Blog Book: It's a Choice-Part 5

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! AHHH!!!! It's Finally here!!! Part 5!!! I give God the complete Glory!! These are His words not mine!!
Before we get on to the story, I'd like to thank  Isabella  and Mackenzie Morganthal for letting me use their twin photos for my book!!! Yay!!! Thanks so much, ladies!! This means so much!!  If you haven't already make sure to check out their sites by clicking theirs names above!!👆👆


Alright here goes! I really hope you enjoy this!!

Chapter 5

Sunday

   

   Dawn was peeking into the shaded homestead when the tired outlaws arrived home, un-captured and un-followed by the posse. The men were tired and snappy, constantly cussing. But the female in the family was full awake, alive, and ready to take on the world. She hadn’t had so much to do in forever: running all night from a posse, leading false trails, and completely getting out of the law’s grip. Although her family had done the work of diverting the law, she still felt the excitement from it.

 “You seem wide awake.” Her pa’s anger was evident in his voice. “You tend the horses.”

 Lexie nodded. She normally didn’t like her pa just shoving her around like that, but her happiness of finally having something to do overcame the anger from building.

 The boys, all except Robbie, went off to the barn. Robbie headed behind the house, more than likely to bury the money.

 Lexie gathered up four of the horses and headed to the barn to stable them.  She felt like skipping but didn’t know how well that would work while leading four horses.

 As she stabled the animals her mind diverted to the night before; the riding away… her nerves. But Lexie had forgotten about nerves or her conscious telling her to go back. That had all been replaced with the excitement of actually feeling alive. She had felt so dead the last few weeks. So lifeless. She felt like life was passing her by. But actually going out and doing something, even of it was robbing, made Lexie feel so good. So very good.

 After finishing with the four horses she went back for hers. She didn’t see Jack around or his horse in the barn so she assumed that he was already off to work. Jack was already in bed by the time she left last night so she doubted that he even knew she was gone, seeing as how he left before daylight every morning.

 After she finished the stabling for her horse she went inside and settled onto her cot. She didn’t even remove her shoes.

 She was so wound up she didn’t even think she could sleep. She had butterflies in her stomach from excitement. But then her thoughts took a turn. What was she doing? What had she done?

 She swallowed as she felt the butterflies being replaced by sickness. She had, in a way, been a part of a bank holdup. She had been riding all night from the law.

 What had she been thinking? Why had she done it? Why had she found this exciting?

 Lexie felt so ashamed and confused. Her conscious was coming back.

 Lexie’s breath grew short. Oh my. I was in a robbery. I-I-….

 Lexie rolled onto her side and sobs erupted. It wasn’t long until the broken girl fell into a deep sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Lizzie’s mind wondered the entire service at their small, local church. She was sorry to admit to herself that she had hardly heard a word spoken by the minister and her mind had wondered at different parts during Sunday songs.

 As her family walked down the aisle of wooden pews she made up her mind to focus on the present moment.

 “That was a wonderful message, very encouraging.” Pa spoke while shaking the minister’s, Pastor Hans, hand. They now stood at the top of the stairs leading up to the little white church.

 “Thank you, praise God.”

 “Very, very, much needed.” Ma said as she reached out to shake the minister’s hand.

 “It’s all God.” Pastor Hans smiled.

 “I liked it too.” Betty said with a toothy grin.

 James, Ben, and Emma all echoed their agreement.

 Then there was an awkward silence.

 Lizzie was looking up at the sky, aiming for them not to notice. But it only made it worse.

 Lizzie removed her gaze from the sky and noticed everyone’s eyes upon her. She knew the pastor didn’t crave praise but her avoiding the conversation about the message was evident.

 “Oh.” She startled. “Your messages are always God given and wonderful.” Lizzie brushed over the awkward scene.

 “Thank you, Lizzie. I pray God will use me this way.”

 Lizzie smiled. “Of course.” She waved bye and quickly dismounted the stairs, walking over to their wagon.

 “Liz, dear.” The prissy voice of Kora Smith sounded behind her.

 Lizzie turned around with a smile. “Hello, Kora, Tammy, Susan.” She acknowledged the two friends that were standing with her.

 “Might we have a word?” Kora said with a smile. Her blue eyes shone.

 “Sure.” Lizzie said nervously. The girls sounded as if they were up to something Lizzie wanted no part of.

 Kora took her arm and they all walked further away from the wagon into a little shady, wooden area. Lizzie’s family had spread out talking to their different friends.

 Kora’s blond hair was in a bun at the nap of her neck. Her bonnet was blue with flowers around the brim. “Lizzie, dear. As you know, the community round-up starts in just two weeks.” Her voice was in a whisper and sounded urgent.

 “Yeah, I know. What of it?”

 Tammy and Susan cast knowing looks at each other.

 “Now, Lizzie.” Kora went on. “We know you’ve always been more on the tomboy side. Wearing pants. Toting guns. But you’re still a woman.”

 Lizzie frowned. “I’m aware of that. And I’m not a tomboy; I just like to wear pants and I wear guns for protection.”

 Kora inhaled in an irritated manner. “Whatever you say, Lizzie dear. But the fact is: we girls are setting ours sights for some young gentlemen. We are seventeen now and marriage is getting so closer in our future.”

 Lizzie was a little confused. “Okay, I’m happy for you.”

 “Lizzie, don’t you have your sights set on a young man?”

 “No.”

 “Why?”

 “I haven’t met him yet.”

 Kora rolled her eyes. “Now, Lizzie. You know lots of nice young men around here. Several, I’m sure, that are very interested in courting you. Why are you being so stubborn? You’re nineteen years old. You don’t want to be an old maid.”

 Lizzie’s eyes widen. “Um, excuse me? I’m not looking for a husband and I don’t think I’d consider myself an old maid yet.”

 “Oh, Lizzie, really. You wouldn’t think you’re an old maid if you were sixty. But the fact is; you don’t want to be the awkward girl. All the girls around will be waiting for a man during the roundup. You don’t want to be the strange one.”

 Lizzie stared at her with a blank stare. Then her eyes drifted to the girls behind Kora.

 “You just think about it, dear. We know you’ll see that being an old maid is quite lonely.” Kora gave her arm a little pat. With that, they turned and walked away.   

 What just happened? Did they really just do that?

 Lizzie shook her head and walked out of the clearing. Those girls were so irritating. How dare they come and stick their nose into her personal life. And why would they tell her to her face they thought she was an old maid? OOHHH!

 Lizzie climbed on the back of their wagon with an angry huff. Her family hadn’t arrived yet.

 She was boiling mad at those prissy, gossiping, interfering… Lizzie paused. But what if they were right? After all, she was passed the normal marrying age. But she never thought she was considered an old maid. Maybe she should start to think about courtship and marriage. She knew some of the local men probably would be glad to come and call. They had expressed interest before, only Lizzie hadn’t given them the time of day. Lizzie huffed. Now she was all confused.

 She glanced over and saw Sam Bailey looking her way. He was one of the ones that had expressed interest. Lizzie looked away. But should she have?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   It was a simple mistake and she’d never make it again.

 That was the conclusion Lexie came to after waking up, still plagued with guilt. She had thought about it for ten minutes and that was what she resolved to herself. Feeling a little better, she stood up and walked outside. The bright afternoon sun made her eyes squint. She had slept longer then she thought.

 Her green skirt swished as she walked down the stairs. She figured her family was all still asleep in the barn. They probably had drunk themselves to sleep.

 “Lexie. ’Afternoon.” Lexie spun around to see her Pa standing behind her. “All slept up, I see.”

 She nodded.

 He started closing in the distance between them. “Hun, I thought since we get along so well now that you’d like me to teach you a few things.”

 Lexie felt very uncomfortable. What was Pa up to now?

 She shifted. “Teach me what?”

 “Oh, I don’t know. I figured you’d want to learn a little shootin’. You ain’t never done it before.”

 Lexie’s pulse quickened. What, did he just want her to learn to shoot for protection? Maybe he was wanting to include her in more stealing.

 “Why?”

 “Why? For protection, that’s why. A girl ain’t safe anymore. Besides, you don’t wanna go back to sittin’ on that porch.”

 Lexie’s stomach lurched. The thought sickened her. But she couldn’t start learning to shoot. That would mean more helping her brothers in stealing. So it was back to the porch.

 “What do you say, honey?”

 “Sure.” Lexie couldn’t stop the word from coming. It just came out.

 “That’s a girl, honey.” He looked toward the barn. “Boys, come on out and bring some bottles.”

 Lexie numbly followed. Her dark, long hair hung loose over her shoulders.

 Who knew, maybe her pa wasn’t trying to get her to steal. Maybe since she was involved in one incident he wanted her to be able to defend herself in case they were discovered. 

 The boys filed out, all eying her with mischief glee. They all carried empty whiskey bottles. They set them up on the top rail of the corral.

 The boys moved over to Pa and her and in a flash, Pa drew his gun and shot all six of the bottles. Blasting them to pieces.

 Lexie jumped.

 The boys laughed.

 “That’s the way it’s done, girl.” Pa pointed his empty gun at her.

 Lexie swallowed hard, her eyes were wide. The whole thing was startling her.

 “I couldn’t do that.” Her voice was hoarse.

 “Sure you can. Just aim.”

 “How…how do you do that?”

 The boys all erupted in laughter.

 “Now you all shut up. Lexie was pampered by her mom for all those years she was still around. She don’t know no better.” He turned to Lexie. “Now this is how you do it.” He went on to explain on how to shoot the six-shooter in his hand. Lexie paid close attention. Not wanting the boys to all laugh at her again.

 “Here, you do it.”

 The gun was in her hand.

 Lexie’s mouth was dry as she turned toward the six new bottles that Robbie had set up while pa was teaching her how to shoot this weapon.

 A new thought entered Lexie’s mind. She wondered how many people this gun had killed. How many innocent people her pa had pulled the trigger on.

 She lifted a shaky arm and pointed at the first bottle. She tried to steady her right arm and fired. The bottle didn’t fall. The boys laughed.

 She took a deep breath and swallowed. She tried again.

 She fired. Nothing.

 She fired again. Still nothing.

 Lexie paused a moment, trying to still her shakiness, before firing again. Still nothing.

 Again. Nothing.

 The boy’s laughter was louder now.

 Lexie was mad. They actually thought she couldn’t do it. Well, she’d show them. She was tired of them thinking she was the weakling around here.

 She raised the gun up and fired. The bottled smashed to pieces. Silenced settled over the scene.

 A smiled spread across Lexie’s face. Pride swelled up in her chest. She had done it. She had shown them.

 Lexie lowered the gun to her side. She had really done it.

 “That’s the way, girl, that’s the way.” Pa cheered her on.

 The boys were still silent. Or maybe they were embarrassed. Yeah, those know-it-all boys were embarrassed.

 This made Lexie thrilled. She had proved them wrong.

 “You wanna shoot some more, Lexie?” Pa asked.

 Lexie smiled. “Yeah.” She really did want to. This was fun. This was action. This was satisfying.  This was a heap better then boring yourself out of your wits by sitting on your porch.

 Lexie’s mouth was still dry but she was having a so very much fun. Very, very much fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   “Hey, can I come in?” Emma’s sweet voice asked from the other side of Lizzie’s closed door.

 “Yeah, sure.” Lizzie said from the spot on her bed. She sat twiddling her thumbs, trying to sort out all her concerns and confusions.

 Some of her thoughts wondered to the conversation she had with Kora earlier. Should she start to consider marriage? She had always planned to wait for the man God had for her. But did waiting mean she shouldn’t open herself up to the possibility of letting a young man call?

 But that wasn’t her main worry tonight. She still had the worry gripping her stomach. Worry for her sister. The sister who she had not seen since they were nine years old. The sister Lizzie didn’t have a clue in the world where she was.

 “I finished the dishes.” Emma announced as she settled herself across from Lizzie.

 “Thanks for doin’ them. I just didn’t feel like it tonight.”

 Emma smiled. “It’s fine. Hey, what’s wrong anyway? You sure ain’t been acting yourself today.”

 Lizzie sighed. “I’m sorry. I know I was real embarrassing at church today.”

 Emma chuckled. “I thought it was funny. I wasn’t embarrassed.”

 A silence settled over them. Emma waited patiently. Lizzie knew she was just waiting, waiting if Lizzie wanted to talk. She wasn’t trying to force her. She was just there in case Lizzie wanted to spill out her feelings.

 Emma had grown up so much lately. She had gotten so… so mature. She was helping with more household chores and Lizzie and she had really grown closer. Sharing personal things.

 “Em, I had a dream last night. About Lexie.”

 Emma slowly nodded. “Wanna tell me about it?”

 Lizzie was quiet for a moment, then nodded. She told her the frightening dream she had the night before. She told her how Lexie was older. She told her how she was by the bank.

 “I prayed for her. And, as you know, it’s hard for me to mention her. It’s too painful.” Memories would come back… memories of Lexie getting torn from her arms. Memories of how Lexie was always crying and clinging to Lizzie, she always needed her. And yet there was nothing Lizzie could have done to save her sister from being taken away.

 Emma’s face held compassion. “I’m sorry. You prayed. You just have to trust, trust that God will work in her life.”

 Lizzie felt her eyes water up. “I-I just wish I knew where she was. Do you have any idea how it is to have your sister, your twin, a part of you, torn away from you? And you having no idea, no idea whatsoever, where she is?”

But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

Psalm 3:3 KJV