Page 24 of Chapel at Ender’s Ridge (Ender’s Calling #1)
Life was perfect as it was, walking the line.
Decker was content to smoke with Cricket on the veranda before helping Laurie and Sister Inez with the chapel—they replaced Laurie’s unwieldy wooden patches and slathered white paint across weathered boards until the church shone like a beacon in the night.
Cricket didn’t complain much about the work schedule, as long as Decker supplied him with tobacco and an open line of credit.
The saloon was even quieter without Safine and Willa, but they’d received a telegram from Silver Creek halfway through the week. No luck, so they all waited hopefully for them to return.
Laurie drank the Goose out of its coffee supply to be awake when Decker was. Their strolls in paint-splattered clothes after sundown were peaceful. Laurie was eager to finally meet the rest of the townspeople—those who remained after Elias.
Too many buildings still sat boarded up and empty, but Laurie’s chapel was one less. They worked tirelessly and waited for Safine and Willa to return.
Serenaded by Laurie’s instructions, Decker and Cricket hauled a weighty oak pew into position, the fifth in a row of ten.
Armed with a rag and a bottle of linseed oil, Laurie polished the wood until it gleamed.
Sister Inez cradled one of the oil lamps and it cast a glow over the dusty windows until she wiped them clean.
She never spoke about what happened with Nathan, but she’d opened up more to Decker—talking about family back in Santa Fe and her search for education and meaningful religion that brought her to Silver Creek and now here .
Laurie and Sister Inez could talk theology for hours, and those times Decker sighed and found a quiet corner of the chapel to piece together by Cricket’s side.
Sister Inez paused at the window, peering into the darkness before the rag dropped to the sill.
“Safine and Willa.” Her skirts swished across the freshly-swept floor and she threw the door open as they trotted in from the west.
Safine grinned. “Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Reining in her mare, she slid down. Her hair had frizzed in the wind, becoming a halo in the lamplight as she drew Sister Inez in and kissed her. Decker didn’t think he’d ever seen Safine smile so widely.
Willa greeted her with a tilt of her head.
Cricket grinned and leaned on the stair railing. “Decker, how come you never kiss me like that when I come here?”
“I’m married.” He gave them their moment, but once Sister Inez’s hand slid away from its lingering touch on her face, he swept Safine into a hug.
She squirmed in his arms, smelling of sweat and the miles they rode, while complaining he smelled of mildew and bat shit. After all of the hours he spent in the chapel, maybe he did. She finally squeezed him back.
“You and Laurie sure did some work on the church,” she said, slinging one arm around his neck as she surveyed the fresh paint and tidy steps.
“And now, a stiff drink’s on the menu,” Decker said, casting a pointed look at Cricket. Safine gave him a sly smile.
Twenty minutes, one drink, and a sprinkle of Safine’s concoction later, Cricket snored in his bed after Decker tucked him in .
“Any luck?” Decker asked, pouring three glasses of liquor and two of sarsaparilla for Laurie and Sister Inez.
Lucy Goosey pattered about, sinking jagged teeth into canvas pants and hissing at Safine’s attempts to catch her. The goose was more trouble than she was worth, but Laurie finally managed to quiet her with his hand dangling under the table.
Willa shook her head. “Searched through the back alleys of Silver Creek. Found where Nathan lived, but no sign of Whitton, or anywhere else he might’ve gone to,” she said grimly.
“You check the church?” Sister Inez’s brow furrowed as she glanced sideways at Willa.
“The church is a church, Inez. Nobody’s hiding anything there.”
The frown settled on Sister Inez’s face as she sipped on her drink, and Safine took over. “We went clear up to Amaretto; nothin’ there. Thought for sure we’d find something in the old mines. Dead end.”
“If he’s sending people into Ender’s Ridge, we have to wait. He’ll slip up,” Decker said. “Nathan knew something was wrong here and Whitton was involved. He won’t be able to stay away for long.”
The old doctor might not be the cause of the fading Blessing, but it was the best lead they had.
“Things will keep getting worse,” Safine muttered. “Next time Cricket brings the law back on his tail and they catch an eyeful of the fae girls at the dance hall, or spot Sitara’s fangs, we’re as good as dead.”
Laurie cast a worried glance at Decker, and he returned it, tapping his ring against his glass as they sat silent in the saloon they’d become complacent in .
Finding Dr. Whitton might not be enough to save their town.
If we ever needed miracles, preacher, now would be the time for one of them.
With Laurie, Decker thought he could believe in miracles.
But Ender’s Ridge was built on a revolving wheel of exploitative tragedy that didn’t take kindly to miracles.
The next morning, when McKinney staggered through the doors, inconsolable and pleading for Safine, Decker knew the wheel turned again.