California Romance (16 page)

The rejoicing was brief. The operation took far longer than even Doc Brown expected. Seth pulled through but remained unconscious. The shock of the surgery to his body and the loss of blood he’d sustained had left him so weak even Sarah wondered if he would live. Once the doctor operated—ably assisted by Matt and Solita, with Sarah hovering outside the bedroom-turned-operating room—Sarah refused to leave Seth’s side. Only when her body refused to keep vigil and forced her to her room for a few hours of uneasy sleep would she desert her post.

Haggard from worry, Matt faithfully remained on duty as well. He and Sarah spent hours with Seth, asking God to spare the life of the boy they loved. They soon noticed Seth’s fingers stopped plucking the sheets at the sound of their voices in prayer. “Try quoting scripture to him,” Matt suggested.

Sarah again blessed her parents for instilling in their children the truths of the Bible. If Seth could hear her voice, he would surely recognize the verses, perhaps even receive comfort from them. Besides, Doc Brown admitted no one knew how much an unconscious person grasped.

“I’ve read about cases where patients came out of a coma and repeated things they’d heard, even when they couldn’t speak,” he gruffly told them. “Anything that quiets Seth is good.”

So while her brother hovered close to death’s door, Sarah held his hand and quoted scriptures, praying they would reach through the curtain that kept Seth from awakening.

“ ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’

“ ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.’

“ ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you….’ ”

When Sarah’s voice threatened to give out, Matt took over. The weary girl rested her head on one hand and let the stories of those whom Jesus had made whole flow over her like a healing stream. She prayed for Seth to hear them—especially the story where Jesus commanded the man with the palsy to take up his bed and walk.

Matt finished reading, bowed his head, and said, “Lord, we know that You love Seth even more than we do.” He reached across the bed and took Sarah’s hand in one of his own. “We ask You to spare our brother’s life.” He paused, as if struggling to go on. When he did, his voice broke. “Nevertheless, Thy will, not ours, be done.” The last word was barely audible.

Sarah felt a lump the size of a windmill leap to her throat. The agony in Matt’s voice showed how much it cost him to relinquish Seth into God’s care.
Matt is stronger than I am
, she thought.
Seth is my sole remaining link to our once-happy home. I’m sorry, God, but I just don’t want You to take Seth. He’s all I have left
.

Sarah’s confession brought relief, but she added,
If it
is
Your will, Lord
,
please make me willing to accept it. That’s as far as I can go right now
.

Seth lingered between life and death for several more days. Then one afternoon, the overworked Doc Brown told Matt, Sarah, and Solita, “He’s going to make it. His fever’s gone, and he shows signs of regaining consciousness. Don’t thank me,” he barked when Sarah started to speak. “I’m just a rough old sawbones. The Almighty had a hand on Seth, or he wouldn’t still be alive. I’ve a sneakin’ hunch all the prayin’ and readin’ from the Good Book did their part, too.”

Doc cleared his throat and shook a bony finger at the three. “Once awake, Seth will want to get up. Keep him in bed if you have to hog-tie him! He’s going to need the same watchin’ over he’s been getting.”

Too overcome with hope and joy to reply, Sarah felt tears of relief spill down her cheeks.

Not so for Matt and Solita. Matt’s quick “Don’t worry, he’ll get it” was drowned out by the Mexican housekeeper’s fervent “Dios be praised! I will care for Senor Seth the way I cared for Matelito and Dolores.” A flood made glistening tracks down her round brown face.

“You’ll probably spoil him rotten,” Matt told Solita. His obvious attempt to lighten the moment and drive away the shadows that lurked in Sarah’s eyes brought a look of gratitude and a small smile. How would she have lived through the ordeal without him?

“No wonder Seth idolizes Matt,” she told herself after Doc Brown ordered her away for a sorely needed rest. She fell into the deepest, most refreshing sleep she had known since she arrived at the Diamond S and didn’t awake until Solita shook her hours later.

“Come quickly,
senorita.”
The housekeeper’s face shone like a brown full moon. “Dios is good. Senor Seth is awake!”

Sarah sprang from her bed and barreled into Seth’s room. Matt stood by the bed, one hand on her brother’s shoulder. “Don’t try to talk,” he advised the groggy young man. “You were shot. God and Doc took care of you. Now you need to rest. There’s plenty of time to talk later. ”

Seth looked from Matt to Sarah. A wan smile crossed his pale face, and his eyes closed again. But Sarah dropped to her knees beside his bed and thanked God.

With the good news about Seth, joy descended on the ranch like rain from heaven. The Mexican workers played their guitars and sang again. The cowboys let off steam in a dozen different ways: playing tricks on one another and bragging, “Sho, we knew all along that Seth wouldn’t die from any ol’ bullet. He’s too tough to let a little thing like that get him down.”

Their antics delighted Sarah and showed better than anything else could have done in what high esteem the outfit held her brother.

Seth grew stronger with each day. For the first time, Sarah had time to appreciate the ranch. Compared with life in St. Louis, Sarah had considered living in Madera close to heaven. Now she discovered life on the Diamond S was even better. She fell in love with everything about the ranch: the grinning cowboys who surreptitiously eyed her then blushed when she caught them; the dark-eyed vaqueros; the horses in the corral; the distant Sierra Nevada. Most of all, Solita. Sarah loved listening to the housekeeper’s warm tales of Matt’s little sister, Dori, and his brother, Robbie.

One day Solita rolled her expressive eyes and pounded down a huge mound of bread dough. “Dolores means
sorrowful
. She brings sorrow to those who displease her or stand in the way of what she wants. She is not bad,” Solita hastily added, “just filled with mischief. I am to blame. She is like my own
muchacha
and so beautiful it is hard to deny her anything.” She sighed, and her hands stilled. “Dori saw an advertisement in a magazine for Brookside Finishing School for Young Ladies in Boston. She pleaded and cried. I reminded Senor Mateo that Senora Sterling would be glad for her daughter to attend such a school.” Solita sighed. “He spent much money getting a place for her, and I almost wished I had not urged him to do so. Our casa seemed empty until Senor Seth came. Then Senor Mateo and I, we laugh again.” She shot a keen look at Sarah and innocently added, “He also laughs much now that you come to California, senorita.”

Sarah felt a blush rise from the modest neckline of a sprigged cotton dress she had bought in Madera. She fingered the crisp white trim on the cuffs and quickly changed the subject. “I would have loved to go to such a school,” she said in a small voice. Hating the “poor me” tone of her voice, she asked, “Does Dori like it there?”

Solita grunted. “Who can say? She would be too proud to admit it if she does not.” Solita lowered her voice. “Dori has been in what Senor Mateo calls ‘scrapes.’ It is a wonder she has not been sent home in disgrace. I think Senor Mateo has had to pay
mucho dinero
to keep her there.” Sarah saw how disturbed the housekeeper was over Dori, so she said, “Tell me about Robbie, please.”

“It is a sad story. He wanted to prove he could do everything Senor Mateo did—but Roberto was too young.” She sighed. “I think Senor Mateo’s heart broke in two pieces when Roberto died.”

Sarah couldn’t hold back a question she’d wanted to ask for a long time. “Did no one try to heal it?” She felt guilty for asking but blurted out, “The girls at the Yosemite Hotel said Matt had been engaged to a girl named Lydia Hensley….” Her voice trailed off.

“Sí.” Solita’s face clouded up like the sky before a thunderstorm. “That one was no good.” She pounded her dough again as if taking out her disgust with Miss Hensley. “Senor Mateo vowed to never again trust a girl or woman. Senorita, he kept that vow until he saw your picture.”

Sarah sat bolt upright. Heat raced through her veins. “What do you mean?”

“It is true. Senor Seth told me that since he gave the picture to Senor Mateo, it has ridden in Senor Mateo’s shirt pocket.”

Sarah couldn’t doubt Solita. So Matthew Sterling carried her picture. Did he look at it as often as she did the one she had of Seth and him? She gulped. “I don’t understand. Why would Seth give him my picture?”

Solita quietly said, “Both senors were worried about you and praying for you. We all were.” The sweetest smile Sarah had seen since her mother died brightened Solita’s face. “Every day I say
gracias a
Dios, thanks to God, who brought you safely to us.”

Sarah knew she’d be bawling if she didn’t get away. She hugged the diminutive housekeeper and escaped from the kitchen—but not from the effect of Solita’s disclosure. Imagine. The girl-shy Matthew Sterling carrying her picture!

A few days later Matt stunned Sarah by presenting her with a beautiful chestnut gelding.

“Why, he looks just like Pandora, the horse of my childhood,” she cried in delight. “Seth must have had a hand in the selection. But I can’t take him.”

“Of course you can. He’s a gift from Seth and a bribe from me,” Matt told her.

“What kind of bribe?” Sarah suspiciously demanded.

“You need to get out of the ranch house and into the fresh air and sunshine to keep healthy,” Matt said. “Not just for your own sake but for Seth’s. You’ve been cooped up too long. Now that he is recovering, you have to think of yourself. You’ve gotten thin and peaked looking. A good dose of the outdoors is just what the doctor ordered. You’ll also have more to tell Seth when you get back.”

“Did Dr. Brown ask you to take me riding?” Sarah held her breath and waited.

“Hardly!” Matt’s eyes lit up. “My own idea, but I’m sure he’d have prescribed it if he’d thought of it.”

The afternoon rides quickly became part of Sarah and Matt’s routine. While Seth napped, was pampered by Solita, and grew strong, Sarah and Matt explored the vast holdings that made up the Diamond S. She loved every inch of the place.

Late one golden October afternoon Matt took Sarah to his special place overlooking the ranch. The promontory offered both privacy and beauty. The entire valley spread out before them, with its vineyards and orchards, its cattle and horses. They dismounted and gazed down into the valley for a long time. Sarah passionately wished she could stay there forever.

Matt wheeled from the view. He drew Sarah close in his strong arms. “I love you, Sarah Joy Anderson,” he said. “I want you to marry me and never leave the Diamond S. You don’t need to answer right away, but no one on this earth can ever love you as much as I do.”

Shaken by his intensity and the beauty of the moment, Sarah longed to respond to the gentle invitation in his eyes. She hesitated then faltered. “Matthew, I admire and respect you with all my heart, but…”

“But you don’t know if you love me.” Disappointment cast a shadow over his strong features, but it vanished the next moment. “I’ll settle for your admiration and respect—for now—and leave the future in God’s hands. Don’t worry about it.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I understand.”

Sarah felt torn. How could he understand when she didn’t? Before she pledged herself to this fine man, she must settle something forever: Were her feelings really love? Or were they hero worship mixed with gratefulness for everything he had done for her and Seth? She must be sure. “I need time to think,” she whispered.

“Take as long as you need,” Matt offered. He released her and raised an eyebrow. “I can afford to be patient. I intend to live to be an old, old man.” His eyes sparkled. “I’ll bet my bottom dollar that someday you’re going to walk up the aisle of our Madera church on Seth’s arm, all gussied up in a fluffy white dress and ready to become Mrs. Matthew Sterling.”

Sarah gasped and stared at him. Impossible as it seemed, the scene Matt described was identical to the one she had conjured up while being fitted for the hated wedding dress months before—the dress Tice Edwards had paid for but had never seen her wear.

N
ow that Seth was rapidly improving, Sarah’s worries should have been over. They weren’t. She was faced with a dilemma that had nothing to do with her brother’s health. Captain Mace had promised she could return to waitressing at his hotel, but his trade depended heavily on the Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company, which daily transported tourists from Madera to the Yosemite Valley. The visitors remained overnight before returning home the following day. The stage line, however, had ceased operation for the year and would not resume until spring. This meant that the captain could only keep a limited number of girls working during the winter, and Sarah was the newest employee.

On a beautiful Indian summer morning while Matt and the boys were busy away from the ranch house, Sarah saddled the chestnut gelding she had already learned to love and rode out alone. John Anderson had taught his daughter well, insisting that she learn to saddle and care for the first Pandora before he allowed her to even ride to the borders of their small farm.

Riding Pandora II brought back so many happy memories! Sarah giggled, remembering the look on her father’s face when she announced she wanted to name her new horse Pandora. A twinkle crept into his blue eyes, and his lips twitched.

“Pandora?” He scratched his head and looked puzzled. “Seems to me Pandora was not only a gal but one who caused a heap of trouble. She opened a box she’d been told not to and let loose a passel of evil on the world—including sickness. Are you sure you want that name?”

Sarah stubbornly shook her head. “No. It said in a book that Pandora means
all gifts
, and he’s a gift. Besides, my horse wouldn’t ever do anything bad. It doesn’t matter if he has a girl’s name.”