A Heart Renewed by Karen Baney

you and Miss Colter the same,” Jethro said, vigorously shaking Adam’s hand with his only hand.
    Chauncey had just arrived at the tail end of the conversation to help Adam with the items he purchased from him.  “Miss Colter?  You mean Miss Larson?”
    Jethro hesitated.  Julia shot him a pleading look.  Her stomach plummeted to the ground as she envisioned her and Adam’s subterfuge dissolving before her eyes.
    “Mrs. Larson?” Jethro asked with a confused expression puckering his tan face.
    This was going to be a disaster.  “Jethro Pace,” Julia interrupted.  “How did you get to Santa Fe?”
    “Well, I was headed west with yer bro—”
    “Really?  You came with Will Colter?” she cut him off before he could finish the word.  “Why didn’t you continue on?”
    Jethro looked even more confused.  “Ah, um…  I took some nasty shots when we ran into Indians.  My arm was infected so the doctor here in town had to take it off.  Saved my life he did.  But Will had to move on.  Can’t complain though, he left me with enough money to settle here.”
    “That was very generous of Mr. Colter,” Julia commented, nervously fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve.
    “Who is Mr. Colter?”  Chauncey asked, hefting a crate into the back of the waiting wagon.
    Adam responded before anyone else could get a word in edgewise.  “He is a good friend of the Larsons.  We grew up on neighboring ranches and our fathers were close friends.  I am on my way to his new ranch in the Arizona Territory to start breeding and training horses for Mr. Colter.”
    “I see.  Well, that’s the last of your things, Mr. Larson, Miss Larson.  It was a pleasure working with you.”  Chauncey tipped his hat to Julia, then turned and left.
    “It was good to see you again, Jethro.  Can we pass on anything to Will for you?” Julia asked trying to end the awkward conversation quickly.
    “Ah, just tell him I said thanks for all he done.  Mr. Larson.  Mrs. Larson,” Jethro said before leaving.
    She nearly collapsed from nerves as she waved to Jethro Pace’s retreating back.  Mrs. Larson, indeed.   She breathed a huge sigh of relief when Adam helped her into the wagon and drove them out to the west end of town.  That was close.

    Mrs. Larson?   Gideon Bates fisted his hand in frustration from his hidden perch behind one of the freight wagons.
    He had been prepared for anything—except that.  Larson had a lot of nerve marrying the poor girl in the dead of night and then taking off with her.  Somehow that piece of information never made it to his ears before now.  Maybe that was why she rejected all the men Reuben paraded before her.  She already had a beau and plans to leave with him.
    Now what should he do?  If he tried to take her back to Reuben, Larson would definitely follow to collect his wife—and it would be kidnapping then.  Gideon had done some things he wasn’t proud of in his life, but he never broke the law.
    No.  Taking her back to Reuben was out of the question now.  He would want to marry her off to some other man and she couldn’t be married off, cause she already was.  Reuben would not be too happy about that.
    If he went back to Reuben empty handed, he was sure to lose his job.  Even though he’d been working for him just over a year, he learned enough about him to understand that he would see this present situation as a failure on Gideon’s part.  Reuben wasn’t one to reason in a normal fashion.
    “Mighty fine quandary,” he whispered as he led his horse from the town square.  He’d have to give it some thought for a few days.

    Mrs. Larson?   For some reason, when Jethro Pace called Julia that, Adam’s heart started racing and a weird fluttery feeling settled in his stomach.  What was wrong with him?  This was Julia, a long-time friend of his family.  Why would he be reacting this way?
    “That was close,” she said with a nervous laugh.
    He cleared his throat.  “Yes,