that’s kept my husband and me in conversation for many a night beside the fire. And then there’s Emma, of course. I would guess there’s an interesting story to be told there, if you had a mind to tell it.”
“Since you got the half of it, you might as well know the whole thing, so you don’t go believing I’m a common thief.”
He sat on the well and invited the preacher to do the same. Even though she had claimed not to need a drink, he could use a long one to tell what was more of a confession than a story.
He told her about the ten percent for Lucy. That easing of his conscience hadn’t stunned her one bit. She’d only nodded and stated that the sin had been on Lawrence Pendragon’s soul, not Matt’s.
That had always been his belief, but it was a comfort to have it confirmed by someone who was a professional in the wrongs and rights of spiritual matters.
As far as love in an hour? He shrugged his shoulders. “Emma didn’t love me when you married us. We’d only just met.”
“Mercy, Matt. I suppose everyone in the land office figured that.”
“The sheriff must have believed us. Otherwise, he’d have strung me up.”
“I imagine that’s what he thought he did. But then with you and your bride looking so lovesick at each other, and that kiss…! Well, no one could say otherwise.”
“My wife is quite a woman.”
“Whether you loved each other then or not, I’d say you love each other now.”
How much did a man reveal to his wife’s friend, preacher or not?
“We do.” Matt stood up. He liked speaking with Mrs. Sizeloff. It was a comfort to be able to say some things out loud. But maybe he’d been away from Lucy for too long. “But there are some issues with Hawker that need to be set straight.”
“By violence?” she asked, a deep frown creasing her brow.
“Shoot, Mrs. Sizeloff, maybe. Right now, with things the way they are, my family is in danger.” He felt the threat to his bones. Even though he wasn’t wearing his gun his hand touched the spot where it would be.
“You could pack up your family and go away.”
“I thought so at one time. I had hoped to convince Emma to come to California with me, but this land and her house mean the world to her. I can’t ask her to leave it behind.”
“Emma would love California, as well. I hear it’s paradise on earth.”
“I’ve heard the same, but as far as my wife is concerned, this hundred and sixty acres is paradise on earth. I can’t say I disagree.” Matt glanced toward the house, nervous that something might change while he was chatting.
“As wonderful as home can be, paradise isn’t a spot on a map. No sir, what I believe is that it is a place in the heart.”
“Family ties?” He believed the same.
The preacher stood up. She smoothed her palm over the streak in her hair, then fluffed out her skirt.
“Yes, exactly so,” she said with a pivot toward the house. “Don’t you give up hope. You’ll find a way out of this mess.”
* * *
A sulking mass of clouds gathered on the western horizon and obscured the first sunset of autumn.
The long day finally ended with Lucy getting no better. The good doctor, with great reluctance, had gone back to Dodge to set a cowboy’s broken arm.
Emma stood on the porch and gazed across the darkening prairie, watching for his return. Cold wind snapped the hem of her skirt. She drew her shawl tight against the chill. Dr. Brown had expected to return near nightfall and she had made sure to keep a plate of supper warming on the stove for him.
Inside, the house was too quiet. Outside, the land stretched away dim and ominous. When the doctor had departed, Rachael had tied her horse to the back of his buggy and ridden back to Dodge beside him. She, too, had been hesitant to return to town, but the demands of an infant had first claim on her time.
“I’ll be back in the morning…sooner if I’m needed,” she had vowed.
Emma shivered when a nippy gust pressed her backward a step on the porch, but she wasn’t sure that the trembling was due to the draft.
Needing the preacher sooner than dawn didn’t bear thinking of. To hear those words spoken had been nearly more than she could stand. The only reason she hadn’t collapsed in a weeping