Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Hebrews 6:19-20
Hello beautiful readers!! God is amazing and He loves you beyond measure! And no that no matter how difficult things are, He is your hope!!!
Ahh! Our story is back!! I hope you enjoy this part of the story! And comment below your thoughts on any new character that may or may not appear in the story😉!!
Chapter
9
Dawn was
peeping into Lizzie’s bedroom as she grabbed her hat and gun-belt; she took one
last look around her room to see if she had forgotten anything before exiting
the room.
She walked
quietly down the hallway to her parent’s room. She could hear her momma in the
kitchen making breakfast as she opened the door slowly.
Her pa
opened his eyes and smiled at his daughter.
“Come on
in, Liz.” He motioned with his left hand for her to come forward.
She smiled
tiredly as she came and sat in the chair by his bedside.
“How are
ya this mornin’, Pa?”
He
chuckled slightly then held his ribs from the effort. Lizzie winced. She hated
seeing her pa hurt so bad.
He took a
deep breath before answering. “Well, I’ve been thrown off of horses; I’ve been
stepped on, and even got shot once. But I have to say, this beats it all. But
I’ll be okay. God saved me out there. It could have been a lot worse.”
Lizzie
lowered her head. “Yeah.”
“Hey Liz,
don’t blame yerself, honey. I can tell yer doin’ it.”
Lizzie
kept her head lowered. “Well, it’s my fault. If I hadn’t been such a baby about
what happened with Sam-”
“Honey,
stop it. It’s not yer fault. They hurt you. And I knew it was hard fer ya to go
to town. Families help each other like that. You needed some help and I gave
it. That in no way makes this yer fault.” He was quiet for a moment before
asking, “’Kay?”
She looked
up with a forced smile. She was fighting hard against the tears. “I’ll try to
realize that.” Her voice was quiet.
“Liz, yer
ma and I really hate to ask ya to do this when yer havin’ such a ruff time, and
since those girls hang around town and-”
“It’s
fine. Ya’ll need me and I-I can do this. At least I hope….”
Again
there was a moment of silence before pa spoke. “Liz, I see a warrior in you. A
strong warrior. God is gonna use ya fer somethin’. I don’t know what it is. But
I DO know that God is with you. Always, Liz. Keep yer eyes on Him during the
storm. Don’t give up on waiting. Sometimes people give up right before the
victory happens.”
Liz
blinked, those words burning her heart.
God must
be at work. She felt Him telling her to take over as Sheriff, and now her pa
was telling her this.
Something
was happening.
“Thanks,
pa. Really.”
“Now, hon.
There’s some things I’d like ya to know while bein’ sheriff. Always keep a calm
head, always pray, and have patience to do the right thing.”
She
nodded, feeling a bit sick. But she didn’t know why. She wouldn’t have to do
any actual sheriff stuff.
He reached
out his hand and she took it. He squeezed it. “Now, go on, honey. Go out there
and do something great.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lizzie
walked into the sheriff’s office, confusion making her look around clueless.
She closed
the door and tripped over her own feet walking forward.
She
straightened and cleared her throat.
She had
been in this office hundreds of times. She had no reason to feel intimated.
She
stumbled over to the desk and sat behind it then pressed the bottom of her
hands to the wooden surface.
She had
already gone and talked to the mayor, telling him pa gave her charge of the
office. He stared at her like she was crazy.
Lizzie
looked around the quiet office. This was her job now. This was her
reasonability
Oh, stop it, Lizzie! It’s not like your
sheriff!
Lizzie’s
mind took her to daydreaming for several minutes. Finally, she snapped out of
it and pulled the paper her momma had given her from her pocket. Pa had told
momma what to write on it. It was all the things she was supposed to do.
First
thing, she was supposed to walk around and make sure everything was going fine.
She felt
utterly silly to think of doing that.
Everyone
would for sure laugh-
The door busted open and Mrs. Timpson
from the boarding house busted in. Her face was sweaty and her apron dirty. It
seemed especially dirty for only after 8 in the morning. “SHERIFF!” She screamed. She looked at Lizzie
with a frown. “Where’s the sheriff?!” She was hysterical.
Lizzie slowly stood,
knocking something off the desk as she did so. “I-I-I am the
sheriff.” She fumbled to pick up the paper she had dropped while she spoke. She
managed to get it back on the desk. “At least for the time being.”
“Is this a joke?!” She
stopped her foot. “I need your pa, young lady.”
“He’s been in an-an accident. I’m in charge now. What-what’s the problem?”
“Oh, my goodness! I
heard you had taken over but I didn’t think for a moment it was real! Oh well,
get your skinny self over to my boarding house! Sammy Johnson is sealing my
apples again! I saw him run off in the back alley with a hat full of them.”
Lizzie nodded and
walked forward, but then came to a sudden stop. “What am I supposed to do?”
She stopped her feet
several more times. “Come get him! Chase him! Something! Get my apples back and
make him stop being a little brat!” Her voice was in a screech.
“Oh, yeah-right.” She moved forward and then tripped again.
“I’m going.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Boy, was she mistaken
when she thought she wouldn’t do anything as a sheriff. Sure, it wasn’t
typically SHERIFF things but it was exhausting and time consuming.
She had chased Sammy,
only to have the apples he stole thrown at her. Two hit her in the head and a bruise
was on her left temple.
She had to go to the
seamstress shop and get a big lab dog out of it. The dog was growling and
scaring all the women, so they wouldn’t go near it.
After that she had an
hour break in her office to clean and sulk in her hurt before having to go
chase Sammy again, only this time he stole bread. Even still he managed to
throw rocks at her. She was sure her upper right arm was now bruised.
Sammy got away and she
went to go for his parents, but was interrupted by Mrs. Timpson screaming
again. After running to the boarding house kitchen, she saw it was only a large
black snake. She took care of the snake.
Then she managed to go
talk to Sammy’s parents: who seemed to be snooty toward the world and only
focused on their farming.
By the time she got
back into town it was lunch time. The whole time she ate people stared and
poked fun.
Three times that
afternoon Sammy stole more apples and bread, each time Lizzie chased him she
got rocks and apples thrown at her.
She was sure pa never
mentioned doing this.
It was 5 p.m. that found Lizzie Tyson walking in town to do her rounds before heading home.
It was 5 p.m. that found Lizzie Tyson walking in town to do her rounds before heading home.
She was tired and just
plain exhausted.
She was heading
towards the general store but thought she might pass out at what she saw. She
stopped. There was Sam, Kora and of course… Tammy and Susan. They all stood by
a bunch of large crates. Snickers drifted her way.
Lizzie closed her eyes
and took a deep breath. She walked forward.
“Well, hey there,
Lizzie, got over me yet?” Sam laughed as she came to a stop in front of them.
“Or are you gonna kick
him out of town this time?” Kora said and the whole group laughed.
Lizzie just blinked
and went to walk forward. Sam held up his arm and stopped her.
Lizzie closed her
eyes. She was too tired for this. Too many things had been thrown at her
already. She had sweated a lot today and her hair was a mess. She just wanted
to lie on her bed, with the cool night air coming through her window, and go to
sleep.
She took a step back and
looked at Sam. How could he do all this to her? “Please, I need to see to some
things and get home. I’m very tired.”
Sam chuckled. “Now,
Liz dear, I think you’ve been ignoring me and shoving me out of yer life fer
too long. Why don’t ya be nice to me?” He looked back at the girls. “Ladies,
did I tell you about her kicking me out of her house?”
“You did, but tell us
again, Sam!” Kora waved her hand forward and laughed, holding her hand to her
chest.
Lizzie felt her heart
breaking more and she felt like crying.
“Now see here, I went
to declare my affection, and my…
undying love for this lady. And she spit. In. My. Face. She kicked me out of
her house and said that wasn’t good enough for her. She had the nerve to say
that to me.” Mocking gasp and then giggles erupted from his audience. “And
then, her pa…” Sam looked at her and grinned. “Well, ya’ll know about that.
But, but the VERY best part is: she
said she wanted God to drop her man right at her doorstep!” They all bellowed
into laughter. “Or-or maybe she
wants God to drop him at her feet.” More laughs. She had to get out of here.
Kora spoke again. “Or
maybe… Lizzie dear needs to be dropped at his feet.” More loud, cruel laughs
and then Sam reached forward and shoved her to the ground.
She hit with a grunt,
her eyes closed.
Lizzie took a deep
breath. She felt too weak to get up.
But she opened her
eyes, and blinked to clear her vision. Right in front of her face was a pair of
black boots.
A man stooped down and
helped her stand up. As she stood she looked into his dark brown eyes.
He let go of her once
she was steady on her feet. His eyes look straight ahead to Sam.
Who had grown quiet.
Lizzie stared at the
man in front of her. His skin was dark, a smooth brown. He wore black pants
with a black gun belt. A six gun rested inside the belt with a white marble
handle. His shirt was a dark blue and his sleeves rolled up to just below his
elbows. He wore a bead necklace and also a black hat pulled down lower on his
head.
A vein in his neck was
popping out… it looked like from anger. He was staring very determined at Sam.
He walked forward and
stood directly in front of him. It was a moment before he spoke. “Sir, my
father always taught me that a woman was a special and priceless person.
Something to treasure, protect. Not to push down to the ground.” He reared back
and slammed his fist into Sam’s jaw.
Sam flew back and the
girls gasped.
Sam shuffled around a
bit before slowly standing. His side fell against one of the crates. He blinked
and shook his head. A trail of blood made its way from his lip. He was
breathing hard.
The man stared hard.
“Now, I trust you’re sorry and you’ll apologize to the lady.”
The girl’s eyes held
horror.
The man still stared.
Sam took some more
breaths before saying, “I-I’m
sorry.” His voice was low.
Lizzie snapped out of
her daze and nodded in acknowledgement.
The man turned away
from Sam.
Kora rushed toward
Sam. “Oh, Sam, let’s get you the doctor.” All the girls helped him walk toward
the Doctor’s office.
Her defender walked
forward as they fussed over Sam and the man came to a stop in front of her. He
took off his hat, revealing a head full of black hair. “I do hope your okay,
ma’am?”
Lizzie slowly nodded.
He smiled. “Good. Do
you need someone to walk you home?”
She stared a moment.
“Um… no.” She shook her head. “I’m-I’m fine.”
He smiled again but
his smile turned to back to stern when his eyes landed on the bruise on her
temple. “Did he do that?”
Lizzie frowned and then
followed his gaze with her hand, lifting it up to her temple. She hurriedly
explained. “No-no this
wasn’t from that, it was from, well, never mind… but he didn’t do that.”
His smile returned.
“I’m so glad to hear.” He nodded his head. “Good day, ma’am.” He then walked
past her to a big stallion waiting up the street.
Lizzie turned away. A
frown on her face. What had just happened? She was a little confused….
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul....
