“Fred showed me the tent he’s reserved for us to live in. It’s about ten by ten. We’re going to collect our things at the train station and take them to the tent, then we’ll come for you and Carrie.” Edward watched her face for any look of alarm.
“A tent in winter sounds quite cold,” Marybeth replied, looking to Edward and then to Fred. “But if that’s how it’s done, I’ll give it a go.”
“It’s done quite well here. There’s a nice cookstove you can use to heat and cook. It’ll keep the place warm, believe me. Eve and I used one when we first came to town with the boys.” He paused and added, “Eve’s my wife.”
“I’ll look forward to meeting her.”
Edward stepped forward. “The tent is actually a little bigger than this room.”
“And there’s a community outhouse for this group of tent dwellers. A lot of folks use the old chamber pots for nighttime and dump them in the morning,” Fred offered. “Even on the east side of town, it’s best to keep inside at night. It won’t always be that way, though, so don’t lose hope. Once the tracks move on west, things will calm down considerably.”
“When do you expect that will happen?” Marybeth asked.
“Come spring. Things have slowed way down for the winter. They’ll focus on building up things here in Cheyenne. This is to be a division headquarters, so there will be shops for repair and a roundhouse. They’ve already put up a couple of warehouses, and they’re stuffing them with supplies for the spring push west. Some of the men will be hired to go into the mountains and cut timber and make ties. There’s always plenty of winter work.”
“I see. Well then, we shall make the best of it and trust God to watch over us.”
“Yes, ma’am. That’s our thought as well. Eve just told me the other night that being as spring was only a few months away, she could manage. Figures she can do almost anything for a few months.” Fred smiled. “I think you two are going to like each other a great deal. Now, however, Edward and Iwere going to get some lunch, and we thought you and the baby might like to come along.”
“Oh.” Marybeth looked to Edward and then to Carrie. Her sister seemed quite content eating her cheese and crackers. Still, the lure of hot food made Marybeth consider the situation carefully. After Carrie ate, she was going to be tired. They’d already had quite the morning.
“I think we’ll just stay here. That will take less time and trouble for you two. I’ll get things packed up while Carrie naps, and when you’re ready for us at the tent, just let me know.”
Fred nodded. “Of course. It won’t be long. Things continue to move pretty fast around here, even in the daylight.”
Edward stepped close to her, and Marybeth lifted her gaze to his. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
“We’ll be fine. The really bad folks are sleeping, or so I’ve been told. We’ll stay put. We learned our lesson.”
Edward pulled on his hat. “Let’s get on with it, then.”
Once they’d gone, Marybeth considered all they’d said about the tent. She couldn’t imagine anyone wintering in a tent. How in the world could that work? The temperatures were already quite frigid. The hotel room hadn’t even been all that comfortable. Even now she had Carrie wearing extra clothes. What would happen when January came, and the temperatures lowered even more?
She gathered the things she’d washed earlier and checked to see if they were dry. They were. Marybeth started folding them. How would she cook meals for them on a tiny cookstove? At least it must be tiny, she surmised. The tent was only ten by ten.
How were they supposed to live in a tent?
A sense of panic welled in the pit of her stomach. Nothing was right. Nothing was as it should be. A tent was where they would live, but it wasn’t a house. She was married to a man but wasn’t a wife. She cared for a child but wasn’t a mother. They had come to a place that people equated with violent men and sinful women. That was no place to make a home. Had she misunderstood God? Had she acted out of fear and leapt at the first solution offered? What if theywerecursed for having married without the true love of a husband and wife? Had she brought down God’s wrath upon them?
Marybeth wrapped her arms around her body and closed her eyes. Overwhelmed with a sense of grief and fear, she pleaded with God to still her roiling spirit.
If I did wrong, Lord, please forgive me. Don’t make us to suffer theevils of sinful men who don’t care about the needs of good people. Help us, Lord. Help us please.
She opened her eyes, and her gaze immediately went to the head of the bed where she’d left her Bible. She went there and curled up much like a child. Opening the Bible, she went to Scriptures that she had read time and time again in moments like this.
“‘Be merciful unto me, O God,’” she read aloud. “‘For man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High. What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.’”
Carrie came to the edge of the bed. “I read.”
Marybeth smiled. “Of course.” She pulled Carrie up on the bed and tucked her safely against her. “This is PsalmFifty-Six, and we will memorize verse three. You say it after me. ‘What time I am afraid...’”
“What afraid,” Carrie repeated in her own way.
“‘I will trust in thee,’” Marybeth said.
“I trust me.”
“No, silly.” Marybeth laughed and pushed back Carrie’s straight blond hair. “We get into trouble when we put our trust in ourselves. When we’re afraid, we need to trust God.”
