“It’s not a problem. I wanted to speak to him as well.”
Melody made her way downstairs and found the older man waiting for her in the front room. She could see the compassion in his expression.
“Dr. Scott.”
“Melody, I’m so sorry to hear about your father.”
“Thank you. Won’t you sit down?” She hurried to take a chair as she felt her strength giving way. It was as if she’d run a long race and didn’t have the ability to take even one more step.
“Would you care for some coffee or tea, Dr. Scott?” Marybeth asked.
“No. I have no need for either. I just came to let Melodyknow that her father arranged everything. The service will be this Saturday on the thirtieth. Your father wanted a very simple service.”
“That sounds like Da.” Melody knew her father wouldn’t want people dwelling on his death. He would prefer people focus on life, and not even his, but rather the life abundant they could have in Jesus.
“What time and where?” Melody asked.
“Ten o’clock. If it’s not raining or stormy, we’ll hold the services at the grave. Your father said he hated the thought of having to hold his funeral indoors.”
Melody smiled. “He loved being outside. Even when the weather was questionable, he preferred to be in the open air.”
“That’s what he told me. The undertaker will wait for everyone to gather at the depot and then lead the processional down Fifteenth Street to the cemetery. If we have inclement weather, we’ll simply meet at the school as we would for Sunday services. I’m getting the word out to all I know and asking them to do the same. I know the editor at theLeaderplans to put in a small funeral notice.”
“I have to admit, I’m glad to have the matter already arranged. Da was so good to have taken charge. I wish, however, that I would have known sooner just how bad things were.”
“He waited until the last minute to tell most of us,” Dr. Scott replied. His tone was full of sympathy. “He told me he didn’t want people spending his final days mourning him before he was gone.” The doctor smiled. “He said that he wanted to live his days to the fullest, right until he drew his last breath, and he couldn’t do that if everyone had already buried him.”
She understood exactly what her father had said. Understood and respected it, but that didn’t stop the pain of loss from tearing at her heart.
Dr. Scott got to his feet. “There was just one more request your father had.”
She looked up. “What was that?”
“He didn’t want you wearing black. Said he’d prefer no one wore it, but he had no say over other folks. He did feel he had a say over his daughter, though, and he didn’t want you to worry about the mourning rites or processes. He wanted you free to marry Charlie as soon as possible and to move forward with your life in happiness. He said to tell you this so you knew it came from him.” Dr. Scott paused and looked as if he were thinking hard to recall something to mind.
“Gan aon chiontacht i ngrá.” The words came with difficulty from the older man.
Melody smiled at his Irish. Her father’s last message for her. “‘No guilt in love.’”
Later that day, Edward Vogel came to the bank to update Charlie on the posse hunting for Jefferson Lane. “About two dozen men have headed south to search for him. They’ll follow the stage line and inquire at each stop as to whether Jefferson was seen. There are a couple of good trackers among the men, so we feel confident they’ll find Lane.”
“I appreciate knowing about that. I received a telegram from my father. He intends to be here on the second of June. It would be nice if we could have the matter wrapped up by then.”
“Our men are determined to find him. The vigilante committee members are doing less and less and will soon be disbanded altogether now that we have a good police force in place, but they wanted to participate in this. Many of themhad money in your bank. It’s their way of making sure they get it back.”
Charlie ran his hand through his hair. “I wish they wouldn’t worry. I told them I’d back it with my own money if need be. I have an inheritance I can draw from.”
Edward shook his head. “You’re a good man to do such a thing, but isn’t it really your pa’s responsibility? After all, it’s his bank.”
“But it happened under my leadership, and I am, therefore, the one who must make it right. I failed to get the bank’s keys back from Jefferson. Had I done that, he wouldn’t have had a chance to take the contents of the smaller safe. I never even thought about it.” Charlie shook his head. “I’m not cut out for this job.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Charlie. Nobody blames you.”
Charlie met Edward’s gaze with a smile. “You haven’t met my father.”
Edward shrugged. “No, I guess I haven’t. Sounds like he’s pretty hard on you.”
“He’s just got his ideas of how things need to be, and when they aren’t, he takes that as his cue to put everything in order. He’ll blame me for this and rightly so. I just hope he’ll forgive me and understand that the decision I’ve made was made before Jefferson took the money.”
