Free Promise of Blessing by Terri Grace Page A

which was a lock of blond hair and a pair of very cheeky blue eyes, crinkled at the corners.
    “There’s my Josie,” said Clae, the rest of him appearing around the door.   He paused to scratch the top of Pea’s head, lifting a bag in his other hand high out of reach of her quivering nostrils.   Josie, shaking off her weariness, got up from her chair to greet him, and found herself enveloped in slightly dusty-smelling warmth.   Her face and neck were covered with kisses.   She laughed and pushed him away, aware that Harland had just come in, carrying a large crate.
    Clae took a step back and bowed, presenting the bag in his hand with a flourish.   She caught a whiff of sweetness and took it eagerly.   Inside were six perfect peaches, golden and velvety.
    “They’re for you, mind, not for all of us.   Doc says they’ll be good for you,” said Clae.
    “Oh, they’re beautiful!   Thank you.”   She reached for his hand and raised it to her lips.
    Behind Clae, Harland made an impatient noise.   “We gonna unload this wagon sometime tonight?” he asked.
    Clae raised an eyebrow at Josie.   “Don’t mind him.   He’s been right ornery ever since…let me see.   Oh, yeah, must have been about the time we met Beth, being escorted around town by Mr Jake Friend.”
    Harland’s eyes flashed with uncharacteristic anger before he turned away from them to put the crate down.   “I have not been ornery,” he said.   “I’d just like to get finished here sometime soon so’s I can have some supper.”
    Clae tipped his hat to Josie and turned theatrically on one heel, and the twin brothers, identical but for an odd flush on Harland’s cheeks, went back out to the wagon.
    Josie moved to the kitchen to finish off the supper, her interest piqued for the first time in days.   Her little friend Beth, in the company of the rather wealthy Jake Friend.   This was news.
    It was no secret to anyone who knew her that Beth had long carried a torch for Harland, and Harland, although his ways were in general somewhat looser than Clae and Josie could approve, singled Beth out on many occasions.   Still, she was young, and Josie had assumed that Harland was simply biding his time.   Lately, though, as Beth made visit after visit to the McKinley farm and there seemed to grow no understanding between them, Josie had begun to wonder.   Harland was clearly upset by the possibility that Beth had another beau, yet he did nothing to declare his feelings.   What game was he playing?
      The wagon was unloaded, the horses seen to and the evening chores done before the men came in to supper, carrying a very large packing crate between them.
    Josie scurried out of their way as they lowered it carefully in the middle of the room.
    “What, in heaven’s name, is that?” she asked.
    “Supper first,” said Clae, “and then we’ll show you.”
    The meal was a happy one, although Harland looked preoccupied.   A visit to town always meant plenty of news for discussion.   There were a number of new babies, someone that Josie did not know had a new bride out from Chicago, and the city policeman recently appointed by Marshal Meagher was making a name for himself.
    “Gosh, I’m sorry,” said Clae, patting his pockets.   “I almost forgot – you’ve got a letter from New York.”
    Josie opened it eagerly.   It was from Anna – pages and pages of society gossip, raptures over the latest fashions and, at the end, almost as an afterthought, an update on their father’s health.   The warm summer weather had done him good and he was better than he had been in months.
    When they had finished eating, Clae bowed his head and gave thanks for this piece of good news, and for Josie’s own improving health.   Then he jumped up from the table and began to pry the lid off the crate.   Once it was off, he and Harland removed one side and lifted out something heavy, covered with a thick cloth.   They set it on the floor beside