Dancing With Jesus

ONE

Caroline Ingalls put down the wash basket she was holding, placed a hand in the hollow of her aching back, and asked her child, "Laura, where is your sister?" Mary had promised to help her with the wash, but her eldest was missing.

Laura looked up from what she was doing – which was creating a Christmas card for her pa.

"She's out," the little girl replied as she tilted her head and squinted in an attempt to get something on the card right.

Caroline moved to the window and looked out. It was snowing – lightly – but one never knew when a sudden change in the wind or the weather would turn a shower into a squall.

"Did Mary say where she was going?"

Her daughter made a quick dash with the pencil and held the paper out at arm's length. Then she cocked her head again.

"Laura?"

"Oh, sorry, Ma. You know, it sure is hard to draw a horse." Laura laid the paper down along with her pencil, and picked up her brush. "Mary didn't say. She just said 'out'."

Her eleven-year-old daughter had grown quite mysterious of late. She supposed it was growing pains. The child was beginning to think of herself as an adult when she had years of learning and gaining experience ahead.

"Did Mary say anything about when she would be back?"

The paint brush was busy at work, creating Pat – or maybe Patty's tale. "About n hour," Laura answered.

"And when did she leave? It's almost four now."

For a moment Laura said nothing, then she looked up from her work. "I think…she left around two or two-thirty."

Caroline let out a sigh. Now she had two of them missing! Charles had gone into town early that morning with the promise that he would be home by noon. There were lots of things to do before Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and her handsome husband had promised to help.

Apparently there was more of her father in Mary that she thought.

"You want me to go look for Mary, Ma?" Laura asked as she scooted her chair back.

"No!" Caroline drew in a calming breath. "I mean, 'no, thank you'. I know where you and Carrie are and I would like to keep it that way."

Laura grinned at her. "You're mad at Pa, aren't you? And at Mary?"

"I'm not mad, I'm…." She thought a moment. She had been a school teacher after all and there were words…and then there were words. "The proper word is 'exasperated'."

Laura's little head cocked again. Her pigtails bounced. "Extremely irritated and frustrated, right?"

"Er, well, yes…."

"That was one of the words Miss Beadle put on the board last year after her meeting with the school board."

Caroline chuckled. "Oh, dear." She turned from the window and crossed over to where Laura had left her paper. On it was the nine-year-old's rendition of her father out feeding one of the horses. "This is very good, Laura!" she exclaimed. It looked like Charles. She'd especially got the hair right. It was brown and looked like a sea of curls caught in a storm.

"Pa's awful handsome, isn't he, Ma?"

She smiled. "Well, yes, I think so."

"I do too. You know, I don't like boys with blond hair much."

"As I seem to remember, you were rather partial to red."

Laura blushed. "Ah, Ma…." Her child shook her head. "But I like brown best of all. Makes me wonder what Mary sees in that new boy in school. She…" Her daughter froze, abruptly aware that she had let her sister's 'cat' out of the bag.

"New boy?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Laura admitted with a sigh. "His name is Golden Caughey."

"Golden?"

"The girls all call him 'Gold' and the boys call him 'Goldilocks' to be mean."

"And I take it his locks are golden from what you said earlier?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Curly, and gold as the summer sun. He's kind of cute, but he ain't nowhere as handsome as Pa."

Caroline had gone over to the stove and was beginning the preparations for supper, supposing her two wanderers would decide to show up at some point.

"When did…Gold come to school?"

"Just a few weeks back," Laura replied as she began to put the finishing touches on her card. "Him and his two brothers are living at the old Jenkins place."

"Just the three of them?"

"Yep. Gold's older brother, Wells, he takes care of them. He's seventeen."

She couldn't help but wonder what their story was; three young men, alone at such a tender age. "How old is the other brother. The little one?"

"He's younger than me, but older than Carrie. His name is Charlie."

Caroline turned to look at her daughter. "Golden, Wells…and Charlie?"

Laura nodded.

Definitely a story there. She wondered if she would ever learn what it was.

Mary Ingalls' wrapped her hands around her shivering frame. She had worn her winter coat, a hat, and mittens, but the light was fading and she was cold. She'd arrived earlier in the day and picked out a pretty rock that leaned out over the rushing water for her chair. It was midday now and the late afternoon light was spilling through the trees. Near the bank the water had a crust of ice on it. In the center of the stream, it rushed wild and mad. Medium-size snowflakes were falling and, everywhere they landed, they turned the brown earth white. It made everything look like a fairyland.

Just like it made the young man who had come to meet her look like a prince.

Golden Caughey was just about the most handsome thing she'd ever seen. His thick hair looked like spun-gold, and he had the deepest, darkness eyes – matched by his eyebrows, which were brown as a walnut shell. Golden was two years older than her, even though they were at the same level in school. He said he and his brothers had done a lot of traveling before settling in Walnut Grove, and there really hadn't been much time for learning. He talked about his Ma sometimes, though he never said a word about his pa. When she pressed him about it, he clammed up like a shell. So, after a while, she'd let it go. It really didn't matter anyhow. What mattered was that they were friends, and friends were there for each other – like today. Golden had been real upset at school the day before. She'd promised to meet him here today so they could talk. She hadn't asked permission, knowing her Ma would never let her go out into the woods to meet with a strange boy who was two years older than her. Ma and Pa would insist on meeting him and his older brother.

Golden didn't want anyone to meet Wells.

She didn't know why. Truth to tell, half the time it was just Golden and his little brother out at the Jenkins old place. Wells worked in Mankato and only came home every couple of weeks. Golden and Charlie didn't want to end up in an orphanage, so they'd made her promise that she wouldn't tell her parents about what they were doing.

She'd made that promise even knowing she'd get a licking if Pa found out she wasn't telling the truth.

"I better get home," Mary said as she stood up and looked at the sky. "I told Laura I'd only be an hour at most, probably less. My Pa's away, but Ma will start wondering if I don't get back."

Golden nodded. He'd been standing with one boot on a rock, looking at the rushing water. "Thanks, Mary, for…well…you know, keepin' it quiet about you and me."

She shivered and then walked to his side. "I didn't know there was a 'you and me'," she said.'

He laughed. "You sure are blunt."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Sure," he said with a grin. "You're not like the other girls I've known. They were…." The blond boy paused. "I had to chase them away instead of chasing them, if you know what I mean?"

Mary blinked. "Are you chasing me?"

"You might say so." Golden tipped his head and ran his fingers through the mass of curls that fell across his forehead. "Are you okay with that?"

"Well, other than it making me feel like a turkey, I guess it's okay."

He snorted this time. "There you go again!"

Mary frowned. She'd had other boys tell her she was a know-it-all and that girls weren't supposed to speak their minds. She'd gone ahead and done it anyhow and told them they were idiots.

"Do you mind?" she asked.

"What?"

"That I speak what I think?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. My Ma's…she was like that. She told me that the only people you need to worry about are the ones you like for who they are, and the ones who like you for yourself."

Mary smiled. "She sounds like she was a good ma."

Golden blew out at puff of air. "She was. I'm gonna…. Well, I miss her."

She reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I gotta go. Ma's gonna have a conniption fit."

He frowned as he looked up at the sky. "I don't know, Mary. It's getting dark and I hate to think of you walking back alone." Golden suddenly brightened. "Say, why don't you ride into town with me and then I can take you home after I pick up Charlie?"

Mary shook her head. "I couldn't do that. I need to go now."

"But a horse moves ten times as fast," he pleaded. "We can make it to town and back in less time than it'll take you to walk home in the snow. I'd take you right there, but I gotta pick up Charlie. He stayed late after school to help Miss Beadle."

She wanted nothing more in the world than to take a ride with Golden. Not only did she want to spend more time with him; he had about the most beautiful horse she had ever seen. Nugget was a palomino with a near-white mane that stood fifteen and a half hands high.

Itwould be just like riding with a prince.

"Come on, Mary, no one will know," he leaned in and whispered near her ear. "This way we can talk longer and still get you home."

She knew she shouldn't. She knew what her parents would say.

She also knew what she would say.

"Okay, but we need to make it quick!"

She'd told Laura she'd be home around three-thirty at the latest. It was going on four when they pulled into town. Charlie had his own pony and Golden walked them right over to the school, only to find out that his brother's Connemara wasn't there. He left her sitting on Nugget as he went inside to ask Miss Beadle about it, and came back out a minute later to say that Charlie had got bored waiting for him and gone over to the Oleson's store. Mary felt uneasy about the fact that they had to go to the store now, where people might see them together.

She felt even more uneasy about the look Miss Beadle gave her as her teacher followed Golden out the door and watched them ride away.

By the time they reached the Oleson's mercantile, the light was beginning to fade. Her only hope was that Nugget was as fast as Golden said he was and could get her home in a real big hurry. Like the gallant knight she thought him, the blond boy helped her off the horse and held the door for her as they walked in. At first, they couldn't find Charlie and, when they did, it really surprised her where the little boy was.

He was looking at ladies shoes.

Golden walked right up to his brother and gently cuffed him up-side the head. "What are you doing here? You know I told you to wait at the school."

"Sorry, Gold," the seven-year-old apologized. "I wanted to come over and look for a Christmas present."

"And just what do you think you're gonna buy these Christmas present with?" her friend snapped. Then he lowered his voice. "You know we barely have enough money to buy what we need."

The little boy's eyes were misty. He was staring at a fancy pair of ladies boots, two-tone, with buttons up the sides and lace on the top edge.

"Mama sure would like these," Charlie said.

He glanced at her "She would have, but she don't have any need for fancy boots now, Charlie. You know that."

Mary caught something in Golden's voice as he spoke those last three words. She wasn't sure what it was, just that it was funny-sounding.

Charlie hung his head. "Sorry, Gold. I just want Mama to be happy," he sniffed, "in Heaven."

"Don't you know?" Golden asked, his tone bitter. "Everyone is happy in Heaven. Now, come on, we gotta get Mary home before she gets into trouble."

The sound of someone clearing their throat made the three of them jump – and then it made Mary gulp over a lump in her throat the size of the Kansas territory.

She lifted a hand and waved.

"Hi, there, Pa."