Brides of Iowa (57 page)

Father gave her a soft smile and a nod, and another ache twisted in Everett’s chest at the unspoken communication shared between their two hearts. There were times during his twilight walks with Tillie that even though the encroaching darkness prevented him from seeing her face clearly, he knew what she was thinking by the way she tipped her head or twirled a wildflower between her thumb and forefinger, or even by the way she stepped. What he had with her was something so special he couldn’t put a name to it, and he was relinquishing it—just opening his hand and allowing it to fly away like a butterfly discovering it had wings.

His father cleared his throat. “This is none of my business, and you have every right to tell me to mind my own affairs, but I have a feeling Timothy didn’t come calling with shipping freight in mind.” The look he gave Everett was one of speculation.

“No.” Everett blew out a pent-up breath through pursed lips. “He didn’t.” With one finger he traced the edge of the scar along his face. “He wanted to know what I did to make his daughter cry.”

“Ah.” His father lifted his bushy eyebrows but didn’t ask his son to elaborate.

“Father, you must understand, I’m doing this
for
Tillie. She deserves someone better than me.” He leaned back on his elbows and closed his eyes. “I’m not the one for her.”

A snort came from his father’s direction. “How did you come to that conclusion?”

He willed himself not to shoot back an angry retort. Taking in a calming breath, he pushed himself upright again. “Father, I will not subject Tillie to the humiliation of being seen with me. Why do you think we met and walked together in the evening? Nobody is standing around gawking at that time of night. What would people think if they saw her with me?”

Father stroked his mustache with his finger and shook his head. “I must say, son, I never thought I’d hear you insult Tillie like that.”

Everett jerked forward. “Insult her? What are you talking about? I’d never insult Tillie.”

His father shrugged. “That’s what it sounded like to me. You’re certainly not giving her much credit. Tillie O’Dell isn’t a shallow person, nor is she hypocritical. If she extended friendship and affection to you, you can rest assured it came from her heart. Don’t you think you owe it to her to let her make up her own mind on the matter?”

Everett started to shake his head at his father’s statement, but at that moment a commotion arose across the yard. He craned his neck to see around the cedar boughs. Tessa and Gideon Maxwell ran from one family’s blanket to the next, calling their daughter’s name.

“Susan!
Susan!
”

Several others joined the worried parents in searching around the immediate area and asking their children if they’d seen the little girl. They looked under the food table and the dessert table, and one of the women went to check the outhouse. Within a few minutes, every person was on their feet looking over the churchyard, calling the child’s name.

Everett stood, his gaze fixed on Tillie as she crossed the yard to her friend. She took Tessa in her arms and held her tight, murmuring something into Tessa’s ear. Tessa nodded and closed her eyes, her chest rising and falling with a deep breath.

Putting his abhorrence of being seen in public aside, Everett strode over to Gideon, who gathered Tessa in his arms. Tillie looked up as Everett approached. He locked eyes with her for a moment before turning to Gideon and waving Pastor Witherspoon over.

“Pastor, can you gather everyone together?”

The preacher nodded and hastily climbed the church steps and clanged the church bell. Everett grabbed Gideon’s arm.

“She can’t have gone far. We’ll find her.” He took the church steps two at a time to stand beside the preacher on the top step. Hiding his face didn’t seem important with a child in danger.

“Folks, let’s pair up and go in different directions. Some of you search in and around the church building. Others go over the yard again, and don’t forget to check around the back. Still others spread out a little. A couple of teams should go down toward the creek. Don’t leave a square foot unsearched. Pull back any low-hanging branches, and look in the bushes and underbrush. She might think she’s playing hide-and-seek. Since she’s so small—she’s only…three?”—he looked to Gideon for confirmation—“she can fit into places we can’t. When Susan is found, the church bell will be rung.”

As people teamed up and set off in specific directions, Tillie gave Tessa another hug. “We’ll find her. You need to stay right here, because the first person she’s going to want is you. Whoever finds her will bring her here.”

Indecision tore through Tessa’s eyes. Tillie knew she wanted to be out searching for her daughter but also saw the wisdom of the admonition. Tessa nodded, tears slipping down her face.

Tillie poured her friend a cup of coffee and guided her to the church steps to sit. She looked over her shoulder for Ben and found him approaching.

She gave him a timorous smile. “Why don’t we look over by the mill.”

Ben reached out and took Tillie’s hand. “Why don’t you and Everett pair up and look around the mill? I’ll go check the brush behind the church.”

Tillie blinked in surprise, and Ben released a small chuckle. “It’s all right, Tillie. I can see in the way you look at him there’s something special there. I’d sure like it if you looked at me that way, but I don’t reckon that will happen as long as Everett is around.” He squeezed her hand before releasing it. “You won’t find a finer man than Everett Behr.”

Hearing such praise coming from Everett’s employee made her heart skip. “I hope I didn’t—”

“You didn’t. I knew all along he had your heart in his pocket.”

Yes, he did, but what did it matter now? Everett had made it clear he had no intention of continuing their friendship. She gave Ben a parting smile and set off toward the mill.
“Why don’t you and Everett pair up?”
She sighed and set her mind to finding little Susan.

Paying particular attention to the thick reeds and cattails along the side of the mill, Tillie pulled back every bit of growth at the edge of the stream that fed the mill’s waterwheel. Susan’s name echoed through the trees as the other searchers covered the area.

“Please, Lord, help us find her. Set your angels around her, keep her safe, and lead one of us to her.”

“Amen.”

Startled, she turned abruptly to find Everett behind her. Her breath caught in her throat, and she bit down on her lip. Everett had already distanced himself from her because she hadn’t controlled her tongue.

“I’ve been saying the same prayer.” He glanced over his shoulder at the teams of other folks looking for the child. “If she isn’t found in a little while, we’ll have to organize a more widespread search.”

Tillie nodded mutely. She didn’t want to think about the possibility of Susan not being found. She couldn’t imagine the distress poor Tessa was experiencing.

She stood there, silently gazing at Everett, wanting her feet to move and return to searching, but unable to force them into motion. Finally, she found her voice, even if it did come out as a whisper. “Thank you for helping.”

He lifted one shoulder and gave a slight nod, his lips pressed together. “Look, maybe you should go and stay with Tessa,” he said, gesturing toward the church. “Gideon is out looking, and I think Tessa’s by herself. She might need a friend.”

Tillie’s heart agonized, as much for Everett as for Tessa. “We all need a friend, Everett.” She fixed her eyes on his face, and he didn’t turn away. Did he understand the depth of her statement? Could she communicate with a look what she longed to tell him?

He held out his hand, and she transferred her gaze from his face to his fingertips. She slowly lifted her hand and placed it in his. The magic of his touch sent shivers through her.

He closed his hand around hers and steadied her as she stepped up the short embankment. When her feet were on level ground again, he dropped her hand, and she felt a pang of loneliness. She held back the sigh that wanted to escape.

“I haven’t checked the other side of the mill yet.”

Everett nodded. “I’ll look there. Are you going to stay with Tessa?”

She glanced in the direction of the church and shook her head. “Miss Pearl is keeping Tessa busy while the rest of us search, so she’s not alone.” She started toward the little footbridge that led to the opposite bank of the stream and the stairs to the millhouse. “I’m going to keep searching.”

Everett fell into step beside her, turning his head from side to side, leaning down to part the cattails. “Do you know what Susan was doing before Tessa discovered she was missing?”

Tillie stopped. “Tessa said she’d laid Susan down on their blanket for a nap and thought she was asleep.”

A puzzled look crossed his face. “She could sleep with all the talking and laughing, and with the other kids playing and shouting?”

Tillie smiled at his lack of knowledge of children. “Most little ones can sleep through just about anything if they’re tired enough.” She sobered. “Tessa would never leave her alone if she thought Susan might wander off. She said she had only stepped away from their blanket for a few minutes to speak with Mrs. Witherspoon. When she went back to check on Susan, she was gone.”

Everett’s brows lowered into a frown. “Come on. Let’s keep looking.” He climbed the millhouse stairs while Tillie covered every foot of space under the stairs and behind the mill.

“Susan!”
Oh Lord, please help us. Where is that child?

Despite the crisp autumn day, sweat collected on Tillie’s forehead and trickled down her back after an hour of searching every conceivable place within a few hundred yards of the church. Her throat was growing hoarse from calling Susan’s name.

The church bell clanged twice, and her heart leaped.
Oh praise God, she’s been found!

She picked up her skirts and ran but stopped short in the churchyard when she caught sight of a distraught Tessa standing by the steps with her arms wrapped around herself. Pastor Witherspoon motioned with his hand and called out for everyone to gather round.

“Folks, here’s what we’re going to do. The women will continue searching here in town, and the men are going to spread out and cover the hills and the woods. When Susan is found, either ring the church bell, or you men fire three shots. Let’s step over to the table here and map out where all you fellows will go.”

The women had cleaned off a section of the food table, and the makeshift structure now held a large coffeepot, cups, and the picnic leftovers, as if preparations for a long ordeal were being made. The ominous implication made Tillie shudder.

Pastor Witherspoon climbed down the stairs and paused just long enough to place a comforting hand on Tessa’s shoulder.

Tillie hurried over to Tessa. She slipped her arms around her friend and held her without speaking. Tessa’s shoulders began to shake.

“Oh Tillie, where could she be?” Tessa broke into sobs. “I just want my little girl back. We were going to take her out to the Hamiltons’ ranch tomorrow so she could pick out a lamb. She’s talked of nothing else for the past week.” She squeezed her eyes shut.

Tillie remembered Susan chattering nonstop about the “baby wams.” She gripped Tessa’s shoulders. “Tessa, by this time tomorrow you’re going to be watching Susan playing with her pet lamb.”

Some of the men headed out toward their assigned area, and Tillie looked to see which direction Everett was taking. Instead of tramping toward the hills, he was standing only a few feet away, looking at her and Tessa.

At the sound of galloping hooves, Tillie looked past Everett to see a rider coming in and recognized him as one of the hands from a nearby ranch. The man pulled his lathered mount to a stop in a cloud of dust, and several of the men, including the man’s boss, ran over to hear what he had to say.

The young man dismounted and walked up to his boss. “We was out lookin’ for strays, and we saw some buzzards circling overhead, so I went to check on it. There was a fresh kill—a young heifer.” The ranch hand pulled off his hat and dragged his sleeve across his forehead. “It was a wolf kill. Just thought you’d want to know.”