Chapter 4
The following morning, Nathaniel, his mother, and Lillian stood in the kitchen speaking quietly.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Nathaniel said for the fourth time.
His mother didn’t have a mistrusting bone in her body and frankly, Lillian didn’t either.
They saw only the good in everybody until proven otherwise.
Sometimes he envied their generosity of spirit.
Ever since his father’s murder however, he found it hard to trust anyone until he got to know them.
“Nathaniel,” Dalia said softly, hand on his shoulder. “I know that you’ve spent many years as a deputy and then sheriff in this county, but you don’t have to doubt everyone you meet.”
“I don’t, Mother,” he insisted, although he secretly shared her misgivings.
Trust was a hard thing for him. He had always trusted in God.
He’d trusted in his father and his mother to be there for him and his sister as they grew, believing they’d be around for very long time, maybe even long enough to bounce a few grandchildren on their knees.
“You do, Natty,” Lillian disagreed. “I understand that suspicion and mistrust might be a part of your job, and that mistrust is caused by a lot of the kind of people you have to deal with. But that woman lying upstairs in that bed, she’s about my age and she’s been injured.
She’s likely afraid and now that she has no money, what’s she supposed to do? ”
“You don’t even know who she is, where she came from, nor why she’s traveling by herself to wherever it is she’s going,” Nathaniel responded. “Women her age don’t travel alone. It’s—”
“Don’t you dare say it’s improper,” Lillian interrupted. “Some women don’t have a choice, Natty, so don’t be so judgmental.”
“I’m not trying to be,” he frowned. “But we know nothing about her.” He turned to his mother. “Do you want someone you don’t know in your house, snooping in your rooms—?”
“Snooping?” Lillian gasped. “Listen to yourself, Nathaniel. She’s all alone. She’s been scared out of her wits by an outlaw attack on the stagecoach she was on. She was injured. Thank the good Lord she wasn’t murdered—”
“That’s enough, Lillian,” Dalia interrupted, placing a gentle hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
“While we might not agree, we must also use our common sense.” She turned to her son.
“That said, until she gives me a reason to doubt her honesty, I shall trust her if she agrees to work in the boarding house.”
Nathaniel sighed. “I’ve gathered that she doesn’t even know where she’s going.
Which makes me wonder. Is she running from something?
We don’t know.” He turned to his mother and then glanced at his sister.
“And it’s questions like those that raise my suspicions.
I don’t know why they don’t raise yours. ”
“She’s been injured, Nathaniel,” Dalia said gently. “Have some compassion.”
His eyes widened. “I do have compassion, Mother,” he insisted.
“I do feel sorry about what’s happened to her.
She’s defenseless, alone, and vulnerable.
What makes you think that I don’t see that?
But I can’t help but wonder what she’s doing, wandering around by herself.
She also told me that she doesn’t know where she was heading.
She said she’d been looking for a place to settle.
Why hire her on here to help when she may disappear as soon as she’s feeling better? ”
“It doesn’t matter how long she stays,” his mother replied. “But in the meantime, she does need a way to support herself. I can pay her a stipend and she can have room and board in exchange for helping me around the place.”
He eyed his mother and sighed. “Just remember, you don’t know her. You don’t know her history. I don’t mean to speak poorly of her, but in my job, I can’t just blindly trust everybody. I’m sure you understand that. Pa went through the same thing.”
“Yes he did,” Dalia agreed. “But most of the time, he gave people respect and trust and the benefit of the doubt until they gave him a reason not to. He didn’t immediately assume they were bad until they proved they were good.”
Well, there was nothing he could say to that.
He would never be able to explain to them why he mistrusted strangers.
Every time a stranger came into town, he couldn’t help but wonder if they had been part of the gang responsible for killing his father, not to mention wreaking havoc and fear throughout the panhandle.
The gang was also known to roam through parts of Oklahoma Territory, up into Kansas, Nebraska, and as far up north as the Dakotas. Of course, they weren’t the only outlaw gang terrorizing thousands of miles of open territory, but they were the ones he wanted to capture more than any other.
His mother set a bowl of porridge on a tray with a glass of milk, along with two pieces of toast. She handed the tray to him. “Take this up to our patient, Nathaniel, and try to hide that dour look from your expression. You’ll scare the poor woman half to death with that glower.”
He frowned. “I’m not glowering,” he denied, reaching for the tray. “I’m just trying to make you understand that there are times when you shouldn’t be quite so blindly trusting.”
His mother made a face. “I can see perfectly well, son. And don’t you forget what it says in the book of Proverbs. ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.’”
He loved his mother very much for her kind, generous heart, but sometimes he feared for her as well.
“I’m the sheriff of his town and surrounding area, Mother.
I do trust in the Lord, but I also have to rely on my instincts, the way Father taught me.
If I didn’t listen to those instincts, I could’ve been dead many times over by now. ”
She gaped at him. “That’s not what I’m saying, Nathaniel,” she said stiffly.
“And you know it. And there’s another proverb you should remember as well.
‘Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he dwells by you for safety’s sake.
Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. ’”
Nathaniel answered with one of his own. “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.” He paused. “Proverbs Chapter twenty-eight, verse twenty-six.”
He lifted an eyebrow in dismay as his mother smiled and replied in a soft tone. “I’m pleased to see you still remember the Good Lord.”
He took a deep breath to calm himself. “I trust in God, Mother, surely do, and I’m not mistrusting of others just because I want to be contrary, but I’ve also got to use the common sense that God gave me, the common sense that I’ve learned through the years of doing this job.”
“The good Lord has kept you safe all these years,” Dalia murmured.
“And I pray that He continues to watch over you. But Nathaniel, do be cognizant that you should also give people the benefit of the doubt before casting judgment or opinion on them.” She placed her hand on his arm. “You understand that, don’t you?”
He sighed. “Yes Mother, I do understand that. And for now, I will give the young woman the benefit of the doubt, but in the meantime, I’m going to do what I can to find out who she is and what she’s running from.
For my own peace of mind and to help her if I can.
In order to do that, I need to speak with her alone and with no distractions.
” He glanced at his sister. “And no interrup—”
“If you frown at her like that, you’ll frighten her,” Lillian interrupted.
He lifted an eyebrow. “You see my point?”
“Well, fine,” she muttered. “But you can’t question her like you do with everyone else.”
“What do you mean by that?”
She gestured toward his face. “You’re too blunt with people sometimes, Natty,” she replied. “And you tend to stare and scowl a lot. It’s … it’s intimidating.” She lifted her nose at him. “Just like the way you’re looking at me right now.”
He stared at her a moment and then glanced at his mother.
She gave him a small smile and nodded. “You are frowning, Nathaniel,” she agreed.
“But I agree that you should ask your questions in private.” She glanced at Lillian as her daughter started to interrupt again.
“He’s right, dear. He needs to do his job without us looking over his shoulder. ”
Lillian sighed. “I give up.” She glanced at both of them and then spoke to Nathaniel once more. “Just don’t scare her, big brother. She’s been through a lot already.”
“I don’t plan on scaring her,” he calmly replied. “I just want to know more about what happened, that’s all.”
His mother nodded. “You’re more and more like your father every day. Just remember to be kind to her. She’s had a terrible experience and she’s likely still frightened. And don’t glower. If you do that, everything should work out just fine.”
Nathaniel held back a sigh and nodded. He knew he could sometimes be a bit brusque.
He curbed his frustration and left the kitchen bearing the tray.
He strode down the short hallway past the dining room toward the front of the house, empty at the moment.
He took the stairs, his footsteps softened by the carpeted runner tacked to the risers.
Maybe his mother was right. Maybe he’d grown too suspicious of strangers who came into town, even when they gave him a no cause to be. He made his way down the hallway toward the last room on the right, balanced the tray in one hand and, knocked softly on the door.
“Come in.”
He turned the polished brass knob and entered. He was surprised to find Chloe sitting upright in bed, a hairbrush in one hand, her long light blond hair draped over her left shoulder. He couldn’t help but stare.