God, it’s hard to trust when the pathway ahead is invisible. May Thy rod and Thy staff comfort and guide me.
The next morning she crossed over for breakfast with renewed resolve.
“Should be a busy day today,” Bonnie said.
Clara looked her way, saw the excitement in her face. “Why is that?”
“It’s Saturday, and people will be coming to town. I’m making four times as many biscuits and lots of cookies. The bachelors love my baked goods. Of course, more and more of them are finding wives and that’s good, too. I look forward to visiting them when I take batches of food to the store.”
Tension caught Clara’s neck in a vise. People would be coming to town? No doubt they would be curious and asking questions about the unfamiliar young mother and her children.
She recalled her prayer from last night and repeated it silently. Trusting, she admitted, was sometimes hard.
She waited for the girls to finish their breakfast, then hurried them over to the church. Perhaps people would not discover them there.
The girls rushed out to fill the buckets with snow.
Clara realized she’d have to keep them indoors the rest of the day so people coming to town wouldn’t see them.
Blue seemed no more inclined to chat this morning than she was as they measured and cut and planed. Slowly, the pleasure of the work calmed her nerves.
Until a wagon rattled by. She sprang to the window to see a young couple make their way to the store.
A wagon came from the other direction and turned toward the store, as well.
“Looks like Macpherson is going to be busy today.” Blue spoke from directly behind her.
She managed to control her startled reaction at his nearness as she watched several cowboys ride to the store.
“Slim, Buster and Eddie,” Blue said. “Eden Valley cowboys and the boss. I expect Eddie will come by when he’s done at Macpherson’s and check on how things are progressing here.”
They were coming here? She had to leave. She sidestepped around Blue. “I have something to do. Girls, come along.”
Libby opened her mouth to protest, saw the look in Clara’s eyes and merely obeyed her mother’s command. She hurried into her coat and followed Clara and Eleanor from the church.
“What’s wrong, Mama?” Eleanor said when they were away from the building. “Why are you so scared?”
“Too many people are learning our business.”
“Are we going to run away again?” Eleanor’s voice picked up Clara’s concern.
“Maybe not today.” Unless the stagecoach shows up, she silently added. She’d keep a watch for it. “But we’ll stay out of the way for now.”
She slipped into the little shack and stared at the four narrow walls. What was she to do in here all day? How was she to keep the girls entertained?
Somehow she must.
She didn’t want to frighten them with her worries that among those coming into town could be a man looking for her. A man sent by her father to take the girls from her.
Chapter Eight
Blue stood with his head against the window frame. He’d craned his neck to watch Clara and the girls as they hurried toward the shack. As soon as she’d heard Eddie and the cowboys might stop by the church, she had called the girls and bolted. It was obvious she was afraid someone might recognize her. But who did she fear so much? She’d said her father was controlling, but surely that wasn’t reason enough to fear him.
He might never know who she was afraid of, because she’d steadfastly refused to provide him with so much as a clue.
What would she say if he offered to protect her and the girls? Likely she’d laugh.
His heart grew cold and brittle.
And well she should. He’d failed to protect his own family and would never again take on such responsibility. Would never open his heart to the pain it could bring.
But someone needed to take her home and look after her and the girls.
He pushed away from the window. Time to get back to work, or Eddie would think he wasted time. He returned to the sawhorse.
A few minutes later the door opened, and he straightened, waiting to see who had come calling. It wouldn’t be Clara. She would have come through the back door closer to the Mortons’ shack. He told himself he wasn’t disappointed. After all, he knew better than to let his heart go in that direction.