Providence Read Free Page B

the going rate that most cattle punchers of the
Territory would pay for unbroke stock
    “It isn’t all you had expected to
get, but we come a might closer this way.” Jake laid a comforting hand on her
arm and smiled. “We will make it, Kate.”
    She smiled up at him, and mutely
nodded her agreement.
    “Now, let me round up Jon, and
we’ll get these stores put up right.” Jake stepped off to call his grandson,
but Kate reached out a hand to stop him.
    “Jake, I just want you to know
how grateful I am for...”
    “Hush now.”
    “Well, at least go in and see
your wife; you and Jon get some decent food in your stomachs. You know Nana
Insley won’t let you go to work without it!” She waved him toward the porch,
“Now go.”
    ***
    The oil lamp cast its golden glow
across the open ledger on Kate’s desk where her fountain pen scratched quietly
over the pages. Shadows danced eerily across the dark walls behind her keeping
time to the booming of distant thunder. The rest of the house was still and
silent. The four hundred and thirty dollars that Jake had given her that
morning was safely locked in her desk until a trip to the bank in Fallis could
be planned.
     “April 12 th ,
1897, born one black, polled bull calf. Received $160 as balance of payment due
on sale of steers. Received $150 in payment for one bay stud colt, aged two
years. Received $100 in payment for two sorrel fillies, aged two years each.”
She dutifully recorded the sale of the colts, the birth of the calf, and the
income, limited though it was. Next she enumerated the many purchases and their
costs.
    With a deep sigh she laid down
the pen and ran a hand across her weary brow, flinching at the roughness.
Looking at her work-hardened hands in the flickering light, tears spilled down
her cheeks. The money was barely enough to keep the small family through the
next few months, and if she wasn’t able to find some hired help soon, she would
have to seriously consider Matt Johnson’s offer to buy the ranch.
    Closing the worn green ledger
book she placed it in the bottom drawer of the old oak desk. Reaching beneath
it, Kate pulled out a small leather bound volume and placed it on the desk
before her. Opening the front cover, she read the words that were a constant
source of comfort to her soul, especially in such troubled times.
    “To our beautiful daughter,
Kathleen Rose Dover,
    from your loving parents, David
and Amanda Dover,
    on the day of your birth March 12 th ,
1870.”
     She ran a finger lightly
over the words so beautifully inscribed in her mother’s flowing script, as
though in caressing the words, she could once again feel her mother’s healing
touch. Below that in the same loving hand her mother had set out a biblical
promise that had sustained Kate through the years....
    But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they
shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
    “Lord, I could sure use some of
that renewing strength right now,” she whispered into the still night. Reaching
out a tired hand, she turned down the wick of the lamp until darkness enveloped
her. Standing and stretching her weary body she walked to the window on the far
wall. Lace curtains blew gently in the evening breeze that drifted through the
open pane. The air was tinged with the faint scent of honeysuckle blossoms. She
lifted her eyes to a black velvet heaven in which a thousand points of light twinkled
merrily. The distant rolling boom was growing fainter, there would be
replenishing rain here tonight. Perhaps tomorrow would bring the renewing
strength they all longed for.

Chapter Two
    As the last of the cattle were
sorted, counted and loaded into the holding pens of the Rock Island rail yard,
the cowboys turned toward the small town of Addington. “I’m going to the post
office, see if any letters came. Where will I meet you?” Joe asked.
    “Try the Hotel. You go get