  “Folks,” Pastor Daniel said, “I think we should return home before it’s too late.”

  “Sí,” Brother Miguel said. “If all these amigos get snowed in, the Sharps will not appreciate it much.”

  Laughter filled the barn as the guests scrambled to gather their belongings and leave in groups so no one would be lost in the snow on their way home. Emma and Jared did what they could to help everyone get away.

  “Just rest, my dear.” Ma knelt beside Maria, who sat on a bale of hay. “You’ll be fine.”

  Beside them, Jose chewed his lip. “Señora Sharp, it is not her time.”

  Her hand on Maria’s belly, Ma gave him a kindly smile. “Babies make their own time, son. And blizzards can provoke an untimely birthing. I think we’d better make a bed over there in that stall.” She nodded toward an empty one. “This little tyke’s bound and determined to make his appearance real soon. Emma, get some blankets. Job, you go to the house and fetch some towels and boiling water from the stove tank. Cal, you help him.”

  Wide-eyed
, Cal helped Pa tie a rope around his waist and then did the same for himself, finally tethering them both to rails in the barn. They ventured out across the barnyard toward the dimly lit house, holding on to the ropes for dear life so they wouldn’t lose their direction.

  Emma and Julia scurried to gather the blankets they’d brought out for people to sit on, while Jared helped Jose make a thick bed of hay for the little mother. As she worked, Emma noticed Ma’s steady nerves, and it helped her remain calm, too. Even when Maria cried out, Ma cooed soft words of encouragement to her. Even when Jose wrung his hands, she reminded him that they’d all survived being born, and his son would, too. Hearing that promise, Emma’s heart ached. Ma had lost several sons, yet not her faith.

  By the time Pa and Cal had returned with the water, it had gone lukewarm. Cal went out again, this time with Paco to the bunkhouse to fetch the brazier. That done, they started a fire in the small cast-iron stove, taking great care to avoid another barn fire. Now they had only to wait for the baby’s birth. Here in a barn. Among the animals. With old towels folded and waiting to become swaddling clothes.

  Emma looked around at her family, soon-to-be family members and friends. As unusual as the circumstances were, they all seemed aware of how special this birth was and how it mirrored the birth of Jesus. It helped Emma set aside for good her grief over having to leave Jared. God was in charge, and He would take care of her marriage to Jared, too.

  *

  Jared couldn’t take his eyes off of Jose. The young husband hadn’t left Maria’s side the entire evening. Now that she was about to give birth, Jose sat beside her on the straw holding her hand. Mrs. Sharp’s wise words had brought a change in him, for he no longer wrung his hands or bit his lip. Instead, he gazed lovingly at his wife. At one point, Maria thrashed about and yanked her hand from him, speaking angrily to him in Spanish. Confusion filled Jose’s eyes, but Mrs. Sharp assured him that all was well. Jared would have to remember when—and if—he and Emma were married and blessed with that passel of children they agreed on having.