Unlikely Angel

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Susan woke before dawn on Saturday. The rest of the week had been

a blur to her.

Alice and Cora had been making a new dress for her to wear. She was constantly being asked to try it on to check the fit. The rest were bustling around for the party and keeping up with chores.

Susan had felt it was odd indeed that she would feel like such an outsider in her own family while they prepared a party for her. She kind of liked becoming invisible though because it gave her a chance to sit back and watch the members of her new family go about their business. She loved to watch people. They were interesting even though she understood so little of them.

In between her chores, she was able to try out her new paints. She’d never had paint before and it was intimidating at first but she quickly developed a feel for the new medium and was quite proud of her newest works, ones that she had shown no one yet.

She was excited for today. Mr. Thompson had bolstered her hope with his kind note and gift. He had been so nice to her when she and Johnny visited him too.

Susan hoped the rest of the town would be the same, or at least most of them. But she was nervous too. Nervous didn’t really express how she felt. She was scared. She knew the possibility existed that Thompson would be the only one who was kind to her. She knew that each friend was precious and she could be happy with only her little family here and Mr. Thompson as friends.

Still there were fears that they’d be mean to her. That would be bad enough because it made her feel sad when people called her names. What she feared most was that Johnny and Carl and the rest might get angry if others were mean to her. There could be a fight and she just didn’t know what she’d do if that happened.

But there was something else upsetting her and that was the reason she was sleeping in Johnny’s bunk in the first place and the real reason she was awake so very early, before the sun itself was even considering waking. Johnny was not there.

He had left on Wednesday and was supposed to have been back sometime Friday. Hound Dog had sent him with a message for another marshal a ways away and Johnny was to wait for a response before heading back. No one else seemed worried about Johnny being able to make it back in time but Susan was.

Of course, Susan worried about everything. Two nights without him was bad enough. But when light had faded into the night before and there was still no sign of her Johnny, she just didn’t know what to do. The others comforted her and told her that there must have been something that came up and he’d surely be home first thing Saturday morning. He’d never miss her special day.

Slipping back out of Jimmy’s bunk, Susan pulled his blanket around her partly to keep warm in the predawn air and partly to keep his scent with her. She silently walked outside to watch for him, or really to listen for Starlight’s hoof beats—there was not nearly enough light yet to have the slightest chance of seeing the palomino or his rider.

As she sat, the sun awoke and stretched its arms to bring color to the darkened eastern horizon. Before she knew it, there were sounds, but not the ones she was waiting for. She heard the riders begin to stir and their bunks shift as they stood. She heard belts jingle as they dressed and then she heard a door swing closed as Alice headed out from the main house to start breakfast.

Before long the rest were eating but she could not be pulled from her post. Susan was only vaguely aware when someone sat next to her and took little notice of the biscuit being handed to her. She still did not move, only continued to scan the horizon for a hint of dust being kicked up and strained her ears for the tell tale pounding of a horse’s hooves.