8

The Shakers were kind, even Eldress Lilith with her somber face, but that didn’t mean they would bend their rules. Not for a newcomer. Certainly not for a dog.

Carlyn followed the eldress to the imposing brick building beside the post office. She left Carlyn on the walkway while she went to the door to summon this Sister Muriel. Then she came back to stand beside Carlyn to await the sister who would have the necessary answers. Carlyn kept her hand on Asher, as silent as the eldress. She bent her head and considered prayer. To perhaps remind the Lord she had a dog. But he already knew that.

At last a Shaker sister came out the large double doors. She was dressed much the same as the other Shaker women, in a faded blue dress with the wide white neckerchief lapped over her chest and a long checked apron practically covering the front of her skirt. She looked to be near the same age as the woman beside Carlyn, but instead of the stern stoniness of Eldress Lilith’s face, this new sister’s face was soft and gentle. Even so, she hesitated on the broad stoop and visibly shuddered when she noticed the gun Carlyn had once more tucked under her arm and pointed at the ground. Then she looked even more distressed when Eldress Lilith nodded toward Asher.

“Sister Muriel, the young sister has sought us out for help,” Eldress Lilith said.

The woman came down the steps, a concerned smile hovering around her lips. “My dear sister, you do bring problems with you.”

“I didn’t know about your rules against dogs.” Tears jumped to Carlyn’s eyes as she was all too aware of the familiar comfort of Asher leaning against her. “I can leave.”

“Nay, let’s not be hasty,” the sister said.

“She has not told me her trouble.” Eldress Lilith spoke up. “Only that she has nowhere else to go.”

“Yea, those in the world suffer many trials.” Sister Muriel answered the eldress but kept her eyes on Carlyn, who was beginning to feel like the lost soul they obviously thought she was. The lost soul perhaps she was.

But no, her mother had assured her, once in the Lord’s hand, he didn’t drop any of his children. Not unless they willfully pushed away from his love and ran from him. Even then, he kept his hand outstretched for his child to return. Just as the prodigal son’s father had in the Bible story.

“Is that true, my sister?” Sister Muriel’s voice was as gentle as her face, as she reached toward Carlyn but stayed her hand short of touching her.

Carlyn drew in a breath. “I thought the Lord was pointing me toward your village as the answer to my need. But he knows I have a dog.”

“Yea, the Lord knows everything and Mother Ann is ever ready to help those who desire to follow the Shaker way.” Sister Muriel looked over at the eldress. “Is that not true, Eldress Lilith?”

“Yea,” the eldress said. “If the Lord sent you here in answer to your prayers, young sister, then he will give you an answer for your distress over your dog.”

Sister Muriel smiled fully all across her face. “If you ask with faith.”

“And the willingness to accept the answer,” Eldress Lilith added without a smile.

“Why can’t he stay here in one of your sheds or barns?” Carlyn looked around. There were buildings everywhere.

“We have no dogs.” Sister Muriel’s voice was kind but also firm. “It is not the Shaker way. But there are many such dogs in the town. One more can surely find a place there.”

“He won’t leave me to go into the town,” Carlyn said.

“The animal does seem attached to you.” Sister Muriel studied Asher, then raised her hands up toward the heavens. “Let us ask for an answer.”

Eldress Lilith lifted her hands too, but neither of the women spoke a word aloud. Carlyn lifted her free hand high alongside them. It wasn’t the attitude of prayer she was used to, but it didn’t feel wrong. Hadn’t her mother sat at the table with her hands open in front of her to receive the Lord’s answers? Answers she received time and again. And accepted without wishing for different ones. At least not as far as Carlyn knew.

Carlyn closed her eyes even though the other two women did not. The sound of horses’ hooves and the creak of a harness interrupted her attempt to pray.

Sister Muriel dropped her hands down with a sound of victory. “There’s Brother Thomas on the way to the town. The Lord has supplied our answer.”

“Or Mother Ann,” Eldress Lilith said.

Carlyn wanted to ask who this mother was, but bit back the question. She looked to her mother for answers. Why shouldn’t they? Perhaps they were actual sisters instead of merely Shaker sisters, even though they shared no family resemblance other than their like dress.

Sister Muriel stepped out to the fence to flag down the wagon. The Shaker man pulled back on the reins to stop his horses.

“Are you on the way to the town, Brother?”

“Yea, have you a need for something there?” the man answered.

“Nay. We have a dog that needs to be carried to the town,” Sister Muriel said.

Carlyn opened her mouth to protest when the memory of the sheriff asking to pet Asher popped into her mind. Another answer, perhaps. Not the one she would most like, for it made her heart hurt to think of giving up Asher, but the dog would be safe with the sheriff. If he would take him in. More need of prayer.

The brother studied the dog for a moment. Then he climbed down from the wagon and rummaged under the seat until he found a rope. “Best tie this around his neck.” He made a loop in one end of the rope and handed it across the fence toward Carlyn.

“He’s never been tied.” Carlyn took it with reluctance.

The brother looked straight at her. “I doubt he’d stay in the wagon without a rope to hold him there.”

“I’ll go with him,” Carlyn said.

“Do you mean to find new answers in the town, my sister?” Sister Muriel asked.

“Only for my dog. The sheriff there. I met him last week. He might know of a place for Asher.”

The two women looked doubtful, but Brother Thomas spoke up. “Sheriff Brodie is a good man for one of the world. The young sister may be right to count on his help.”

“And then what?” Eldress Lilith’s eyes bore into Carlyn.

Carlyn pulled in a deep breath and faced her future. “Then I’ll return and find a place here if you have one for me.”

“We turn no sister in need away,” Sister Muriel said. “Brother Thomas can bring you to me after you are rid of the dog.”

Brother Thomas nodded toward the rope. “Best put it around his neck, young sister, to be sure nothing along the road entices him away from us. A squirrel. Another dog. Dogs are prone to be off on a chase, and I must be about my errands with no time for running down dogs.”

The three Shakers stared at her with impassive faces that expected her to do as they said. With a murmur of apology to Asher, she slipped the loop over the dog’s head. If the Shakers heard her, they gave no indication.

Then the brother pointed at the gun. “You will have no need of a weapon.”

“I have needed it in the past.” Carlyn’s hand tightened on the gun. Curt Whitlow lived in town.

“But you are beginning a new life now. One where, engaged in your duty, you will have nothing to fear.” Brother Thomas gently lifted the gun away from her and propped it against the fence. “Sister Muriel will have a brother fetch the gun.”

“But—” Carlyn looked at the gun, “I’m not a Shaker yet.”

The brother paid her words no mind as he turned back to the wagon. “Climb in and call your dog up after you. He might use his teeth on me if I try to put him there.”

After Asher jumped up in the wagon, Carlyn settled on a box toward the front of the wagon. Asher leaned against her, trembling at the strangeness of it all. Or perhaps because he sensed her own tremble. She was losing everything. Even her carpetbag. She’d left it there on the ground beside the two Shaker sisters.

As the wagon began moving, Carlyn wanted to ask Brother Thomas to stop so she could retrieve it. Perhaps in the town another way would open to her. But she didn’t call out. She needed to accept the answer already given.

She leaned close to the dog and spoke to him in whispers Brother Thomas couldn’t hear over the creaking of the wagon wheels. “You will make Sheriff Brodie a wonderful dog.” She would not let herself think about the sheriff turning the dog away. “You remember him. You wagged your tail when he rubbed your head. It will be good.” She stroked down his head and back. “It will. You’ll have food. I’ll have food and a roof. Each day it is given unto us that which we need.”

Something like that was one of her mother’s oft-quoted Scriptures. Needs and wants were not the same. She wanted Ambrose home months ago. She wanted flowers around her house and chickens in her yard. She wanted Asher on the front porch guarding the door. But she needed food and shelter. That would be supplied by the Shakers who did not embrace the gift of a dog. So her second need was food for him.

She stared into Asher’s dog eyes. He stared back, trying to figure out why they weren’t at their house going about their daily chores. Even so, he didn’t bark or pull against the rope around his neck. He trusted her. She stroked his fur and leaned her head against his. He had survived before showing up at her house. He would survive again. She would as well. As one of the odd Shaker sisters.

When they finally reached the town, Carlyn kept her head bent as they rode down Main Street. She didn’t want to chance Curt seeing her and pointing an accusing finger at Asher. She was glad when Brother Thomas stopped in front of the sheriff’s office first thing.

He looked back at her. “I ask you to be ready when I return, for I would not like darkness to overtake us on the way back to the village.”

“I will be ready.”

Carlyn climbed out of the wagon and Asher jumped down after her. His legs were shaking and his tail curled under him. She knew how he felt as she turned toward the sheriff’s office. The door was closed. What would she do if he wasn’t there? She gripped the rope around Asher’s neck and stared at the door, willing the sheriff to appear as the Shaker brother flicked the reins and started his horses away.

“Mrs. Kearney, are you looking for me?” Sheriff Brodie didn’t come out of the office but down the street instead.

She turned toward him. “Yes.” That seemed to be the only word she could force out. What she really wanted to do was sit down right there on the walkway and give way to tears, but she’d already dissolved in tears in front of this man once. She would not do so again.

“Come inside.” He gestured toward his office. “It will be cooler there and you can tell me what you need.”

The sun was warm for September, but she’d hardly noticed once she got to the Shaker village. She hesitated, her free hand on Asher’s head.

He noticed and added, “Your dog is welcome inside too if that’s your worry.”

As if Asher knew he spoke about him, his tail eased away from his body to flap back and forth. He took a step toward the sheriff. That good sign unfroze Carlyn’s tongue. “I have come to ask a favor from you.”