It's a Choice part 9!

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.”

 He chuckled. “You might think this sounds crazy but I think that God is gonna use you bein’ sheriff. I just feel it. Trust Him, baby, just trust Him.”

 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.

 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....