Faith (20 page)

The men, worn out from lack of sleep, broke camp before
dawn.

"Just look at all that mud." Rusty took off his gloves, eyeing the swollen river. "Think we should try and cross it?"

"We're not camping here another three days. Better warn
the men." Nicholas took off his hat, studying the churning
rapids. They'd crossed worse, but he didn't like to test the
animals.

The chuck wagon mired down twice in midstream.
Cowboys tied ropes from their saddle horns to the rig,
using the horses' weight as leverage. Cooking utensils
banged and rattled as the wagon rocked back and forth
but refused to budge.

Gabby shook his fist, hollering, "Don't you cockleburs
bust up my pots and pans! I'll have your skins in a skillet!"

The men kept at it until the wagon broke free from the
mire and surged onto the bank. Gabby inspected every last
pot and pan before saying with a grin, "Thank ya, boys.
Right nice of ya."

"Never rile the cook!" one of the tenderfeet observed
dryly.

"Pretty smart feller, for a knucklehead." Gabby ignored
the men's good-natured ribbing as they tipped their Stetsons
and galloped off.

Toward dusk a lone rider rode up. "Got a man down!"

"What's wrong?" Nicholas turned his horse, trying to
hear the drover.

"One of the tenderfeet broke his leg!"

Spurring his horse, Nicholas rode ahead. Dismounting
before the horse came to a halt, he ran to a young man
lying on the ground, writhing in pain. The boy's leg was
shattered, the bone poking through the skin.

Nicholas shook his head. "It's going to have to be set."

The boy cried out in pain.

"Gabby, Rusty and I will hold him down. You pour
some whiskey on that wound. We don't want it getting
infected." Nicholas scouted the area until he found a twoinch stick. Wedging it between the boy's teeth, he apologized. "Sorry to have to do this, son. It's going to hurt."

Gabby made a splint and then poured a shot of rotgut
down the screaming youth's throat.

"As bad as it is," Nicholas muttered, "it could be worse.
God was looking after you. You could have lost your leg.
Rusty, have someone take him back to camp."

"Sure thing, Boss."

Nicholas hated to lose the cowhand. Shorthanded or not,
the help's welfare came first. That was Abe Shepherd's cardinal rule and one Nicholas was glad to follow. Whether
they realized it or not, many of the men were like sons to
him. He would never sacrifice their safety for his own
financial gain.

A few miles farther up the trail, Nicholas spotted one of
his men on a ridge a couple of hills away, signaling with his
Stetson.

Rusty rode up beside him. "Trouble?"

"Riders, eyeing the herd from a distance."

Signaling back, Rusty let the cowboy know they'd gotten
the message.

That evening they made camp beneath a scattering of
mesquite trees a few miles south of San Antonio. A full
moon hung overhead like a huge lantern. Millions of stars
twinkled in the darkness as the tired drovers fell into their
bedrolls, dropping off to sleep to the sound of lowing cattle.

At dawn Nicholas and the trail boss rode into town to
meet the buyers. Nicholas groaned when he learned the
cattle buyers from Abilene were delayed.

"That could take another week!"

"Can't be helped," the man told him. "Been delayed by
rain and swollen streams."

Nicholas had no choice but to stay until they arrived.

Three days passed. When the buyers finally arrived in San
Antonio, they sent a rider to camp. Nicholas and the men
drove the cattle into the stockyards and finalized the pur chase. The cattle brought a high return, and though Nicholas was pleased, his thoughts were not on profit. They
centered on home.

That night he spread his bedroll on the ground. Though
Nicholas was tired, sleep would not come. Instead, his mind
was on his approaching wedding. Now that the cattle were
sold, he could take care of personal matters.

Rolling to his side, he stared at the stars. Faith was a
Christian woman, strong in her faith.

Under Mama's influence, she would be domesticated. Her
fiery spirit tested his patience, but he wouldn't want her any
different. She was well mannered, and though he hadn't
thought so at first, he realized now that she was pretty, real
pretty, with a cloud of dark hair and those striking violetcolored eyes.

Desire stirred, a feeling he didn't often acknowledge.

Yawning, he closed his eyes in weariness. Home. He was
going home. It was comforting to think Mama and Faith
would hit it off while he was gone. Why, he could almost
smell the biscuits baking in the oven....

"She's what!"

Nicholas took off his hat and hooked it over the peg
beside the door. Liza kept her back to him, beating flames
from a pan of biscuits she'd just taken out of the oven. The
stench of burnt bread hung heavy in the air.

His gaze roamed the empty kitchen. "Faith's gone?"

Liza bounced a burned biscuit off the stove. "I sent her
packing."

"You what?"

"Are you deaf? Since when did I have to start repeating
myself? You were born with two good ears-use them."
Liza slammed the pan of biscuits on the table. "I told you, I
sent her packing. Believe me, that isn't the half of it. She's
moved in with Mary Ellen."

Nicholas's face fell. What nonsense was Mama babbling
this time?

"Don't stand there like some love-struck pup! Sit down.
Supper's ready."

Nicholas sat down, trying to assess the situation. Mama
was mad; Faith was gone. What had happened? "What do
you mean, you `sent her packing'?" He couldn't imagine
Mama acting so unchristian. Had she taken permanent leave
of her senses?

Liza scraped blackened crust from her biscuit and added
butter. The butter wadded into a gooey ball. She pitched it
aside. "I've made a mess. Hand me a dish towel."

Nicholas handed Liza the towel. She took a long time
wiping butter from her fingers. He waited.

"What happened? Where's Faith?"

Dissolving into tears, Liza buried her face in the dishcloth.
"She was awful to me, Nicholas. I had no choice but to do
what I did. She took it upon herself to clean the Smith
house-after all we said about not wanting to get involved
with her foolish talk of a blind school. Does she think we're
made of money? I begged her to wait and talk it over with you, but she refused. She's gone-moved in with Albert
and Mary Ellen Finney."

"Finneys?" Nicholas glanced around the room, bewildered. "Why would she do that?"

Liza worried the end of the dishcloth, shrugging.

"Mama. Why would Faith move in with Albert and Mary
Ellen?"

"Well, she just left-taken a shine to those twins. That's
all she wants to do-look after those babies."

Nicholas didn't believe that for one minute. Faith was
definitely a Good Samaritan, but to leave his house to help
with babies?

"Are you sure about that, Mama?"

Liza took a deep breath, dabbing the dishcloth at the
corners of her eyes. Her face was mottled from crying. "I
think I would know. You don't see her, do you?"

Nicholas fixed his gaze on his mother's face.

Liza averted her eyes and wiped the table around her
plate. "I tried to stop her, Nicholas-she-she just won't
listen to me!"

Nicholas frowned. Faith and Mama didn't get along, but
Faith had never disobeyed Liza, not in his presence.

"Used my sugar, my flour, and my cherries, the week
before. Said she was taking a pie to Mary Ellen."

Liza folded and refolded the damp material. "So, what?"

"Did she take a pie to Mary Ellen?"

"I doubt it. She's wily, I tell you. Plain wily."

Frustrated, Nicholas ran a hand through his hair. Faith didn't have a wily bone in her. How could the situation
have gotten so out of hand? "Mama, what do you think she
did with the pie-how could you let this happen? Have you
prayed about this?"

"Of course I've prayed about it. Faith lied. Said she was
going over to help Mary Ellen with the babies, and she
knew all along what she was going to do. Nicholas, I told
her to leave and not to come back. I should have known
better than to let her go that day...." She suddenly softened. "You're right; it was my fault. I'm sorry I didn't
watch her more closely."

Nicholas stiffened. "What is going on here! You told her
to leave?"

"I did-it was a horrible thing to do, but when I found
her cleaning that old house, intent on that blind school, I
just exploded. Told her to leave, she wasn't welcome here
any longer." Burying her face in her hands, she wept.
"Lying, sneaking around behind my back-I'll not have it,
Nicholas."

Nicholas's insides churned. "Exactly what did you say to
her, Mama?"

Tears rolled unchecked down Liza's cheeks, and it was
obvious she was starting to get worked up again. "I told her
she wasn't welcome here any longer."

Nicholas's heart sank. For a brief moment he felt his loyalty shift to Faith. Why would Mama do such a thing? She
had no right!

"Over there cleaning that house like a woman possessed.
Oh, you'll hear it all from the town gossips. Molly and Etta will tell the whole town! Then come Sunday morning
they'll sit like saints in the amen corner, shouting hallelujah
at the top of their lungs."

Nicholas stared at Liza in disbelief. "Mama, stop it-Molly
and Etta are your friends."

Liza's eyes darkened. "I don't have friends, Nicholas!
Can't you see that? Haven't since Abe died-not one friend
has stuck by me. When Abe was alive, we had more couple
friends than we could shake a stick at, but now ... now, I
have nobody." She flung her hands to the ceiling. "They've
all drifted away-every last one of them." Spent, she buried
her face in the dishcloth and sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Mama, that you feel you don't have friends. I
happen to think you do; you just haven't cultivated them
lately, but I fail to see what this has to do with Faith."

"She lied to me, Nicholas!" Liza shouted, pounding a fist
on the table.

Nicholas stared at her. Her face was flushed a bright red.
Tiny beads of sweat trickled from her forehead, and she
looked as if she were going to burst. He'd only seen her this
angry on rare occasions. Her distress went deeper than
Faith.

"Mama." His tone tempered. "Have you done as I asked
and seen Doc?"

Liza exploded and evaded the question, "What's Doc got
to do with anything? There's nothing wrong with me! Faith
Kallahan is the problem here. Not me!"

"I'm trying my best to understand the situation," Nicholas snapped. "Did Faith tell you she wasn't going to the Smith's
house?"

"Of course not!"

"Well, then, she didn't lie."

"Oh, for heaven's sake! It's blazing hot in here." Liza
sprang from the chair and jerked the window open wider.
"Hot as Hades in this kitchen."

"Faith didn't lie," Nicholas repeated.

"Maybe it wasn't an out-and-out lie." Liza hesitated,
holding her handkerchief to her throat. "But she deliberately led me to believe she was going to help Mary Ellen.
She didn't say a word about going to the Smith house-she
knew I would forbid it!"

"So, she did go to Mary Ellen's, and then she went to clean
an empty old house that's been nothing but a community
eyesore for years." Nicholas's patience was wearing thin.

"She defied me. I refuse to be treated with such disrespectHow can you defend her, Nicholas? A stranger? I'm your
mother!"

"And from what you say, Faith was only scrubbing a dirty
floor-hardly grounds for a firing squad."

Liza reached over and thumped him soundly. "Are you
sassing me?"

He winced and silently asked God to give him patience.
"No, Mama, I'm trying to make sense of what you've done.
I'm not defending Faith; I just find it hard to believe she
would disobey you without a reason."

"Well, she did. She wouldn't budge an inch from that
bucket-even after I threatened to take a switch to her."

"A switch? You threatened to take a switch to her? At her
age?"

"Yes, a switch! If she's bent on sass, then she needs a good
switching."

Like the occasional thump on the head Liza found necessary to inflict on his noggin!

Liza folded the dishcloth and laid it aside. "I gave her a
choice: Come home and forget all about the blind school,
or stay and finish that floor. If she chose the floor, then I
told her not to bother to come home at all. She scrubbed
that old floor as if she hadn't heard a word I said. Even after
I reminded her she'd been purchased to-"

"Purchased!" Nicholas roared. He sank down in a nearby
chair. "You told her she'd been purchased?"

"Well? Wasn't she? Have you forgotten who paid for her
ticket out here?"

Nicholas got up to look out the window. Purchased. How
must that make Faith feel? Purchased, like beef on the hoof.
He had been disrespectful to Faith; Mama even more so.