“Since Frank worked in the mines during the day, I could run to the general store to check our mail before he could. Two weeks later, I received the questionnaire, filled it out, mailed it back, and waited. You know the rest.”
“Oh. What a horrible experience. You will need to turn Frank in, though. He’s a murderer. Almost a double-murderer.”
He squeezed her shoulders. “I’m so glad you got away from him.”
After Elsie had recovered from the trauma of telling her story, Conner removed his arm from around her shoulders, but he still held her hands in his. “So, why did you say no one liked you?”
“The kids in my town called me names because of my hair.”
“Names? Like what?”
“Carrot-top, Ginger, Pepper-head, Freckle-face, and Fire-top. I always was an outcast.”
Conner reached up and touched the bun on the top of her head. “I think it’s lovely.”
Elsie felt herself blush, but she was pleased. Conner squeezed her hands. “I still don’t understand why you don’t believe in God.”
“If God loved me, why would He let Frank almost ruin me and kill me? Why did He let Frank kill my ma? Why did He give me bright red hair and freckles?”
Elsie looked up at Conner, and he saw her pain and tearing eyes. His heart pounded with sympathy for her. Her soul was as wounded as any of the patients he treated. His mind churned as he tried to think of an answer for her.
Finally, he replied, “I’m not a preacher, and I don’t know all the answers. I go to church on Sunday, and I pray daily, but my life doesn’t always go smoothly either. I know that when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, that’s when sin entered the world. Since then, there have been bad people. Much of what I know I learned from life.
“My mother, bless her soul, died at age thirty-nine. I prayed at her bedside for her to live, but she died quickly and painlessly. I also felt like God had let me down.
“When my father remarried two months after we buried my mother, it made me ill. Later, I did some snooping by talking to people he’d confided in and discovered that he had been seeing his new wife a year before my mother had died. He’d planned on leaving her for that other woman. To my mother, the sun and the moon rose because of my father; she loved him that much. She had no other family other than me, and the medical school had already accepted me. She would have been alone on twenty acres of land, but I would have given up college had she lived, yet knowing her, she wouldn’t have allowed it. If she had survived, her life would have had more pain than she could have borne.
“What I’m getting at is that sometimes God allows things to happen for a reason; death saved her from more pain than she’d have been able to handle.”
Elsie put her hands to her cheeks and whispered, “I’m so sorry. Is your father still alive?”
“Yes. He and his young bride are living in Colorado, and she’s had several children with him. It was hard for me to forgive him, and it took me several years, but finally, I did. God tells us to forgive and let Him be the judge, but he doesn’t say we have to continue with the relationship. I have almost nothing to do with my father except to send him a Christmas greeting letter each year.”
“I’m not sure I’d be able to forgive him. In fact, I can’t forgive Frank,” Elsie said.
“Maybe everything happened in your life for a reason. Look—you wouldn’t be here living as my wife in Hays City had that not happened to you.”
Elsie gave him a tearful smile. “I’m grateful to be your wife, but I hate living in the city. I’m more of a country girl.”
“With me being a doctor, I have to live where people can reach me quickly.”
“Aren’t there people living in the country on the outskirts of town where it’s quiet and dark?”
“Yes. More and more people are building both in and outside of town. Are you saying that you aren’t happy living in Hays City?”
Elsie pulled her hand free of his. “It’s hard to sleep at night with all the noise from the town. I’m used to dead quiet at night and total darkness.”
“I see,” Conner said, thoughtfully. “But if we moved away from the city, people would have to ride miles, perhaps with a dying patient, to seek my services.”
“Listen, Conner, I came here, we married, and we live on the city’s main street. I might not like it, but I’m willing to make the best of it.”
Conner stood and helped Elsie to her feet. “I’ve been thinking of adding an addition to our home so we’d have more room. I’d also be willing to build us a new house, but only as far as a half-mile from town. Is that a suitable compromise?”
“It would be dark and quieter?”
“I think so. I know of two perfect pieces of land for sale. We can take a ride there later in the week if you’d like.”
He held her hand and led her toward home. “It seems like we need to compromise on a lot of things. Did you fill out the matchmaker’s questionnaire honestly?”
Elsie chuckled. “I was wondering the same about you.”
Chapter Five
Elsie
