Page 21 of Love’s Silver Bullet

Maggie gently tucked a stray curl behind Sheridan’s ear. “Well, I suppose you could look at it like they love you enough to protect you, but it still isn’t right, robbing you of the freedom to be a normal young woman.”

“I think their plan is to love me right into a convent, which is a real shame,” Sheridan muttered sadly, a shiver tiptoeing down her spine over the awful black habits Sister Frederica and the rest of the nuns wore at St. Mary Louise Hospital. She offered Maggie a woe-begone look. “I look awful in black.”

Maggie bumped her shoulder again. “You are not going to be a nun, young lady, so get that idea out of your head right now. Not only are you too pretty to dress in black day in and day out, but frankly, you’ve never struck me as the overly religious type.” Maggie’s brows tipped in apology. “I hope that doesn’t offend you.”

“No, it’s true.” Sheridan expelled a weary sigh. “Uncle Finn has preached and preached to us as long as I can remember”—she paused, eyes in a squint—“or maybe it was just to Shaylee and me since we were the girls in the family—but at any rate, I may have never bucked him because deep down I always wanted to be ‘the good niece.’ But, I’m ashamed to admit, I really didn’t like hearing him talk about God.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Maybe because I remember my mama yelling and nagging at my daddy all the time, in between reading her Bible. Which made the whole God thing not set real well with me, I guess. I suppose that’s why I’ve steered clear of the Bible over the years.” Her shoulders lifted in an awkward shrug. “Which is probably why my faith isn’t as strong as it should be, you know?”

“Yes, I know.” Maggie’s smile skewed off-center. “How well I know because my stepfather was an associate judge on the New York Court of Appeals, so he was considered a pillar of both the community and the church. Problem is”—Maggie’s smile went flat—“inside he was full of dead men’s bones.”

Sheridan blinked, brows in a scrunch. “Huh?”

“It’s something from the Bible that Jesus said in Matthew 23:17—‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like whited sepulchers, which appear beautiful outwardly, but within are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.’ Which means,” Maggie said, understanding warm in her eyes, “not everyone who professes a belief in God acts like it, Sher, so you can’t blame God or the Bible for that. I learned that from my mother, who was one of the finest human beings I’ve ever known and a true woman of God.”

A sheen of moisture glimmered in Maggie’s eyes as her gaze trailed into a melancholy stare. “If it wasn’t for her example, I would have never known that God is a loving Father who only wants to bless us with good.” She refocused on Sheridan with a misty smile that reminded Sher of just how lucky they were to have Maggie in their family. “And if it wasn’t for God, I wouldn’t know all the peace and joy I’ve experienced since I came to Virginia City. So you see, Sheridan, I owe my mother—and God—my life in so many more ways than one.”

She gave a nod over her shoulder to where Blaze was still gabbing. “Beginning with that big, overprotective lug of a brother of yours”—she turned to give Sheridan a hug—“all the way down to the dearest, sweetest sister I ever imagined I could have.”

“Oh, Maggie!” With a matching glaze of tears, Sheridan squeezed her sister-in-law with all her might. “Then I owe your mother and God, too, because you have brought me so much happiness—not only to my brother, but to me and my family as well.”

“And that, my dear sister-in-law,” Maggie said with a weepy giggle, “is the ripple effect of faith.” She pulled back to cradle Sheridan’s face with the palm of her hand, eyes tender. “Loving God helps us to love others, and loving others helps us to love God. Because when we see the changes for good He brings into people’s lives through us—through our love, our prayers, our faith—it fills our hearts with so much joy, so much peace, that we love Him all the more.”

Something fluttered in Sheridan’s heart at the sound of Maggie’s words, and she decided right then and there that she wanted what Maggie had too. “Oh, Maggie, I have so much to learn from you and so little time!”

“Everything you need to know, Sher, is in that Bible I saw on the shelf in your closet, sweetheart.” Smile slanting toward dry, she nipped at Sheridan’s waist with her fingers as she angled a brow. “You know, the one covered with a layer of dust?”

Sheridan chewed on the edge of her smile while a blush warmed her cheeks. “Uncle Finn gave that to me on my tenth birthday, and I’m ashamed to say I haven’t opened it since, but I will now, I promise.”

“Good girl.” Maggie swallowed her in another fond embrace. “Because as human beings, professed Christians don’t always live up to the ideals of Jesus because we are fallible”—a twinkle lit in her eyes—“but the Word of God is not. So, if you want to truly know how to be a Christian, it’s best to learn at the feet of the Master through His Word, not actions of professed Christians, which don’t always line up with the Bible.”

She gave Sheridan’s hand a gentle squeeze. “All I know, Sher, is that based on that very Bible, God loves you more than you can ever imagine and desperately wants to give you good things.”

A smile tugged at Sheridan’s lips as she snuck a look Jake’s way. “I’ll tell you what, Maggie—if one of those ‘good things’ is that bull-headed cowboy sitting at the end of our row—that sure would go a long way in shoring up my faith.”

Maggie patted Sheridan’s arm with a firm jut of her chin. “Then, we’ll just have to pray about it—again. Not only that God provides the perfect young man to put a burr in Jake’s saddle, but this time we’ll pray that if Jake is the one God has in store for you, it will happen before you go off to college, all right?”

“Ooooo, I like the sound of that,” Sheridan said, rubbing her hands together.

“But if it doesn’t”—Maggie paused with a pointed look, fingers gently caressing Sheridan’s arm—“you’ll go off to school with your head and hopes high, knowing that God is in control of your future, and all you have to do is seek Him through his Word and pray.” Maggie delivered a sassy wink. “Then just open your ears and listen.”

“O … kay.” Sheridan gulped, some of her euphoria leaking out. No Jake?

Maggie homed in with a duck of her head, her gentle gaze piercing Sheridan’s heart clear through. “Because whether your future is with Jake, someone else, or with some other wonderful plan God has in store, you need to know one thing for dead sure, Sheridan Marie.”

“What?” Sheridan said in a wide-eyed whisper, barely breathing lest she miss what Maggie would say.

Her sister-in-law drew back with a look of supreme confidence, her rock-solid assurance evident in the firm heft of her chin, which slowly softened into a truly affectionate smile. She wiggled her brows. “You’re in for one heck of a ride.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Pow! Pow! Pow!

Jake’s gaze quickly shifted from Blaze onto the field, where an old coot of a villain with a handlebar moustache and dressed in black was shooting up a storm while he ran after a clown in stilts. Laughter echoed throughout the tents around the arena in what Jake suspected was a warm-up act, a sure sign the show would be starting soon.

“Won’t be long now,” Blaze said with an evil grin, nudging Jake’s leg with his boot, “till we see what real marksmanship is, eh fellas?”

The group of cowhands laughed, each and every one aware that their foreman was ribbing his assistant foreman who always beat him and every other cowboy in the Nevada state shooting competition year after year.