Read Online Walk by Faith by Rosanne Bittner - Free Book Online

children between the two couples, from one to five years old.
    Next came two more German couples. Opal and Otto Hensel had three children, six, eight and nine, and were farmers from southern Missouri. Wanda and Will Krueger, who had no children, intended to raise cattle out west, and they were herding twenty head of cattle, one bull and four calves, with the aid of Will’s brother, Bert.
    Then came the attorney, Peter Burkette and his wife, Blair, who had two children, a boy of three, and a daughter just one year old.
    Carolyn and Michael’s turn came. “I am Michael Harvey, and this is my wife, Carolyn, and our daughter, Lena,” Michael spoke up. “I am a minister and will be glad to pray with any of you who wishes. If you’d like to have services on Sunday mornings, I’ll be glad to conduct them for you. I will start my own church in Montana along with ranching or farming for a living.”
    Clarissa’s heart pounded. She’d have to introduce herself as a woman with no husband, and before she could stop herself, she was telling everyone she was a war widow and explained she was traveling to Montana to help Michael and Carolyn with their ranch, as they were close friends. She glanced at Dawson, remembering that the day she’d bandaged his leg she’d told him her husband was not in the war. She’d never given him an explanation of whether Chad was alive or dead, or any reason for her not being with him. She could tell from Dawson’s curious look that he realized she was lying and wondered why. For a moment she was petrified that he’d call her out in front of everyone and demand an explanation, considering the mood he was in, but to her great relief he said nothing.
    â€œWell, then,” he told them all, “we’ve got a start at getting to know each other. We will leave here day after tomorrow. That will give all of you one more day to get acquainted and learn which children belong to whom and find ways to help each other look out for the young ones. Once we begin this journey, it’s not each man for himself but all of us helping each other. Some of you will have to put up with things from the others that you don’t like, but I won’t have arguing or lack of cooperation from any of you. Montana is big country, so when we get there, if there is someone among us you can’t stand and hope to never see again, including me, you won’t have any trouble getting far away from them.”
    Everyone chuckled at the remark, which eased the minor tension among them. Clarissa thought how nice it was to see that Dawson Clements actually possessed a sense of humor. “Well, since my claim is right beside yours, you’ll just have to put up with me,” she told Carolyn and Michael.
    The couple laughed, and Michael put out his hands to the two women. “Let’s pray for a safe trip, shall we?”
    Clarissa held a now-sleeping Sophie in her left arm and put her right hand in Michael’s left, and Carolyn took his right hand. They bowed their heads.
    â€œDear Blessed Father,” Michael prayed. “Grant us safety and health on the journey ahead. Bless and protect everyone going with us, and especially bless Dawson Clements with wisdom and wise thinking and the strength he will need to get us to our destination. Lord Jesus, we pray for Mr. Clements’s soul and for the secret pain he refuses to share, and we ask You to take away that pain and to guide us in Your way to find the right words that might bring this man back into Your light. And protect all the little children traveling with us, that none will suffer sickness or pain on this journey. In Christ’s name we pray.”
    â€œAmen,” the three of them said softly together.
    When they looked up, Dawson Clements was standing not far away, watching them. Scowling, he turned and walked away.
    Â 
    Protect me, oh God;
    I trust in You for safety.
    I say to the Lord,