Amethyst (45 page)

“Thank you, heavenly Father.” Ruby and Opal exchanged looks of wonder.

“Are you serious?” Rand asked.

“I am. I couldn’t believe it when I read the will. He made sure I read it with him there so he could answer any questions. He knows what a hard time we had here last winter and said if I wanted to use part of this money to help some who were desperate, to go ahead. He sent money home with me. Then he died. He had planned the funeral, everything down to the last dish to be served at the house after he was buried. The church was full. He left a solid legacy for them also.”

“Was he richer than Rockefeller?” Rand shook his head. “Jacob, you’re not making this up, are you?”

“No. There’s more that we can talk about later, but this is the gist of it.”

“I’ll put the coffee on.” Ruby started to get up.

Opal beat her to it. “I’ll take care of that.” Build a church, add to the school? Who had money like that and could give it away? Even the Brandons, who’d seemed rich to her, didn’t have that kind of money. Or at least she didn’t think they did.

“Is there enough gingerbread for us all to have some?” Ruby asked.

Opal checked the pan. “If I cut small pieces.”

“Good.”

Opal took out plates and forks and the vanilla sauce to be warmed up. Would Jacob continue to work for the Robertsons? How could he do it all and teach school too? Plus build a church.

“I figured it is too late to start building the church now. It would take some time to order the wood—from where?”

“Dickinson. Perhaps some things from Fargo. We’ll have to look into it. I know McHenry had to order some of his windows from Fargo. They came in on the train. We got the wood for the school from Dickinson. Other than what we cut ourselves.”

Opal listened to Jacob talk. Lately she’d noticed that he had a real good voice to listen to. And he wasn’t hard on the eyes either.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

September

“I thought you’d be happy out here with your house and all.” Rand shook his head. “You look like you lost your last friend.”

“Funny thing. I thought I would be too, but then I got used to having women around at the boardinghouse, and now I want…” Jeremiah paused and stared into the fire. “I think I made the biggest mistake of my life.”

“For one who never seems to make a mistake, it must be a big one.” Rand looked at his friend over the lip of the coffee cup. “I’m here if you need an ear.”

“I know. Remember when you met Ruby?”

“Of course. She near to ran me out of town. No matter what I did, it riled her up.”

McHenry chuckled. “She was a feisty one.”

“Still is.”

“You are one lucky man.”

“Not luck at all. God’s providence. He brought that woman into my life and then gave me a good shake now and then to keep me on the right track. For a while, I thought she was sweet on you. That’s when you came close to—well, let’s say things turned out all right in the end.” “No, not yet.”

“Not for you, eh?”

“Nope. I thought to pretty much live out my life in the army, perhaps retire someday, but not so soon. Yet I have, and I’m here where I always dreamed of being. I have my ranch started, and I’m lonely as all get out.” There, he’d said it. Lonely. Like a solitary bull elk who is driven out of the herd and roams alone.

“You need a wife.”

“I know. That’s where I went wrong.”

“Miss O’Shaunasy was sweet on you.”

“As I said, that’s where I went wrong. Didn’t realize it until she left.”

“Isn’t there some saying about absence making the heart grow fonder?”

McHenry nodded. “You want another cup of coffee? Don’t have anything stronger to put in it.”

“What happened?”

“I realized that if I didn’t get a handle on it, I was on the way to becoming a drunk. Can’t have that.”

“Good for you.”

A silence stretched, the log in the stove snapping and popping, the heat feeling good as the night had turned chilly. McHenry looked around the room. “Pretty plain for a home. Needs a woman’s touch.”

“They did a good job, all of them. Made you curtains, that rag rug in front of the fire. Wasn’t there a quilt for your bed too? And that chair you’re sitting in—that’s a real work of art.”

“I know. Carl is a fine furniture maker.” Jeremiah tossed the dregs of his cup into the fireplace to sizzle on the burning log. “I’ve been writing to Miss O’Shaunasy.”

“That’s a start.”

“She’s busy there. She and Mrs. Grant are getting some business going, making soaps and lotions. They’re working with a woman in Fargo too.”

“As Opal said, Amethyst isn’t a city person.”

“Then why’d she leave?”

“Because she was invited? How would I know?”

McHenry stood, one arm resting on the mantel above the fireplace, staring into the fire. “You got any advice?”

“Go get her.”

“What if I get all the way there and she won’t come back with me?”

“Well, do I have to tell you everything? Surely you know how to court a good woman.”

“I don’t know if I do.”

“It’s just like planning a campaign.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know.” Rand laughed. “But it sure sounded good.” He stood and set his cup on the table. “I need to get on home. This being out late makes Ruby a bit nervous. Afraid something might happen to me.”

“Thanks, Rand.”

“You’re welcome. Come on by the house and talk to Ruby, if it would help. She’d have some good ideas for courting Miss O’Shaunasy.”

“What if she turns me down?”

“Ruby?”

“No—Miss O’Shaunasy.”

“Then you plan a new campaign. That’s how you caught Geronimo, wasn’t it? Same thing.”

Jeremiah walked Rand to the door. “That harvest moon ought to light your way home.”

“True, and Ruby will have a lamp in the window for a welcome.”

Two days later Jeremiah McHenry boarded the train heading east.

Ten days later he stepped off the train back home—alone.

“What happened?” Rand asked when Jeremiah rode up to the ranch house on his way home.

“You know how you said to plan a campaign?”

Rand nodded.

“I did. The frontal assault didn’t work.”

“You’re not giving up, are you?”

“No. Just planning a new strategy.”

September 14, 1887

Dear Miss O’Shaunasy,

The train ride home was uneventful, the best way for any traveling. I’ve had many rides that were not uneventful. Thank you for attending the opera with me. What a fortunate man I am to have two such lovely women to show me about. How different it would be to live on a lake like Michigan, especially for me after my years in the desert. The wind sure can blow there.

We all have been cutting plenty of firewood. We harvested Rand’s fields of oats and wheat. He got a pretty good harvest for a first time like that. Beans says we are going to have another hard winter, the animals all have extra thick coats already. Amazing how God provides for His creatures, isn’t it?

I am reading Shakespeare’s tragedies right now. I never had much time for reading before, so I am enjoying the evenings, although they would be more enjoyable if I had company here. I do hope you will write back soon and tell me how things are progressing in Chicago.

Respectfully yours,

Jeremiah McHenry

He drew a little picture of a cottontail nibbling grass on the bottom of the letter and took it into town the next day to mail it.

September 26, 1887

Dear Mr. McHenry,

Thank you for coming to visit. I, too, enjoyed the opera. The music helped me imagine what heaven must sound like. I never knew there were so many different kinds of instruments, and when the woman hit her high notes, it sent shivers up my arms. The carriage ride along the lake made me realize how large this lake is. More like a sea, since you can’t see the other side.

We have made a new fragrance for Christmas with the scent of cinnamon. What do you think?

Your friend,

Miss O’Shaunasy

October 8, 1887

Dear Miss O’Shaunasy,

I think cinnamon smells wonderful. When I think of Christmas, I remember the pine tree my father used to bring into the house. We had branches of holly with red berries, if the birds didn’t get them all as soon as they turned color.

Mr. Chandler is a popular teacher with the children. I’ve not heard of any toads or snakes in his desk drawer. The children delighted in plaguing Mr. Finch. I didn’t blame them a bit. He didn’t fit well here at all.

Carly said to tell you to come back home again soon. She misses you. So do others, including me.

We will be building a church here come spring. Mr. Chandler has a benefactor who donated the money. Isn’t it amazing how God accomplishes that which He sets out to do?

Yours always,

Jeremiah McHenry

He drew a flying goose on this one.

P.S. The waterfowl are flying south. They are so numerous, they darken the sky. What a sight to behold. JM.

Amethyst reread Jeremiah’s latest letter and smiled at the chipmunk with full cheeks in the lower corner. Who would have thought that Mr. McHenry was a man of so many talents? She’d seen chipmunks just like that in the woodpile at Pearl’s. No matter how hard she worked, she still thought of Medora as home. Taking out pen and paper, she set about answering the letter from Pearl and then the one from McHenry. Just today she’d received another one from Joel.