That was what she’d done when she wrote the letter to Mrs. Tandy about finding a Mail Order Husband. It had brought her Clay and a passel of children to love. And love them she did. Each and every one. Even Clay.
Millie dropped the clothespin she was trying to attach to the line. She loved Clay. She had acknowledged her attraction to him, but love him? That came as a shock. All the doubts she’d had when the Cutler family stepped off the train had slowly been dispelled as the days and weeks progressed.
The way he treated her children as well as his own demonstrated his character. His hard work in the store and building the bedrooms gave her security. The plans for more adjustments to the apartment showed this thoughtfulness. Each one either helped the children or helped her.
He wasn’t perfect. A typical man, Clay left clothing on the floor of the bedroom and didn’t always listen when she spoke. The newspaper was always left on the floor next to the chair he favored in the parlor.
The tears that came into his eyes while Abe’s head was being stitched melted her heart. Maybe that was when she started to love him. Each day it grew stronger.
What did he feel for her? Millie thought he liked her. He was a man so he was probably attracted to her physically. He often touched her gently. Sometimes he would touch her cheek and look into her eyes. She’d wake in the night with his arm around her waist. In the morning he would be on the other side of the bed.
Could he love her? She didn’t know.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GRACE WAS SITTING on the boardwalk on the side of the mercantile. Alone. She and Opal had an argument that ended up in a slapping match. Both thought Jackson Hershell was cute. Each girl wanted him to like her the best. As a result they couldn’t play together until after supper. Ida didn’t want to play with her either. She was playing with Opal.
Grace was mad at Mama too since she’s the one who scolded them. It wasn’t fair that Ida and Opal got to play together and she was all alone. She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout.
On top of all that there wasn’t anything to look at through her magnifying glass on the boardwalk. Only ants. She’d seen those plenty of times. And you couldn’t turn them over to see their legs wobble. They seemed to always get smashed when she tried.
“Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing?”
Grace looked up at a man standing next to her. He was very thin with eyes that looked sunken in his face. He had a black mustache on his ashen skin.
“What do you have there?” He tapped her glass with his cane.
“It’s a magnifying glass. You make things look bigger with it.” Grace held it up so he could see.
“Very nice. What do you like to look at with it?”
“Bugs. But there aren’t any here. Just ants.”
“I know something you can look at.” The man smiled.
“What?”
“Crumple up some paper, maybe an old newspaper. Then hold your glass so the sunlight shines through it. Wait and something magical happens.”
“What?”
The man smiled. “You’ll have to try it to find out.” He moved past and left Grace alone.
Something magical? Grace’s eyes lit up with excitement. She knew where she could get a newspaper. Pa always left his on the floor by his chair. She ran around and up the stairs going into the apartment. No one was there. She grabbed the newspaper and ran back to where she’d been sitting before.
Crumpling up several pages, she mounded them together. Squatting beside them she held her magnifying glass so the sunlight focused on the paper. Nothing happened. Then she remembered the man said she had to wait.
Grace made the bright spot on the paper very small. It began to smoke, then the paper began to burn. Flames licked the paper growing bigger.
Grace jumped up and backed away. Turning she ran to the front of the store. Pa was sitting in a chair leaned back against the wall.
“Pa, fire, fire. I made fire,” she screamed.
The chair legs banged down on the wood. “What? Where?”
Grace ran to where the fire was scorching the boardwalk. Pa followed. He stamped the fire out. It seemed to take a lot of stamping. She stood with her back to the wall, her hands pressed against her mouth.
Finally, the fire was out. The boards were black charred wood. Pa turned to her. Grace ran to him and was enveloped in a huge hug.
“Are you okay? Did you get burned?” Pa asked.
Grace was crying. “No.”
Pa carried her around to the chair he’d been sitting on. They sat with her in his lap. When Grace stopped crying he held his handkerchief to her nose for her to blow.
“How did you start that?”
“A man told me there’d be magic if I focused the sunlight on crumpled newspaper. He didn’t say it would start a fire.” Tears slid down her face again.
“What did the man look like?” Pa was frowning.
“Skinny with a mustache. His eyes looked sunk in his face.”
Pa’s frown got deeper. “Grace, he’s not a nice man. If he tries to talk to you again, you or your sisters, walk away. Come home. Don’t talk to him. What he told you to do was dangerous.”
“But I didn’t know it was.”
Pa hugged her to him. “I know. You see why he’s not a nice man? He wanted you to do something that could have hurt you.”
Grace nodded.
“Let’s go find your mama. Maybe you can help her with the laundry. She might let you sprinkle the clothes.”
Grace was happily sprinkling clothing when Clay pulled Millie out of the kitchen. Leading her by the hand, they went to their bedroom.
“Terhall told Grace she could do magic with her magnifying glass. She started a fire.”
“What?” Millie turned to go back to Grace. Clay stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“She wasn’t hurt. She came and got me. I was able to stomp it out. She was scared more than anything.”
“What are we going to do? The man wants money and will do anything to the people who won’t pay.” Millie’s frantic expression tugged at his heart.
“First, we’ll talk to the children and tell them about him. Warn them. Tomorrow, I’m going to talk with Marshal Sewell. Tell him about the threats and what happened today. I’m not sure what he can do, but at least he’ll be aware. Maybe they’ll step up the watch around the store.”
“What good will that do?”
“Maybe warn him away. Maybe we or they can catch him trying something.”
Millie laid her head against his chest. “Can’t we just shoot him?”
Clay chuckled. “I know how you feel, but no. The best thing we can do is pray for God to keep us all safe and for Terhall to come to justice.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
NATE CLOSED THE book. It had been raining the last couple of days so he’d spent the time after his chores reading. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn had such interesting and fun adventures. He’d just finished reading both books.
Today, the sun was out and it was getting hot. Just the type of day Tom and Huck would spend on the river. Maybe even on an island. Nate dropped the book and went to find Ryder.
“Hey, didn’t Jackson say there was an island in the river?” he asked his older brother.
“Yeah. Why?” Ryder asked. He was whittling. Or at least he was attempting to. So far all he’d done was make a pile of shavings on the floor.
“We could go there and pretend to be Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.”
“How are we going to get there?” Another shaving fell.
“By boat, silly. We’d row over.” Nate wondered why Ryder was so dense.
“What boat?”
“Didn’t Jackson say he had a boat he’d found after the earthquake? We can ask him to go along. It’ll be fun. We can fish and he knows how to clean and cook them. We can hunt some rabbits. There may be berries and wild onion on the island.”
Ryder was catching Nate’s enthusiasm. “Yeah. We’ve gone hunting with Pa.
We can set a rabbit snare. Skin ‘em and roast them over a fire.”
Nate laughed. “Yeah. Do you suppose Grace would let us take her magnifying glass?”
They knew about Grace’s fire. Pa had warned them all about Mr. Terhall and what to do if he came around. Don’t talk to him. Go find Pa.
Ryder laughed. “I’ll go find Jackson. I don’t think he has any jobs today. I’m sure he’ll want to go.”
“I’ll see if Mama has any food we can take. Just in case.” Nate headed out of the room.
“Don’t tell her where we’re going. She might not want us on the river,” Ryder instructed as he headed down the stairs into the back room of the store.
“Right.”
Soon, there were three boys rowing across the river to an island just east of town. Nate had skirted around the issue of where they were going just saying that Jackson was going to show them around outside of town. Nothing about the river was mentioned.
They had knives, a hatchet, the bundle with sandwiches, fruit, and cookies inside. Their fishing poles were in the bottom of the boat along with a small metal kit of tackle. They had string for snares, and in each boy’s back pocket was a slingshot.
Rowing to the far end of the island, they beached the rowboat and tied the line to a fallen tree hanging out over the water. The side of the island was scarred from the mudslide. There were logs that had washed ashore scattered along.
“This sure looks different from the last time I was here,” Jackson said. “That was last year. One of the loggers brought me over. We fished and found a passel of blueberry bushes. They were this big.” He held his thumb and forefinger in a circle.
“Let’s go explore. Then we can fish,” Ryder said. “I’m gonna be Daniel Boone.” He strutted up the beach.
“I’m Davy Crockett,” yelled Jackson, following.
Nate frowned. Tom Sawyer didn’t sound nearly as exciting as Boone or Crocket. Inspiration struck. “I’m Nugget Nate Ryder.” He ran after the older boys.
The blueberry bushes were where Jackson had remembered them. The berries were as large too. When the three friends were finished shoving them in their mouths all the hands and faces were stained blue.
“Maybe we should play cowboys and Indians. We have war paint on,” Ryder suggested.
“Nah. Who’s going to want to be the Indians. They always lose and end up dead.” Nate jumped up and swung his hand at a tree branch.
“Let’s fish. I know a place where they’re always biting,” Jackson said. “It’s on the far side of the island from town. No one will see us.”
“Good idea. Let’s go.” Nate and Ryder followed Jackson as he snuck through the woods. Each pretending to be the legendary hero they’d chosen.
Clay locked the door to the store. The uneasy feeling of a pending Calling had been nagging at him all afternoon. He wondered if it really was a Calling or simply a father worried about his sons off scouting the area with a friend. They’d gone before lunch.
Ben and Reuben were put out that they hadn’t been asked to go along. They’d spent part of the afternoon in the back room until Clay got tired of hearing their grumbling. He sympathized with Moses who had a million Israelites grumbling as they wandered the wilderness. Ben and Reuben were sent to the park.
Clay went in search of Millie when he reached the apartment. The girls were all in their bedroom playing with Kitty. The poor thing was wearing a doll’s bonnet.
Abe was playing with alphabet blocks in the parlor by the kitchen door. Clay smiled as the toddler built a tower then knocked it down.
“Something smells good.” Clay came up behind Millie who was at the stove stirring a pot of something brown. He slipped his arm around her waist and leaned over to see and sniff.
“Shepherd’s Pie. I’m making chocolate pudding for dessert.”
“Have the boys come back yet?”
“Not yet.” Millie swiped at his hand when he reached for a biscuit from the pan on a warming shelf. He was successful in taking one and took a bite. Soft, fluffy, warm, and delicious.
“It’s early. With the days so long it might be a while. I can remember going hunting with my brothers or friends and not coming back until it was almost dark.” Clay tried to shake the uneasy feeling crawling over his back.
“I suppose,” Millie said. “They had food with them and I know they took their fishing poles.”
Abe came in and pointed to the window. “Rainin’.”
They hadn’t noticed since it was a gentle rain not making any sound.
“That’ll bring them home,” Clay said. “But let’s not wait supper on them. They may be a while and the children must be hungry.”
“The children, huh?” Millie smiled then handed him a basket filled with biscuits and indicated he should take them into the dining room.
By the time supper was over and the dishes done Clay’s back was crawling. It was a Calling and it was about the boys. He could tell Millie was worried too.
Clay did what he always did when the Calling wasn’t clear. He prayed. Sitting in his favorite parlor chair, he ignored the newspaper and closed his eyes.
Lord, I know you have us all in the palm of your hand. I thank you for that. Nothing can take us from it. I’m listening to Your Calling about my boys. You know where they are and are wanting me to go find them. I can’t do that unless You show me where they are. Please, Lord.
In his mind an image of a spot along the river appeared. He knew it was where the boys liked to fish. Then another place along the river appeared. He’d never seen it before but that didn’t matter. Clay knew the Calling would lead him to them. Getting up, he went to get his Mackintosh and Stetson.
Millie was reading to the children in the girls’ room.
“I’m going to get the boys. I know where they are.”
“You do? How?”
“I’ll explain later. I need to get them now.” He left, but before he exited the building he strapped on his gun belt.
“Rats,” Ryder said. “It’s starting to rain. We won’t be able to cook the fish now.” They’d caught several nice bass and filleted them.
“Let’s head back to the boat. We can cook them at home, if Mama lets us.” Nate wiped his knife off on his trousers.
They found some large leaves and wrapped the fish inside and gathered the gear. As they walked they checked the snares but found no rabbits caught in them.
“I don’t think there’s many rabbits on the island. I’ve never caught any,” Jackson said. “Only fish. There may be coons here though.”
When they arrived at the beach the boat was gone. Only the end of the rope used to tie it remained. It had been cut with a sharp blade.
Ryder and Nate looked at each other. “Terhall,” they said at the same time.
“What?” Jackson asked.
“We think Terhall or his henchman cut the rope to strand us here,” Ryder said. “He wants Pa and Mama to pay him money for protection. He’s sort of threatened. Not come right out and said it, but the message was pretty clear.”
“He tricked Grace into starting a fire with her magnifying glass. It scared her real bad.” Nate untied the rope.
“Let’s head to the other end of the island. That’s where Pa will find us.” Ryder started walking along the beach.
“How will he know?” Jackson asked.
Ryder and Nate exchanged looks. Pa had warned them not to talk about the Callings.
“It’s the closest place to town. Makes sense to go there. Maybe they’ll be able to see us from town.” Ryder knew that wasn’t the reason. He knew they’d be found. There was that sensation he was learning was how he felt the Calling. This time it was for them to be rescued from the island. He figured Nate knew he’d had one.
As they walked the length of the island the rain came down harder, soaking them to the skin.
Clay’s first stop was the marshal’s office. It was Marshal Sewell’s evening to be on duty so he greeted Clay when he entered.
/> “Evening, Clay. What can I do for you?”
“My boys, as well as Jackson Hershell, went out today but haven’t come back. I’m sure Terhall has something to do with it.”
“Why do you think that?”
“He’s made threatening remarks. Nothing that could be evidence. That we had a nice family of children and we should be careful. That we wouldn’t want any of them to be hurt.
“He tricked Grace into starting a fire on the boardwalk with her magnifying glass. Now the boys are gone. They said they were going to explore outside of town with Jackson Hershell. None of them came home when it started to rain.”
“Sounds suspicious. Shall I get up a search party?”
“I don’t think we need one. I know where to start looking. I’ve had a Calling. It’s not complete. I don’t know for sure where they are, but we need to start at that fishing spot they like to go to.”
Sewell got up, put on his raincoat and Stetson, grabbed his rifle, and followed Clay out into the rain.
Jackson led the way. At times they had to leave the beach because of logs or that the beach simply wasn’t there. The days of rain made their boots become heavy with mud and sand. Tree branches caught on their fishing poles and thorns grabbed at their clothing.
“It seems as if everything is trying to slow us down,” complained Nate. “I sure hope Pa is there when we get to the end of the island.”
“He will be.” Ryder stopped. “Jackson, stop,” he yelled. When the teen didn’t, Ryder dropped his pole and ran to him, grabbing him by the arm. “Stop.”
“What? Why? I’m cold and it’s raining harder.”
“Just wait. We have to wait.” Ryder looked at Nate who’d caught up with them. “I just know. Something’s going to happen.”
Wanted: Shopkeeper (Silverpines Book 4) Page 9