Cassidy (Big Sky Dreams 1) by Lori Wick Page A

sit and talk to
    me.
    "I don't think you need to do that," Meg began to argue, but Cassidy frowned at her and she stopped.
    "You've got to take gifts when they're given to you, Meg," Cassidy said in quiet rebuke. "It might be your baby's life we're talking about here."
    "You're right, Cass. I'm sorry."
    "What are we having?" Cassidy asked, swift to put the incident behind.
    "Steaks. The potatoes have to go in pretty soon, and then there's corn to boil."
    "I think I can handle that."
    "What can't you handle?" Meg teased.
    "Abi Pfister," Cassidy surprised Meg by saying.
    Meg pulled a face. "Has she been spreading rumors again?" "How did you know?"
    "Because that's her way. Did she say something about you?" Cassidy told her the story, but Meg's reaction was much calmer. "You're right. Chandler should have come to you, but as far as Abi
    55is concerned, consider the source, Cass. Everyone knows she's a lot of talk."
    "Yes, but evidently she heard it from someone else."
    "Then Abi's passing it along is just what you need. .No one takes her seriously, and the news will die all the faster."
    Cassidy felt herself relax. Thinking about it again had been unsettling. She had wrestled with the gossip long after Trace had left. It had been almost bedtime before she remembered that she was not in control and that God had a handle on things.
    "Were you serious about dinner?" Meg asked just then. "Very."
    "All right. Let's head out. You've got potatoes to wash."
    Cassidy followed her pregnant hostess, thinking that cooking in the spacious ranch kitchen was going to be fun.
    "Tell me something," Cassidy said to Trace on the ride home. "What?"
    "Why do you take me back to town when the days are long right now?"
    "Because the male inhabitants of Token Creek just can't be trusted. It's pretty quiet on Wednesday night, and you're right, it's light at this time of the year, but if something were to go wrong with the wagon or the horse and it got dark out, you'd be in a pretty vulnerable spot."
    "And all this time I thought it was my charming company," Cassidy teased him.
    "Well, that too," Trace teased right back.
    "Oh!" Cassidy remembered. "Don't let me forget to run up and get the fabric I forgot to take earlier. I told Meg I would send it with
    you.
    "All right. What is Meg making now?"
    56"This is for a shirt for Brad. I cut a bit of that bolt I used on Merle North's shirt. I'm pretty sure she'll like it."
    "But will Brad?" Trace asked.
    "You tell me, since you're two of a kind."
    "Brad and I? We're nothing alike."
    Cassidy had a good laugh over this, but Trace wasn't done. "Actually we're less alike than you think."
    "How so?"
    "Lots of ways. He likes his eggs scrambled-I like mine fried." "That's significant," Cassidy said with just the right amount of sarcasm.
    "And I like my coffee black," Trace put in, clearly in his element. "Brad will drink it black, but he prefers his with milk or cream." Cassidy had to laugh again.
    "On top of that," Trace added, "his favorite book of the Bible is James. Mine is Luke."
    "Anything else?" Cassidy asked.
    "No," Trace said with outrageous calm. "That about sums it up. You see, we're very different."
    Cassidy could not stop smiling at him. Trace looked over, not wanting to smile back but not able to help himself.
    "Why is Luke your favorite book?" Cassidy asked.
    "Because of the story of Christ's birth-that's my favorite account of it. I also think Doctor Luke just adds aspects that are special all through the book."
    "Luke was a doctor?"
    "Yes. Chapter four of Colossians talks about Luke the beloved physician."
    "How did I miss that?"
    "I don't know."
    "I'm going to have to read Luke again with that in mind."
    "I think you'll like knowing. You and Luke might have had some things in common."
    57"Like what?"
    "His heart seemed compassionate in his writing. You're a compassionate person, Cass."
    "That was a nice thing to say."
    "It might have been, but it's also true."
    Cassidy,smiled at him and realized they