She had the grace to overlook his predicament. “Grandfather, we need to return to the ranch and get our things.” She studied the weary old man. “Actually why don’t you stay here and get to know Evan while I get our things?”
Grandfather gave her a grateful smile. “Don’t mind saying that’s the best offer I’ve had in a long time. That cold is bitter.”
“I’ll be back.” She looked around her at the unwashed dishes Mrs. Ross had left in her hurry to escape the frightened boy in the corner. “I’ll take care of things when I return.” She hurried outside. Winter afternoons were short and she had to pack up enough to last her and Grandfather a few weeks and get back to town before the cold deepened as darkness settled in. She could arrange for her other things to be delivered after she and Hugh were married.
Her jaw muscles twitched. She liked the preacher just fine. A marriage to him would suit her. A home and a family of her own without the risk of opening her heart.
She ignored the blaring warning that it might prove more difficult to guard her heart than she imagined, especially with a little boy who needed a wagonload of patience and understanding.
Heavenly Father, give me wisdom and patience to deal with little Evan.
She had gone into the parsonage wearing a stylish red winter cape but now pulled on a heavy winter coat that her brother Logan had outgrown, wrapped a buffalo robe around her legs and turned the wagon toward home. Wanting to spare the horses, she kept them to a slow trot. By the time she’d covered the four miles to the ranch, her hands were numb and her face ached from the cold.
Her brothers Conner and Dawson both ran out as she drove up as if they’d been waiting and watching for her return. Her brothers did their best to take care of her even though she didn’t need it. Besides they now had wives. Dawson, the eldest at twenty-six, had married beautiful Isabelle Redfield and they made a home with his daughter, six-year-old Mattie, in a house to one side of the main house.
Conner, twenty-four, had married the doctor’s daughter Kate. They had recently left a cold cabin and moved into the main house with little Ellie.
The youngest brother, Logan, at twenty-two and three years older than Annie, had married Sadie the schoolteacher and they lived in town with the three children they had rescued and adopted.
Everything had changed. Like Pa had said when Ma died, You can’t hang on to things. They don’t last. But life goes on. Her brothers had moved on as they should. It was time for her to move on as well.
Dawson lifted her from the wagon and hollered at one of the cowboys to take the outfit to the barn.
“Don’t unhitch,” Annie said. “I’m going back to town.”
Conner and Dawson rushed her indoors, pulled the heavy coat off her and faced her like two defending soldiers.
“Where’s Grandfather? Is he sick?”
“What’s this about going back to town?”
Kate came to the doorway. “You look half frozen. You two let her come in and have a hot drink before you cross-examine her.”
Her brothers stepped aside and allowed her to follow Kate to the kitchen. Little Ellie smiled at her from the high chair where she ate bits of bread.
“Hey, pumpkin,” she said to the baby before she sat at the table and took the tea Kate offered.
“Grandfather and I are going to live in town.” She explained about Hugh and little Evan. “They need someone.”
Both brothers spoke at once, making their opinions clear. They didn’t like the idea. They didn’t think she should settle for such an arrangement. She had no reason to pack up and leave.
On and on they went. Annie ignored them, grateful Logan wasn’t there to add to the ruckus.
She finished her tea and pushed to her feet. “I’d like to get back before dark. Anyone going to help pack things for Grandfather and me?” She didn’t wait for their answer but left the kitchen, crossed the big dining room and smaller sitting room to Grandfather’s bedroom and then pulled out a satchel and begin filling it.
Conner followed. “I don’t like this.”
“I think he’d like some of his books. There’s a crate in the closet off the sitting room,” she said.
Still protesting, Conner went to get the box and fill it with books.
If Annie thought that was the end of it, Dawson soon cleared up that notion. “You belong here with the rest of us.”
She didn’t point out that the rest of us had spouses and homes. “I’d like to take Grandfather’s armchair. Do you think you and Conner could load it in the wagon?”
Making a sound of exasperation, Dawson went to do her bidding.
Annie climbed the stairs to her own room. She paused to look around, an ache the size of a vast desert sucking her heart dry. This had been her room as long as she could remember. She’d spent happy hours here dreaming. No more dreams for her. She’d cried her share of tears on the bed. There’d be no more tears either. She’d stared out the window searching for something to fill her heart. A smile smoothed her tension. She’d found what she needed and pulled the sampler from the wall.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:21.
The sampler included a stitched house and the date she’d finished making the hanging. March 15, 1887.
She’d been fifteen and struggling to cope with the pain of loss from Ma’s death and the heavy load of responsibilities in trying to take her place. Working the words of the verse had helped her deal with it all. Her treasure was in heaven. In her faith. In God’s love.
She touched the red roses she’d embroidered in front of the needlework house. How many hours she’d spent on this project. She’d started the project right after Christmas and finished as the trees burst into leaf that spring.
Christmas! It was only four weeks away. If she proved herself, she would have made a loveless match by then but with her own home. She would do everything in her power to make the season special for her very own family. Her heart swelled with anticipation and she smiled as she put the sampler in the bottom of the satchel she’d brought from the hall closet and then opened the wardrobe to choose what to pack.
“You’re sure this is what you want to do?” Kate stood in the doorway, Ellie perched on her hip.
“I’ve made up my mind.”
“Is this because Conner and I moved into the house?”
Annie folded a warm woolen skirt and added it to the contents of the satchel, considering her answer. “You need your own space but it’s more than that.” Not that she was sure she could put it into words. “It’s time for me to move on.”
Kate continued to look troubled. “But you’re prepared to enter into a loveless marriage if Hugh agrees?”
“Seems to me love is only asking to be hurt. Besides, it’s not that he’s ugly or a criminal or anything.”
Kate chuckled low in her throat. “It sounds like you better be careful if you’re hoping to avoid love.”
Oh, she’d be careful. She had no intention of falling in love. “We both understand the terms of our agreement.” She kept her attention on her task. “Which at this point does not include marriage. I have yet to convince him it’s the perfect solution.” Satisfied she had enough clothing, she glanced around the room, picked up her brush and hand mirror, her Bible and the picture of Mama and Pa on their wedding day. She tucked those into her bag. “I’ll get the rest of my things later.”
“We’ll miss you,” Kate said as they descended the stairs.
Annie encountered her brothers as she made