Mel's Arc

Chapter 27 of 36

Cross's warning stayed with Mel all night. The wedding was two days off. A traveling preacher was the one thing the Caldwells could still take. If they moved him out before Saturday, there would be no ceremony. She woke before dawn and rode to the barn to check on him. Ted met her at the door, tight-jawed. "A Caldwell hand's been riding the roads," he said. "Slow. Looking at every place a man could sleep." Mel found Cross inside, seated on a bench, his red Bible open on his knee. He looked up and smiled into his white beard as if nothing was wrong. "You've got worry on your face," he said. "I've outrun worse men than a hired rider." "He'll find you here," Mel said. "This barn is the first place they'll look. It's got my name on it." She thought fast. Hiding him would only work until the rider knocked on the right door. She needed him somewhere the Caldwells could not touch without touching the whole valley. "Then don't hide me," Cross said, reading her. "Put me where hiding does no good." Mel understood. She had beaten the Caldwells once already by making support too public to punish. She would do it again. "Get your things," she said. "You're staying in the open." They rode to the church square, where neighbors already gathered for the morning. Mel helped Cross down and walked him to the center, where everyone could see. She raised her voice. "This is Reverend Cross," she called. "He came on foot to marry Ted and me. He'll stay right here till Saturday. Any man who wants to move him can do it in front of all of you." Heads turned. The neighbors who had brought food, who had stood by her before, gathered close around the old preacher. One woman set a chair for him. A man brought a jug of water. Cross took the chair and opened his Bible, calm as a Sunday. The Caldwell hand came within the hour. Mel saw him rein up at the edge of the square. He looked at Cross, then at the ring of neighbors standing shoulder to shoulder. He counted the faces the way a man counts a debt he cannot pay. He said nothing. He turned his horse and rode off. Ted let out his breath. "He won't be back," he said. "Not against all of them." Mel watched the rider shrink down the road. The preacher was safe. The last man the Caldwells could steal now sat guarded by half the valley. Saturday would come, and the words would be spoken. Cross closed his Bible and looked at her. "Two days," he said. "You've kept your preacher. Now go get your wedding ready. A barn full of people won't decorate itself." Mel laughed for the first time in days. The ceremony was safe. All that stood between her and Ted now was Saturday itself.