Free Finally a Bride by Vickie Mcdonough

dinner.”
    “Anytime.” She smiled.
    Garrett held his hand out to the minister. “Nice to meet you, Reverend.”
    “It’s Noah, and a pleasure to meet you, too.”
    “I guess I’d better carry Half Bit back to her room, although I don’t know if I can manage after eating all that good food.” Luke kissed Ma’s head and winked at Jack. “Maybe you could sit in the parlor for a spell until my food has time to settle.”
    Jack bit back a grin. “I could manage that for a while.”
    “Oh! You two.” Ma gently swatted Luke’s stomach. “You’re not fooling anyone with that act of yours.” She pushed away from him and grabbed the bowl of beans off the buffet.
    “Ma, Alan spilled water on the floor and got my shoe wet.”
    Ma rolled her eyes. “I’m coming.”
    Luke reached down and hoisted Emmie into his arms. He nibbled her neck, eliciting a giggle from the toddler.
    A melancholy smile lifted the parson’s lips. He pushed away from the chair’s back he’d been holding on to. “I reckon I’ll go back upstairs and study my sermon some more.”
    Jack jumped up, immediately regretting her quick action as a sharp pain clutched her knee. She tried not to grimace but must have failed because Luke set Emma down and hurried to her side. She gazed back at Noah Jeffers, who stared at her with compassion in his obsidian eyes. “Actually, I was wondering if I could interview you for the town newspaper—the Lookout Ledger.”

Chapter 6

     
    N oah followed the marshal as he helped Jack make her way into the parlor. Things would have been a whole lot quicker if Noah had scooped her up in his arms and carried her, but that would hardly seem proper. He paused at the stairway that held his escape and glanced up to the second floor. The last thing he wanted was a newspaper article about him.
    “You’re not thinking of running out on me, are you, Reverend?” Jack’s expressive tone alerted him that she’d had her eye on him and wasn’t about to take no for an answer.
    He resisted tugging at his collar, which suddenly seemed too tight against his throat. Sighing, he strode into the parlor as the marshal slid a chair toward the couch.
    Jack discreetly lifted her injured leg onto the seat and rearranged her skirts. “Would you mind bringing me some paper and a pencil, Papa?”
    “I don’t mind, but be nice to him, Half Bit.” The marshal flashed Noah a teasing grin. “We don’t want the parson leaving town before we get to hear him preach.”
    Noah thought they all might just be better off if he did leave, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Doubt was something he frequently battled. Pete had told him often to not belittle his efforts, because Noah prayed hard and studied God’s Word before preaching a sermon, and if his message was God-inspired, then disparaging himself was also demeaning the Lord. He perched on the end of a chair across the room from the couch where Jack sat, bouncing one leg.
    His gaze ran around the large parlor, but it kept stopping at Jack, no matter how hard he tried to not look at her. She’d matured from a rowdy tomboy who preferred overalls to dresses into a lovely young woman, but the ornery gleam still sparked in her pretty eyes—eyes the color of blueberries. She flipped her waist-long hair, which was tied with a yellow ribbon, over her shoulder. He couldn’t be certain until he saw her in the sunlight, but he thought that it had darkened over the years, looking more brown than red. His fingers moved, as if to reach out and touch her creamy skin, which held the faint hint of the sun. He sighed again and looked out a nearby window. Coming to Lookout had been a bad idea. If only he could convince the Lord of that—then maybe he could hightail it back to Emporia.
    Jack’s gaze flitted to his then back to the doorway. She fidgeted with her skirts and tugged at the cuff of each sleeve. “I wonder what’s keeping Luke.”
    His brows lifted. “You refer to your father by his first