California Romance (19 page)

“No hard feelings?” Abby asked when they slowed their horses.

“Oh no!” Sarah attempted to smooth her disheveled hair. “That was exciting. But I challenge you to another race sometime.”

Abby laughed and held out a gloved hand. “You’re on. You’re not bad for a tenderfoot. Let’s go get our prizes. It’s almost time for the men’s race.”

I
t was not Red Fallon’s day. He and his black made a strong showing but only placed third in the men’s race. Top honors went to Matt Sterling on Chase and Curly on his favorite buckskin. They were neck and neck all the way and crossed the finish line at the exact same moment.

Red yanked at his horse’s reins and gave the winning pair a menacing look that frightened Sarah. So far the Diamond S outfit had studiously avoided him like the plague, but could it last? What if Red showed up at the square dance? There was no telling what might happen.

To Sarah’s great relief, Red didn’t come. Curly, Bud, and Slim got their turns dancing with her, but most of the time Matt fended off would-be partners by whirling her away. Yet all through the happy evening, a bad feeling niggled at Sarah. Red Fallon was not out of the picture. As the cowboys would say, “Not by a long shot.”

One beautiful evening shortly after the rodeo Matt told Sarah there would be no school the next day. Everyone was needed to prepare for a special fiesta in honor of Seth’s miraculous recovery.

“What can I do to help?” she inquired.

“Nothing.” Matt grinned, the maddening expression that always left her feeling unsettled and wondering what he was thinking. “Why don’t you take tomorrow off and do something you really want to do?” He gave her a mock glare. “That does not mean helping Solita!”

Instead of sticking to her guns and reminding Matt she was there to work, as she often did, Sarah obediently said, “All right,” then laughed at his look of surprise. She stared west toward a spectacular sunset. Crimson, scarlet, gold, and purple set the skies on fire. “The Bible says red sky in the evening means a fair tomorrow. If it’s all right, I will borrow a horse and buggy and go to Madera. I’ve been wanting to tell Abby and the other girls at the Yosemite Hotel how good God was to spare Seth. There was no chance for a serious talk when I saw them at the rodeo.”

Matt looked regretful. “Sorry I can’t take you, and Seth’s nursing a bum ankle. But one of the boys will be glad to drive for you.” Mischief sparkled in his teasing blue eyes. “All of them are more than willing, especially Curly, Bud, and Slim. Of course, choosing one over the others means we will probably have a range war on our hands.”

Sarah just laughed and waved away his suggestion, but her pulse quickened.

“Actually I was teasing,” Matt said. “One of the men will escort you to town. Just because your stepfather and that gambler haven’t showed up yet is no reason to believe they won’t—sooner or later.”

The next morning, Sarah dressed in her best, blue-checked gingham dress, donned a wide-brimmed hat, and climbed into the buggy Matt had ready and waiting. Curly, clad in a blinding plaid shirt and neckerchief, beamed at her from the driver’s seat. “My pards and I tossed a coin to see who got to drive you. I won,” he bragged. Sarah couldn’t help laughing at his triumphant expression—and at the obviously disgruntled Slim and Bud, who stood nearby.

“Take good care of her, Curly,” Matt called when they started off.
“Vaya con Dios
, Sarah, and hurry home.”

Go with God. Hurry home
. What a beautiful blessing! “We should be home early in the afternoon,” Sarah promised. “Don’t eat up all the tamales and enchiladas at dinner.” She waved, and they drove away.

Matthew’s blessing perched on Sarah’s shoulder on her trip to Madera. An occasional lazy hawk circled in the Indian summer sky. A few long-eared jackrabbits with bulging eyes peered at her from beside the road. After Curly made a few unsuccessful attempts to start a conversation, he gave up. It provided the perfect opportunity for Sarah to think and silently talk with her heavenly Father.

Who would have thought the frightened girl who fled from St. Louis would be teaching school on a cattle ranch in California a few months later?

Sarah smiled to herself. Her original ten students had grown to sixteen. After the first few sessions, Carmelita’s mother had shyly asked Senor Mateo if “the good Senorita Sarah, who so kindly teaches the
muchachos
, will also teach the senoras English?” Sarah was aghast. Teaching children was one thing. Teaching their mothers was a different story. Yet the eagerness in the brown-skinned faces awaiting her answer went straight to Sarah’s tender heart. These Mexican women were God’s children, too. How could she deny them the joy of learning?

She swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded. “Sí.” All the electric lights that glowed in St. Louis couldn’t match the brightness in the women’s faces—but the greater reward was Sarah’s. The scripture from Luke 6 rang in her ears each time she saw the women struggling to master English and saw their toil-worn fingers painstakingly copying words on the extra slates Matt provided:
“Give, and it shall be given unto you….For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

When she mentioned it to Matt, he quietly said, “We can never out give God, Sarah.” He smiled with such obvious approval and love that Sarah felt warmed through and through.

Now as the buggy neared Madera, she silently prayed,
Lord, I am so glad I was able to sow seeds of Christianity during the time I worked at the Yosemite Hotel. I pray they will begin to bear good fruit in the lives of my new friends
. She reflected on how much she had learned to love the country and how much Matt had come to mean in her life. A small smile crept up from her heart.
Thank You, God, for bringing me to California
. She turned to Curly with a bright remark, and they visited the rest of the way to Madera.

Once there, Sarah could hardly wait to see her friends. They left the buggy in a shady grove at the edge of town and agreed to start home around noon.

The din of the metal bar drumming on the triangle announcing the midday meal sounded shortly after Matt rode in from several hours of checking fences.

“About time,” Seth complained. “My stomach feels so empty it thinks my throat’s been cut.”

“Good sign.” Matt slapped his dusty Stetson against his boot tops. “If I don’t get cleaned up before dinner, Solita will clean my clock.” He strode up the wide steps. “Sarah back yet?”

“Naw.” Seth raised one eyebrow. “She probably couldn’t get away from the girls at the Yosemite Hotel.”

“Probably,” Matt agreed. But when two o’clock came, he lounged on the shady porch and stared at the road to Madera, nervous as a Mexican jumping bean. Seth had long since settled down for an afternoon siesta, obviously untroubled by his sister’s absence.

“Don’t be stupid,” Matt told himself. “Nothing can happen to Sarah when Curly’s with her.” It didn’t help. And when a lathered horse and wild-eyed rider charged into the yard, Matt cleared the porch steps in one leap.

“Doc Brown says you gotta come quick!” Freckle-faced Johnny Foster gasped for breath. “Curly’s hurt bad. He was found knocked out cold in an alley. Nobody knows how long he’d been there.”

Heart thundering, Matt grabbed Johnny’s shoulder. “What about Sarah?”

“Seth’s sister?” Johnny looked surprised. “I don’t know anything about her.”

In the time it took to saddle Chase and a fresh horse for Johnny, something inside Matt died.

Every pound of the horses’ hooves on the way to Madera echoed the beat of his worried heart. “Lord,” he prayed, low enough that Johnny couldn’t hear, “You know my life will be meaningless without Sarah. Please be with her, wherever she is.”

It seemed like a century before they reached Madera and Doc Brown. Curly had just regained consciousness, face pale beneath a heavy bandage around his head.

“Where’s Sarah?” Matt challenged.

“Sarah?” Curly groggily shook his head and winced. “Probably still at the hotel. I remember starting to meet her before noon. I passed an alley and woke up here in Doc’s office….”

Matt was already rushing for the door, heart in his throat.
God, is Sarah at the hotel? If so, surely she would have heard about Curly and gotten word to me!
Fortunately Abby was on duty.

“Sarah? She went to meet Curly just before noon,” Abby said. “Maybe they stopped off to see someone.”

Fear spurted. “Who does Sarah know?” Matt demanded.

Abby laughed. “Everyone knows and loves Sarah. She could be at the post office or the minister’s or—”

“Thanks,” Matt cut in. He forced a smile over the rising suspicion that something was terribly wrong. Not everyone loved Sarah. He could name three without thinking: Gus Stoddard, Tice Edwards, Red Fallon. Well, Stoddard and Edwards were far away, but Red might still be around.

Matt felt sick. He turned on his heel and headed for the sheriff ’s office. “Whoever knocked Curly out did it for a reason,” he told Sheriff Meade. “I’m dead sure that reason is Sarah.”

A thorough search of the small town turned up no sign of the young woman or the buggy. The sheriff hastily organized a posse. The questioning of citizens began in earnest. No one had seen or heard a thing about Sarah.

Helplessness fell on Matt like a saddle blanket on Chase’s back. There were no clues to Sarah’s disappearance. Matt only knew she hadn’t taken the road back to the ranch. He would have passed her on his way to Madera. Sick at heart, he bowed his head. His anguish-filled mind repeated over and
over
,
Where is Sarah?

Sarah had a wonderful time visiting with her friends at the Yosemite Hotel, including Captain Russell Perry Mace. The captain’s hints about what an exemplary man Matthew Sterling was and the assurance her job would be open in the spring “if she needed it” failed to get a commitment from Sarah. His words did, however, make her anxious to get back to the ranch. Her reflections during her ride into town had helped Sarah realize her feelings for Matt were genuine and did not spring from a desire to escape from Tice. Her prayers had led her to believe that Matt was the man with whom God wanted her to spend the rest of her life. Matthew had patiently given her the time she requested to be sure, but now she couldn’t wait to tell him she had never been more certain of anything in her life. Her heart felt lighter than a spring morning. Was any woman ever so blessed as she?

When Curly didn’t come for her at the appointed time, Sarah figured he must have misunderstood their meeting place and would be waiting for her at the buggy. She strolled to the grove of shade trees at the edge of town. The buggy sat waiting. The carriage horse, tethered so he could graze, nickered a welcome, but there was no sign of Curly.

Sarah laughed and hitched the horse to the buggy. “Curly probably ran into a friend and lost track of time,” she mused. “He will be along soon.” She sat down in the shade and closed her eyes, lost in anticipation of seeing Matt soon.

Her joy was short-lived. All too soon, a coarse voice interrupted her reverie.

“Well, lookee who’s here.”

Sarah’s eyes jerked open. Red Fallon grinned down at her from atop his black horse. There was no mistaking his coarse red hair, beard, and leering face.