Chapter 12
“Cass, wake up.”
She had the odd sensation of being a baby back in her mother’s arms. Being rocked gently back and forth. She fell back asleep. The rocking continued.
“Cass, honey, wake up. We gotta go.”
The gentle voice kept pestering her. She was disoriented for a few seconds.
Red crouched in front of her. His hand rocked her shoulder, and he spoke in hushed tones. “I’m sorry it got so late. I had more to do than usual. And thanks for delivering the groceries. Libby told me all about it.”
Ah, yes, that was why she was asleep on Muriel’s couch in the dim light of early evening. And she’d ruined his job at the diner. “I’m sorry.” She whispered because he was whispering. “Did Libby still pay you? I didn’t mean…” She stopped her apology when Red smiled at her.
“Don’t worry about it. Libby said if they volunteer to help you when you’re doing my work and the job gets done, it’s all the same to her.”
Cassie pushed against the couch, her stomach a bit unwieldy in her groggy state. Red slipped his arms under her shoulders and knees. She was fat with the baby, but he lifted her into his arms as if he didn’t notice her weight.
“Muriel said you’d eaten with her and Seth.” He continued speaking softly. “Then we decided to let you sleep while she fed me and told me about the job she offered you.”
“Is that all right with you, Red? She was really busy. I just pitched in to help her. It was only after we were done that she suggested paying me.”
“It’s fine for now, but I told her when the baby got closer, it might be too much for you. We don’t want you to be exhausted, now, do we?” He hefted her up and down a few times in his arms as if to remind her that she was indeed very tired or she wouldn’t be cradled in his arms this way.
“I’ll be careful, Red. Muriel will know what I can and can’t do.
” Cassie leaned closer to him to share her wonderful discovery.
“Muriel knows everything about babies. She and Libby and Leota told me so much today. I feel smarter already. Except then later, I thought of a lot of questions, so I want to talk to them again. And the way they just talked and talked about having babies and caring for them, as though it was the most natural thing in the world to do, it made me feel better about everything. And I…I shouldn’t have done it because it was disloyal to Griff, but I said about an expectant mother being unclean and…
oh, Red, the things they said about Griff.
It wasn’t right at all, and I made them stop, but maybe there are more ways than just his of seeing things.
” Cassie laid her heavy head on his shoulder, exhausted and a little shocked at the way she was chattering and saying such a horrible thing about Griff.
She’d have never admitted that if she wasn’t still half asleep.
“I got us a room at Grant’s. ’Bye, Seth, Muriel, and thanks.”
Only then, as Red carried her out of the room, did Cassie realize Seth and Muriel had been standing just behind him the whole time.
Her cheeks heated at the thought that they’d seen Red hold her so close.
Not to mention the whispered conversation they’d overheard.
Had she spoken critical words to Red about the ladies for being upset at Griff?
She peeked around Red and said, “Goodbye.”
Seth waved, and Muriel had a satisfied smile similar to the one she’d had this afternoon when Red had left Cassie in her care.
Cassie worried the whole way to Grant’s Hotel.
Then it hit her that Red had carried her the entire distance, right down Main Street, and she worried about that.
It was quiet, though, and all the businesses were closed.
The only thing lit up was the Golden Butte, and tinny music came out of the swinging saloon doors.
She was still consumed with her doubts when Red set her down in their room. Letting him carry her the whole way was so rude. “Is it very late, Red? It gets dark early this time of year, but it’s not full dark. We don’t have to go to bed yet if you don’t want to.”
“I have preachin’ tomorrow ’cuz Parson Bergstrom is out of town.
I’ve already thought of what I want to say, but I want to spend a little time studyin’ on it, so if it’s all right with you, I’ll sit up for a while with the lantern on.
If it doesn’t disturb you, that is. I think you should sleep, Cass.
You’ve had a big day. If my reading bothers you, Lars will let me use his dining room. ”
“I’m sure you won’t bother me.” Anxiety swirled at the idea of his leaving her alone in this unfamiliar room.
“All right, then. I’ll read in here. I’ll give you a few minutes of privacy to get ready for bed.” Red politely left the room while she hurried to find her nightgown.
She changed, and when she was ready, she cracked the door open an inch and peeked out. He was leaning patiently against the wall straight across from her door, reading a Bible.
“I’m ready now,” she said shyly. “You can come back.”
She ducked behind the door and crawled into bed quickly before Red came in. He sat in a rocker, reading his big black Bible by lantern light—surely, the most comforting sight in the world. “What are you reading?”
“I’m going to talk about marriage tomorrow morning.
That’s all I ever do, talk about what I’ve done during the week and how God has been with me.
I don’t exactly preach a regular sermon.
I’m studying with the parson to be a licensed minister.
He’s helping me get approved through his mission society so I can take over in Divide and he can serve other towns. ”
“Is that hard, to get licensed?”
Red’s strong shoulders rose in a shrug. He carried a lot of weight on them, with no complaint. “It’s a lot of Bible study, but I like doing that, anyway, so no, I wouldn’t call it hard.”
She compared Red’s tattered Bible with the massive, elegant book her family had handed down.
No one had ever read it because it was printed in German.
It was only for recording family history and for show.
Her mother had often told her it was a gift to royalty, given to Cassie’s countess great-grandmother back in Spain.
She ached to think of giving it up, but it couldn’t be helped now.
On a soft sigh, she relaxed as she watched Red’s competent hands silently turn the tissue-thin page. She decided she liked Red’s Bible better.
She fell asleep almost instantly.
Red always got to sleep late on Sunday. It was something he’d been doing ever since he’d taken over the preaching at Divide, as if his body had a clock of its own and it knew he was miles from his stock and his morning chores.
Usually, he was outside on the hard ground, something he enjoyed.
Although in the winter, it got a little rugged.
Muriel had been known to let him sleep on the floor inside, since they held the church services in the general store.
But this morning, he woke in a soft feather bed.
One he’d turned and beaten himself just yesterday.
He could still smell the fresh outdoors on it from when he’d let it lie in the sunlight for a while.
He didn’t think much about the smell and the fluffed-up feathers.
They were just a little slice of pleasure added to how Cassie felt in his arms. She was hanging on him just like every morning.
Red took a long time praying his thanks to God for how nice she felt.
He marveled at how wonderful heaven must be if it was better than how he was feeling right now.
He had plenty of time before he needed to get up for services. They didn’t hold them until real late, nine o’clock, so people could get their morning chores done and get in from out of town.
The time at church was Red’s favorite time of the week.
He wasn’t a man who believed you had to go to church to talk to God.
He carried God with him in his heart all the time, but he loved the joy that rose up in his soul when he talked and sang with other believers.
Sharing his faith as a preacher inspired him to study his Bible and pray to God a dozen times a day.
He found something exciting every time he read, and God touched his life in a hundred ways during the week that he wanted to tell people about.
He didn’t run a church service in a normal way.
He didn’t exactly preach a sermon as Parson Bergstrom did.
He’d just start talking about something he’d read and how he’d reacted to it.
He’d ask the people who were there what they thought about his impressions, and they’d all end up talking long and hard about the Bible verse he’d selected that week.
He was especially looking forward to this Sunday morning. Being married had given him a new angle on a lot of the Bible. He was viewing love from a husband’s perspective now, and that had given a depth to several Bible stories he’d never thought of in quite the same way.
He kept coming back to Ephesians and the directive from Paul for wives to submit themselves to their husbands.
There were three verses that talked about wives, and that must be where the wedding vows got the word obey for wives but not for husbands.
Then for the next ten or so verses, it told husbands all they had to do for their wives.
Care for her as he would his own body. Love her as Christ loved the church.
Die for her if need be just as Christ died for everyone.
The Bible made far more demands on the husband than it did on the wife.
And if a man held up his end of the bargain, no wife in the world would have trouble obeying a man that decent.
He hugged Cassie a little tighter and smiled to himself. Cassie didn’t obey worth a hoot. But then Red didn’t exactly order her around either. It just wasn’t in his nature to be bossy. His main goal in life was to protect her from one brush with death after another without hurting her feelings any.