A Home at Trail's End (15 page)

She pursed her lips, considering this offer, but as soon as she thought of Eli and how faithfully he was working to finish their home and how anxious he was to be married and settled—she knew her answer. “Even if Reverend Holmes grumbles and growls and yells throughout our nuptials, I am willing to endure it. For Eli's sake, I will endure it.”

On Sunday morning, Elizabeth felt nervous about going to church. She knew her father hadn't been able to carve out the time to go visit Reverend Holmes yet, mostly because he and Brady had been helping Eli with her house all week. So when she walked into the building with Eli and the children, she was bracing herself for whatever wrath might come from the pulpit. She had not told Eli about her visit. He seemed to have enough on his mind with finishing the house, especially now that their wedding date was just less than two weeks away.

They took their seats and waited as more families joined them. As usual, the church was not very full. Elizabeth looked up to where Mrs. Holmes normally sat right in front and was surprised to see that she was not there yet.

“Are we early?” Ruth whispered after they'd sat for a spell.

“No, I don't believe we're early,” Elizabeth said quietly.

Other members of the congregation began murmuring among themselves, and everyone was obviously wondering when the service would begin. Elizabeth looked over to where her parents were seated near the front just as her mother glanced back with a concerned expression.

“Excuse me,” said a female voice from behind the congregation.

Everyone turned around to see Mrs. Holmes standing in the doorway. Her face was creased with worry. “I'm sorry to tell you that Reverend Holmes will be unable to deliver his sermon today,” she announced. “He has taken ill.”

Now the congregation made sympathetic and concerned noises.

“I'm sorry that all of you made the effort to come today,” she continued. “But we didn't know until this morning that he would not be well enough to preach.”

“Asa Dawson can take the service,” Will Bramford called out.

“Yes,” Hugh Prescott agreed. “Let Asa preach to us.”

Mrs. Holmes face brightened. “Would you care to preach this morning, Mr. Dawson?” she asked hopefully.

Asa stood and looked around. “I reckon I could.”

“We'd be much obliged,” Mrs. Holmes said.

Asa held up his Bible. “I came armed with the sword of the Spirit,” he said jovially.

As Asa went to the front of the room, Elizabeth noticed Flo whispering to Walter, who hurried out. Flo winked at her, and Elizabeth suspected she'd sent Walter to fetch his dad and older brother.

The room grew quiet as Asa stood behind the podium. Elizabeth could see he was a bit nervous, but she knew their friends from the wagon train would be supportive of whatever he decided to say. However, she didn't know about the others. They were so accustomed to Reverend Holmes, they might be let down.

As usual they began with singing, but the songs Asa selected from the hymnal were more uplifting than usual. He led the singing with enthusiasm, and it wasn't long before the congregation seemed to catch his energy and joy. While they were still singing, Elizabeth was relieved to see Walter return with his dad and brother, taking their seats next to Flo and the girls.

When the singing was done, Asa prayed just as the reverend always did before his sermon. But Asa's prayer was gentle and humble and earnest. He asked that God would speak through him and bless everyone in the room with his holy presence.

“Now as ya'll can imagine, I didn't get up this morning knowing I was going to be standing in front of you now.” He chuckled as he opened his Bible. “But I've got a mind to share one of our Lord Jesus' parables with you.” He flipped through the pages. “I will be reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter seven.” He moved his hand down the page. “Yes, here it is.” He cleared his throat and then clearly and loudly read the parable of the wise man who built his house upon the rock.

Now he looked back out over the congregation. “I s'pect I chose that parable on account of I've been doing some house building myself of late.” He chuckled. “I know that all of you know what I'm talking about since you've all had to build your own homes too. You understand the need to build a house that is solid and sound and strong.” And now Asa explained a bit about how important it was to square up the house right from the beginning, how the very first logs or boards were like a foundation.

“If you start out wrong on the ground level, if your foundation is crooked or unstable, your house will end up being crooked or unstable. It might even fall down. That's not what you want in a house. You want a house that can stand up to the wind and the rain. A house that can shelter you from wild animals and storms and thieves in the night. A body needs a good strong house out here in the frontier.”

Asa paused as if considering his words. “But Jesus was not speaking of an earthly house when he told that parable. He was talking about a man's life. A woman's life. Jesus was saying that when we listen and obey him, it is as if we have built our house solidly upon him. Jesus is the foundation of our lives.” Asa pounded one balled fist onto the other balled fist as if to show this. “Jesus is the rock we want to build our lives upon. When we build our lives securely on him, when we listen to his teaching and practice obedience, we will be strong enough to withstand whatever comes our way. And we all know that hard times come to everyone on this earth. Whether it's death or illness or other kinds of losses, storms do come our way. But if our lives are built sturdily on our Lord Jesus, we can withstand those storms.”

He preached awhile longer and even shared from his own trials, telling about when their family was struck down by illness and how some of them died. “The storm came at us and it came hard,” he said, “but we had our solid foundation of faith beneath us. That's what got us through then. It's what will get us through anything else that might be coming our way. Build your life on the rock, my friends, the rock that is our Lord and Savior, and when those storms and winds of life come crashing down, you will be safe. You will be safe.”

Asa took in a deep breath. “Now let us pray.” He said another prayer and led them in a couple more songs. Then, before the service was completely over, he told them he had an announcement to make. “My wife will tan my hide if I forget to say this,” he said, causing people to laugh. “Clara made me promise to stand up at the end of the service to make this announcement. But since I already have your attention, I just want to be sure to invite every one of you to a very special event that will be happening right here in a couple of weeks.” He waved over to where Elizabeth and Eli were sitting. “You kids stand up,” he said. And with some embarrassment, they both stood. “I'm sure everyone's heard the news that Mr. Eli Kincaid and Mrs. Elizabeth Martin are going to get hitched, but you may not have heard all the details. On the first Saturday of December they will be repeating their wedding vows right here at eleven o'clock in the morning.” He looked over to his wife. “Is that correct?”

“That's right,” she said.

“And I know Eli and Elizabeth will be honored if you will be in attendance. And afterward, you are invited to a dinner which we will have right here as well.” Now he pointed to Elizabeth. “Anything else you'd like to add?”

She nodded nervously. “Yes. Eli and I request that you bring no wedding gifts. We simply want to enjoy your company as we celebrate our special day. Thank you.”

Although the service was over, instead of everyone scurrying away as they normally did, people lingered and visited among themselves. The general feeling in the room was one of pleasantness. And it felt wonderful to see everyone relaxed and even jovial—so different from the way they usually acted. Elizabeth noticed Mrs. Holmes, who had stayed for the service, coming over to speak to Asa. She shook his hand and thanked him with tear-filled eyes before she turned to leave.

But before Mrs. Holmes could go, Elizabeth and her mother went over to catch up with her, both of them warmly greeting her and inquiring as to her husband's health.

“I hope it's not anything serious,” Clara said with concern.

“No, no, I don't think it's serious,” Mrs. Holmes assured them. She lowered her voice. “Roland came home looking like a drowned rat several hours after you ladies left. He was soaked to the skin. I wasn't the least bit surprised when he came down with a cold the very next day. But it wasn't until today that we discovered he could barely speak. He was as hoarse as an old bull frog this morning.”

“Oh, dear.” Elizabeth stifled the urge to giggle.

“The Lord does work in mysterious ways.” Mrs. Holmes smiled.

“Do give him our regards,” Clara said. “And if there's anything I can do to help, please, let me know.”

“My mother is very gifted with herbal medicines,” Elizabeth told her.

“And you can let him know that Eli and Elizabeth still wish to have their wedding in the church,” Clara added.

Mrs. Holmes grasped Elizabeth's hands. “Oh, dear, I was so pleased to hear that.”

“And if the reverend is still under the weather, I'm sure my father would be perfectly happy to do the service.”

Mrs. Holmes made a knowing smile. “Yes, well, I've never seen Roland be sick for longer than a week. And with your wedding date being just less than two weeks, I expect he'll be all well by then.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Please, don't get me wrong, I am not wishing for your husband to be ill.”

Mrs. Holmes chuckled. “No, I did not think that was your intention.”

Everyone was in good spirits as they went home from church. Her parents acted as if it was because of the sunshine, but Elizabeth knew that it was because of her father's uplifting sermon. If only he could permanently replace the reverend.

Once again, Elizabeth and Eli and the children went to her parents' cabin for Sunday dinner. But today, with just the six of them, it was less crowded, and they were all able to sit at the table together.

“Asa made these benches last week,” Clara told Elizabeth as she was admiring the additions to the cabin. “I told him I wanted enough seating to have my whole family here for Thanksgiving this year—and that means nine of us. Naturally, I've invited Brady to join us.”

“It will be snug but lovely,” Elizabeth said as she stirred the gravy.

“That reminds me, Jess invited you and me to lunch on Tuesday. I told her I'd let you know. She thought we could spend the afternoon sewing on your wedding dress, and I told her I'd be very grateful for the help. I don't know what inspired me to put so many tucks in that bodice, but it's taking much more time than I imagined.” She sighed as she removed a biscuit from the pan. “Or else I'm just getting old.”

“You're not old,” Ruth told her as she set a jar of jam on the table. “You're just right, Grandma.”

As Elizabeth and Clara and Ruth worked to get the food on the table, Elizabeth imagined what it would be like to be doing this in her own house—in just two weeks. It was almost unimaginable. To make it even more unimaginable, Eli had told her that she was not allowed to step foot into the house until
after
the wedding. When she complained that she would be unable to sew curtains and whatnot, he had promised to write down all the measurements she would need. “But you do not get to see it until we are married,” he declared. And so she had agreed, but she was afraid her curiosity would get so strong, she might sneak over there and break her promise. However, she did enjoy the idea of a surprise. Also, she had a hunch—based on various questions her mother had asked recently—that Eli was soliciting help from some of her family members.

Chapter Twelve

T
o Elizabeth's relief, Malinda had not mentioned anything about the closeness of their wedding dates in the past week. Perhaps she was resolved to it by now. And Malinda had been in church to hear Elizabeth announce they wanted no gifts. That should reassure her that their wedding would be a much smaller affair.

Lavinia had seemed scandalized by this news. “What do you mean by having no gifts?” she'd demanded after church. “What do you intend to do if someone shows up with a gift?” she'd teased. “Will you and Eli throw them out on the street?” Elizabeth had laughed and assured her that no one would be thrown out on the street.