Free Brides of Idaho by Linda; Ford Page B

word he’d used. The right. He’d never have the right. Whatever that meant. But if he was part of a gang, involved in robbery or other illegal activity, wouldn’t it mean he didn’t have the right?
    Was he the Rawhide Kid posing as a preacher? She didn’t like to think so, but it made perfect sense.
    She wished it didn’t.
    As soon as she recognized the thought, she wanted to boot herself across the yard. What difference did it make to her? None. None whatsoever. She was only thinking of how many people would be disillusioned when they discovered the truth. She was above and beyond disappointment. That was one good thing her pa had taught her.
    As soon as she’d done her share of chores, she returned to the horses. A pleased grin curved her mouth. She’d ridden the horses in tandem. It gave her a great deal of satisfaction.
    Simply for the sheer fun of it, she stood on the backs of the pair and rode them around the pasture. She did the death drag from Pal’s back. The thrill of the trick blew away all her troubles.
    After she had enough, she turned her attention to the big gray gelding. Today she was determined to get him to let her touch him. She shook some oats into her hat and slowly approached the animal. He quivered but didn’t snort and race away. He liked his oats too much.
    She laughed softly as he allowed her to close the distance between them. His nostrils quivering, he reached for the oats, but she kept them close to her body. “If you want them, you’ll have to forget your fear of me.”
    The big animal shook his head, but his gaze returned to the oats and he jerked forward, almost reaching them, but he shivered away without so much as a taste.
    “Take it easy, big fella. I won’t hurt you. In fact, you might find you like having me touch you.” She shook the hat, reminding him of the waiting treat. “Oats. See? You know how much you like them.”
    Slower, but still cautious, he stretched out his neck and managed to lick up a few grains.
    “Not enough to satisfy you, is it? Come on, forget about the past and people who have hurt you. I’m different. I won’t hurt you. You can trust me.”
    The horse eased forward and suddenly buried his nose in the hat, forcing Glory to hang on with both hands. She rested the hat against her stomach and gently, gently touched his neck. He quivered but didn’t pull away from the oats.
    Glory laughed softly. “See, it’s not so scary after all.” She touched him again, thrilling at this victory.
    He snuffled up the last of the oats and trotted away to watch her from a safe distance.
    Glory couldn’t stop grinning. “You and I are going to be great friends once you learn you can trust me.”
    Trust. She knew it took a long time to prove to an abused animal trusting was okay. Her thoughts filled with questions from her past and promises from God’s Word, entwined together like a ball of knotted yarn. She sat in her favorite spot to consider the tangle.
    Levi had said he cared and then changed his mind.
    She wasn’t sure he was a preacher or a crook. Plain and simple, she didn’t trust him. And yet he said to search the Bible and find God’s promises. He assured them all they could trust those promises.
    She thought of some of the ones that had found their way into her heart. A promise to love her—
“I have loved thee with an everlasting love”
—a promise to hear when she called on Him, to draw near to her, to answer her requests. Dare she trust Him?
    The words that Levi had brought that first Sunday came to mind.
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
The next Sunday he had given even more promises from God’s Word, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to thrust herself wholly into someone else’s care. Not even God’s. Life had disappointed too often for trust to come readily.
    A horse approached, and she