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Visions of rapture now burst on my sight
Bradley spent a night trying to sleep. Every time he fell asleep, he dreamed of Theodore Raskins carrying a kicking and screaming Adelaide over his shoulder, headed for a building he guessed to be where the justice of the peace or sheriff was.
At three in the morning, he gave up on sleep and knelt next to his bed.
“God, I don’t know what to do. You know I’ve never been interested in marriage. Not after my parents’ marriage. I can’t curse a woman with someone like me. And, I don’t want to give up my job with the Pinkertons, but I’m gone so often, I can’t imagine any woman wanting to marry me. Even if I did request jobs that stay in one place for a couple of years, we’d be moving so often, would any woman put up with that?”
He sighed and leaned his head on the bed. “Courting someone to save them from a bad marriage would be deceitful, wouldn’t it? Even if she knows why I’m doing it? And she would just go from one bad marriage to another if she did marry me. Surely there has to be someone else.
“I know. I’m supposed to be praying for Your will. But I don’t think I want to know Your will in this.” He stopped and his breath grew shallow. “Does that mean that deep down I actually want to be married or that You are giving me that desire? Why now and not before? And what about my parents?”
I Am with you. You are not your parents.
Bradley straightened. Where had those words come from? Was he going crazy and hearing things? No, because he hadn’t really heard it audibly.
“Was that from You, God? I know I’m not my parents, but that is what I grew up with. Won’t it affect my marriage?”
As he asked the question, an answer came to him and he hit his head on the bed. “Of course it won’t. I didn’t do the same things Pa did when he was my age growing up. If it does affect my marriage, it will probably be for the better since I’ve seen what a bad marriage can do and I can do things to avoid what my parents did.”
He stood up and sat on the edge of the bed. The darkness inside was almost oppressive, but outside the glow of the streetlamps took the edge off the darkness. Peace slowly filled him as he silently surrendered himself to God. He had always tried to let God lead his every decision, but only the ones he made in the moment, not his future plans.
Bradley had his plans for the future set for fifteen years ahead and if anything went out of order, he chafed against it. Like Mr. Reese and Mr. Harris insisting he court Adelaide. If he ever got married, he didn’t plan to do it for another ten years. Thirty-six was still young enough to marry, and by then, he would be content to settle down in one place and get a job—maybe as a sheriff or US Marshal—and have a family.
He lay back, leaving his feet on the floor. “Heavenly Father, I lay my plans for the future before You. Take them and mold Yours into them or discard them completely. Help me to accept what You want me to do with my life. If that means I should court Adelaide and eventually marry her, help us decide what to do about my job with the Pinkertons.”
He burrowed under the blankets and fell asleep until a sunbeam crept in past the curtain. He groaned and stretched as the evening and night activities bombarded his brain. “Okay, okay, I’m awake. Give me a few minutes to fully wake up. I hope Mr. Harris doesn’t mind if I drink a cup of coffee at the café before he arrives. And I hope Adelaide doesn’t mind a husband who talks to himself. If we get married.”
He hurriedly got dressed and then walked to the café for some coffee.
***
That same night, Adelaide didn’t sleep much either as she spent most of it in prayer.
“Jesus, You know my every thought. You know that for some reason, I trust Bradley Connor without really knowing him. You know that for the first time, I actually wouldn’t mind being courted by someone I barely know. I don’t understand it, Lord. You know that I haven’t trusted any men until I know for sure they are Christian gentlemen.”
She sighed. “Can I really trust Bradley, though? Is this what You want for me?”
Nothing definitive came to her that night, and in the morning, she went downstairs when she heard Mrs. Corland rattling around in the kitchen.
“It’s only going to be me and Mr. Reese this morning,” she said. “If you’d like, I can make our breakfast.”
“Does Edward Harris not like my cooking?”
Adelaide smiled. “He does, but he is meeting someone at the café for breakfast.”
“I see. Very well. I will make something just for the two of you.”
“I really could make the breakfast.”
Mrs. Corland waved her hand. “I know that. But why don’t you enjoy the break while you can? I’m sure you’ll be married soon enough and then you’ll be wishing you had the opportunity to just sit around.”
Adelaide laughed. “Why do you think I’ll be married soon?”
“Isn’t that why that handsome young man came for supper last night? Even if it isn’t, you are too pretty to stay single long.”
Adelaide shook her head. “That isn’t why he came. Not exactly anyway.”
“Hm. All right.”
Twenty minutes later, Mr. Harris and Mr. Reese came downstairs. “Good morning, Adelaide! It smells almost too good to leave,” Mr. Harris said.
“You’re the one who volunteered to meet with Mr. Connor,” Adelaide said.
Mr. Harris hugged her. “I know. And please don’t tell me anything. I don’t want to know what you think yet.”
Adelaide smiled. “Yes, Sir. Have a good breakfast.”
“You, too.”
Adelaide and Mr. Reese filled their plates and went into the formal dining room so they could talk in privacy.
“Did you pray about Bradley?” Mr. Reese asked.
“Yes, I did. I didn’t get much sleep either.”
“That bad?”
“No, that hard of a decision.”
“What did you come up with?”
Adelaide pushed the food around on her plate. “Nothing definitive. I’m open to whatever he decides.”
“Even courtship?”
“He met everything on the list, correct?”
Mr. Reese nodded.
“Then, yes, even courtship.”
“I hope Mr. Harris has it this easy.”
Adelaide smiled. “I doubt it. Bradley Connor seems like someone who will take a while to think things through.”
“Do you like that or dislike it?”
“I like it about him. It means he most likely won’t go half-cocked into some crazy scheme.”
“That’s what I thought you would say. Well, I guess now we just wait and see.”
