| |
“TITUS,” BILL BENTLEY said as he stepped back into the house. “Hope you’re ready to get started on that wagon today.”
“Yes sir,” Titus agreed hanging his hat and taking a seat while the women put breakfast on the table.
He noticed the way Sarah Jane looked at him, but he didn’t feel he could meet her eye. What if he had been an outlaw, a decent girl like her shouldn’t even know he existed.
“Pa, pa are we allowed to go help Father John again today?” Calvin and Melvin came tearing out of an adjacent room pulling suspenders over slim shoulders and tucking in shirts as they came.
“That depends,” Bill mused, “have you finished your chores?”
The twins looked at each other then took a seat.
“I told you that’s what he’d say,” Melvin said.
“Eat your breakfast then finish your chores then you can go over and help Father John, but don’t be a nuisance.
Molly looked at her husband incredulously. “If that’s possible,” she said, looking at the boys sternly.
“I’m sure if they get under foot Father John will send them packing,” Bill said, looking at his boys as if reminding them of what he expected from them.
“Father John said if we help him with his next project, he’ll help us make the puppies the perfect place to live,” Melvin said.
“That sounds fine,” Bill said, “but don’t forget your lessons.”
“No sir,” The boys agreed without enthusiasm.
“Titus, I’m glad you’re here to help Bill with the wagon,” Molly said. “We already feel beholding’ to the priests here for letting us stay and giving us this house to live in. We didn’t want to ask for more help.”
Together the family sat down at the table, and Bill said grace, thanking the Lord for welcome strangers and good food.
As Bill finished his prayer a strange feeling came over Titus; a sense of loneliness he’d never experienced before.
This house was a home. It held a family that cared for each other, watched over each other, and loved each other.
Had he had a home like this once? What had happened that would have sent him out on his own?
Perhaps he had the wanderlust like Old Jed said had taken him all over the country. Or perhaps his family had fallen on hard times, and he’d had to strike out on his own to lessen the burden on resources already stretched thin.
“Titus,” Molly spoke jarring him out of his thoughts. “Would you like more bacon?”
Titus looked up and saw Sarah Jane watching him. By the look on her face he could tell that she knew he’d been lost in thought.
“Yes ma’am,” Titus said. “Thank you.”
“I have a feeling Bill will work it off you today,” Mrs. Bentley said. “A young man like you needs to keep his strength up.”
A few minutes later Bill Bentley wiped his mouth on a napkin, placed it on the table and looked up.
“Thank you my lovely girls for a wonderful breakfast,” he said with a grin. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Titus and me have a wagon to mend.” Rising, the older man walked around the table, kissed his wife on the cheek and headed for the door.
For a moment Titus’s eyes drifted toward Sarah Jane, would he ever have a woman like her for his wife? He didn’t even have a name to offer if he ever found a woman who would have him.
“Thank you.” He said standing and following Bill out the door.
“Titus,” Sarah Jane’s voice made him stop, and he turned as the young woman, her golden locks shining in the early morning sun, stepped out onto the stoop. “You forgot your hat,” she said with a grin.
Titus smiled, he’d been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he’d walked off without his most valuable possession.
“Thank you,” he said, his cheeks burning as he reached out for the hat, his hand inadvertently brushing across Sarah Jane’s in the process.
For two long heart beats his whole world seemed to freeze as something electrified passed between them.
“Have a nice day,” Sarah Jane said softly, breaking the spell.
Placing his hat on his head, he tipped it politely then hurried after his host as the two boys came pouring out of the house, yelling and racing along the path toward the mission church.
“How you feelin’ today?” Bill asked as Titus joined him in a long shed behind the barn where carts and wagons were stored.
“I’m alright,” Titus said. “No headaches if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“And your shoulder?” Bill asked.
“A little sore but feeling better. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to your family.”
“I know you’d do the same if it were one of us or anyone for that matter.”
Titus wondered if what the older man said was true.
“I hope so,” He mused.
“Son, I know you feel like you don’t know who you are or what your life is about, but I’ll tell you folks feel that way at all ages. Sometimes life just throws you for a loop and you end up somewhere you never thought you’d be. I hate to say it but that’s normal.”
Titus smiled. “That’s probably true but the fact that I can’t remember where I came from or who I was seems to make it harder.”
“Well it shouldn’t,” Bill Bentley said. “You were given a second chance; a chance to start over from whatever it is you left behind. So far your new start doesn’t seem too bad as long as you learn to watch your step when you’re on the edge.”
Titus chuckled; he was bound to take some ribbing for falling off a mountain. It was only to be expected. “What if I have a family waiting for me somewhere, or parents who are old and can’t take care of themselves?” he asked as he joined the other man next to a large covered wagon.
Bill checked the chocks behind the wheels then moved around to the front of the wagon to study a broken spoke and a split double tree.
“Maybe you do have family somewhere, but if you can’t remember them you shouldn’t be beating yourself up over it. Instead you should lend a hand to those who come into your life.”
Titus moved up next to the man and looked at the double tree. It was nearly split in two, and he wondered how the family had made it to the valley with a wagon in such poor shape.
“You said that maybe you had parents who needed help,” Bill continued. “Well me and Molly and our children need help, and you came along and are helping. You’re doing your part, so you should be able to hope and pray that someone else is doing the same for your folks or family, or whoever you might have left behind.”
Titus nodded understanding what the older man was saying. “I’m not sure the world works that way all the time.”
“We can only do what we can do,” Bill said, grabbing a spanner from a tool box and moving to the wheel.
Titus put his back under the corner of the rig and heaved taking the weight off the wheel, and Bill quickly pushed a heavy block and beam beneath the wagon.
“It might not be the way the world works, but it’s the way we should. You do what you can for others and pray that the rest comes out in the wash.”
Titus smiled again. He appreciated what his companion was saying. In reality he’d had plenty of people helping him along the way.
In some small part he’d helped Old Jed and even Bailey and now the Bentleys and Sheriff Davis as well.
Grabbing a wooden pole as a brace he pushed it through the wheel leaning his weight into it and keeping the wheel from turning while Bill loosened the bolts that held it on the axel.
Ten minutes later he was helping the older man lift the wheel from the wagon and rolling it toward the woodshop.
“I’ll take this on over to the shop,” Bill said. “You see if you can get that tree hardware off and bring it over. I think the brothers can probably make us new pieces pretty quick.”
Titus nodded, letting go of the wheel as Bill moved away.
It felt good working with his hands, being a deputy in the sleepy town of Hester hadn’t given him much reason to use his hands, but this felt familiar.
Carefully unfastening the wooden pole that separated a team of horses while connecting them securely to the wagon, he wondered if he’d ever done this kind of work before.
“Titus?” Sarah Jane’s voice caught him by surprise, and he turned from his seat on a wooden box to look at her as she stepped into the shed.
“Miss Bentley,” he said, wondering what would have brought her here.
“I just spoke with Father John, and one of the young men has agreed to take the message to Shady and have it wired to both Biders Clump and Hester. Everyone will know we’re fine in a few days,” she finished with a smile.
Titus smiled back. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “I’m sure your kin folks up in Wyoming are worried about you.”
“I’m sure Old Jed is worried about you as well.”
“If he isn’t, his new wife Birdie will be,” Titus agreed. “She was always fussing over me.”
“You know good people,” Sarah Jane mused. “That speaks well of you.”
Titus smiled. Perhaps it did. Perhaps whatever good he’d done since Jed had found him helped to make up for what he didn’t know about his past.
