Finally a Bride (26 page)

“Downright impossible,” Mr. Cauldwell shouted.

Reverend Jeffers looked at the man. “Maybe so, but it’s what our Lord is instructing us to do. It’s not easy. I’m proof of that. Last night I failed to show love to an angry man, and I’m the minister. But God doesn’t always call us to do the easy thing.”

Jack thought about that. In some ways, leaving Lookout would be very hard. Yeah, she might actually have a room to herself, but she would miss seeing her brother and sisters grow up, and the new baby wouldn’t even know her. She stared out the window at the cloudy sky. Wind battered the trees, signaling a coming storm that mirrored the one going on inside her. Could she sacrifice all that for the opportunities and adventure she could have in Dallas? Would moving be worth the cost?

“Let’s read a bit farther.” Noah’s words pulled her attention back to the front.

“Matthew 9, verses 10–13 says, ‘And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with the pelicans and sinners?’ “

Andy’s head jerked up. He’d been sitting there quietly unraveling his sock. “What’s a pelican?”

Jack shushed him and glanced at Carly, who shrugged, an embarrassed grin teasing her lips.

Old Mr. Carpenter, who always sat on the second row because he couldn’t hear well, turned to his wife. “Did he say pelican?”

Poor Opal Carpenter held up her finger to quiet him, but the old man lifted his ear horn. “Eh?”

“Hesh up, Henry,” the old woman said.

Chuckles rebounded around the room.

Noah cleared his throat, looking a bit confused. Jack couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. Did he know about his faux pas?

He continued reading. “ ‘But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ Jesus chose to fellowship with the poor and lowly, but He was the son of a king—the King. Instead of demanding fine clothing, a feast, and jewels, He lived a life of poverty, so that He could be an example and reach those nobody else cared about.”

Noah slowly paced back and forth across the front of the church. “Remember the parable of the two sons? The father told one son to go and work in the vineyard, but the son said no. Later he repented and went and did as the father asked. But the father went to his second son and told him to go to work. That son said he would but then failed to go.”

He paused and looked over the congregation. Jack swallowed hard, knowing she was more like the second son than the first. Much of her life, she’d shirked her chores, preferring to be with her friends than help her ma. Remorse ran through her.

“So let me ask you a question. Which of the two sons did the will of his father?”

“The first,” someone behind Jack shouted.

“Perhaps.” Noah shrugged one shoulder. “Jesus said, ‘Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.’ It seems a harsh statement, doesn’t it, folks? We strive all our lives to work hard, raise enough crops or make enough money to feed our families and provide for them, and all of this is good. But God looks at our hearts.”

Noah remained silent for a moment and stared at the crowd. Jack ducked her head when he glanced her way. “What is your motivation, folks? Are you working hard to be the richest man in town? Or are you just trying to care for your family and serve God?”

Noah looked down at the floor and stood with his hands in his pockets. “I’ve never been a rich man, nor particularly care to be. But I can tell you that I’ve lived about as low as a man can go.”

Jack perked up. Was he going to share something about his past? “My pa wasn’t a kind person. Oh, he was all right until my ma and little sister died, but then he fell off the wagon. He was a mean drunk, and I was the one he took his anger out on.”

Jack sucked in a breath.

“It’s hard for me to believe that Jesus would have sought out my pa before … say, Pastor Taylor.”

Jack’s heart clinched at the pain etched on Noah’s face. She’d once had a mean father and remembered hiding when he’d go into one of his rages. Remembered how it hurt the few times he hit her before her mother would distract him and take his brutality instead. She’d never have expected that she and Noah would have that in common.

“I doubt my pa ever heard about God. He never taught me about the Lord. And to be honest, it would be hard for me to accept that he might be in heaven.” He huffed a fake laugh. “It’s a good thing I’m not God. I’m imperfect. A sinner. Just like everyone else in this room. But there’s good news, folks. Jesus came to save us sinners. If we turn from our wicked ways and humble ourselves, God can make us new. Wash us clean as new-fallen snow.”

He returned to the podium just as Abby slid off the bench and onto the floor. Jack motioned for her to get back on the seat, but she shook her head. Abby leaned her head against the pew in front of them and stuck her tongue out at Alan. Jack tried to shift Emmie to a different position to free up her arm, knowing an explosion was about to occur. Alan leaned forward, reaching for Abby’s hair, but Carly snatched up the boy just in time to avoid a catastrophe. She hauled him onto her lap, but he shinnied off and climbed onto Garrett’s, giving Carly an angry glare. Abby had already inhaled—ready to scream, Jack was certain—but instead, the girl slowly let out her breath, looking disappointed. Jack glanced at the ceiling.
Father, forgive me if I was anything like my siblings
.

Noah returned to his podium and ruffled the pages of his Bible. “Let me close with this. ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a pelican.’“

“What is a pelican?” Alan whispered, far too loudly.

Garrett leaned down to his ear. “It’s a kind of bird.”

Alan nodded. “Thought so.”

“ ‘The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this pelican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the pelican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.’“

Noah closed his Bible, his gaze roving the crowd again. Jack didn’t think he had any idea of the mistake he’d made. “I challenge you not to leave here today until you’ve made things right with the Lord. Don’t be proud like the Pharisee, who boasted of his good deeds, but rather, see how you can help your neighbor or friend without expecting something in return. Shall we pray?”

Jack bowed her head, shame weighing heavy on her shoulders. She was so tied up in achieving her own dreams that she rarely thought of doing something nice for someone else, even her ma.
Forgive me, Lord
.

Thunder boomed outside, and though the prayer had yet to be completed, a number of heads swiveled toward the windows. The scent of rain filled the air, and Jack had a suspicion that many folks were going to get wet on their travels home. She couldn’t help being thankful she didn’t have far to go.

Alan squirmed on Garrett’s lap, and the moment Noah said, “Amen,” the child went slack and slid free of his captor. He crawled across the floor toward Abby. She spotted him, squealed, and scurried under the pew in front of Jack, with Alan chasing after. Jack bent and just missed snagging her brother’s britches. Mrs. Abbott, sitting directly in front of Jack with her quiet trio of children, squealed and looked down. Then she turned and shot Jack a glare that could curdle milk. Jack shook her head and shrugged.
How did Ma get those two to behave?

“Sorry,” Garrett said. “I’ll go after them.”

Emmie sat up, her hair and the back of her dress damp with sweat. She rubbed her eyes and sniffled. “I tirsty.”

“Why don’t I take her back home and get the table set for dinner?” Carly smiled.

“Are you sure you don’t mind? I probably should go rescue Garrett.”

Carly held out her arms. “You wanna go home and get a drink?” Emmie stared at her for a moment, then fell forward. Carly stood and held the girl on her hip. “Let’s go home before the rain starts.” Thunder echoed through the room again, and Emmie buried her face against Carly’s shoulder. They joined the crowd making its way outside.

Jack stood, stretching out the kinks in her shoulders and arms. She glanced down and gasped. The dress that had taken her nearly an hour to iron yesterday was a mass of damp wrinkles. She crossed her arms and slid out of the pew.

Mr. Abbott leaned toward his wife. “Oddest sermon I ever did hear. I don’t remember reading nothing in the scriptures about pelicans.”

“That’s ‘cause it’s not there. Just a bad case of nerves, I reckon.” She flicked one finger, and her three children followed her quietly out of the church like ducklings behind a mama duck.

Her husband moseyed behind the group, scratching his head. “You know, Louise, come to think of it, I do believe pelicans are mentioned in the scriptures. Somewhere in Leviticus or Deuteronomy, but I sure don’t recall any mentioned in the New Testament.”

Jack glanced toward the front of the church. The mayor was forcing his way against the flow of people, up the aisle toward Noah. With such a crowd surging to the exit, she figured she wasn’t leaving any time soon and started making her way to the front. If there was going to be some action, she wanted to be there.

She smiled and returned a wave from Callie Howard as she passed her friend’s family. Sitting down in a pew several rows from the front, she tried not to look too obvious. Several small groups of friends and neighbors stood in clusters talking, but most of the people were leaving the building. The mayor squeezed his bulk past Agatha Linus and her sister, then strode toward the reverend with determined steps. The man sure didn’t look very pleased.

During the sermon, she’d learned a bit more already about their mysterious pastor, but was the mayor going to fire him before she got a chance to write her story?

Chapter 19

N
oah folded his sermon notes and stuck the papers in his Bible. He heaved a heavy sigh, glad to have his first sermon over and done with. Several people had come up front and thanked him for coming to Lookout. He glanced at the door, disappointed as most of the congregation made their way outside to their horses and buggies. He’d planned to stand at the door and send them on their way, but the threat of a thunderstorm had everyone hurrying home.

The mayor squeezed past Mrs. Linus and strode toward him. From the expression on his face, Noah was certain he wasn’t happy. What could have upset him so much?

“Now see here, young man, what’s all that talk about pelicans?”

Noah’s heart lurched at the man’s harsh attack. “What? I talked about publicans, not pelicans, Mayor.”

The man wagged a beefy finger in Noah’s face. “No, sir. I heard it with my own ears. You must have said
pelicans
a dozen times.”

Noah’s gaze darted over to where Jack sat several rows back. She watched them with obvious interest, but he didn’t like the idea of her seeing him get wrung out by the mayor.

“I never heard the like of that message.” The mayor’s bellowing drew his attention back. Mayor Burke’s eyes actually bulged. “If you want to keep your job here, you’d better not repeat today’s fiasco. Do you understand me?”

Slowly, Noah nodded. He really had no idea what the man was ranting about. Had he just heard him wrong?

The mayor stormed down the aisle, mumbling. “I knew it was a bad idea to have such a young man….”

Turning his back to Jack, Noah returned to the podium and pretended that he’d left something behind. The mayor should have waited and talked to him in private, not lambasting him while people were still in the church. Had he actually said
pelicans
instead of
publicans
? Surely not. He’d wanted to speak a message that would encourage folks to be nicer to their neighbors, but he’d evidently failed.

“Don’t listen to Mayor Burke. He used to fuss at Pastor Taylor, too.”

Noah faced Jack, grateful that she tried to soothe his rumpled composure. She was so pretty in her medium blue dress, which enhanced the color of her eyes. The bodice was all wrinkled, but he shouldn’t be noticing that and pulled his gaze back up to her face. “Did he really do that? Fuss at Pastor Taylor?”

Jack nodded. “I saw him do it several times.”

“Well, if he only complained a handful of times, I’ll try not to be overly concerned.”

“I don’t usually stay later like today, though, so I can’t really say how much he criticized the sermon.” Jack smiled, setting his barely settled stomach to swirling again. She was so pretty—she always had been—even when dressed in overalls.