Measure of Grace (29 page)

“I think you should try the mail order bride system, Knight,” said Jordan, purposely cutting off the direction of the conversation toward repentance and salvation. “Looks like it’s going to work for me. You might very well find this right girl that way.”

Knight was about to comment when they both saw a big buck deer some forty yards ahead of them in an open area. Both raised their rifles quickly, took aim, and fired. The echoes of the shots
went rattling away among the peaks and were fading into the distance when the deer’s knees buckled, and he fell flat in the snow.

“Come on!” Jordan said gleefully. “We’ll both have venison on our tables tonight.”

As they were plodding through the snow toward the dead deer, suddenly a big black male bear lumbered out from between two towering, thick-trunked conifers. He rose on his hind legs and stretched his full length, pawing the air. Looking directly at Jordan, he ejected a wild roar and shook his head angrily.

“It’s him!” cried Jordan, raising his rifle. Just as he squeezed the trigger, he slipped in the snow. The rifle spit fire, and the slug chewed into the tree closest to the bear, splattering bark in every direction. The bear roared again, pivoted, scurried into the dense forest, and disappeared.

Jordan started to run after him, but slipped again, and fell on his face in the snow. Knight grasped an arm, and as he was helping him up, he said, “I think it’s the same bear you shot. It looked like part of his right paw was missing.”

“I hope so,” said Jordan, brushing snow from his rifle. “I’ve just got to track that big boy down, kill him, and get him stuffed.”

Knight followed as his friend hurried toward the spot where the bear had appeared. They arrived at the same time, and Jordan pointed at the bear’s tracks in the snow, saying, “Look, Knight! It’s him, all right. Two claws are missing from the right paw.”

“Sure enough,” said Knight. “He’s the one you shot, all right.”

Jordan looked in the direction the bear had run and sighed. “He’s probably a long way from here by now. You know how fast they are.”

Knight nodded. “Plenty fast.”

Staring at the spot where he had last seen the bear, Jordan said, “I’ve got to come back up here as soon as I can. I’ve got to find him, Knight. I want him! I want him!”

Knight lifted his hat, ran fingers through his thick, wavy hair, and said, “It might be the other way around, ol’ pal. Maybe it’s him wanting you. He was looking straight at you when he stood up and roared. It was like he remembered you. He may think of you every time he looks at his disfigured paw.”

“You’re serious. You really think he remembers me?”

“Yeah. You’d better be careful when you’re tracking him. Let’s get this buck dressed out.”

On Tuesday, November 5, Diana Morrow was putting a stew together for supper with her mother sitting at the kitchen table, looking on. Dennis was playing in the boys’ room.

While working on the stew, Diana said, “Maybe this will be the day, Mama. There’s been enough time now since I mailed the letter. Maybe when Derick, Deborah, and Daniel get home from school and bring the mail, there’ll be a letter from Jordan.”

“I hope so, honey,” said Martha. “Your father will be getting out of jail in nine days.”

Cold terror, like an icy hand, squeezed Diana’s spine. Her voice quivered as she said, “I … I’ve got to be gone before then.”

“You will be, honey. I’ve prayed so hard. You will be.”

Diana stirred the ingredients of her stew, and trying to keep her mind off her impending danger, said, “It was really a time for mixed emotions when we told Derick, Deborah, and Daniel about my replying to the mail order bride ad, wasn’t it, Mama?”

“Mixed emotions for sure,” said Martha. “Your siblings fear for your safety if you’re still here when their father is released from jail, yet they can hardly stand the thought of their big sister living so far away.”

At that moment, they both heard the pounding hooves of the team and the rattle of the wagon as it passed by the kitchen window on its way to the barn. Diana glanced through the window, and her heart quickened pace as she said, “Oh, Mama, they’ve just got to have the letter!”

“We’ll see, honey. Maybe this is the day.”

Moments later, footsteps were heard on the back porch, and when the door came open, Deborah entered, smiling. “It came, Diana!”

Diana drew a sharp breath. “Really? Jordan’s letter came?”

“Sure did. Derick has it.”

Even as Deborah was speaking, the boys came in with Derick
waving the envelope. “Here it is, sis!” he said gleefully. “The letter from your future husband.”

Diana dried her hands on her apron, snatched the envelope from his fingers, and turned toward her mother. “I … I’ve got to read it in private, Mama. I’ll go to my room. Be back in a few minutes.”

“All right, honey,” said Martha. “I understand.”

“Hurry,” said Deborah. “We want to know if Jordan wants to marry you.”

“Yeah,” said Daniel. “Hurry back.”

Diana gave them a weak smile and dashed out of the kitchen. When she entered the bedroom that she and her sister shared, she closed the door, and with trembling fingers tore the envelope open and took out the letter. Taking a deep breath, she unfolded it and began reading.

With her heart thundering in her chest, Diana reread the letter. Elated, she took a deep breath and left the room, hurrying down the hall.

Martha and her other children—minus Dennis, who was still playing in his room—were waiting with bated breath as they heard Diana coming toward the kitchen. They knew by the look on her face that she had good news.

“Well, come on,” said Martha. “What did he say?”

Placing the letter in her mother’s hands, Diana said, “I’m having trouble breathing. You read it to them, Mama.”

Diana’s siblings listened intently as their mother read Jordan Shaw’s letter to them. When she finished, it was evident that everyone, including Martha, was touched by the letter.

First to speak was Deborah. “Wow, Diana! I hope someday I can find a man who writes letters like that.”

“He sounds like the right one for you, sis,” said Derick.

“Sure does,” agreed Daniel.

Martha swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat, and said, “Honey, he sounds like a fine young man. You need to write the answer in a hurry. I’m afraid we’re going to have to hide you somewhere nearby until you hear back from Jordan and have the travel expense money in your hands.”

“Mama,” said Derick, “I’m afraid we won’t be able to hide her anywhere near Richmond where Papa can’t find her. We’ve got to think of something before a week from Thursday.”

“I’ve been praying very much about it, Derick,” said Martha. “God will show us what to do.”

Derick, Deborah, and Daniel exchanged skeptical glances, but remained silent.

That evening, while the rest of the family were in the parlor, Diana wrote to Jordan in her room, saying she would come to Elkton as his prospective bride if he knew for sure he really wanted her.

Alone in her bedroom that night, Martha lay in the darkness and said, “Dear Lord, I am still quite new at this, but I’m asking You to work out a way for us to hide Diana in a safe place until she receives Jordan’s letter with the money in it, and she can get a train out of Richmond.”

As she continued to pray, another concern filled her heart. “Lord,” she said, fighting tears, “as much as I want Diana safe on this earth from her father, I so much more want her soul safe in Your care. Please help me to know what to say to her. I’m so sorry for leading her astray from You and Your saving grace for so many years. Please use me now to bring her to Your saving power. Help me not to falter before any of my children, nor before Stu when he is released. Oh, heavenly Father, give me that special ‘measure of grace’ and use me for Your glory.

“Thank You for being so patient and long-suffering with me. Help me now, as I wait upon You. I am having moments of fear. But as I read in Your word just yesterday, help me to say: ‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.’ It seems to me that one of the hardest things for a new Christian is to learn to trust in Thee. Help me, dear Father, not to live in doubt and fear, but to fully trust You. Thank You, Lord, for Your understanding of this humble servant. And thank You, again, for saving me.”

When Martha had finished praying, a peace stole over her soul.

Diana’s letter to Jordan was mailed at the post office early the next morning.

At supper that evening, Martha talked to her four oldest children about salvation, as she had done periodically since becoming a Christian. They listened politely, but each one was having a hard time with it because of what both parents had taught them for as long as they could remember.

Martha did not push them, but once more told them how wrong she had been to teach them not to believe the Bible. She also told them that she had prayed hard last night, asking the Lord to show them what to do about Diana before their father was released from jail a week from Thursday.

When Tuesday of the next week came, and Martha and her children were still without a satisfactory place to hide Diana while she waited for Jordan Shaw’s letter containing the travel money, they were on the verge of panic.

As the children climbed in the wagon after breakfast, ready to head for school, Diana was standing close while Martha looked on from the front porch.

Derick looked down at Diana from the wagon seat and said, “Sis, if nothing else, I’ll take you to Petersburg tomorrow and we’ll tell the police there about the danger you’re in. We’ll ask them if they can put you someplace where you will be safe until you can leave for Idaho.”

From her place on the porch, Martha said, “Derick, that’s a good idea. You plan to do that. How does it sound to you, Diana?”

Diana looked over her shoulder. “It’s the best idea yet, Mama. I’ll go along with that.”

Derick put the horses in motion, and Diana moved onto the porch, standing beside her mother. As they watched the wagon pull out of the yard, Martha said, “Honey, somehow, as good as Derick’s plan is, I am getting a feeling down deep inside that the Lord has some better plan for you to escape your father’s anger.”

They were about to turn and enter the house when they saw a rider coming toward the house from the road.

“Who do you suppose that is, Mama?” said Diana.

Squinting, Martha said, “I can’t tell yet, but another few seconds will answer your question.”

Diana was first to make out the man’s face. “It’s Chief Perry, Mama. I wonder why he’s coming here.”

Martha shrugged. “I have no idea, but I guess we’re about to find out.”