A Texas Sky (Yellow Rose Trilogy) (4 page)

he could tell evening was on its way; the temperature

had dropped a little. A cool evening and a home-cooked

meal--Dakota could hardly wait

%r$f

"Are you about ready to come out?" Brace had found

Darvi in the kitchen and asked her for the second time.

"Almost," she said, knowing she wasn't going to have

any other excuses.

"I thought you'd be more excited," he teased.

Darvi looked him in the eye, her hands going to her

waist

"I'm expected to be excited about someone I've never

40

met?"

"I didn't say you'd never met him, but if s been a long

time, and I would especially want you to be excited when

I've asked him to take you to Stillwater."

Darvi stared at his mischievous eyes. "Do you mean it?"

she asked, afraid to hope.

"Indeed, I do. Now come on. He's in the living room."

Darvi was suddenly all aflutter. Hair she didn't care

about before was checked with careful attention, and she

wiped perfectly dean hands two more times. Brace

watched and waited patiently for her to join him.

"Now?" he teased again.

"Yes."

Brace let her precede him but was talking as they

approached.

"Here she is, Dak. You can ask her yourself what day

she wants to leave."

Darvi, whose heart had been pounding with excitement,

felt the pit of her stomach plummet as they entered the

small living room and the cowboy from the street the day

41

before rose to meet her. Darvi's face flamed with mortification

even as he came toward her, a kind smile on his face.

A Texas Sky 25

"It's nice to see you again, Darvi. You've done some

growing up."

"Yes," she barely managed and then realized she did

not want to explain this strange reaction to her uncle.

"You've changed a bit too," she said honestly, trying to

act naturally. "I wouldn't have known you."

Dakota smiled then, a full-blown work, but Darvi was

still a little too tense to join him.

"So, what day do you want to go?" he asked after

reading the hesitancy in her eyes.

"What day is good for you?"

Dakota's hands came out. "My schedule is very open."

"May I think about it then, and let you know?"

"Thafsfine."

"Lef s eat then," Brace declared, feeling he'd success-fully'pulled

off his surprise, not to mention the fact that he

42

was famished.

Dakota was hungry as well. He remembered his manners,

but Geneva's cooking seemed much longer ago than

a week. Darvi, he noticed, was not very hungry. Dakota

wished he could ask her if he was causing the discomfort/

but it looked as though they were going to have several

days of travel where he might do that

Partway through the meal, Brace began to tell Dakota

about some cases and episodes from the last several

months. Some Dakota knew of; others were new to him.

'I've got a photograph I need to show you. I think if s

up in my room. Ill run up and get it, and you can tell me if

you've seen this man before."

When Brace left, the dining room suddenly became very

quiet. Dakota was almost through eating, and Darvi had

given up pretending to eat. Dakota studied her from his

seat, thinking that she had been something of a hoyden

when he'd met her originally and that she had certainly

grown into a refined young woman. She was poised and

graceful; the only things out of place were the short curls

43

26 lori wick

that refused to be caught back in the elegant chignon she

wore.

And that mouth! Dakota had never seen the like. Her

upper lip protruded past a small shapely lower lip, giving

her one of the most unusual looks he'd ever seen. In the

strictest sense, she wasn't a beauty, but the soft curb

around her face and those large brown eyes above her

small, turned-up nose were all very eye-catching. And

because she was looking everywhere but at her guest,

Dakota went ahead and watched her. The moment she

brought her eyes to his, however, he spoke.

"So tell me, Darvi, does your uncle know you were

asking perfect strangers to escort you around the state?"

"I could tell you were a Ranger," she defended herself.

"Not all Rangers are trustworthy, and you Joiow it."

Darvi was silent at this, her eyes moving back to her

plate.

"So I take it Brace knows?"

44

Darvi was suddenly interested in the things on the

table, straightening them just so and smoothing the

already-perfect doth.

"I didn't exactly mention it to him," she admitted. She

glanced over to find those dark eyes leveled on her and

asked herself if he'd always had such a powerful presence.

"Are you going to tell him?"

"if s not my place, but I think you know how dangerous

that could have been."

Darvi was only just able to nod before Brace came back

to the table and the conversation turned to the man in the

photo.

Darvi began clearing the table for dessert, thinking

Dakota was right: It had been dangerous. But there was

more to it, something neither man would understand. She had to see Merry.

^stst

A Texas Sky 27

Desmond had not had an extra Bible to give him.

45

Dakota had read from Geneva's when he had studied with

Desmond, but when he left Wellsville there was no Bible in

his gear. He'd had time the day before to look for one, but

having woken with pain and some fever, it had completely

slipped his mind.

Now Dakota sat in church wishing he had a Bible he

could refer to. It wasn't that he doubted what the man was

saying, but he thought if he could read it for himself, he

would remember it better. Off and on each day he went

over the things Desmond had told him, still somewhat

amazed over how much made sense to him.

"Let me read verse 13 to you," the pastor was saying,

referring to the fifth chapter of Galatians. "Tor, brethren,

you have been called into liberty; only use not liberty for

an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another/

"It sounds to me," the man went on, "as though the

Galatian church had become sloppy and willful. Remember

how earlier in the chapter Paul had given them the

good news that salvation was by grace alone, through

Christ alone? Well, it almost looks as if they were taking

46

this freedom, 'liberty7 as the verse calls it, and treating it

like an old shoe. It seems as though they no longer treated

this freedom with the respect and hard work it deserves.

"Do you see how he commands them to love each

other? I think selfishness has reared its ugly head. Paul is

calling these believers to love each other because they were

doing anything but Verse 15 uses words like Trite/

'devour,' and 'consume.' Not exactly what we picture in a

church family where love leads the way."

Dakota had leaned forward in his seat He knew from

his brothers that coming to Christ did not make everything

perfect, but seeing that one of the churches from the

Bible--one that had to be very new--had experienced

these types of problems took a little getting used to.

"So what does Paul tell them to do instead?" the pastor

asked. "Look to verse 14. Love your neighbor as yourself.

28 lori wick

Have you ever known someone who hated himself? We

don't usually meet people like that I can tell you that I

47

don't do things to hurt my own body. If I so much as stub

my toe, I sit down and rub it until it feels better.

"So, I have to ask myself, lake/ do you love your neighbors

like you do yourself? Do you care for them in the

careful way you look after yourself? Or are you devouring

and biting?'"

This was heavy stuff for a man whose salvation was so

new and who had no one with whom he could discuss

what he was hearing. Dakota had seen many ugly things in

his life, but he wasn't sure he could picture people in

Desmond's or his brother's church acting this way. He

didn't think the Bible would cover such a thing for no

reason, but he was going to have to do some thinking

before he made up his mind.

Getting yourself a Bible would certainly help, Rowlings.

"Lef s stand for our final two hymns."

Dakota had not seen that coming. Where had the time

gone? The Ranger hadn't known any of the songs at the

beginning of the service or the ones they closed with, but

he did his best He didn't even take notice of his surroundings

48

until people began to move from their seats. He was

still taking in the simple wooden pews and small pulpit

when from the periphery he caught someone approaching.

Dakota turned to see the doctor from the day before.

"How are the wounds?" that man held his hand out and

asked.

"Better, I mink," Dakota answered with a return shake.

"I used the powder last night and again this morning."

The older man nodded. "Thaf s just what every doctor

wants to hear--that people are taking their medicine."

Dakota smiled a little but didn't say anything else.

"Do you have someplace to eat lunch today?"

"As in the form of an invitation? No."

"Well, consider yourself invited. I'm Marcus Scott, by

the way."

A Texas Sky 29

"Dakota Rawlings, and thank you."

"Let me give you directions to the house."

Dakota listened to the simple explanation, but before

49

the doctor could finish, he was joined by Mrs. Scott and

their two grown sons. Dakota ended up meeting them and

simply following the Scotts' wagon home.

"Are you just passing through Austin, Mr. Rawlings?"

Mrs. Scott asked after her husband prayed and the dishes

were passed.

"In a way, ma'am, I am. I just came into town to tell my

boss I'm ready to go back to work."

"And where will you go from here?"

"Just on a short jaunt into the hills, not actually working

at all."

"I was going to ask," the doctor cut in, "does your boss

know you're not back to strength?"

"No, but he didn't want me going back to work

anyway."

"Where do you live?" one of the sons now asked, and

the meal progressed in companionable conversation,

doctor and Ranger taking measure of each other. Finally,

near the end of the meal, Dakota found the courage to ask

some questions.

50

"Have you gone to the church very long?"

"Years and years. Have you ever visited before?"

"No, I haven't," Dakota answered and then plunged in