Colorado Dawn (42 page)

Eldora pressed her hands together in her lap. Where was he going with this?

Then he handed his mother his cup and squatted between Phin and Tick, putting his hands on their shoulders. “It was when we were almost to Martin City, after climbing and slogging and nearly killing ourselves out there in the snow, that I realized how blessed I was. Part of that empty place in my heart had been filled. Feeling your arms around my neck, Tick, knowing you were fighting to hold on and that you were counting on me. And seeing you, Phin, helping David and Karen and looking out for Celeste whenever you could. I realized here were two boys a man could be proud to call his sons. So, if you’re both willing, I want to adopt you. You’ll be brothers, and I’ll be your pa.”

Both boys yelled and flung themselves at him, toppling him backward and making the tree shake and waver. Good thing Matilda had blown out all the candles, or they would’ve set the house on fire!

While they rolled on the floor giggling, tickling, expressing their joy, Eldora hurried to get out of the room before sobs overtook her. She nearly collided with Buckford in the foyer.

“Happy Christmas.” He smiled broadly and shook his head at the laughter and commotion going on in the parlor.

“Thank you, Buckford.” She squeezed the words out. “And to you.”

Not knowing where else to go, she fled across the foyer and found herself in a dark-paneled study. The windows beckoned. Drawing aside the heavy drapes, she looked out on the snowy landscape. Fresh snow drifted down, adding to the mounds already shrouding the lawn and trees.

Sam was adopting Phin and Tick. They were safe, secure. She should be joyful. She should be in there laughing and shedding happy tears and wishing them well. Her head dropped. Sam had filled the empty place inside of him. But what about the empty place inside of her heart?

Pull yourself together, girl. Don’t begrudge those boys their happiness. Crying isn’t going to change anything
.

Evidently a stern talking-to wasn’t going to change much either. She had thought she was alone in the world before, but now she had nobody. Not even three children who needed her.

The door opened behind her, and she straightened, scrubbing her cheeks.

“Eldora?”

Sam.

“Are you all right? You lit out so quickly. You aren’t upset because I didn’t ask you first, are you?”

“No.” Her voice cracked, and she tried again. “No, of course not. You’ll make a wonderful family. I couldn’t wish anything better for them.”

He crossed the room to stand beside her. His very nearness when she had lost him—when he had never been hers to begin with—burned.

She moved away, pretending to concentrate on the landscape through the glass. “They’re going to be very happy here. Your family is amazing. First David and Karen adopting Celeste, now you taking the boys. You’ve made all their dreams come true.”

“They’re great kids. I meant what I said. Any man would be proud to call them his sons.”

“I’m glad you filled that empty space in your heart.”

“Did I say that empty space in my heart was full? I said a
part
of it had been filled.”

She shrugged. “It won’t be empty forever. I venture that someday soon you’ll find that rich woman you’re looking for.”

“Rich woman?” His brow furrowed. “What rich woman?”

“You told David and Karen that if you did marry it would be to a rich woman so you would know you were being married for yourself and not your money.
That
rich woman.”

He scrubbed the top of his head. “You have an amazing memory. Are you always going to hold the foolish things I say against me? The girl I’ve fallen in love with doesn’t have a dollar to her name.” His hands came up and cupped her shoulders. “But this girl isn’t anything like my former fiancée.
This
girl has fought my generosity every minute since I met her.”

His grip on her shoulders tightened, forcing her to look up at him.

“Eldora, you left the celebration in there before I could finish what I wanted to say. The empty place inside me won’t be filled until you say you’ll marry me and make us a family. You’re the center of our world, mine and the boys. But it isn’t just the boys who need you.”

Bewildered, fearing she was somehow dreaming, she stared hard into his eyes. “You’ve fallen in love?”

A rueful grin teased his lips. “I didn’t mean to, but I did. Head-over-heels, don’t-care-who-knows-it, can’t-stop-thinking-about-her in love.” He gave her a little shake. “I want you to forget what I said about marrying a rich woman. That was plain foolishness said to Karen so she wouldn’t realize how I was coming to care for you. I don’t want a rich wife.” He stopped short. “No, I take that back. I
do
want a rich wife.”

Her heart plummeted. She
had
been dreaming. Everything went dark inside her, like a candle snuffed in a high wind. She sagged against his grip, but he wasn’t through.

“I want a wife so rich in love that she fills our home with laughter and caring. I want a wife so rich in respect and integrity that I’m a better man just for having her in my life.” He warmed to his topic, fanning hope with every passing second. “I want a wife so rich in friendship that our years together will fly by, so rich in generosity”—his dear face split in a grin—“that she fills my home with children. The two boys we start with and however many more God blesses us with.”

Her whole future shone from his eyes. Light filled every corner of her mind and heart.

“Yessiree, I want a rich wife. You have all that and more to give. I want you to be Ellie again, and I want the chance to show you how much I love you. When are you going to admit that you love me and that we should be together?”

Waves of happiness broke over her. She laughed. “Maybe when you give me a chance to get a word in edgewise. You haven’t changed your tactics a bit. Still bullying me with your generosity.” With a boldness she wouldn’t have believed only a few minutes ago, she twined her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe. “I want to be Ellie again, too.”

His lips came down on hers, demanding and sweet, giving and taking. She responded with everything in her heart—reborn, renewed, loved, and cherished. When he withdrew, reluctantly, a little at a time, she stared into his beautiful blue eyes and returned his smile. Warm tingles shot through her, and she shook her head, unable to believe how quickly she’d gone from despair to delight.

“Are you two done?” Phin’s disgusted voice came from around the door. “Me ’n Tick are hungry.”

Sam laughed and hugged her tight. “Let’s go, Ellie. Our family is waiting.”

For Katie Ganshert.
We need another field trip to Galena.

Martin City, Colorado, Early Spring, 1886

P
astor Silas Hamilton had become adept at dodging matrimony-minded maidens and their matchmaking mamas, but he’d never encountered a mother as determined as Mrs. Drabble.

Beatrice Drabble had proven resourceful in finding ways to throw her daughter Alicia into his path, and he’d nearly exhausted all valid excuses. Not that he was against marriage, and Alicia Drabble was nice enough. But she wasn’t the girl for him.

“I do hope you’ll accept our luncheon invitation
this
time.” Mrs. Drabble tilted her head back to peer up at him from under the feather-adorned awning she called a hat. Her button-black eyes bored into him like a rock drill. “You’ve been previously engaged for three weeks straight. Alicia has been so disappointed. She does enjoy your company. And we have a new set of pictures for the stereopticon. Natives from Africa. I thought you’d be interested, since you’ve been encouraging your parishioners to support African missions….” She left the statement hanging, arching her dark eyebrows at him and drawing her lips into their habitual pucker.

He swallowed, his insides squirming. Invitations made under the guise of church work were always the most difficult to evade.

Conversations buzzed around them as people filed out of their pews and stood in line to shake his hand before heading home to a hot meal and a quiet afternoon. Spring sunshine streamed through the brand-new, stained-glass windows that marched down the sides of the church, throwing blocks of color on his congregation as they milled and chatted. The installation of those windows—special ordered all the way from Germany—marked the end of the first major tussle he’d encountered in this, his first solo-pastorate position. Mrs. Drabble had been at the center of that little maelstrom, too.

Alicia Drabble stared over his shoulder, a faint pink tinting her cheeks. China-blue eyes that rarely met his, golden ringlet curls, porcelain skin, and an air of fragility—nothing at all like her mama, whose physique tended more to the cider barrel shape.

He shook Alicia’s limp hand and turned back to her mother. “I do thank you, but I’m afraid I will have to decline once more. I’ve already accepted an invitation to lunch at the Mackenzie home.” And grateful he was, too.

The Drabble matron’s face hardened, and the creases at the corners of her lips deepened. “I see.” She tugged at the hem of her bodice and shifted her Bible to her other arm. “You do realize your first annual review as our pastor is coming up soon. The district supervisor is a very good friend of mine, and it would pain me to have to tell him you were playing favorites amongst your congregation.”

The barb in her voice nicked his conscience, and he did a quick gallop around his social calendar to see if she might be correct. Had he been showing favoritism to some over others? The last thing he wanted or needed was a bad report sent to the home office, and until recently, he’d not feared one. But the drawn-out discussions that bordered on arguments over something as simple as new windows for the church had set up a distant warning gong in the back of his mind. In the front of his mind was the knowledge that his father, as the home office director, would be sure to read any report and know his son wasn’t living up to his exceedingly high expectations.

Matilda Mackenzie appeared at his elbow as if she had somehow sensed he could use rescuing. “Silas, we’re looking forward to your visit today. David and Karen want to show off the little one and talk about a dedication service here in a few weeks.”

Mrs. Drabble’s severe expression melted into a smile, and she held wide her arms. “Matilda, so lovely to see you.” Embracing the smaller woman, she kissed the air beside Matilda’s cheek. “Congratulations on that little granddaughter. I hear she’s quite a beauty. I can’t wait to see her.”

Matilda extricated herself. “Thank you, Beatrice. Karen felt it would be best not to bring the baby out in public for a few weeks. It’s been such a cold spring. We’ll serve dinner at one, if that suits you, Silas.” She patted Silas on the arm and strolled toward the door without waiting for an answer.

Beatrice’s lips twitched. “I can never get over parishioners calling a pastor by his first name. I guess it was the way I was brought up, proper and all, but using a pastor’s first name…” She gave an I-don’t-know-what-this-world-is-coming-to shrug.

Silas held in a sigh and vowed to be polite, long-suffering, patient, enduring all things…. “Mrs. Drabble, I did give the adult congregants leave to use my first name if they wanted to.”

“And you’ll remember I told you I thought it improper. As the spiritual leader of this flock, you can’t maintain your dignity and position if you allow people to call you by your given name. If you ask me, even the term pastor is rather…common. Reverend”—she traced an arc as if the word could be read across his chest—“is much more ministerial and fitting for the office.”

Two young men edged around them, heading for the door. Silas nodded to Kenneth Hayes and his friend. The young man had installed the new windows, and a fine job he’d done, too. Silas didn’t miss the black look Beatrice shot Kenneth or the way his shoulders ducked and hunched. Poor Kenneth. She’d criticized and hounded him during the entire construction.

Kenneth’s friend elbowed him in the ribs. “You going to the grand opening, or you going to wait?”

He shrugged. “I’ll wait a couple weeks till the crowds thin some. Can’t say I’m all that interested in the play they’re putting on, but I wouldn’t mind a gander at the inside of the new theater.” Kenneth lifted his chin in greeting to Silas, edging past Alicia who stiffened and lowered her lashes when their arms brushed.

The friend’s face split in a grin. “I want to get a gander at that actress. My cousin saw her in Denver this winter. If she’s as pretty as he claims, it won’t matter what play they’re putting on. He said she looked better than a summer sky, and her eyes could make a man feel like he’d been gut-punched.”

Silas smiled. All winter the town had buzzed about the new Martin City Theater set to open next week. In a race to keep up with Denver, Leadville, and other Colorado boomtowns, several affluent miners and businessmen had partnered to erect an edifice they felt would elevate Martin City to the status of cultural center. He looked forward to enjoying some of the entertainments himself. It had been a long time since he’d seen a play or listened to an orchestra.

Mrs. Drabble tapped Silas’s arm, dragging him back to her. “Don’t you agree?”

Uh-oh. He had no idea what she’d even asked him.

Someone whacked Silas on the shoulder. “Great sermon today, Silas. You hit hard and fair.”

Silas grinned and shook Jesse Mackenzie’s hand, trying not to wince as his palm compressed in a bear-trap grip. “I just open the Word. I let the Spirit do the teaching and convicting.”

“It beats all how you can take a familiar passage like the command for husbands to love their wives like Christ loves the Church and bring out something new I hadn’t thought of before.”

Mrs. Drabble sniffed. “I would think it would help your ministry immensely, help you preach those types of passages better, if you were married yourself, Reverend Hamilton.”

Silas didn’t miss her treading heavily on the word
reverend
.