Angel In The Saloon (Brides of Glory Gulch) (28 page)

“Matters between Mother and Father worsened almost
daily. Once, he even hit her. Something was very wrong.”

Mr. Morrison’s breathing was now difficult and raspy,
and he frequently brushed tears from his eyes, eyes that were forever shifting.

Corrin’s heart was breaking and she began to weep.

“I’m sorry, Aunt Corrin. I’m afraid I must have hurt
you.” Amelia lowered her head to her chest, and Paul squeezed her shoulder and
kissed her temple.

“And what do you remember about that night---with the
lamp?” Mr. Morrison asked her.

“It was one of those nights when Father was angry.” Amelia
lifted her head and drew herself as close to Paul as she could and rested her
head on his good shoulder. “He was shouting at Mother and she was shouting back
at him. He said mean, hateful words and became angrier and angrier and louder
and louder.

“He began throwing things that were on the table, a
saucer and cup, a book. Then he grabbed the coal oil lamp. All I could think of
was to run to my room and hide. He threw the lamp with a vengeance. Mother
ducked out of the way, but it hit me squarely across my eyes and temples.”

“Enough! Enough!” Mr. Morrison shouted as he wrung his
hands.

Amelia jumped at the man’s shout, but she took a deep
breath and continued. “The lamp hit me so hard on the temple that it shattered
and spilled the coal oil all over my face and in my eyes. It knocked me out. When
I came to my senses, my eyesight was fading fast. The last thing I ever saw in
this world was my Mother’s beautiful face hovering over me, and she was wearing
a lovely, pink dress she’d made. And then my sight was gone forever.” She sat
as quietly now as a nun in church.

Mr. Morrison steadied himself with one arm on the
mantle and rubbed his eyes with his other.

“Amelia!” Corrin gasped. “Do you mean that you weren’t
born blind?”

“That’s right, Aunt Corrin.” Amelia was trembling, but
her voice remained calm, and she was the only one who wasn’t crying now.

“And Alister Jackson was the cause of your blindness?”
Corrin jumped to her feet, wishing she wasn’t a lady. She wanted to kick or
throw something. “I wish I had never met him! I wish I had never introduced him
to my family! I hate him for what he’s done to you and for how he treated Grace!
I’m just so angry!”

“Oh, Aunt Corrin. No! Please don’t hate him.” Amelia
went to her and hugged her. “Instead, you need to forgive him. God can use
every bad situation for good, if you only let him. If you had never brought him
home, he would never have met my mother and I would never have been born. I’m
not bitter about my blindness. God has used it to touch the lives of others
through me. And I have learned to reach beyond normal capabilities. If I set my
mind to it, I can do almost anything.

She squeezed Corrin’s shoulders. “And I have a
wonderful aunt who loves me very much and provides a good home for me and looks
after me. I have a strong, caring man who wants to marry me, Aunt Corrin. I
only thought that was possible in my dreams.”

“After what you told me about you and my father, I am
positive that the only reason he married my mother was because he wanted
children. That is sad for my mother. But my father did love me, Aunt Corrin. He
loved me so much that the thought of his causing my blindness ate away at him
like some disease. I think that as he watched me in my darkness, every day that
passed pulled a piece of his own life out of him.” Amelia hugging her as if she
planned to never let her go.

“There’s something else you should know, Aunt Corrin”
Amelia pulled out of the hug, but kept hold of Corrin’s arm. “When I was
thirteen, I woke up once in the middle of the night. My stomach was empty and I
wanted to munch on something, so I crept into the kitchen and heard muffled
voices coming from the back porch. Mother was talking to a nice man she had
been seeing. He had evidently just asked her to marry him, but she was saying
that she could not because she wasn’t who the man thought she was. She
confessed to him that she was not a widow as she had been telling everyone for
the past ten years, but that she and her husband got divorced after the war and
that she did not believe in remarriage due to the circumstances surrounding the
divorce. She told him that my father had become a drunk and that it was a
mistake to have married him in the first place. She said that Alister Jackson
never really loved her.”

Corrin held her at arm’s length, unbelieving what she heard.
She didn’t want it to be true.

“I knew it would devastate my mother if she ever
became aware that I knew her secret. So I just continued to live in the lie she
had created to protect me. I know it is hard for you to understand, Aunt Corrin,
but I still love my father and I forgive him to the depths of my soul for every
wrong he committed in his lifetime. Just as God forgives me, I forgive my father.
Mr. Morrison, are you still here?” she asked.

“Yes.” The word was barely audible.

“Why did you really come here?” She let go of Corrin
and turned toward his sickly voice.

Corrin watched him pull a thick, brown envelope out of
his waistcoat pocket. He placed it in Amelia’s hand. “I am a dying man and I
have come to bring you your inheritance.”

“No. I will not take it. Not under the circumstances
in which you’re giving it to me.” Amelia held it up for him to take back. “I’ll
accept the watch, but not this.”

Mr. Morrison stood still and Amelia stood firm with
her hand outstretched, waiting for him to take the envelope. Neither of them
moved for almost a minute.

Finally, Amelia walked closer to him, feeling for his
coat she stuck the envelope into his pocket. She then reached her hands up to
his face and cupped his thin, sickly cheeks and said, “You can’t buy
forgiveness, Mr. Morrison. It won’t help ease the sickness deep in your soul. Forgiveness
is a gift, given freely to anyone if all they would do is ask.”

The man fell down to his knees and sobbed, burying his
head in Amelia’s hands and clutching her as if he was drowning and only she
could save him. He wept bitterly and deeply and loudly. The sound of the agony
this man released tore through Corrin as if she were being run through with a
saber. But to Amelia remained calm and was actually smiling.

“I can’t possibly ask forgiveness for what I’ve done! My
burden is too great! It covers a lifetime of wrongs!”

“Yes, you can. The Bible is filled with stories of how
people sinned great sins, but when they asked for forgiveness, God was quick to
turn his wrath from them, and he did mighty things through them. I know God
will do the same for you.”

Mr. Morrison stood and looked at her in amazement. Corrin
noticed that his countenance changed. His face softened, his eyes changed from
tauntingly cold to soft, loving, caring. He gazed deeply into Amelia’s eyes,
knowing she couldn’t see him, yet knowing that she was staring right through to
the deepest chambers of his heart.

“I love you, Baby Girl. And I am so very sorry for
what I have done to you and your Mother. Can you? Will you? Please forgive me?”

“Yes! Yes, of course I forgive you, Father! And I love
you too.” Amelia’s face glowed now. She buried her head in his chest and began
to cry for the first time.   

“Alister?” Corrin’s mouth gaped open. She felt dizzy
and toppled backward into the chair.

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Amelia persuaded her father to stay awhile in Glory
Gulch so that he could walk her down the aisle at her upcoming wedding. She
knew Aunt Corrin was confused by the depth of forgiveness and love Amelia
displayed toward her derelict father and the vicarious role she herself played
in the unusual situation. And having her first and only love so near again
unnerved her. But Corrin guarded her heart fastidiously. She was not about to
allow herself to be betrayed as she had when she was once young and trusting
like her niece. Amelia prayed for her daily.

Alister Jackson was completely overwhelmed by his
daughter’s love for him. He had once made the terrible mistake of leaving her,
but now it was the farthest thing from his mind, so Paul invited him to stay at
his house. If his Angel and her father were willing to work out everything
between them, he said he would support them. Amelia, Paul and Alister Jackson
would sit in the parlor of Paul’s ample home and talk for hours about God’s
love and forgiveness.

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Mr. Jackson even allowed them to pray for him, and one
week after his arrival, he knelt beside the settee of Paul’s graciously
decorated parlor, praying for forgiveness and asking Jesus to come into his
heart and make him whole again. A lifetime of burdens and cares that he had
heaped upon his own shoulders came tumbling down with each sobbing breath he
drew. His travailing was arduous and deep. After all the dark secrets he had
locked deep in the recesses of his heart had been confessed, he began to laugh.
He had never known such a time in his life when he felt so clean and fresh and
burden free. He grabbed up his daughter and twirled her around in delight. His
newfound forgiveness and love had left him giddy.  He now stood up straighter
and there was a certain lilt in his voice.

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That night Paul lay in his bed remembering his own
conversion to Christianity less than a year ago. He marveled at God’s wondrous
plan he had for everyone’s life and thanked Him for bringing Amelia into his
life. He thanked God for keeping Alister alive long enough to reclaim his
daughter and give his heart to Christ. Then he prayed for the souls of his two
dearest friends, Corrin and Jeremiah.

When he was finished praying he tried to sleep, but
all he could think of was Amelia and how this particular Angel had affected so
many lives in just matter of a few months. He marveled at how she had been a
part of a much larger plan, and he knew she was right where God wanted her to
be. He thanked God for wanting her to be with him!

Another week of recuperation and Paul headed back to
work. He loved the mill and until Amelia came along, he had been consumed by it.
He had seen her every day for nearly a month and would miss her terribly. Until
their wedding, he would just have to resign himself to meeting her for an hour
in the morning and later for supper.

He planned to see Corrin and Amelia later that day
before they headed to Glenwood Springs on the stage to shop for Amelia’s wedding
dress. He wished they wouldn’t go. It was a cold November day. Would they be
able to keep warm in that drafty stage? Was the driver experienced with driving
a team through snow? Five days without seeing Amelia was just too long for him.
But when Corrin gets something in her head, he knew it would take the U. S.
Cavalry to change it. So Paul resigned himself to let them go.

It seemed as though he barely made any progress in his
paperwork, when it was already time to meet the ladies at the stage. He grabbed
his coat and headed out the door.

Harry had previously carried their satchels to Sarah
Jane’s and the two ladies were sipping hot tea inside the restaurant. Paul
pulled up a chair directly beside Amelia.

“Hello, Angel. Have you changed your mind about going
yet?”

“No, Paul. We haven’t changed our minds.” Corrin
snapped at him. “Why don’t you just let us have our fun? You’re stealing her
away from me in two weeks, and I probably won’t get much more than a hello and
good-by from her during that time.”

“All right. I’m sorry,” Paul said. “Go, with my
blessings. Have all the fun you want. Go ahead and shop until you’re broke. Does
that make you happy?

“Very.” Corrin winked at him.

“And why are you so quiet today, my Angel?”

“Because Aunt Corrin won’t let me have a pink wedding
gown.” She pouted like a child, but then the two females burst into laughter.

“You didn’t really want to wear a pink wedding dress,
did you?”

At this, the ladies nearly became hysterical.

“You’re so gullible, Paul. Can’t you tell when she’s
teasing you? Nobody wears a pink wedding gown. Or do they?” More laughter
erupted from the ladies.

“Sweetheart, I’m only laughing to hide the tears
inside because I won’t be seeing you for five whole days.” Amelia reached up
and found Paul’s face with her fingers.

“Now that’s what I wanted to hear.” He kissed the hand
that had so gently touched his face.

“Oh, there’s more,” Amelia said. “Remember the first
night I was here and I told you that I like pink because it was so soft? And
remember how I asked you to touch the ribbon?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t think I noticed that you brushed against
my hair slightly, but I did, and I knew it was on purpose.” She smiled demurely
at him.

“No. I didn’t think you noticed.”

“Well, I did. And I have to confess. My heart beat
faster when you did.” Amelia reached to the back of her head and removed the
ribbon she had secured there with a pin. “This is that same ribbon, and I want
you to take good care of it until I see you again on Friday. That way, I will
take comfort in knowing that whenever you look at it or touch it you will be
thinking of me.” Amelia handed the ribbon to Paul and he took it and put it in
his shirt pocket.