Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie, Montana (22 page)

“No, Josh, that’s not how you git a wife.” Christopher rolled his eyes, obviously exasperated by his little brother’s ignorance. “The Good Lord brings one when the time is right, just like He did for that Isaac in the Bible.”

“And just like He’ll do for our Isaac.” Miriam’s face shifted, and her eyes peered at her brother.

“Who can tell me the main point of the passage in John?” Jefferson asked, rescuing Isaac from his wife’s meddling.

“I think it means that Christ is the well that never runs dry.” Julia, who seemed oblivious to the bantering, leaned over the Bible, her eyes skimming the passage. “He gives us what we need. He gave Isaac in the Bible what he needed, a wife. And He gives all of those who trust in Him living water, eternal life.” She lifted her head.

“Well, I think Miss Cavanaugh got it jest ’bout right.” Jefferson placed his hands on the table.

Isaac leaned back in his chair, watching her.

Miriam patted Julia’s hand. “God opens the eyes of His people to His Word.” She squinted at Isaac. “I think I heard that somewhere before.”

Jefferson closed their Bible time in prayer, and as they cleaned up and prepared for the party, Isaac watched Jim and Mabelina exchanging glances and sneaking kisses. Something in him longed for the trust, friendship, and love they shared.

It is not good that the man should be alone
. Milo had quoted this verse before he died. Those words had gnawed at Isaac, replaying in his head ever since. Now they came back.

He stole another glance at Julia Cavanaugh, joining so seamlessly with his family, and for the first time Isaac allowed himself to wonder if perhaps Milo and Miriam and Elizabeth were right. Could a wife be something God intended for him?

Julia tucked her present for Isaac under the gifts piled on the padded wooden sofa. Then she sat down next to the pile. Her stomach churned with nervous excitement as Isaac sank into the spot on the other side of the gifts.

“Open mine first, Uncle Ike.” Twelve-year-old Christopher thumbed his overalls and licked his lips as he handed Isaac a red bandanna-wrapped gift then plopped down on the bearskin rug next to the other children.

“Hey, is that my bandanna? I’ve been missing it.” He glanced at Julia, with a playful grin.

A tinge of warmth spread to Julia’s neck remembering her emotional outburst that caused him to let her borrow his kerchief. “Yes, and don’t worry, it’s clean.”

Inside the bandanna was a hand-carved slingshot. “Oh, that’s perfect.” Isaac held up his gift for those sitting around the room to admire.

Julia had watched Christopher carve it over the last few days, finally attaching the leather strap. She patted his shoulder.

Isaac eyed it again. “You’ve done a fine job. I think it’s your best work.”

Christopher’s face beamed at his uncle’s approval. “I found the old stick over in the coulee, then I carved it.”

“It’s just right for fetching a quick gopher dinner on the prairie. Thank you.”

As the afternoon sun’s rays sloped through the window, Julia’s foot tapped on the wood-planked floor. She waited as Isaac received each present—painted rocks she’d helped Josh and Bea make, a new hand-sewn shirt from Abe and Elizabeth, and an old dusty commentary on the book of Genesis Miriam and Jefferson gave.

Only her gift remained, and the tension in her stomach made her wish she’d never put the leather Bible cover with the others. She chided herself.
Why am I so nervous? It’s only a gift.

“There’s one more.” Miriam pushed the heap of treasures to the side and uncovered Julia’s package. The gift waited inside a simple bag Julia had sewn from potato sack scraps. She’d embroidered “Happy Birthday” on it with thick thread.

Isaac picked it up, his hands smoothing the bag as he examined the stitchery. “That’s some nice-looking needlework. Who’s this from?”

Elizabeth, who sat on Abe’s lap in a wide, high-backed chair, threw Julia a smile. “Julia made it. That girl’s a harvest of talent.”

Bea hopped down and clambered over to Julia, resting an elbow on her knees. “Miss Cav’naw tawented.”

Julia patted Bea’s head and then thrummed her fingers on her leg. “It’s not much, just something I threw together.”

Isaac locked eyes with her then loosened the cinch to open the sack. He lifted out the Bible cover and moved it between his hands, as though trying to make out what it was. Julia’s heart felt as if it would break through her ribs, until a slight grin finally crept over his mouth and into his eyes. He ran his fingers over his stitched name.

“You made this for me?” The grin changed into a full-faced smile. “It’s perfect.”

“That’s real nice, Miss Cavanaugh,” Johannah said. “Maybe you could teach us to embroider in school.”

“I’d love to.” Julia bit a nail and then glanced at Isaac. “You should try it on your Bible. We had to guess at the measurements. I used one of Miriam’s books as a model.”

Isaac reached into his pack beside the sofa and retrieved his Bible. He fumbled as he tried to fit the cover over its limp sleeves, and Julia slid next to him to help.

“You put it on like this.” She laid the cover on the bench then scooped Isaac’s Bible from his lap, her finger lightly brushing his thigh. Ignoring the flood of warmth shooting to her face, she slipped the sleeves in and folded the Bible closed.

She smiled and handed it to him, relieved to have the task complete. “I’m so glad it fits.”

Isaac turned the covered Bible over, opened it, and closed it. Then he tilted his chin toward Julia and smiled. “This is one of the most thoughtful gifts anyone has ever given me.”

She swept her hand through the air, as if brushing his comment aside. “I just thought with all your traveling, you might need it. The children helped me. And—and after everything you’ve taught me about the Scriptures, I figured it was the least I could do.”

“Well, you didn’t have to go to all the trouble.” He leaned closer to her and lowered his voice. “Especially for someone as rude as I am.”

Julia laughed at his reference to their first meeting.

Bea suddenly bolted upright and then raced to the window. “Horsies!” her voice squeaked. “Someone home!”

Miriam lumbered to her feet. “Oh, the guests are here.” She and Elizabeth, along with the girls, scrambled to the kitchen to fetch tablecloths and lanterns.

“Doggie!” Bea wrapped her fist in Calamity’s fur and they hurried outside to the back yard together.

“At least the dog doesn’t seem to mind,” Julia mumbled as she grabbed a bowl of apple dumplings she’d made and wandered out back. Bea’d grown more attached to the sheepdog every time Isaac brought her around.

Within thirty minutes, with the sun sagging low on the horizon, a vigorous fire burned. The back table boasted more delights than the group could eat, and at least three dozen folks milled about talking and laughing.

The ever-present wind grew cold, and Julia warmed her hands and arms over the fire. Sage branches released their musky scent as they burned. Julia took in a breath as Bea toddled over and held up a cookie she’d been nibbling on, showing Julia.

“Mmm, that looks good.”

Then Julia laughed as Bea took another bite, spotted Calamity, and toddled over to the dog, offering the rest of the cookie. Calamity accepted the treat from Bea’s hand with a wag of her tail. “Hun-gy dog-gie.”

Glancing at the faces around her, gilded by the sunset and fire’s glow, Julia sensed a feeling she’d not acknowledged since she arrived. One she was still reluctant to admit. This place felt like home.

Home.

Isaac’s family had so easily accepted her. She’d fallen into the pattern of life here: chores, teaching, more chores—with an occasional hoedown or dip in the lake to break up the repetitiveness. She’d worked harder than she ever had at the orphanage, but her fellowship with Miriam, Elizabeth, and the other Lonesome Prairie ladies, along with her time spent with children, added a deep joy that far outweighed the difficulty of the work.

The long talks with Isaac when he breezed into town every couple of weeks also anchored her heart here. How Miriam and Elizabeth managed to maneuver them to the porch and then create excuses to leave them alone amused both Julia and Isaac. It had become a guessing game, each boasting they knew what the excuse would be—Miriam saying she needed to shuck the corn at that moment, Elizabeth wanting to give Bea a bath….

But Julia was secretly grateful to Isaac’s sisters. Not only because time alone with him gave her the opportunity to uncover Isaac’s admirable character and easy laugh, but also because their conversations often turned to the Bible. He seemed more than willing to discuss her questions for hours. And as they talked, the foundational truths she’d learned as a child became woven together, forming a beautiful pattern she never knew was in the Bible. And she hungered for more.

She also savored each meal she shared with these folks—for the company as well as for the food, which seemed richer, heartier than anything she’d eaten in the city.
Probably because we work so hard for it.
She fingered a pleat in her cotton skirt. With each day that passed, her city-girl shell slipped away, and a stronger, more secure woman emerged. A woman who might discover she actually felt at home on the prairie. In fact, truth be told, there were some days Julia didn’t mind so much that Mrs. Gaffin hadn’t responded with the funds needed to reimburse Horace and to purchase a return ticket to New York.

Branches snapped in the fire, causing a series of pops, and she tried to push out the thoughts that stirred in her mind. She knew if she let herself continue down this trail, dreaming of a life for herself here, she’d never see Mrs. Gaffin again. And she felt guilty for being willing to trade in her old life for a new one so quickly. Plus, was staying here realistic?

She’d known Isaac’s family a month. True, they welcomed and seemed to accept her, but how could she exchange the long years she’d spent with her loving headmistress for a life with people she barely knew? Her heartbeat quickened as she realized the longer she stayed here, the more her heart would become attached to these folks who’d already grown so dear. And the more difficult it would be to leave.

But she’d made up her mind. She’d return to New York as soon as she received the money for a ticket. She couldn’t just abandon Mrs. Gaffin and her life there. After all, Mrs. Gaffin had done so much for her….

Julia meandered back into the kitchen to fetch another dish, her mind rolling along the same paths it had for the last few days. Returning merely because of Mrs. Gaffin was a poor excuse, she knew. Certainly the headmistress could take care of herself, especially with her wealthy new husband.

The whole truth was, Julia didn’t know how she could live here and not completely fall in love with Isaac.
There, I finally admitted it.
Acknowledging the truth to herself washed a sense of relief over her. Now that she accepted it, she could stifle her feelings—just until she could go home. She set down the plate of chicken on the table.

Isaac walked up just then, driving her thoughts back to the present. His handsome, strong build sent a quiver up her arms. He tipped his hat as he sidled up next to her. “I just wanted to tell you—”

Her heart raced, expecting a word of encouragement or another thank-you for the gift.

Instead, his forehead furrowed, his eyes narrowed. “I don’t let things like that sit for long.”

She twisted her head toward him, confused and sensing his disapproval.

“That grave joke you put them up to? I’ll get you back.” He threw her a sober glance then winked and walked off.

Her jaw dropped as she watched him. “Wait a minute…” But before she could think of a retort, Miriam stepped in and tugged him away. She called for everyone to gather, and soon benches formed a wide circle around the fire with Isaac situated closest to the house. Before Julia could navigate herself toward a seat, Elizabeth shuffled her to the spot next to Isaac.

One after another, the folks gathered paid tribute to Parson Ike. Julia hadn’t realized, but folks from all over Isaac’s circuit had come out to celebrate their parson’s birthday.

The children—now comfortable with performing for adults, thanks to Miss Cavanaugh and Shakespeare—initiated the festivities with a series of short skits. In one, they acted out a time when Isaac apparently showed up at the meeting room in Cascade in the cold of winter wearing only his long johns. Apparently a bandit along the way had stolen his coat, and Isaac offered him his clothes, too, if he’d only come to the meeting.

Julia laughed and watched as the parson dipped his head.

Then a woman stood and shared a story about how she hadn’t seen her father since she was a little girl—until Parson Ike rode down to the mines in Butte and found him, urging him to make it home for his daughter’s birthday. And when the man claimed he’d never be able to get there in time on foot, Isaac lent him Virginia and caught a ride back on the stage.

The night stole on as Isaac’s parishioners told their stories. Widows shared about how he helped repair their homes. Ranchers injured by one accident or another explained how Isaac had tended their livestock until they could heal. A young man stood up and told how he believed God used Isaac’s faith to “make an honest man” out of him.