Love Finds a Home (Anthologies) (10 page)

“I’m sorry about your misfortune, but I have no money, and Mama’s ring …”

“Hang your mama’s ring!” he bellowed. “I didn’t kill a man or board this train for some stupid circle of gold that probably ain’t worth half what your old man took from me.” He squeezed Glenna’s arm, and she winced. “Now, what’s it gonna be, sister? Are ya ready to talk, or do you wanna join your daddy in death?”

Glenna opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off by a voice she recognized. “What’s going on here?”

The would-be killer whirled around, pulling Glenna with him. “This ain’t none of your business! Now get back in that car, and be quick about it!”

“I’m afraid you’re wrong,” David said evenly. “I’m married to the woman you’re holding at gunpoint. That makes it my business.”

The sight of David standing there snatched Glenna’s breath away, and she shot him a pleading look. David didn’t seem to notice though. He was holding a Bible in one hand, and his mouth was set in a determined line. He may not love her, but he obviously cared for her safety. Perhaps she’d been wrong about him being like Daddy.

“Your little woman has somethin’ that belongs to me,” the sinister man growled. “I aim to get it back, so you’d better not try to interfere.”

Glenna’s eyes filled with fresh tears, and her voice quavered. “I don’t have his money, David. The only thing Daddy gave me was my mother’s ring.”

“That’s right. I was there when he did. Garret Moore never gave her any money at all.” David waved the Bible. “I’m a minister of the Gospel. I wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

“Humph!” the man scoffed. “You would say that. All you Bible-thumpers want is money. Why, you’d do most anything to wangle some cash outa good folks.”

“That isn’t true. I’m sure David would never try to take people’s money,” Glenna defended. With her newfound faith in him, she offered her husband a weak smile, and he responded with one of his own.

David’s gaze darted back to Glenna’s captor. “I’m asking you nicely to let my wife go.” He took a few steps forward, but the evil man lowered his head and charged like a billy goat. The blow caught David in the stomach, and it left him sprawled on the wooden platform, gasping for breath.

Free of the gambler for the first time, Glenna seized the opportunity at hand. With no thought for her own safety and feeling a need to help David, she began raining blows on the man’s back with her fists.

At first, the fellow just stood there, grinning as though he was amused at her feeble attempts. After a few seconds, he grabbed one of Glenna’s wrists and jerked her to his side. “Take one last look at your woman, preacher man, ’cause I’m about to shoot her dead if she don’t tell me where that money’s hid.”

David struggled to sit up, then lifted the Bible over his head. “In the name of Jesus, I command you to reconsider.”

Much to Glenna’s surprise, the gunman dropped his weapon to the floor and extended both hands in the air.

A slight shuffling noise drew Glenna’s attention off her husband’s astonished face to the man standing directly behind him. The tall, brawny sheriff, wearing a gold star pinned to the front of his brown leather vest, stepped forward to apprehend his prisoner.

David stood up, and Glenna rushed into his arms, nearly knocking them both to the floor.

CHAPTER 10

W
ith the aid of the conductor in front and David behind, Glenna stepped wearily from the train. They had finally arrived in Boise City and would be traveling by wagon to Idaho City, their final destination. The trip from Granger had taken two days, climbing steep mountains, threading their way through dark tunnels, and creeping along dizzying shelves, hundreds of feet above the river. Glenna was exhausted and wasn’t relishing the bumpy ride in a hard-seated buckboard, but at least they could stop whenever they pleased, and there would be plenty of fresh air.

Their last days on the train had been rather quiet. Glenna wanted David to tell her more about his past, but he thought it best to wait until they were heading to Idaho City in the wagon. David had spent a lot of time reading his Bible and praying, and she’d done the same. Maybe it would make a difference when they did take the time to talk things out.

Glenna found a seat inside the train station, where she would wait with their luggage while David went to the livery stable for a wagon. Butterflies played tag in her stomach whenever she thought about the days ahead. Would she and David ever be able to communicate? Could she find the courage to tell him what was truly in her heart? Would their pasts always lie between them like a barbed wire fence, or could they use those terrible things to build a firm foundation for their marriage and David’s ministry?

Glenna’s head jerked up when David touched her arm. “Ready to go?”

She offered him a hesitant smile. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

David loaded their suitcases and the supplies he’d purchased for the trip into the back of the wagon, then covered it all with a canvas tarp. He went around to help Glenna into her seat, but to his surprise, she was already sitting there with a strange look on her face. He cast her a sidelong glance as he climbed into his own seat and took up the reins. “All set?”

She merely nodded in reply.

They rode without conversation for nearly an hour, the silence broken only by the steady
clip-clop
of the horses’ hooves over the rutted trail leading them northward. The warm afternoon sun beat down on their heads, and David began to pray for traveling mercies on this trip which would take a day and a half.

“The landscape here in Idaho is much different than the plains of Nebraska,” Glenna said, breaking into David’s prayer.

“That’s right. Lots of tall, rugged hills surrounding the area.”

A gentle sigh escaped her lips. “I’ve never been this far west. It’s beautiful.”

He smiled. She liked the land. That was a good sign. Yes, a very good sign.

“Will you tell me about your past now?” Glenna asked suddenly. If their marriage was ever going to work, she really did need to know more about this husband of hers, even if it wasn’t all to her liking.

David tipped his head. “I suppose it is time I tell you.”

Glenna leaned back in her seat, making herself as comfortable as possible, while David began his story. “I was born in Ames, Iowa. When I was sixteen, my parents and younger brother, Dan, were killed.”

“What happened?”

“There was a fire. Our whole house burned down, and they were all inside.”

Glenna gasped. “How awful! Were you in the house too?”

He shook his head. “I was spending the night at my cousin Jake’s. I didn’t even know about the fire until the next morning. I came home expecting some of Mom’s delicious buttermilk flapjacks for breakfast. Instead, I found nothing but the charred remains of what used to be our home.”

Even from a side view, Glenna could see the grief written on David’s face. The tone of his voice was one of regret, too. She knew what it felt like to lose both her parents and a little brother. She and David had that much in common.

“What did you do after you found your house burned and knew your family was gone?” she prompted, laying a hand on his arm.

David gripped the reins a bit tighter, and a muscle in the side of his cheek began to twitch. “I lit out on my own, and I never went home again.”

Glenna’s mouth fell open. “But you were only sixteen. How did you—”

“Support myself?”

She nodded.

“I learned the fine art of gambling,” he replied tersely. “I traveled from town to town, cheating people out of their money, lying, stealing, cursing the day I’d been born, and blaming myself for my family’s deaths.”

“How could you be held accountable for that? You said you weren’t even at home when the fire started.”

David blew out a ragged breath. “I didn’t start the fire, but if I’d been there, I might have saved a life or two.”

She studied him intently. “Maybe you would have been killed, too. Have you ever thought about that?”

He shrugged. “There were days when I wished I had been.”

Glenna sat there awhile, letting his words sink in. Hadn’t she felt the same way after Daddy was killed? Maybe it was part of the grieving process to think such thoughts. “How did you get away from the life of gambling?” she finally asked.

He turned his head and offered her a heart-melting smile. “Pastor James Hunter found me, and I found the Lord.”

“He
found
you? I don’t understand.”

“Some men—gamblers I met on a riverboat in Mississippi—beat me up real bad and dumped me in the river. Jim was fishing nearby, and he saved me from drowning.”

“But Pastor Hunter lives in Granger, Wyoming,” she reminded.

David chuckled. “True, but he didn’t always live there. He used to pastor a church down south.”

“So, he saved your life and told you about Jesus, much like you did for me.”

“That’s right. I saw the light—like Paul in the Bible on his trip to Damascus. Shortly after my conversion, I felt led to become a minister. I traveled as a circuit-riding preacher for a few years, then finally went to Hope Academy in Omaha, Nebraska, for more training. That’s when the church here in Idaho called me to be their full-time pastor.”

“God changed your heart,” she said softly. “I should have known by your actions that you were nothing like Daddy.”

“Glenna, about your father …”

“Yes?”

“I really believe it might help if you talked about your feelings toward him.”

“There’s nothing to say. Daddy’s dead, and the only good thing he ever did was give me this.” She held up her left hand to show him her mother’s wedding band.

“I believe there’s some good in all men,” David murmured. “After all, your father married your mother, didn’t he?”

She only nodded in response.

“Through their union, you were created, and that was a good thing.”

A small, whitewashed wooden structure, which David referred to as “the parsonage,” stood next to a tall white church. This was to be their new home. Glenna swallowed back the lump which had formed in her throat. One week ago she had no home at all. Now, thanks to her impetuous decision to marry Reverend David Green, Glenna was about to take up residence in Idaho City—as a minister’s wife, for goodness’ sake. Never in a million years had she expected her life to take such a turn. Even if David didn’t love her the way she loved him, she would at least have a sense of belonging.