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D aisy and Beulah flanked Alma at the cemetery, and Lily took care of the two little girls right behind them.

Both were ready to catch Alma if she fainted or needed help.

Several members of Joshua’s church were there, the men standing stoically beside their wives, who wept silently into their handkerchiefs.

Several of Joshua’s deacons lowered the wooden coffin into the ground, and the hollow sound of the first shovelful of dirt brought Daisy back to the present. She felt a movement to her side and turned to see that Alma was ushering her girls slowly out of the cemetery.

Daisy fell into step with Beulah and Lily, and followed all the way around the church to the small parsonage behind it. Alma sat down on the porch and told the girls they should change out of their good clothing and get ready to leave.

“I wish you would stay and work for me,” Beulah said. “Folks say that you shouldn’t make a hasty decision so soon after a loved one dies.”

“I didn’t love him,” Alma said. “And I need a brand-new start away from this place. I could stay right here until the new preacher’s family arrives next month, but I want to wash all the bad memories from the past years out of my mind and heart.”

“You have to do what your heart tells you, I suppose,” Beulah said with a long sigh.

“Yes,” Alma answered. “I feel guilty that I don’t feel guilty.

Does that make sense? I robbed my girls of a father by going to that meeting.

But Elijah came to my rescue the very day that Joshua died and offered me a job at the sheep farm.

My girls can be free to run and play without fear and can go to school out there.

This is a fresh start for them as well as for me. ”

Daisy had had the same feelings of guilt because after the first blush of being a wife was over, she’d figured out that she really didn’t love—or even like—her husband.

Her parents had said if she married a scalawag like him, she wasn’t welcome in their home any longer.

That had just made him more desirable—at least for a week or two.

He gambled away most of what he made each week, and she had scrimped and scraped by on what she could grow in a garden most days.

The main difference had been that she didn’t have an Elijah to come to her rescue.

I came to your rescue. Miz Raven’s words came to her mind.

I thank God for you every day, Daisy replied silently.

Beulah sat down beside Alma and draped an arm around her shoulders. “Did you really rob those girls from having a father, or did you save them from abuse?”

“To be honest, it was the latter,” Alma admitted.

Beulah swiped a tear from her eye. “I’m being selfish because I already know that I will miss you horribly, but you are right about leaving.

I know that you will have a chance at a better life, both for you and for the girls, out on the sheep ranch.

The girls will make new friends with the folks out there, and they won’t have to be fearful that they’ll be punished for every little thing.

If all those folks have good hearts like Elijah, Matt, and Claude, just think of it like—”

Alma butted in before Beulah could finish. “The Lord is my shepherd.”

“Absolutely,” Lily said.

Daisy’s mind returned to the day that she’d walked into town with nothing but a pillowcase full of her personal clothing.

Miz Raven had found her sitting outside the general store.

She might not have been a shepherd, but she had been a saving grace when Daisy was about to ask the cattle-drive boss if she could join them as a cook.

“I’ll miss you, Beulah,” Alma said, “but you can always come out to the ranch, and we don’t have to sneak letters anymore. I’ll send one in by Matt when he comes for supplies, and you can send one back with him.”

Beulah drew Alma closer to her for a tighter sideways hug. “I’ll get the buggy out once a month and come out there, or else, if I’m feeling like a good fast ride, I’ll get on one of my horses and come to see you. I want you to be happy.”

Alma finally smiled. “Come on Saturday evening and stay over until Sunday. I’ll be living in a small house that one of the hired hands vacated when he went west on a wagon train.”

“What’s your job?” Daisy asked.

“I’ll be cooking breakfast and supper in the bunkhouse,” Alma answered.

“Elijah says that sometimes the ladies come out in the evenings, and oftentimes they pitch in and help. Cooking for fifty will be different than fixing for four, but I think I can figure it out—and the bunkhouse is only about a hundred yards from my new place.”

Daisy was still thinking about her first impression of the brothel and Miz Raven when the rattle of wagons approaching cleared her mind.

“Sounds like your golden chariots are on the way, Alma,” Daisy said.

“This day is not about me, but I have been where you are, and ...” She took a deep breath before she went on.

“I had to bury a husband I thought I loved— tried to love—and then felt like you do when it comes to the guilt. I can tell you from experience that the feeling will fade quickly and happiness will replace it.”

“Thank you,” Alma said with a sad nod. “I hope you are right.”

Abbie and Elsie ran out of the house with their rag dolls hugged closely to their chests. “Mama, are we really going to live in the country with lambs and go to a different school?”

“Yes, we are,” Alma said. “And it’s going to be a great adventure for all of us.”

Abbie tucked her head down to her chest. “Do we have to dust the church and get a whuppin’ if we miss a spot?”

Alma hugged both girls tightly. “No, my darlings. No one is ever going to whip you again.”

“Is anyone going to hit you?” Elsie asked.

“No, sweetie. There will never be any more hitting,” Alma promised. “We are going to be happy. I promise.”

“Miz Alma.” Claude tipped his hat as he hopped down from the buckboard of the first wagon. “I’m sorry for your loss, but I’m glad you are coming to the ranch. Ben has been cooking for us this past month, and what he puts on the table is edible but it leaves a lot to be desired.”

Matt pulled the second wagon up beside the first one. “Mornin’, ladies,” he said and smiled at Lily. “I’m also glad Uncle Elijah found us a cook. Miz Alma, are you ready for us to load these wagons and get going?”

“Yes, I definitely am,” Alma declared. “Everything is in the living room. Beulah and these ladies helped me pack. The stove is still in the kitchen. The deacons told me I couldn’t take it.”

“You don’t need it anyway. The house you will be living in has a stove in both the kitchen and the living room. One for cooking, one for heat in the winter,” Claude said.

“Thank you.” She took two keys from her pocket and held them out toward Beulah.

“Since you technically own this building and the parsonage, I want you to keep these and give them to the new preacher when he arrives. Until then, if you need to use the church for the women’s meetings, feel free to do so.

Or if you need a safe place for a woman who .

..” She paused. “Well, you know, then feel free to use the parsonage. I’m sorry I can’t be here to help with things, but I’ll be thinking of y’all. ”

Elsie stood beside Lily and looked up at her. “Someday I’m going to be as tall as you, and I’m going to wear a pretty white dress like you did at the hotel.”

“When you get as tall as me, I will make you a pretty white dress.”

“Promise?” Elsie’s eyes widened.

“Yes, I will. Now, why don’t you come over here and sit with me on this end of the porch so we won’t be in the way of these good men while they load the wagon?”

“Where are me and Abbie going to ride?” she asked.

“I imagine they’ll make a pallet for you in the back. You and your dolly there can take a nap on the way out to where the little lambs are waiting to see you,” Lily answered. “If you sleep long enough, when you wake up, you’ll be there.”

Matt came out of the house with a crate on both shoulders. “You are really good with children.”

“These girls need good in their lives,” Lily answered.

“Amen to that,” he said and shifted his load onto the first wagon.

When the house was empty, Abbie wrapped her arms around Daisy’s waist and hugged her tightly. “I’m glad we are leaving,” she whispered. “Maybe Mama won’t cry so much.”

“She’s going to be so happy that she will forget all about being sad,” Daisy told her.

The final moment had arrived. Claude picked up Abbie and set her down in the space right behind the buckboard, then did the same with Elsie. “Your baby dolls are probably tired, so why don’t you sing them to sleep? I’ll try to be quiet so I don’t wake them.”

“Dotty—that’s my dolly—wants to see everything,” Abbie told him and then waved at the parsonage. “Goodbye, house. Goodbye, church. We are leaving now.”

Daisy noticed that she didn’t tell her father goodbye. Then she remembered that when she’d met Miz Raven, she didn’t even think of her dead husband, who had only been in the ground a few days.

“Miz Alma?” Claude asked.

“Just one more minute.” Alma wrapped her arms around Beulah. “Thank you, my everything. No one will ever tell me what to do again, I promise.”

“That’s the girl I knew when we were growing up,” Beulah said. “Now, get in the wagon and go before I start bawlin’ like a newborn calf. I’m supposed to be stronger and meaner than a two-headed rattlesnake, not a whimpering little kitten.”

“Don’t you dare cry or I will. I am going to be happy. I can feel it in my bones,” Alma declared.

“If you see a tear sneak out of the corner of my eye, then it’s a happy tear. I’ll look for a letter the next time Matt comes to town.”

“He’ll have a nice long one for you, and I’ll expect you to let me know what’s happening with the women’s meetings,” Alma said and then turned to Claude. “I’m ready.”

Claude helped her up onto the buckboard.