Faith Read Online Free Page B

how she'd craned her neck out the stagecoach window so
long the other passengers had started to tease her. Gone
were the cherry and apple orchards, gently rolling hills, and
small clear lakes of Michigan. She still spotted an occasional
white birch or maple, and there were pines and oaks, but
the scenery had changed.
    With each passing day on her trip, the landscape had
grown more verdant and lush. The closer they drew to San
Antonio, the more the countryside transformed. They
passed beautiful Spanish missions with tall bell towers, low
adobe dwellings covered with vines of ivy, and bushes of
vibrant colored bougainvillea. At night the cicadas sang her
to sleep with their harmonious sczhwee-sczee. Ticks were
plentiful, and roaches grew as big as horseflies!
    The elderly gentleman seated across from her had leaned forward, pointing. "Over there is mesquite and-look
there! There's an armadillo!"

    Faith shrank back, deciding that was one critter she'd
leave alone.
    "It's beautiful land," the gentleman said. "You will surely
be happy here, young lady."
    Faith frowned, keeping an eye on the animal scurrying
across the road. She would if those armadillos kept their
distance.
    Deliverance gradually faded, and the wagon bounced
along a rutted, winding trail. Faith suspected her new family
wasn't a talkative lot. Liza sat rigidly beside her on the
bench, staring straight ahead, occasionally mumbling under
her breath that "it was an hour past her dinnertime." The
tall, muscular Swede kept silent, his large hands effortlessly
controlling the team.
    Faith decided it would take time for the Shepherds to
warm to her. She hoped they would be friendlier once they
got to know her. Still, the silence unnerved her. She and
her sisters had chatted endlessly, talking for hours on end
about nothing. Generally she was easy to get along with and
took to most anyone, but the Shepherds were going to be a
test, she could feel it.
    Please, Lord, don't allow my tongue to spite my good sense.
    She might not be in love with Nicholas Shepherd, but she
had her mind made up to make this marriage work. Once
she set her mind to something, she wasn't easily swayed.
Besides, she had to make the marriage work. She couldn't
burden Aunt Thalia any longer, and she sure wasn't going to marry Edsel Martin without a hearty fight. She would
work to make Nicholas a good wife, to rear his children
properly, and be the best helpmate he could ask for.

    She glanced at Liza from the corner of her eye. Now she
would need a bit more time to adjust to.
    Her gaze focused on the passing scenery, delighted with
the fields of blue flowers bobbing their heads in the bright
sunshine. The colorful array of wildflowers nestled against
the backdrop of green meadows dazzled the eye.
    She sat up, pointing, excited as a child. "What are those?"
    Nicholas briefly glanced in the direction she pointed.
"Bluebonnets."
    "And those?"
    "Black-eyed Susans."
    "They're so pretty! Do they bloom year round?"
    "Not all year."
    The wagon rolled through a small creek and up a hill.
Rows upon rows of fences and cattle dotted lush, grassy
meadows.
    "Just look at all those cattle!" Faith slid forward on the
bench. She had never seen so many animals in one place at
the same time. "There must be thousands!"
    "Close to two thousand," Nicholas conceded.
    "Two thousand," she silently mouthed, thunderstruck by
the opulent display. Why, Papa had owned one old cowand that was for milking purposes only. She'd never seen
such wealth, much less dreamed of being a part of it.
    Nicholas glanced at her. "Shepherd cattle roam a good
deal of this area. Do you like animals?"

    "I love them-except I've never had any for my own.
Papa was so busy with his congregation and trying to rear
three daughters properly that he said he had all the mouths
he cared to feed, thank you. I remember once Mr.
Kratchet's old tabby cat had kittens. They were so cute, and
I fell head over heels