The Fire in Ember - DiAnn Mills [63]
“If he rides up all decked out like the man we remember, we’ll tell him we don’t need him.”
Best news John had heard all day. “Well, I’ll be headin’ back soon. Anything you need?”
“Just a report from Oberlander. Sure hope his men have located their cattle. But I’m sure he’d have contacted me if that were the case.”
“Makes me wonder when the rustlers will strike again.”
Bob rubbed his face. “Does look like we’re in for more stealing.”
“And why didn’t the shooter who grazed my arm finish me off?”
Bob appeared to study John’s face. “Good question. And I don’t have an answer.”
“I can’t believe it was a lucky miss.” John stood and refused to think about Bert and her possible involvement. No, he refused to give in to his own suspicions.
CHAPTER 28
All Bert could think about was her morning’s encounter with Simon. She tried to push it from her mind, knowing she couldn’t do a thing about his demands, but the nightmare still plagued her. The old sensation of a heavy weight bearing down on her shoulders had returned.
Late in the afternoon, she helped Bess roll out pie dough for berry and custard pies. Her thoughts continued to race about Simon … what he could do … what he’d planned for her.
Bess was in her preachin’ mood, at least that’s what Bert called it. And she did attempt to pay attention, if for no more reason than the things about God were important to the Timmonses and Miss Bess. But Bert’s problems were far more serious than what any God could handle. God would have to write a new book just for her.
“I sure like the Proverbs,” Bess said, breaking eggs into a bowl.
“Why?” Bert measured sugar into a cup and poured it into Bess’s bowl.
“It’s filled with wise sayings telling us how to live. I like the no-nonsense language. It’s blunt. Just the way I am. One says there’s a friend who sticks closer than a brother, a brother who loves you no matter what you’ve done or will do.”
Gideon’s words repeated in Bert’s mind. He didn’t believe in God. He said a person lived and died. Nothing more. Whom did she believe? Gideon had been the only one who cared for her, the only brother who’d protected her.
“What if you have a brother, a good brother, who isn’t God-fearin'?”
“Same thing. God sticks close to those who trust Him. Better than a brother, who might be good or bad. But what the writer is talking about is a good brother.”
Could Gideon have been wrong? Bert let the words swim through her mind. She needed a friend she could trust, someone who’d not abandon her when the going got hard. He’d not be afraid of Simon, and he’d be bigger and more powerful.
“What if I wanted this friend?”
“God’s more than that, but you have to ask Him. He doesn’t come without an invitation.”
Bert carried those words inside her for the remainder of the afternoon and on into the evening. In the quiet of her room, she tried to remember what Leah, Bess, and Preacher Waller had said about trusting God. Leah said having God walk with her didn’t mean hard times wouldn’t come. It meant Bert didn’t have to walk the road alone. All the lonely nights while she shivered in the cold and listened for wolves filled her with an intense longing for a better life.
An incident with Davis came to mind. The boy had repeated a story Evan had told him. A mule wanted to be a horse in a bad way. He hated his ears and the way he had to work hard, when all he really wanted to do was run like the wind with the horses on the ranch. One day he refused to be hitched up to a plow. So the rancher couldn’t work the soil to plant wheat. When the winter winds blew and the cattle and horses weren’t able to graze, the animals had no grain to eat. The cattle, horses, and the mule grew very thin. Some even died. The farmer couldn’t take lean cattle to market. And the horses were too weak to run. The mule realized if he’d done his job, his friends would not be starving. He loved all the animals on the farm and considered running away. The rancher looked at all of the animals and told them how much he valued