He dismounted just as she reached him, Joshua amazed that in the dark he had seen her at all.
“Ma’am?”
“You’re so very kind to stop, thank you, young man. I’m visiting from out of town and thought I’d take a walk. It’s such a lovely evening, isn’t it? Yet I’ve lost my way and now I’m rather fatigued.”
“Here, let me help you,” Joshua offered, though strangely when he reached for her arm, he felt only air.
“Oh, no, you don’t need to support me, but I could sit for a spell and catch my breath. Isn’t that your house there?”
Joshua followed her glance, nodding. He’d been so lost in his bleak thoughts that he hadn’t realized he was almost home. She didn’t wait for him, but walked on ahead in so brisk a manner that he had the oddest feeling that she wasn’t fatigued at all. He followed, and tethered Blaze to the hitching post just beyond his front porch.
“Look, rocking chairs! A pair of them, too, one for me and one for you. Come sit with me, Joshua, will you?”
Again she didn’t wait for him, and it seemed within the blink of an eye she was seated and contentedly rocking while Joshua sat down with some consternation beside her.
“You know my name? I don’t recall us ever meeting—”
“Of course, you’re Sheriff Joshua Logan. Everyone knows who you are, for better or worse, unfortunately. You’ve had a terrible day. The whole town’s talking.”
“Yes, terrible,” Joshua agreed, “though it didn’t start out that way.”
“I know, the church service was wonderful, wasn’t it? Reverend Thomas gave such a moving sermon…all about forgiveness, I believe. I wonder, though, if you were paying any attention. Perhaps you were too busy staring at Ingrid in the front pew. She is lovely, isn’t she?”
Joshua didn’t answer, but rubbed his forehead, feeling suddenly as if he were in a perplexing dream. The woman’s voice was so soothing and with a lilting quality he’d heard before…yes, when he’d heard Ingrid singing so sweetly in Norwegian tonight to his daughter. But who was she? And to have appeared so suddenly as if out of nowhere?
“Ma’am, I don’t know your name,” he began, only to hear the lightest laughter that soothed him even more.
“Kari. Tante Kari to those who know me best.”
“No last name? It might help me to find where you’re staying—”
“We guardian angels don’t need last names, oh, my, no. Don’t worry, Joshua, I’ll find my way back…but will you?”
He stared at her, dumbstruck, as a brilliant light seemed to envelop her…her silvery hair becoming a blinding white.
“Don’t be afraid, my son. I was given permission to appear to you this way to assure you it’s not true at all that nothing in heaven and earth will restore your soul. Mary has forgiven you, but you must forgive her, too. Only then will you be able to forgive yourself.”
“Mary…has forgiven me?”
Tante Kari nodded, her smile so kind that Joshua felt tears burn his eyes. “She wants you to be happy…you and Davy and Emily. When the time comes, you’ll know the right path to choose. Don’t throw love away with both hands, Joshua. It’s too precious a gift…ah, but I must go now.”
“No, don’t leave,” he murmured even as she seemed to shimmer in front of him, the light surrounding her starting to fade.
“You won’t remember our visit, Joshua, but I pray in your heart you’ll remember my words. May the Lord bless and keep you.”
He sat there for the longest moment, staring at the chair beside him that slowly ceased to rock, until he blinked and looked around him.
How did he come to be sitting on his front porch? He felt so strange, and beyond weary, too. No wonder he didn’t remember arriving home.
Something seemed different, the bitterness and desolation that had wracked him gone, but perhaps that was exhaustion, too. He rose from the chair and left the porch, not remembering tethering his horse to the hitching post, either.
Shaking his head, Joshua untied the reins and led the animal toward the stable, the door still open just as he’d left it. His feet felt leaden, each step an effort. He began to doubt that he would make it into the house, a pile of fresh hay suddenly looking very inviting.
He had no sooner shut the gate to the stall when he sank into the hay and closed his eyes…a comforting peace unlike anything he’d ever known settling over him.
Chapter 8
“Papa, did you really fall asleep in the stable?”
