Measure of Grace (20 page)

Jordan met his gaze. “What’s that?”

“Well, I’ve been hearing some talk around town about you and Belinda Ashworth. Is it true that love is budding between the two of you and you haven’t even told your best friend about it? You haven’t said a word.”

Jordan sighed. “So you were told that Belinda and I are in love.”

“Mm-hmm. Three times.”

Jordan’s features hardened. He shook his head, meeting Knight’s gaze. “It’s not true. Belinda and I are not in love. But she’s telling people we are.”

Knight frowned. “Uh-oh.”

“I might as well tell you. This is the thing that has been troubling me so much.”

“Oh, so that’s it.”

“Yeah. Belinda’s parents and my parents are putting pressure on me to marry her, and Belinda has been adding her own pressure—not only by pushing herself on me, but by telling her friends that we have fallen in love.”

Knight nodded, and went back to work with the knife. “Don’t you feel something for Belinda?”

“Only friendship. I have absolutely no romantic feelings toward
her whatsoever. I am not interested in her as a possible wife. After Nellie Freeman dumped me for that other guy five years ago, I haven’t found anyone who interests me. And Belinda is about to destroy even the friendship I feel toward her. Knight, I can’t go anywhere in town or even among the ranchers without being bombarded with questions about when the wedding is going to take place. I’m trying very hard not to cause any trouble for Belinda or to embarrass her in any way. But if she keeps it up, I’ll have to do something to put a stop to it.”

Knight paused in his work again. “I can understand why you want it stopped.”

“It’s got to stop. The pressure from both sets of parents and the lies Belinda is telling are about to drive me crazy. I’ve got to do something about it, but I don’t know how to do it without hurting their feelings—especially those of my own parents. I’ve come close to losing my temper with Belinda, and so far I’ve been able to keep from it. But you know my temper. Do you have any suggestions? This thing can’t go on.”

“Have you told your parents that you’re not interested in marrying Belinda?”

“Yes. But they both want her for a daughter-in-law so bad, they say in time as I get to know her better, I will fall in love with her. So the problem is still there.”

Knight shook his head. “You do have a problem, but I don’t know what to suggest. It wouldn’t be so complicated if your own parents weren’t so adamant in their desire for you to marry Belinda. And I certainly admire you for wanting to spare them from being hurt. Wish I could help, but I’m drawing a blank on this one.”

Jordan nodded. “I guess I’ll have to figure it out for myself. It’s my dilemma.”

They finished cutting up the elk into relatively small pieces, put the meat in gunnysacks, draped them over the horses’ backs behind the saddles, and headed for home.

While they were working their way down the steep slopes toward level land, Jordan said, “Ol’ pal, we’ve talked about the lack of romance in my life. What about the lack of romance in your life?”

Knight was quiet for a brief moment, then said, “Well, it’s like this. Even though there are a few eligible young women in both Elkton and Ketcham, I simply haven’t found the right one.”

Jordan chuckled. “Pardon me, but I happen to know that Christine Pfeiffer in Elkton and Kathleen O’Hara in Ketcham both admire you a whole lot. They’re both lovely young ladies. Why don’t you pursue one of them?”

“They are both nice girls, Jordan, but they’re not Christians. I would never marry a girl who doesn’t know the Lord. If I did, it wouldn’t work. God calls that an unequal yoke, and commands His born-again children not to be unequally yoked to unbelievers.”

“Oh. I wasn’t aware of that. Makes sense, though.”

Knight smiled. “Everything God says in His Word makes sense.”

The following morning, Jordan Shaw walked into the Ketcham Bank and approached the closest teller’s window.

“Good morning, Jordan,” said the small, baldheaded man. “How are things at the Bar-S?”

“Couldn’t be better, Edgar,” Jordan replied with a warm smile. “In fact, it’s so good, I’m here to make a deposit into the Bar-S business account.” As Jordan spoke, he handed Edgar the checks and currency, along with a deposit slip.

Edgar looked at the deposit slip, then at Jordan. “It’s not dated. Would you mind putting the date on the slip, please?”

“Of course not,” said Jordan, taking a pen from an inkwell provided for the customers. He paused, looking toward the ceiling. “Uh …”

Edgar chuckled. “It’s Wednesday, October 16, 1872.”

Jordan laughed as he wrote it down. “Oh yeah! I’ve been so busy, the time gets away from me. The sixteenth, already. What do you know?”

Less than two minutes later, Jordan stepped out of the bank onto the boardwalk, tucking the receipt in his shirt pocket. He was heading for his horse when he heard a familiar female voice call his name.

His stomach tightened.

He halted, a frown etching itself across his brow. Before he turned to look at Belinda, he muttered to himself, “Oh no. What now?”

Then with effort, he replaced the frown with a fake smile and turned toward her. With Belinda were her parents, and a man and woman about their age. They were coming toward him with Belinda in the lead. All five were smiling broadly.

“Hello, Jordie,” said a bright-eyed Belinda, drawing up. She turned toward the others, making sure her arm touched Jordan’s. “Papa, I’ll let you make the introductions.”

Belinda’s bold move to press herself so close to Jordan made him nervous.

Hyman introduced his brother and sister-in-law, Ralph and Claire Ashworth, to Jordan, saying they were from Lincoln, Nebraska. After Jordan politely greeted them, Hyman explained that they had just picked Ralph and Claire up at the railroad station. They had come to visit for a few days.

Both Ralph and Claire were friendly to Jordan, and his stomach tightened the more when a smiling Claire said, “Jordan, Belinda has written us several times about you. I’m so glad to see that my niece’s young man is every bit as handsome as we’ve been told.” Giggling in a girlish way, she ran her gaze between Jordan and Belinda. “Are you two engaged, yet?”

Jordan’s stomach wrenched.

While he was trying to think of a way to react to the question without upsetting Hyman and Dorothy, Belinda slipped her hand into the crook of his arm. “Now, now, Auntie Claire. We mustn’t rush things!”

Jordan’s mind was racing. How was he going to bring this misleading “courtship” to an end? This horrid thing had to stop.

At that moment, Jordan’s attention was drawn to a buggy coming from the direction of the railroad station, occupied by a young couple. Only the man was familiar. He was Del Forton. Jordan and Knight had gone all the way through school with Del, who had moved with his parents to the small town of Lost River, Idaho—some forty miles east—a couple of years after graduation. Jordan
had seen Del only twice since then.

In order to get away from the Ashworths, Jordan called out, “Del! Hey, Del!” and waved.

Del heard him immediately, turned to see who was calling his name, and smiled as he pulled rein. “Jordan! Hey! Good to see you!”

Quickly, Jordan turned to the Ashworths. “I’ll have to ask you to excuse me. This is an old friend I haven’t seen in a long time.”

“Of course,” said Hyman.

Belinda let go of Jordan’s arm, and he hurried across the street toward the buggy.

Del Forton jumped out of the buggy and shook hands with Jordan. “It really is good to see you.”

“Same here,” said Jordan, relieved to be away from Belinda and her family. He glanced at the lovely young woman. “And who’s this, Del?”

“Someone I want you to meet. I just told her who you were. Jordan, I want you to meet Miss Sally Myers from Buffalo, New York.”

“Proud to meet you, Miss Sally,” said Jordan.

“Sally has come to be my mail order bride,” said Del. “I just picked her up at the depot.”

Jordan’s eyes widened. “Your mail order bride?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m pleased to meet you,” said Sally. “Del told me just now that the two of you went all the way through school together.”

“We sure did,” said Jordan, then turned to his old friend. “Mail order bride, eh?”

“Mm-hmm. I simply hadn’t been able to find a girl that suited me anywhere in this part of Idaho, so I decided to try the mail order bride system. I put ads in several eastern newspapers. I received a good number of letters answering the ads, but when I read Sally’s letter, I knew she was the one.”

“Well, well, well!” said Jordan. He set his gaze back on Sally. “I’ve heard about women coming west from mail order bride ads, but I’ve never met one.”

While climbing back into the buggy, Del said, “Sally is going to
be staying with some neighbors while the two of us get better acquainted. If everything works out like we think it will, we’ll marry.”

Rapid thoughts were flitting through Jordan’s mind as he said, “I have a feeling it is definitely going to work out for you.”

Del and Sally told Jordan good-bye, and as the buggy pulled away, Jordan turned around and headed back across the street. Deep in thought about his conversation with Del and Sally while threading through the traffic, Jordan failed to see Belinda standing outside the mercantile, a half block down the street from the bank. She was waving at him, trying to draw his attention.

She thought he looked her way a couple of times, but he proceeded across the street, mounted, and trotted his horse the opposite direction, heading north out of town toward Elkton.

A pucker formed between Belinda’s eyebrows.
I wonder
, she thought.
Did he really not see me, or was he just pretending?
Giving horse and rider one last glance as they passed from view, she entered the store, seeking her mother and Aunt Claire.

Totally unaware of Belinda’s presence in front of the mercantile, Jordan trotted his horse out of town, his mind still fixed on the chance meeting with Del Forton and Sally Myers.

“A mail order bride, hmm?” he mused aloud, with only the horse to hear. “Is this possibly the solution to my problem? But … could I marry someone I don’t really know?”

He thought on it a moment.

“Well, I know Belinda, and I sure can’t and won’t marry her.”

The bay gelding turned his head and rolled his eyes back as if to say, “Were you talking to me?”

Jordan laughed. “It’s okay, ol’ boy. I was just talking to myself. I … I think I might have the answer to my big problem.”

Arriving in Elkton, Jordan hauled up in front of the newspaper building, excited about talking to his best friend. He slid from the saddle, tied the horse to the hitch rail, and entered the office.

“Hello, Jordan,” said Erline Tyler with a bright smile.

“Hello, Erline. Is Knight in his office?”

“He sure is. Go on in.”

Jordan could barely contain his excitement as he knocked on Knight’s door and waited for a reply.

“Come in!” came the familiar voice.

The instant Knight saw the light in his friend’s eyes and the wide smile on his lips, he knew something good had happened. Rising from his desk, he said, “You look happier than I’ve seen you in a long time.”

“Can we talk?”

Piqued with curiosity, Knight gestured toward the chair in front of his desk. “Of course. Come sit down.”

Jordan immediately began pacing the floor. “I’m too excited to sit, Knight. Go ahead. You sit down.”

The pacing went on while a puzzled Knight Colburn returned to his chair behind the desk. “What in the world has got you so stirred up, pal?”

Still in motion, Jordan’s words tumbled off his tongue one on top of the other. “I found the answer, friend. I found it! My Belinda problem is about to come to an end.”

Knight jumped out of his chair, rounded the desk, and took hold of Jordan’s arm. “Come on,” he said, guiding him to the intended chair. “Sit down so we can talk.”

With that, Knight pushed him down on the chair. Jordan remained where placed, and Knight sat on the edge of the desk. Lowering his head to look his friend straight in the eye, he said, “All right, now. Out with it. What’s this wonderful plan that is going to solve your Belinda problem? Give it to me slowly.”

Eyes dancing, Jordan held his words to a normal pace and said, “Guess who I just saw in Ketcham?”

“Uh … George Washington.”

Jordan shook his head and snorted. “Come on. Be serious.”

“All right. Who did you see?”

“Del Forton.”

“Del! Well, how’s he doing?”

“Just great.”

“Is he married?”

“No, but that is exactly what I want to tell you about!”

“What’s got you so excited? Has he asked you to be best man in his wedding?”

“Aw, nothing like that. Listen to me, now.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Del had a pretty lady named Miss Sally Myers with him. He had just picked her up at the railroad station. She’s from Buffalo, New York, and has come to be his mail order bride!”

Knight left the desk top, sat down in his chair, and chuckled. “Well, isn’t that something? A mail order bride.”

Leaning over the desktop on his elbows, and looking Knight square in the eye, Jordan said in a level tone, “I want to place a mail order bride ad in several papers back east. You can wire them for me, can’t you?”

“Why … ah … yes, but—”

“But what?”

“Well, this is all so sudden. I—”

“Knight, I ran into Belinda and her parents in Ketcham. They had picked up Hyman’s brother and his wife at the depot. Belinda’s aunt told me right off that Belinda had written to them about me several times … then she asked if we were engaged yet.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. That’s it! Knight, I want to order myself a bride from back east. That will solve the Belinda problem once and for all.”

Knight frowned slightly. “You’re really serious about this.”

“I couldn’t be more serious. When my mail order bride arrives, I’ll strut down the streets of Elkton and let all the busybodies see her. It won’t take long for word to get to Belinda, her parents, and my own parents. Nobody’s feelings should be hurt, because I’ve made no commitment to Belinda, and no promise to her parents or mine that I would marry her. This will settle the whole thing without my hurting anybody.”