A Promise in Defiance: Romance in the Rockies Book 3 (12 page)

Sunday morning a chill
hung in the air. Mornings in the Rockies. Naomi pulled her wrap tighter as she
climbed up into the wagon, her spirit light and breezy today. She smiled
broadly at Two Spears and Charles as they settled in. Her grin caught Charles
off guard.

He raised a suspicious
brow. “You look like the cat that ate the canary.”

“I’m just happy.” She
lightly ruffled Two Spears’s hair, earning a frown. “My family is going to
church with me.”

Charles didn’t respond.
His wary expression melted into concern as he popped the reins.

“We had a church on the
reservation.”

Intrigued, Naomi
inclined her head to the boy. “You did? Did you ever go?

Two Spears studied a
broken fingernail with great interest. “He wanted to cut my hair, so I did not
go back. Is your preacher going to want to cut my hair?”

Naomi didn’t know if
she was horrified or amused. She shifted to Charles, hoping for an explanation.

“Indoctrination.” He
practically spat the word. “I met an army officer last year. He was headed to
the White River Reservation to discuss sending the Indian children off to
boarding schools back East.” He didn’t seem to care if his disdain was evident.
“He had a theory he called ‘Kill the Indian and Save the Man
.
’ Remove
them from their culture and they would naturally assimilate into White culture.”

Naomi put her arm
around Two Spears, surprised at the fierce sense of protection that roared to
life in her. “You will not have to cut your hair, Two Spears. Not for a
preacher. Not for anyone.”

The ride to church was
mostly uneventful. When their buggy rolled into Tent Town, men stared,
especially at Two Spears, but hard looks from Charles had them backing down in
quick order. A woman in nothing but a camisole and bloomers hung on a man in a
lewd way. Naomi quickly distracted Two Spears with questions about life on the
reservation, his mother, and his grandfather, and even an intense examination
of that broken fingernail.

Finally, they pulled up
in front of the church. Naomi was relieved to see Ian and Rebecca, as well as
Emilio, Mollie, Hannah, Billy, and Little Billy, but their grim expressions
squashed her spirits. She noticed a young lady sweeping water off the stoop.
The whole front entrance was wet, as was the door. A man the size of a grizzly
bear, wearing a sheepskin vest, tossed a brush into a wooden bucket and wiped
his hands on his pants. Logan emptied a bucket of water on the steps, carefully
washing off some grime.

“What’s happened?”
Charles asked, locking the brake.

“Why dunna we send the
ladies inside,” Ian suggested from the stoop, motioning to the door. “And the
lad. We gents need to talk for a moment.”

Naomi and Two Spears
stepped down and joined her sisters at the bottom of the steps.

“I’ll be right in,
ladies,” Logan took the broom from the young woman, a pretty girl of about
twenty or so, and motioned to the entrance.

The girl moved slowly
up the steps. Naomi sent questioning glances at her sisters and Mollie as they
followed, but they shrugged or shook their heads. Seeing as how this was
church, and strangers were certainly welcome, Naomi approached the young lady
inside the doorway. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Naomi Mil—sorry, McIntyre
now. I haven’t been married long.”

The young girl smiled, weariness
evident in her vivid green eyes. “I’m Mary Jean.”

“It’s nice to meet you.
This is my son, Two Spears.”

To her credit, the
young lady did not look surprised or offended. Instead, she smiled sweetly and
shook his hand. The rest of the girls introduced themselves as well. Naomi
tried to pay attention to the pleasantries being exchanged amongst the ladies,
but outside the men were talking in hushed whispers. She discreetly pulled away
from the group and tried to catch some of the conversation. The words
coward
,
scat
, and
covered
didn’t enlighten her at all.

The grim look on
Charles’s face didn’t make her feel any better, either.

The men filtered in and
escorted the ladies to their seats. Naomi waited a moment for Charles to look
at her, to say something, but his attention was riveted on Logan walking to his
pulpit.

The big man in the
sheepskin vest sat in the back row, with Mary Jean, but several inches away.
Both outsiders, but not together. Or at least Naomi sensed they didn’t make a
habit of coming to church. Suddenly the big man rose, snatched off his ragged
black hat, and limped forward to the empty front pew.

“Told you I don’t welch
on my bets.”

The preacher grinned
and nodded at the man. “I see that.” Logan then turned his gaze on his little
congregation. “I had a sermon in mind, something a little more introductory,
you could say, but I see now that’s too simple.” He huffed a breath and laid
the Bible down again. He stepped out from behind the pulpit and laced his
fingers together like a contrite child. “I’d like to start this morning,
instead, by asking forgiveness, from you and from God. “Stillness fell over the
room. “I didn’t want to come to Defiance. I was pastoring a church back in
Willow, Kansas. A little church full of folks with big hearts. And, honestly,
what I’d consider little sins. Biggest problem I fought there was gossip.”

The congregation
chuckled softly.

“Since I’ve been in
Defiance, I’ve been in a fistfight,” he cut his eyes at the man in the front
pew, “I’ve stopped a beating, possibly worse,” his eyes landed on Two Spears. “I’ve
seen sin and debauchery and heard of horrific activities going on here that
would make the residents of Sodom blush. And just this morning, the church was
vandalized.”

The women in the room
gasped and their mouths fell open. Mary Jean, Naomi noted, did not look in the
least surprised.

“Anger and disgust have
filled my heart more than once since coming back to Defiance,” Logan continued.
“Especially today. I wanted to curse this town. I wanted to leave and never
look back. I thought after what I found outside my door this morning, there was
not one decent soul on this side of Main Street. I beg your forgiveness. The
fact that I was wrong allows me to stand before you today . . . humbled . . .
and encouraged.”

Naomi understood well.
Her first several months in Defiance, she had wanted to scream at God every day
for stranding her in this vile place. She looked around the room now, at this
tiny congregation, and her throat tightened. What a miracle He had wrought. A
husband, a son, family, and friends.

Things had even worked
out for Hannah.

The strange expression
on Billy’s face abruptly changed the direction of Naomi’s musings. Staring
intently at Logan, brow deeply grooved, Billy squinted as if he was trying to
identify what species the new preacher was. He cocked his head to one side,
then slowly to the other, then shook his head and seemed to go back to merely
listening to the sermon. 

“I reckon, then, I’ll
talk about something none of us probably want to hear,” Logan went on. “Suffering
for Christ.”

That snatched Naomi’s
attention back to the sermon. She wondered if the suffering was
over . . .

Or just beginning.

“Two Spears, it’s all
right if you’d like to get a couple of peppermint sticks.” Naomi winked at Hannah
across the mercantile counter as the boy approached the jars of candy. “I think
I’ll
take a couple of pieces of licorice myself.”

Hannah finished tying
on her apron then took the lid off the peppermints. “Take an extra piece as a
present from me.”

Two Spears stared
longingly at the candy and Naomi held her breath, waiting. Slowly, he reached
inside the jar and withdrew three red-and-white sticks of the sweet treat. He
then gave Hannah a tiny smile. To Naomi, it felt as though the sun had suddenly
emerged after a month of cloudy days.

A little progress.
Thank You, Lord.

Hannah came back to her
end of the counter, beating down a smile. “He’s settling in.”

“Yes. I think so.”

“We got a letter from
little Terri. She’s settling in fine with her aunt.”

“Oh, I’m so relieved to
hear that.”

The young girl had been
captured by One-Who-Cries after he brutally murdered her family. Though Naomi
or Rebecca or even Hannah would have adopted her, she had wanted to go to her
aunt in Nebraska. Naomi prayed she would be able to put the terrible episode
behind her and live life to its fullest.

Hannah eyed the list in
Naomi’s hand and reached for it. “Want me to get those?”

“No, it’s just a few
things. Really more of an excuse to come into town. It’s like a bee-hive out at
the house.”

“Don’t you mean ranch?”

“I don’t know if it’s
officially a ranch till the cattle show up, but the barn is nearly done. Everything’s
coming together. How about you? How is Doc doing? Is he ready to retire and
turn over his practice to you?”

Hannah snorted. “Hardly.
I have so much to learn it’s daunting. And while Billy is busy with the hotel,
I’m stuck running the store.”

Raised voices outside
on the boardwalk drew their attention to the window. A beautiful woman in a
striking azure dress stopped to address a group of men. Flaunting bare
shoulders and playing at being coquettish, she gave them each a paper. They
read it and their faces lit up like torches, evidently pleased with some
delightful news. Grinning like bears in salmon season, they tipped their hats
and left the woman, one gawking man being snatched away by the others.

The woman peered inside
the mercantile, saw Hannah and Naomi staring, and made a beeline for the door.
Naomi didn’t miss the smirk on her face.

Hannah gasped softly. “Shoot,
that’s gotta be Delilah” She sounded utterly scandalized. “Rebecca was telling
me about her. She’s going to open—”

She bit off her
explanation as Delilah pushed open the door. The woman surveyed the empty store
with the bored expression of a well-fed mountain lion. She ended her search
with Naomi. Holding her gaze, she breezed over to the counter. Pretty through
the window, the woman was stunning up close. High cheekbones, pouty lips, an
hourglass figure, and luxuriously thick auburn hair piled high made Naomi feel
as bland as an old tintype.

Delilah immediately
reminded Naomi of a similar meeting with several of Charles’s
Flowers
here in this very store.

The meeting hadn’t gone
well.

But things had changed
in the last year. People had changed. Naomi determined to remember who she was
in Christ and be a better reflection of Him. Swallowing her pride, she extended
her hand to the woman. “Good afternoon.” She heard Hannah gasp. “I’m Naomi
McIntyre, and this is my sister, Hannah Frink.”

Delilah’s eyes widened,
then that smirk returned. She glanced at the hand. “Are you mocking me?”

“No.” Naomi raised her
chin. “Just trying to be friendly.”