Chapter Ten
Sam carried Ruby to his room and set her on his bed before he gently looked her over. Her sobs had almost stopped and were nothing more than hiccups now.
Examining her carefully, he quickly saw that the cuts weren’t bad. They were minor scrapes and the blood on her lip had already dried up. Sam released a deep sigh.
“Are you all right, Sweetheart?” he asked her softly. Ruby nodded.
“I fell,” she said meekly, looking at Sam with big innocent eyes. “Sadie told me not to run. But I did anyway.” She held out both of her hands and lifted her tiny shoulders. “I was showing her my drawing. And I fell.”
Sam paused. “Sadie told you not to run?” he asked tentatively. Ruby nodded again.
Sam exhaled a long, deep breath. How could it be that he always got it wrong when it came to Sadie? Then he realized that it was not only her, because now he had gotten Ellen and Louise involved, too. He groaned.
“Am I in trouble?” Ruby asked with a worried look on her face. Sam pulled her into a tight hug.
“No, Sweetheart! You’re not in trouble,” he reassured her. “But you need to listen to Sadie when she tells you something, okay? We’re living on a huge ranch, now. Things are a little more dangerous out here compared to your grandma’s house. Do you understand?”
“She stumbled over a rug,” Sadie’s voice came from behind him. Sam spun around and saw her standing in the open door. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest and didn’t look very friendly. “I’m sure there were rugs at her grandma’s house.”
Sam gritted his teeth. Not because he was mad at her, but because he was angry at himself. This was the second time he’d had to apologize to her. At this rate, she probably thought that he was a terrible human being, regretting their marriage already.
“She told me,” he confirmed with a nod. “You told her not to run.”
Sadie raised a single eyebrow. She was clearly waiting. Sam felt embarrassed.
“I’m sorry I yelled,” he finally said. “My outburst was uncalled for. I just saw that Ruby was hurt and immediately worried.” He lowered his head. “She’s all I have left.”
Sadie inhaled sharply. When Sam looked back into her eyes, he saw that her initial anger had dissipated.
She uncrossed her arms and smoothed her hands over her skirt, though her face was still stern. She sighed.
“Then can we continue treating her?” Sadie asked quietly. “Louise has a salve that disinfects scrapes and wounds. It helps with the healing.”
Sam didn’t reply, because Ruby shook her head no.
“You should also apologize to Ellen and Louise,” Sadie continued. “They didn’t deserve your outburst and they are quite shaken.”
Sam closed his eyes. He nodded, picked up Ruby, and carried her back downstairs and all the way into the kitchen. The closer they got, the more Ruby whined about not wanting the salve, but this time, Sam didn’t immediately give in. He walked her back to the counter and set her down.
Ellen and Louise were talking by the stove. They stopped when they saw him.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you all,” Sam said awkwardly. “I just worry about my daughter being hurt, and…”
Louise didn’t let him finish and walked back over to them with a dismissive wave of her hand. Ellen followed hesitantly.
“Apology accepted,” Louise declared with a well-meaning smile. “Now, let’s treat those little scrapes and then we can all forget that it ever happened.”
At this point, Sam would have liked nothing more.
“Is it gonna hurt?” Ruby whimpered again. Sam backed out of the way when Sadie stepped in front of his daughter, cupping her little face with both of her hands.
“I tell you what,” Sadie said to her with a soft smile. “It won’t be bad. But if it does burn just a little, you may have some extra dessert at dinner tonight. How’s that?”
Ruby looked at Sam. He smiled at her with a nod.
Ellen brought a wet cloth. Sadie took it and gently pressed it on Ruby’s knee. The little girl flinched, but she calmed down right away. Sam could see that his daughter was trying hard to be strong. He was proud of her.
“See? That wasn’t too bad, was it?” Sadie asked. Ruby shook her head.
“It’s cold,” she said with a nervous laugh. Sam watched, as Sadie removed the cloth from her knee and grabbed the little glass jar with the salve. She opened it and held it in front of Ruby’s face. “Hm,” Ruby said.
“It smells good, doesn’t it?” Sadie asked with a smile. “Remember that favorite flower you told me about?” Ruby nodded again. “This has some chamomile in it.”
Sam listened intently and realized that he didn’t even know that Ruby liked those flowers.
He stepped a little closer to see better.
Sadie dipped her finger into the jar and scooped up the tiniest amount of salve.
Ruby closed her eyes tightly. Then, Sadie ever so carefully dabbed it onto the scrapes on Ruby’s knee.
Sam held his breath, but nothing happened. Ruby didn’t even wince.
“You are so brave!” Sadie exclaimed happily. Ruby’s eyes flew open and she stared at her knee with wide eyes.
“It doesn’t hurt!” Ruby called out. Sam exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
“God made you so brave, do you know that?” Sadie said to his daughter. “I told you that He’ll always be there with you. He even took your pain away.” Ruby laughed excitedly at that.
“He did, didn’t He?” she exclaimed, clearly relieved. “Did you see, Papa?” Sam nodded at her.
His gaze fell on Sadie, who stared at him with a pointed look. She’d done an amazing job looking after Ruby.
Sam realized that he needed to learn to trust Sadie. And also Ellen and Louise, who had retreated to the stove again but were still watching everything curiously. None of them wanted to hurt Ruby. If anything, it was the exact opposite.
However, Sam wasn’t one to easily give up control. He’d need time.
Ruby stretched her arms out to him, so he stepped closer to her to pick her up. His hand brushed against Sadie’s, who was still standing right there.
Looking at her, he could see that her cheeks took on that lovely shade of pink again. Her lips parted. For a split second, Sam was utterly mesmerized by her.
“If I didn’t know better, I would say that you three look like a real family right there!” Ellen called out from the other side of the kitchen. Louise turned her back to them, clearly trying to hide a smile.
Sam sighed. He felt outnumbered and the situation still felt a little awkward.
“Since everything is taken care of, I am no longer needed here,” he said, ready to get out of the house again for a while.
“How about we go and give Black Shadow an apple?” he asked his daughter, who immediately got excited.
He put her down and she darted off toward the larder next door to pick out the perfect apple for her beloved stallion.
By the looks of it, her knee didn’t hurt at all anymore.
Glancing back at Sadie, who was still watching him intently, he felt the need to apologize one more time, but when he tried, she held up her hand and shook her head.
“You have already apologized,” she told him.
“I understand the stress you must feel but I can assure you that Ruby is in good hands here. Bear in mind that this new situation is stressful for all of us, not just you. I do believe God has chosen you to be here, so please respect His decision and don’t fight it. ”
Sam stared at her for a moment. He didn’t really think that God had anything to do with them being there, because he had made the decision to come himself, but the rest of what she’d said was the truth. He needed to do better.
“Thank you for all of your help,” he said to all of the women. “I am grateful.” Ellen and Sadie acknowledged it with a nod; Louise smiled warmly at him.
Ruby came running past him, holding up her apple. His eyes were instantly on her as she ran toward the back door, ready to go outside. Thankfully, the rain had finally let up and was instantly replaced by an unusually hot sun, which dried everything rather quickly.
They spent a whole hour in the barn—feeding Black Shadow his snack, visiting the foals and his daughter’s newest favorite—a twenty-year-old rust-colored pony Ruby had named Mister Snickers, because of the noises he made.
Daniel joined them after a while, telling them the whole story of how they’d found the pony a couple of months ago, aimlessly roaming a nearby field with no owner in sight. Ruby immediately felt sorry for the little horse.
“I’ll take good care of you, now,” Ruby promised him.
“We got company!” one of the ranch hands called into the barn.
As soon as Sam saw who it was, he immediately tensed.
The unhinged rider coming down the long road gave it away. This time he kicked up clumps of thick mud rather than dust.
Sam turned to pick up his daughter and rushed back toward the house. Whatever Sadie’s uncle was after now, he needed to be there. He came around the front porch just in time to see Walter come to an abrupt stop. Sadie and Ellen were standing outside, already waiting.
Sam hesitantly handed Ruby to Ellen, shooting her a tight smile before beaming at his daughter as they disappeared inside.
“What does he want now?” Sam asked Sadie, briefly taking off his Stetson to comb through his hair with his fingers before he put it back on. She watched him curiously before her face changed to an annoyed expression and she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Who knows,” she replied with a sigh. “If he asks, just remember that we had the second wedding in church with all our friends and family.” Sam nodded calmly.
Daniel came around the corner, once again offering to take Walter’s breathless and mud-splattered horse, yet that man was still not happy about it, grumpily throwing the reins at the foreman.
Daniel didn’t react to the disrespect that man showed him; he was clearly only interested in taking care of the exhausted horse. Sam commended him for his restraint.
“Sam!” Walter called out without any greeting. “I’d like a word with you! In private!”