Had he expected God would make his life easy? Eliminate challenges? A sigh fluttered his lips.
I choose to follow You even now. Though, I’m asking that Addie change her mind about me. Sees me as a good man despite my name.His choice and his trust were challenged by Addie’s rejection more than learning of what his father had done.
Ma had hesitated to tell him when she got the news. Said she’d been surprised. They’d left because he was a robber. But that was a far cry from murder.
“Greed,” she’d said in a mournful tone, “can drive a man to do dreadful things.”
Had his father even considered how his actions impacted Nash’s life? If he’d cared, he would have changed his ways and come after them.
Thank goodness Gib had been a good substitute father.Thank You, God.
Sleep eventually claimed him.
Over the next few days, he chopped wood. He brought in more logs and chopped them. He checked the fence holding his horses. He planted a garden. That all done, he saddled up and headed back down the trail to get Star. He stopped at Shorty’s for the night.
The crates had been pulled from the storeroom to the wall beside the door. Two valises rested atop them. The bed had been stripped of blankets and sheets.
“Looks like you’re leaving.”
The man rubbed his hands together and grinned. “That I am. And it is thanks to Miss Addie.”
“How’s that?”
His grin faltered. “I am a married man. Our little son is dead because of my carelessness. What I did was unforgivable. Addie told me I needed to stop punishing myself and my wife.”
“Hmm.” Too bad she didn’t listen to her own advice and offer forgiveness to him.
Shorty served a meal with gingerbread for dessert. “Miss Addie showed me how to make this. When I get home, my wife will be surprised by how well I can cook…well, a few things.”
“I’m glad for you.” If only Nash could see the future as bright and exciting as Shorty did.
Shorty’s face clouded. “She might have given up on me by now. Or perhaps be willing to forgive me.”
Neither of them spoke. Nash wasn’t going to offer empty assurances when he understood how difficult forgiveness could be.
The lines in Shorty’s face hardened. His fist slammed his thigh. “I will never give up trying to win her back. Never.”
The chasm between Nash and Addie yawned toowide for a bridge. She wouldn’t forgive Nash’s father and, by extension, Nash. Nor did he blame her. What his father had done was unforgivable.
The next morning, he returned to the trail, leaving behind a man eager to return to his wife and beg for understanding.
What would happen to Shorty if his wife refused to forgive him? Would he disappear into the mountains again? Or stay and win her over?
The questions plagued him as he returned to the place he’d left Star. The horse had healed and eagerly welcomed Nash.
Nash scratched behind his ears. “Did you think I’d abandoned you? I’d never do that. But you needed time to rest and heal.”
Would time do the same work for Addie?
Eighteen
Addie flung herself into the work the Stones did in ministering to the ill, the injured, and the needy, and there was plenty of it. An outbreak of the flu struck one of the mining camps. Addie insisted she could handle helping Father. Mrs. Hammel offered to assist, but Addie pointed out that Mary needed her. Mother wanted to accompany them. Until Addie reminded her that she was still run down after her own illness, and Father urged her to stay home and rest.
The dwellings at the camp were shacks that barely protected against the weather. No wonder so many were sick. Miners coughed. Often, their wives and children were pale and lethargic. Addie went from one home to the other, making medicinal tea, sponging fevered brows, and preparing broth for the sick to sip.
She stepped from the home of a sick family. A crowd of men down the hill waved their arms at Father and shouted. An angry mob was not what they needed, and she picked her way over the rough terrain to stand by Father.
“What’s wrong?”
