Page 22 of Wagon Train Honor
“Oh, Robert.”
He lifted a shoulder in a gesture so full of weariness that she thought of holding him like she often did Bertie when he was upset. But Robert was not Bertie, nor was he her brother.
“Your ma?” The word barely escaped her lips, but she wanted to know. What had the woman endured? What had the children witnessed?
“Ma stayed with him, trying her best to soothe him. Mostly, she succeeded until Timmy died. After that…” His breath shuddered in and out.
“Why didn’t she leave?”
“How was she to live? I always said I would get a job and take care of her, but then we’d move. I’d go along and do what I could to help Ma. And then?—”
She nodded. And then she was gone. “Robert, how did you turn out to be such a good man?”
His smile erased the harsh lines. “What makes you think I’m a good man?”
“Because you’re a Mountie. Because you’re Carson’s friend and—” A little imp of mischief suggested a third reason. “And because you say a certain scent smells green.”
Her answer brought the desired effect as he burst out laughing.
“You’re good for me.” He hugged her, then stepped away. “I’m sorry. I had no right to do that.”
“You’re forgiven.” But she didn’t regret it. Not for one second. Even knowing her pa would have objected. “You can make up for it by answering my questions.”
Chapter 6
“Questions?”
Laughter rippled from her. “You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?” Of course, he knew. Echoing her words as if he didn’t have a thought of his own. Which, when she smiled at him like that, was true.
“I understand that being raised by a man like your father often turns the children into reflections of him. But that’s not true in your case. Why?”
The answer formed slowly in his thoughts. “I suppose because Ma was a believer. She taught us that no matter what happened, God would take care of us. I remember questioning her about it one night as we fled a town. Moved to new opportunities, Pa said. But we all knew he’d done it again. Hadn’t paid his bills. Had cheated someone. Or promised work he got paid for but didn’t do. Maybe he even helped himself to things that weren’t his.
“I will never forget her answer. She said we can let things make us bitter or better. We can’t control how others act, but we can choose how we’ll react. She caught my chin and said, ‘Son, if you follow in your pa’s footsteps, he has made you into his image. If you choose, instead, to follow God’s ways, you will become a man in God’s image.’” His voice cracked at the power of that memory.
Ruby squeezed his hands, offering comfort and encouragement. Or so he chose to believe.
He filled his lungs with her scent—and it wasn’t green. If it had a name, he’d say it was pink.
She shook his arm, reminding him to continue.
“I decided then and there I wouldn’t be like my father. I haven’t always been successful at following God’s ways, but even when I falter, I know I can turn back to Him, and He freely forgives.” The words rang with the conviction flowing through his insides like life-giving water.
“Robert, your life has been so different from mine.” Her lips drew back…in sadness? For him or her? Certainly not for her. Being raised in a loving family was, he was certain, both a privilege and a pleasure.
Nevertheless, he must acknowledge the difficulty of the things she’d dealt with. The death of her father. No doubt, there was more. “I’m sure you’ve had your challenges too.”
“Pa’s dying was difficult. So slow and painful.”
Did he detect a twitch of her lips? What did it mean?
She continued. “Of course, other things have taught me to trust God more.”
The way her amused words bubbled had him raising his eyebrows in silent question.
Her smile crinkled her cheeks. “I guess I learned to trust God through circumstances vastly different from yours, like when Bertie fell into the river when I was maybe eight. He would have been sixteen. Big but helpless and scared. No one else was around. I couldn’t swim well enough to pull him out. He flailed around trying to find the bottom.” She withdrew her hands to wrap her arms around herself. “I was terrified but knew I had to rescue him.”
