The Brides of Chance Collection Part 83

Chapter 24.

Logan helped with the most rigorous part of the work, then needed to check on Rooster. When he stepped into the cabin, he found Rooster's eyes wide open.

"Hey, Rooster," Logan spoke softly, not certain how the man would react.

"Hey, Logan." He took a deep breath. "I've a favor to ask you, though I've no right."

Lord, please don't let him ask for moonshine. Not after all Hattie's gone through. Don't let him backslide. Please.

"What is it, Rooster?" Logan pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down.

"I been doin' a lot of thinkin'," Rooster began. A rueful smile stretched across his face. "Ain't been much else to do these days. Fact is, I need to git the thoughts outta my head and into the air-see iff 'n my good intentions cain live in the world."

Can it be? Has Rooster decided to turn over a new leaf? Logan nodded his encouragement.

"So I need you to do two things. First is, untie me. Now don't go shakin' yore head already," Rooster pleaded. "Listen, I'm not goin' to try and git outta bed. I ain't gonna ask for a drink or even try to git one m'self. I jist want to sit up and talk, man to man. I ain't been upright for a long while, Logan."

Something in Rooster's eyes convinced Logan. He understood the deeper meaning behind the man's words. If there was even a chance that Rooster wanted to leave liquor and come back to G.o.d, Logan could do nothing less than listen and support him. He undid the knots holding Rooster down and helped him carefully slide up and lean back on a mound of blankets. Rooster kept his word and didn't try to get up.

"Thankee, Logan." Rooster took a deep breath. "Fer everything. I cain't remember much of this week, but I know it ain't been easy on either of us. I owe you more'n I cain say."

"You don't owe me a thing, Rooster." Logan looked into his eyes. "But you do owe it to yourself and Nessie and Hattie to take better care of yourself."

"I ken what you mean, son." Rooster closed his eyes. "I stepped off the path a long while ago and lost my way. I ain't been able to see straight in a good long while."

"I know." Logan took a deep breath and plunged ahead. "Isaiah tells us of men of G.o.d who *are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.' "

"That's it, right there." Rooster bowed his head. "Moonshine. It'd be easy to lay the blame on the drink, but I allowed myself to let it destroy me."

"You aren't destroyed, Rooster. You're alive, and you haven't had a drop in over a week." Logan saw the need to encourage him. "Your leg is in a bad way, but Hattie has it on the mend. You have a chance to make things right."

"That's what I want to do." Rooster's eyes filled with the depth of his emotion. "I cain decide niver to touch the stuff agin, but I don't know how to make right what I already done."

"You can't change the past, Rooster," Logan told him. "But the good news is, you don't have to. Remember First John 1:9? *If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' Sounds to me like you're confessing and want to make a change."

"I do." Rooster began to cry. "Lord, forgive me for what I done. Holp me not to do it agin. Holp me to make it right with the people I love."

Logan prayed as he held the old man, who cried away the years he'd drowned his soul with liquor. After a while, Rooster's sobs subsided, and his drained face shone with peace.

"You know, I'll need to take down m' still," he mused, sinking down onto the bed and closing his eyes.

"I'm glad you mentioned it." Logan grinned as Rooster began to snore.

Hattie woke up late the next morning to the smell of bacon frying. For the first time in more than a week, her eyes didn't feel as if a fistful of grit had blown in them. She stretched and got out of bed, pulling on her blue cotton dress. She needed to get back to Rooster.

"Oh, no you don't." Miz Willow's voice stopped her in her tracks. "You jist sit yore pretty little self down at that thar table and eat. Yore nothin' but skin an' bones."

Hattie obediently sat down and b.u.t.tered a roll, suddenly realizing how hungry she was. She'd have to bring some of this back for Logan and Bryce.

"Things sh.o.r.e been changing 'round the holler since Logan left for Charleston." Miz Willow poured herself a cup of tea and lowered herself into the rocker.

Yep. He left without saying a word, come back with no explanation, and then proposed as though nothing had happened. How cain you expect that I'd deem him worthy of my trust anymore? I placed you and ev'rybody I love in his hands, and he let y'all slip through his fingers when he wanted to go off on another adventure. He acted like an overgrown boy.

Hattie pushed away her plate, her appet.i.te gone.

"Otis Nye came by an' tole me all about it." Miz Willow's head bobbed up and down. "Now I ken why Logan couldn't tell us 'til after he talked to Otis, Asa, and the Trevor twins."

"What do you mean?" Hattie had no idea what her friend was going on about.

"You've been with him all week tending to Rooster, and it never came up?" Miz Willow stopped rocking. "Dearie, Logan went to Charleston on business. He done met up with an old friend and struck up a few deals. Otis has a standin' order for his fancy checker sets, and so does Asa for those nativities of his. Logan even found a new buyer for the pelts the Trevor boys trap-all at a very tidy profit."

Hattie couldn't say a word, but Miz Willow kept right on going.

"Every one of them families'll be farin' well now. Bryce says he reckons Logan can do the same for Daisy's lace, too. Ain't niver seen the like of what that buck's done for our holler."

Hattie got up and headed for the door. She needed to think all of this over. She mumbled a hasty good-bye to Miz Willow and waved to Daisy and Jamie, who were working in the vegetable garden. She walked as fast as she could until she came to the stream. She couldn't sit, so she paced.

He didn't abandon the holler, Hattie acknowledged ruefully. He knew I'd be back in about a day, and Bryce was still there with Miz Willow. He knew thangs would be fine with them here. I jist felt like he'd left us behind because he wasn't home when I got back. He told me he'd had to go-that he'd done it for the holler. I didn't listen. I was too wrapped up in my own a.s.sumptions. He deserves better.

Look at how hard he's worked to holp people around here. He's chopped enough wood to see me and Miz Willow through the winter. He went huntin' on account he knew he and Bryce et a lot of our meat. He spent time with the people of the holler and valued them for who they are and what they do, and then he took that and found a way to give them a better life. He stayed by me an' Rooster through thick and thin and showed respect to us both, even after I railed at him for his proposal.

He didn't leave us. Logan wouldn't leave me. I don't jist love him; I trust him. I had no call to say those awful things to him, and he turned the other cheek and holped me anyway. He deserves a woman who sees him for the man he is. Even though I know I was wrong, it cain never be. I still won't leave the holler, and even if he wanted to stay, I wouldn't tie him down. He should have children. We cain't ever be together, because I'm not good enough for him.

She gave herself some time to mourn her mistakes and accept that Logan would move on, then headed back to Rooster's cabin. When she got close enough to see it, she noticed Logan standing in the yard, watching her.

"Nessie's with him now. They have a few things to talk about." Logan met her halfway beneath the shade of a towering elm. "So do we."

"Yore right, Logan," Hattie looked into his intense blue eyes. "I owe you an apology. Miz Willow tole me what you done in Charleston. You tried to tell me you was lookin' after the people I care about, but I didn't listen. I misjudged you, and I'm sorry for that."

"You don't bear the blame alone, Hattie." He reached out and held her hands, sending a wave of heat through her arms. "I shouldn't have proposed until I could explain where I had been. You deserved to know everything before giving me an answer." His eyes searched hers. "Now you do. I still want you for my wife, Hattie." He raised a hand to cup her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Logan," she whispered, tears coursing down her cheeks and onto his hand. "And I know I cain trust you." She swallowed hard. "But I still cain't marry you."

"Why?" Logan demanded an answer, not budging an inch.

"I cain't go to Californy." She silently begged him to understand. "These are my people, and they need me, Logan."

"I know. Over the past months, they've become my people, too." His words sent a shiver of hope to her aching heart. "Asa, Otis, Fred, and Ted need me to follow through on the business agreements. The men of the holler came and said I'd earned a right to voice my opinion in a community vote about disa.s.sembling Rooster's still. Rooster himself cried in my arms and forsook liquor, coming back to Jesus. I can't leave them, Hattie, and I wouldn't ask you to, either."

"You mean..." She couldn't even voice the question.

"I want you to marry me, Hattie, and we'll stay here together." He drew her into her arms. "Say you'll love me forever."

"I cain't wed you." She pushed him away and wrapped her arms around herself to ward away the pain. "You deserve a woman who cain give you sons to carry on the Chance name. I cain't."

"Hattie." He put his arms around her once more and waited until she looked at him. "I already knew that. I want you. Having children isn't important to me. I have five brothers, four of whom are happily married and having babies about as fast as they can. The Chance name is well taken care of. As for me, I left Chance Ranch to find my place in the world." His arms tightened around her. "And I found it here, with you. Marry me, Hattie."

"Yes, Logan." She raised up on tiptoe to kiss him. "I love you, and I'll marry you."

"I love you, too." He smiled and spun her around. "And I've got a feeling that my adventure is just beginning."

Epilogue.

Dear Gideon and Miriam, t.i.tus and Alisa, Paul and Delilah, Daniel and Lovejoy, Obie and Eunice, Hezzy and Lois, Mike and Tempy, Pollywog and Ginny Mae, and all the kids, Sorry, but just writing all of your names took up the entire first sheet of paper, so you'll have to move on to the second one! I didn't want to leave anybody out.

Actually, we didn't want to leave anybody out. The beautiful and all-around-wonderful Hattie Thales has agreed to marry me, Logan Chance, on the first day of fall. We know you won't make it out to the wedding, but you're in our hearts. We hope you're not mad we didn't send a telegram right away, but we figured that getting a message saying only, "Getting Hitched," would raise more questions than it was worth.

All this means I won't be coming back to Chance Ranch. We plan to visit sometime, but Salt Lick Holler has become my home. I've found my purpose and my place here. I love you all, but I won't even pretend that I don't know you're a little relieved to hear that I'm settling down.

The truth is, you're dead wrong. Hattie's the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me, and I'll have her all to myself (except for the rest of the holler) for the rest of my life. I've become a greedy man, and I don't aim to change. Lovejoy, Hattie says to tell you that I'm the most difficult package you've ever sent, but she wouldn't have it any other way. Neither would I.

Don't worry about us. I've become a businessman of sorts between here and Charleston. Bryce will tell you all about it when he comes home-which will be late fall now instead of late summer. He's promised to stay long enough to help me build a cabin for me and Hattie.

G.o.d has been good to me, and I pray He sheds as many blessings on you. You're all in our prayers.

Love,

Logan Chance and Hattie Thales-soon-to-be-Chance

P.S. Lovejoy, your father is doing very well. He's taken down his still and come back to the Lord. He prays that you're well and asks you to write. Bryce and I decided to give him the packhorse we didn't use to replace his old mule. He and Nessie have started getting the land ready to plant corn. It's been a beautiful season for all of our lives.

Epilogue.

Six years later So Jesus fed five thousand with just that one little boy's lunch." Lovejoy folded her hands. "Uncle Paul's gonna pray; then you young'uns scamper off to bed." After Paul said the prayer, the cabin burst into a flurry of nighttime hugs and kisses. The Chance clan now boasted a full dozen children, and Miriam, Alisa, and Delilah all blossomed with the promise of another babe apiece in the coming months.

Lovejoy nuzzled a kiss on Miriam's youngest toddler's cheek then laughed as Bryce and Logan loaded up kids to piggyback them off to their cabins.

Delilah stood next to Lovejoy and said, "I read a verse this morning that fits you."

"Oh, what is it?"

Delilah smiled. "Psalm 113:9-*He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.' Your hands have caught all of these kids, and you add so much to their lives. I'm praising G.o.d for you."

"Now wasn't that jist the best verse I ever heard? Thankee, Delilah." Lovejoy gave her a hug.

After they tucked Polly and Ginny Mae into bed, Daniel gathered his wife into his arms. "I was watching you again this evening, and something struck me anew."

She hugged him back. "What was that?"

"Your name-how fitting it is. You brought love and joy back into my life."

She stood on tiptoe. "Praise ye the Lord."

CHANCE OF A LIFETIME.

by Kelly Eileen Hake.

Dedication.

To my family and friends, who love and support me unconditionally. Thank you, guys!

Chapter 1.

1874.

Billows of soot filled the air, enveloping the yard. Daisy Thales put all her disappointment, hurt, and rage into the rug beater as she walloped the smoky taint of the fire from the clothes.

Whump for Peter, her first sweetheart and loving husband, who had died from pneumonia just months before their child came into the world.