That’s all for today, gentlemen. Case, would you please put up the slates? Luke, since you’ve completed your alphabet, I want you to spend the next few days in review before we start something else.” After issuing her instructions, Deborah got up from the table and headed out to the hall.
Luke watched her go, enjoying the gentle sway of her skirts. He was surely going to miss the alphabet lessons. Especially the hand-holding.
While he was delighted to have completed the alphabet, he was sorry there’d be no more reason for Deborah to place her slender hand over his to guide him around a letter. If he hadn’t been in such a hurry to learn to read for himself, he’d have told her he couldn’t do so many letters each day. At least that way he’d have extended the touching for a few more days.
It wasn’t just the hand-holding that made learning so pleasurable. He liked it when she scooted her chair real close to his.
At first the writing part made him break out into a sweat, but after a day or two, it wasn’t the letters that got him worked up. It was the woman.
Up close he could appreciate the fine, creamy texture of her skin. He could admire her long, thick lashes and the way the tip of her tongue peeked out from between her lips when she concentrated real hard. Separated by just inches, he could feel the warmth of her body and smell the sweet fragrance of her hair.
It made him sweat just to think about it.
Maybe it was a good thing there were only twenty-six letters. Any more and he’d dehydrate.
Deborah reentered the kitchen, tying on a wide-brimmed straw bonnet over her hair. “I’m going to plant my seeds this morning. Case, do you want to come?”
“Do you need me?”
She looked surprised at the question. “Not really. I just knew you always enjoyed watching me put in a garden.”
“If you need my help, I’ll be glad to come with you, but if not, I think I’d rather go with Luke.” He flashed her a sheepish grin. “That is, if you don’t mind.”
She laughed. “I don’t mind at all. You two go along. But remember to be back by noon for lunch.”
Case followed Luke to the barn, like a puppy trailing at his heels. “What are we going to do today, Luke?”
“I thought we’d ride out across the place—check things out.”
“You gonna take Horse?”
Luke nodded. “Beats walking.”
“You and me are both gonna ride Horse?” Case asked for clarification. “Together?”
Luke nodded again.
“Yippee!” Case hopped up and down like a crazed grasshopper. He chattered excitedly while Luke saddled Horse and led her out of the barn into the sunlight. “She sure is big. She sure has pretty eyes. I wonder if she likes the taste of hay. How much do you think she weighs?”
Luke grinned at the steady stream of talk. “You ready?”
Case’s gaze traveled the long distance from the ground to Horse’s back, several feet above his head. He swallowed hard. “Yup.”
Luke caught him around the waist and gently lifted him up onto the saddle.
Case’s green eyes widened. “This is so high.”
“You sit up by the horn,” Luke instructed him. “I’ll ride behind you.”
Case moved forward and Luke mounted behind him, putting an arm around either side of the boy. “You take the reins.”
Case swiveled to face him. “Me?” he squeaked.
Luke nodded.
Case took the leather straps in his hands with a white-knuckled grip. “So how do I make her go?”
“Give her a little nudge with your leg.”
Horse, as well-trained a mare as any Luke ever had, responded to the slight pressure by walking.
“I did it!” Case exclaimed. “I made her go.”
What was it about the kid that made the simplest things enjoyable? “Okay now, lead her around the house and out the front gate.”
Case lapsed into a rare silence as he directed his full concentration on steering the horse. Once past the gate, Luke instructed him to keep to the dirt road that edged the property.
After they’d walked along for several minutes, Case asked, “Can she go any faster?”
Luke checked over his shoulder. The house stood between them and Deborah. He was certain even her eagle eyes couldn’t see them. Seemed prudent she didn’t witness them moving along at anything beyond a leisurely pace. “Yeah, she’ll go faster. Better give me the reins.”
Luke pulled Case closer to brace the boy against his body. “Hold on to the horn. Ready?”
He felt Case nod.
Luke slapped the reins and Horse shot off at a full gallop. As her long strides ate up the road, the force of the speed pushed Case against Luke’s chest. Just as he expected, the kid wasn’t afraid. Case was laughing and squealing in pure delight.
After a minute or two of flying along at a hard, breathtaking gallop, Luke reined Horse in. “Whoa, now. Easy, girl.”
“That was fine,” Case declared when they’d slowed to a walk. “Can we do it again?”
Luke laughed. “Later. Let’s give Horse a rest.”
With his hat pulled down to shield his eyes from the sun, Luke trained his attention on the land, looking for evidence of trespassers. They cantered down the dirt road, kicking up a cloud of dust, then turned east through waist-deep grass to check out the places where the cover of trees would make it an appealing place to camp.
After an hour or so, Luke was satisfied there’d been no suspicious activity. Everything looked unchanged since his vigil several weeks ago.
“Where are we going, Luke?”
He’d almost forgotten the boy was there. Case was uncharacteristically quiet. A sure sign he was tiring. “What do you say we head to the springs?”
“That sounds great,” Case said in a weary little voice. He hesitated for a heartbeat before asking, “What springs?”
“Let me show you.” Luke chuckled as he reined Horse around. The kid had amazing spirit. Infirmity never got in the way of his enthusiasm. Case was up for anything.
With one arm wrapped securely around Case’s waist, Luke steered Horse through the swaying grasses toward the northeast end of Cyrus’s land. Luke slowed the horse as they reached the mesquite-ringed pond.
He slid out of the saddle and extended his arms to Case, whose normally pale skin shone a bloodless white. As he leaned heavily into Luke’s arms, Luke realized the kid was exhausted. Instead of lowering him to the ground to walk the short distance to the spring, Luke slid an arm under Case’s legs and carried him. Case was too tired to protest.
Luke pushed through the low-growing trees, his back to the branches to shield Case, and up to a smooth flat rock the size of the kitchen table at the water’s edge. Luke lowered Case onto the rock, then sat beside him.
“Sure is pretty, Luke,” Case said, trailing his fingers in the crystal-clear water. “You visit here much?”
“Cyrus and I used to come here when the weather got warm enough to swim. We’d stay in the water until we were nearly frozen, then we’d lie back on this rock and let the sun dry us.” Luke crossed his arms behind his head and lay back to demonstrate.
As he expected, Case copied him, lying down with his feet dangling over the edge of the rock. They lay there in silence, enjoying the penetrating heat from the sun-warmed rock and the cheerful burbling of the spring.
Luke had begun to think Case had dropped off to sleep when his little voice piped up, “Looking up at the sky always makes me think of God.”
Luke looked up into the wide canopy of blue. “I can see where it might.”
“You, too, Luke? Does it make you think of God?”
Luke pondered the question. From childhood he’d been aware that something or someone greater than himself had created the earth. The intricacies of a single flower, the majesty of a rock canyon, the beauty of a lake at dawn all bespoke the craftsmanship of a limitless being. But being raised as neither Indian nor white man, he had never heard the name of the creator.
It wasn’t until Deborah opened the Bible and read to him of God, the all-powerful Creator of the universe, that he knew who was behind it all.
“I’d never heard about God before you and your sister came along.”
Case sprang up, propping himself on one elbow so that he might look into Luke’s face. “No one ever told you about God? Not even in church?”
“Didn’t go to church.”
“Didn’t go—” Case paused. “Then no one’s ever introduced you to Jesus, have they?”
“Can’t say as they have. Of course, if he’s from Louisiana, like you, it’s not likely our paths would ever cross.”
“From Louisiana?” Case started to giggle. “Oh no, Luke, Jesus isn’t a person like you or me. He’s a spirit. God’s Son.”
Luke tipped his hat off his face and sat up. “How was I supposed to know He’s not from Louisiana?” he grumbled. “With you yapping about Him all the time, ’bout how He’s your friend and everything, I figured He had to be a neighbor.”
Case grew serious. “I’m sorry, Luke. I wasn’t making fun of you. Honest. I was just so surprised to hear you didn’t know about Jesus.”
Somewhat mollified, Luke settled back against the rock and recovered his face with his hat.
“Just as soon as God made the world and the people in it, folks began to sin. They turned away from God. But even though they chose their own ways instead of God’s ways, God still loved them. He wanted to make a way for sinful people to come back to Him. You see, sin separates us from God.”
“Makes sense.” Luke remembered the Bible stories Deborah read that spoke of the sacrifices God’s people had to offer to cover their sins so that they could be right with God.
“So God sent His only Son, Jesus. Jesus never sinned, not even once. But Jesus loved people so much that He was willing to take the punishment for everyone’s sins on Himself so that they could come back to God.”
“What was the punishment?”
“Death. They hung Him on a cross.”
Luke gave a low whistle. “Seems like mighty serious punishment.”
Case nodded. “It is. But then God is seriouser about sin than Debs is about washing behind my ears. The Bible says that the wages of sin are death.”
“So this Jesus fella is willing to die in the place of those folks so they can get back on good terms with God?”
“Not just ‘those folks.’ Anybody. You and me.”
Luke sat up. “Why would He die for me? I don’t even know Him.”
“But He knows you. And He loves you. The Bible says so. When Jesus hung on the cross and died, it was because He loves you.”
“So now everybody is right with God?”
Case shook his head. “No. God offers Jesus’ sacrifice so folks can get right with Him, but it’s a present. A present isn’t yours until you accept it.”
“How do you accept a gift you can’t see, from a God you can’t see?”
“By faith. You accept it with your heart. When you truly realize that you want to be right with God and can’t do it on your own, then you tell Him. You tell Him you accept His gift of salvation.”
Luke cocked a dark brow in skepticism. “Where’d you hear all this?”
“It’s in the Bible, Luke. Every word of it. I can show you when we get home.”
After lunch, while Deborah tidied the kitchen, Case got his Bible from his bedroom and carried it out to the lean-to. “Luke, you got a minute?” he called from the doorway.
“For you, yeah. What do you need?”
Case limped into the shelter. “I wanted to show you where it says all that stuff about Jesus in the Bible.”
They sat side by side on the pallet while Case flipped the pages of his Bible. Luke bit back a sigh of frustration. The words on the pages still looked like nothing more than a jumble of symbols to him. He could make out the individual letters, but he began to despair he’d ever be able to read the words for himself.
“Here’s one of the real important ones. It’s John 3:16. It says, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’”
“What’s this ‘everlasting life’ stuff?”
“It means that after you die, your spirit will live on, forever, with God.”
“Oh.”
Case flipped a few more pages. “Here’s one you and I talked about earlier. It’s in Romans 6:23. ‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’” Case looked up. “You see, it’s just like I said, salvation is a present from God. He wants to give it to you, because He loves you.”
Though he was far from understanding how God could love him, Luke nodded.
“There’s one more thing, a verse I think you’ll like the best of all.” Case’s little fingers flew over the pages as he searched. “Ah, here it is. It’s in the book of John, chapter one, verse twelve. “‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.’” He beamed up at Luke. “Do you understand what that says?”
“Not exactly.”
“It says that when you receive the gift of Jesus as your Savior, then you become a son of God. Don’t you see, Luke? You’d never have to feel sad that you didn’t have a father, because God would be your father.”