Blessing in Disguise Read Online Free PDF

gotten used to calling Katy “Ma” when Katy died in childbirth, just like Manda’s real mother had. And while she called Zeb MacCallister “Pa,” it hadn’t kept him from disappearing after his wife’s death. He’d gone back to South Dakota to see to the homestead rights of the girls, but he couldn’t bear living on the ranch yet.
    Knowing her brother as she did, Mary Martha had a good idea he was back out in Montana searching out that valley he’d dreamed of and filing for homestead rights. She figured any day now he’d ride in with a herd of horses ready to break, then take his girls and head west. But until he returned, she and John had moved from the parsonage soddy by the school to the MacCallister farm, keeping it up and caring for the girls.
    “When Pa comes back . . .”
    “He ain’t comin’ back!” Manda whirled on her sister like an attacking badger.
    “Manda MacCallister, he ith too.” Deborah sometimes had a lisp since she’d lost her two front teeth. Her straw-colored pigtails slapped her chin as she shook her head. “You just . . .”
    “All right, girls. That’s enough.” While John spoke gently, there was no ignoring his command. Father God, please keep Zeb safe. Heal his grief and bring him back to these two who so dearly need to see prayers answered. To lose two mothers, one father, and now maybe another one, besides the two stillborn babies, is beyond what anyone should bear, let alone those so young. It breaks my heart, and I’m the pastor, not the parent .
    But John knew that if called to be, he would gladly adopt these two. Maybe that would be best if Zeb wrote and asked them to do so. He knew Mary Martha already acted more like a mother than an aunt.
    Zeb can’t write if he’s dead . The thought had plagued him more than once. A man by himself—anything could happen.
    “Come on, Deborah, you said you’d ride for me today.”
    “I will.” Both girls handed back their cups and climbed the rails to drop into the corral.
    Heat lightning flared against the dark thunderheads. The wind picked up, bending the oat field like waves on the sea.
    Mary Martha and John stood and faced the west, grateful for the cooling wind.
    “It does smell like rain.”
    “Lightning too.” Mary Martha looped her hand around John’s elbow and leaned her cheek against his shoulder. “I better get the chickens in.”
    “I’ll go for the cows.” John turned and whistled for the cow dog. “Manda, you better put that horse away in case we get lightning strikes.” He watched for a moment as Manda led the now docile horse around the corral. She had such a gift with animals, it was a shame she didn’t use it with humans too.
    “Manda.” He raised his voice to be heard above the wind.
    “I will.”
    John whistled again and waved the mottled cow dog out to round up the cows. Again, it was thanks to Manda’s training that he didn’t have to go out and get the creatures himself.
    Even though it was not yet three o’clock, the sky darkened so that it seemed like night. Rain came in sheets across the prairie and struck with a downpour instead of warning drops. John was the last to leap up on the porch without being soaked. The four of them, dog at their feet, watched the ground spring out in puddles as if a heavenly bucket had just been overturned above them.
    Mary Martha stood near the step, her face raised to catch the drifting mist. She spun in a flash, grabbed the girls’ hands, circled behind John, and together the three ran out into the deluge.
    Drops the size of teacups pounded them and the earth. Within a breath, they were soaked, hair stringing down their faces and into their open, laughing mouths. Manda chased Deborah through a puddle, stamping her foot so the water splashed them both.
    The dog yipped at their heels, jumping to catch the splash.
    Mary Martha raised her arms above her head and spun in a tight circle, her sodden skirts sticking to her ankles. “I know what.” She pulled