Linda Ford by Cranes Bride

make promises easily. And forget them as easily. He had no wish to be one of those men.
    He rose and called the children, handing them each a bed-roll. “Time to settle in.”
    Betsy spread her blankets next to his as always. Maggie unrolled her blankets on the other side of the child. Ted waited until the others were finished, then flipped his bedroll next to Maggie’s.
    Crane poured himself and Maggie another cup of coffee and handed her the Bible. He lounged on his bed, sipping his coffee, but she hadn’t read long when her voice thickened, and she choked. Tears washed her face, and she dashed them away.
    “My ma told me I could be a child of God. He loved me enough to send His Son, Jesus, so I could be forgiven. All I had to do was ask. And I did.” She sniffed. “She said He would always be my father, no matter what happened to me.” Again she sniffed and took a long, shuddering breath. “How could I forget so much?”
    The children watched her—Ted’s face pinched, Betsy’s eyes big, and her mouth round.
    Maggie jerked around to face them all. “Ted, Betsy, Crane, listen to me. We can each be a child of God. He will always take care of us. It doesn’t matter where we go or who tries to hurt us—God will love us forever.”
    Although her fervor made him squirm, Crane couldn’t turn away from the dark gleam in her eyes.
    “Ma said we could never for sure count on men, but we can always count on God.”
    Crane clenched his mug, certain her comment held a note of censure. But then he could hardly fault her if she held no confidence in men. Her experiences had not given her cause. It would take time for him to prove himself.
    She leaned toward the children. “I know bad things happened to you. They happened to us all, but God will help us. From now on I’m going to trust God to take care of me. He promised He would. Forever.”
    Crane leaned back, staring at the stars. His own mother had said much the same thing the last visit he’d had.
    “I’ve failed to prepare you for the future the way I should,” she’d said. He could still feel her frail hand clasping at his arm. “Remember—no matter how your pa and I have failed, God never changes. He is the same forever.”
    He scrubbed a hand over his face. He simply couldn’t believe in forever. Seemed like a man was better off doing his best and letting the future take care of itself.
    ❧
    The next morning, Maggie sang loudly as she worked. Betsy laughed, and soon they both sang.
    Ted wore a longing expression. He turned toward Crane, and the moment their eyes met, Crane knew Ted wasn’t ready to trust anyone. Or anything.
    “Come on, Ted,” he murmured. “Let’s get the horses ready.”
    Ted leapt to do his bidding. He had proven to be a quick learner and worked efficiently at Crane’s side. Neither of them spoke until they were cinching the saddles.
    “What’d you think about that stuff?” Ted asked, his words muffled as he reached under his gelding.
    “What stuff?” Crane stalled.
    “The stuff Maggie says about God.” Ted straightened to look directly at Crane. “About being able to go to heaven and all that.”
    Crane secured the pack on the spare horse before he answered. “Well, I reckon it must all be true. It’s in the Bible, isn’t it?”
    “But what do you think about it?” He pinned Crane with his question. The boy deserved honesty.
    “I guess it’s hard to separate out things. Things people do get mixed up with what God says. Seems like they should be closer together.”
    “Yeah, know what you mean.”
    “Don’t mean it’s not true. Don’t mean I don’t believe it. It’s just real hard to sort it out. I need to do some heavy thinking on it.”
    But it seemed thinking wasn’t something Maggie was prepared to let him do. As soon as they hit the trail, she started talking. “It’s your mother’s Bible. She’d underlined lots of verses. She must have known this.”
    “I reckon she did.”
    “She tell you about