{Chapter 2)

“Have a nice day” Aubrey smiled as a customer left the mercantile. She began unloading assorted candles onto the half-price rack.

“Aubrey!” A voice carried to her from back in the storeroom.

“Brooke! I’m up front!” Aubrey called.

Her copper-haired friend came from the door that led to the storeroom.

“Why are you coming through the back door?” Aubrey asked, setting an empty crate on the stack in the corner with a few like it.

“He’s out there, Aubbie. He’s coming this way” Brooke ran to the window and peered out.

“Not Flynn Hawkins” Aubrey pleaded.

“I’m afraid so. Now act busy” Brooke ran behind the counter and pretended to be studying their customer’s credit accounts.

Aubrey went about her business of color-coordinating fabrics on their shelves.

The door opened and the tall, lanky, and bespectacled Mr. Flynn Hawkins entered.

“Aubrey!” he announced. “I’ve come on some business.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes while keeping her back to the man. He started each visit the same way.

“And what business would that be?” Aubrey asked, following their weekly routine.

“Same offer” Hawkins said.

“Same answer” Aubrey said in a singsong voice. “Want me to get Daddy?”

“No. He’ll say the same thing. I don’t see why you don’t sell out to me. I’m offering more than this place is worth” Hawkins’ annoyed voice said.

Aubrey turned around. “This mercantile has been in the Cutshall family for three generations. I’m not about to let you or anyone else take that from us. I hope you understand where I’m coming from. This is Cutshall legacy, Mr. Hawkins.”

“What do you want it for, anyway?” Brooke piped up.

“Brooke. It ain’t polite to ask a man’s business like that,” Aubrey said in a hushed voice. She turned to Hawkins. “Can I help you with something?”

“No” he mumbled while cutting his eyes as Brooke.

He walked out without another word.

“Glad that’s over for the week,” Aubrey said as she stacked a blue calico with its like color.

Brooke came from behind the counter. “When are you gonna run him off for good?”

“He’s not causin’ any harm, Brooke” Aubrey defended.

“Maybe not, but he’s plumb annoying” Brooke huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Enough about this, Brooke. Let’s talk about something more uplifting?” Aubrey smiled as she began stacking yellow fabrics.

A light shone in Brooke’s eyes, and Aubrey knew something wonderful had happened on her moonlit ride with her beau, Ryne Grey, last night. Aubrey quit stacking bolt of fabric and sat at the counter.

“Spill the beans, darlin’” she grinned.

Brooke released a dreamy sigh and rested her cheek in her hand. “He almost kissed me.”

“What!?” Aubrey exclaimed. “Brooke! We’ve planned since childhood to save our very first kiss for our wedding! What were you thinking?”

“Pipe down, Aubbie. I said almost.”

Aubrey breathed a sigh of relief. “Well? Did you set him straight?”

“I did” Brooke smiled. “He was so understanding about it.”

“Does he love you?” Aubrey asked.

“I… I think so” Brooke’s smiled broadened.

“You’ve got to know so, Brooke. Make him tell you or you’ll never know” Aubrey demanded.

“How do I do that?” Brooke asked.

Aubrey shrugged. “That’s for you to figure out. How about coming to eat dinner with me?”

“Sure” Brooke smiled.

Aubrey put the “Out for lunch” sign on the door and led Brooke out to the back entrance of her home.

**********

Wade watched as Jay wolfed down everything that was put in front of him. The very sight made his appetite disappear. By the time Jay had eaten all he physically could, it was time for Wade’s train to leave. He didn’t know what to do with the boy. It seemed cruel to leave him in Desperado to starve and be beaten up. He felt himself asking God what he should do. Surprisingly, the answer seemed clear.

“Do you have any other belongings, Jay?” Wade asked.

Jay shook his head.

“Then grab your apples. You’re coming with me.”

Jay stared at him as if he had just cursed him up one side and down the other.

“W-With you?”

“I can’t leave you here, can I? If you don’t have any family at all, then who’s gonna take care of you?” Wade asked.

Jay stared blankly at him.
“I work at a ranch back near Sundance. I’ll be taking a trip to Tennessee now, but I want to take you with me. Something in me won’t let me leave you here,” Wade explained.

“Why? Why are you doin’ this?” Jay asked as if he really didn’t understand.

“Because you need my help,” Wade answered.

Jay nodded. “I’ll come with you. You might change your mind about me after a while, though.”

“I doubt it. Come one. We’ll find you a shirt then I’ve really got to board the train.

They grabbed a shirt for Jay in a local store before running to catch the train before it left. Jay sat beside Wade, fidgeting in the new shirt.

The train sputtered to a start, and Wade looked up at the ceiling of the train car.

God, what am I doing? I can’t take care of a kid. I’m definitely not father material. Is this really what you want?

Wade sighed and his own words echoed back to him. Was he really questioning God?

Okay, okay. I’ll try my best, Lord. I just don’t want to fail. I don’t need to fail.

**********

Toni and Erik were sitting in front of their fireplace that night when Toni decided to bring up her idea.

“Erik, I want you to teach me how to fence” Toni blurted.

Erik narrowed his eyes. “Well, you dig a hole, put a post in it, fill it up, then string barbed wire from post to post. Or wood, whichever suits your fancy.”

Toni huffed. “That’s not what I’m talking about, Erik. I mean with swords. I found Uncle Mark’s old fencing swords last night.”

“Is that what I heard banging around after I went to bed?” Erik asked.

Toni nodded as she walked to the closet to retrieve the objects in discussion. “Shouldn’t be that much different than throwing knives.”

“It’s a whole world of different, Toni” Erik objected, standing.

“Then teach me to throw a knife.”

“No!” Erik instinctively moved his foot backward.

“Oh, Erik. Are you chicken?”

“Yes!”

Toni shook her head. There was only one other way to persuade her husband to do something.

“Please?” she pleaded, walking up to him and standing on his toes. “For me?”

“Toni, one of us will end up getting hurt, and you know it,” Erik reasoned.

“I want to learn something new. All I know is ranching and how to shoot a gun. I want to know something more hand-to-hand.”

“Toni…”Erik said undecidedly.

Toni leaned forward and kissed him softly. “Please?” she said against his lips.

“Oh, fine!” Erik set her back away from him. “But we’re not going to involve any weapons. You’ll have to learn to use these.”

Erik held up his hands.

“Sounds good to me” Toni stepped forward and kissed him again, a little deeper this time.

**********

Aubrey lay in bed that night beside her sister. Her thoughts wouldn’t allow her to sleep, though her eyes were heavy with the longing to drift into dreamland. She had this strange sense that something big was about to happen in her life, but she couldn’t place it. Her vivid imagination could be playing tricks on her, though it seemed unlikely. This was a deeper feeling, like something inside her was trying to tell her something. Sitting up carefully as to not awaken Bridgette, Aubrey slid off the bed and walked to the desk in front of the window that overlooked the street from their second-story view. She sat down behind it and lit the small candle that over looked her leather-bound, worn journal. Pages she had cried over, tears from happiness and sorrow. She cracked the cover and dipped her pen in ink.

November 26th 1859

My mind in running in every direction possible. There’s a feeling deep inside me that I can’t explain, yet can’t ignore. I feel that a milestone is about to take place in my life, and the ignorance is bewildering. I’m trying to trust God in this situation, and sometimes that seems to be all I can handle. I know that His plan is perfect, and that my soul purpose in life is to please Him, but sometimes my selfishness in wanting to know more about the future gets the best of me. Life isn’t as simple as it used to be when I was young. I’m nearly twenty-one years of age and I have no husband to show for it. That is a failure in my mother’s eyes. I want to get married, but to the right man. Is that what I feel is about to happen? Am I soon to find my one true love? One can only hope.

Life will roll on no matter what I try to do to make it stop, it keeps moving. All that’s left to do now is to move along with it and face whatever is coming my way.

Aubrey Susanna Cutshall

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