Christine Johnson - All Roads Lead Home

“Yes, she will.”

It felt like they were kids again, sparring over a toy or a game. Then Pa died, and Hendrick had taken over as head of the family. Anna had listened and obeyed him for years—until Mariah set foot in Pearlman.

“Ma wants me to be happy,” Anna was saying, “and seeing the world will make me happy. I certainly don’t need you along, and neither does Mariah.”

Hendrick felt the slap of those words, but he refused to let her childish emotions change his mind. “Anyone driving that far needs a mechanic along. Two thousand miles on bad roads will break apart an automobile. Neither one of you can do more than change a tire.”

Anna huffed. “Then we’ll find someone who does, but the last thing I need is an overprotective big brother tagging along. We’ll find someone else. Even Peter.”

“Peter? He’s too young for a trip like that.” Hendrick wasn’t about to entrust his only sister to a sixteen-year-old. “Besides, I thought you hated him.” They’d reached the house. The sun hung low, just above the trees. Ma would be reading her Bible and saying her prayers. Peter was probably building something with the Erector Set that Hendrick had given him last Christmas.

“I don’t hate him. I just don’t love him.” She wrinkled her nose. “He’s two years younger than me.” Anna stopped in the front doorway. “Promise you won’t go?”

He set his jaw. No way would he let Mariah—or any woman—drive west alone. “Let’s see first if Ma gives you permission.”

The door opened, and Ma stepped outside. “Give you permission for what?” Her cheeks rounded above her embracing smile. Ma was the most optimistic person Hendrick knew, despite losing Pa.

Hendrick didn’t wait for Anna to wrap Ma around her little finger. “Mariah Meeks is driving her car to Montana, and Anna wants to go along. I say it’s a foolish idea.”

Of course Anna disagreed. “No, it’s not. It’ll be such fun, Ma. I’ll see the world. Oh, please, let me go.”

Hendrick hated to disappoint his sister, but he had to stick a pin in her plan. “It’s dangerous. The car will break down. If they’re far from a town, they could die of thirst before they get help.”

“We’ll bring water,” Anna countered.

“There could be wolves or bears or cougars,” he added.

“Then we’ll bring a rifle.”

Ma looked from one to the other as he brought up every possible catastrophe and Anna refuted each one.

“You might run into outlaws and rumrunners,” he pleaded. “It’s not safe for two women.” He nearly choked calling his kid sister a woman.

Ma smiled softly and touched his arm. “It’s good of you to worry about your sister’s welfare, but she’s grown up now and needs to spread her wings.”

“But Ma.”

Anna grinned in triumph.

Ma clucked softly. “We can’t protect our loved ones from everything.”

Her eyes misted, and he knew she was thinking of Pa. A lump rose in his throat as he recalled finding his father crushed beneath a truck, his spilled blood already dark. He’d been dead for hours, and none of them knew. For years Hendrick wished he’d come home from school earlier, that he’d skipped classes that day, that he’d listened to his pa’s advice to quit school after he graduated from the eighth grade. If he had, he might have been there. He might have saved his father. At least Pa wouldn’t have died alone.

“I have to protect Anna from unnecessary risk,” he countered.

Ma nodded. “That’s why you must go, too.”

“But—”

“The garage will be in fine hands with Peter. Plus Mr. Thompson said he’d help out anytime you wanted to take a holiday.”

Hendrick recalled Pa’s working partner, now retired, extending that offer. “I think he meant he’d help for a couple days. This could be a month.”

Ma patted his arm. “Everything will be fine, Hendrick. Go, with my blessing.”

Had all the women in his life gone crazy? Suddenly they wanted to run all over the country and thought nothing of the risk.

“But what if something happens?” he said, not quite able to spell out the possibility that they could be killed in a wreck. “We’re all you have. Except Peter, of course, but that’s not quite the same.” Peter was just a foster son. He could leave at any time. Hendrick and Anna were blood. Nothing could break blood ties. That’s why a man needed his own children.

“Peter will take good care of me.” Ma patted his arm again. “You two will be in the Lord’s care, and that’s all the assurance any of us have. Wherever you go, I know God will be with you.”

Ma’s words reminded Hendrick that he hadn’t told her about the possible job with Curtiss Aeroplane. Rather than escort two women to Montana, he should be headed to New York to present his engine design to a company that could pay a lot of money for the right to produce it. If ever he had a way out of this foolish trip to Montana, this was it.

He licked his lips. “What if I go to New York?”

“New York?” Ma’s brows puckered. “I thought you wanted to help Mariah drive to Montana.”

He struggled not to show any emotion at the mention of Mariah’s name. Ma still harbored hope they’d get back together, no matter how many times he told her it was over. “I’ve got a chance to sell my engine design to Curtiss Aeroplane. Jack Hunter is having his old mechanic put in a word for me, but I need to go to New York to present the plans to their engineers.”

“Is that what you truly want, Hendrick?”

He did. Or at least he thought he did. “Yes, Ma.”

She bit her lip, and her eyes filled with tears. “Then pursue your dream, dear. Don’t let anyone stop you.”

“I’ll take care of you, Ma. They’ll pay more than I earn here at the garage, and Peter can help out around the house.”

“I understand.”

Anna caught her breath. “Does that mean you’re not going with us to Montana?”

Hendrick felt the tug of responsibility. Judging by her muted reaction, Ma didn’t want him to take the Curtiss job, but doing so would ensure that Anna stayed safely at home. She would hate him, but she’d be safe. “That means I need you to stay here with Ma.”

“Stay here?” Anna’s eyes filled with angry tears. “How could you? You did this just to ruin my life. I hate you. I hate you.” Then she ran inside and slammed her bedroom door.

Hendrick watched in silence, his gut a tangled knot.

Ma touched his arm. “Don’t fret, dear. She doesn’t mean it.”

“I know.” And he did know, but it still hurt. “It’s tough being the one in charge.”

Ma softly murmured a protest. “God’s the one who’s in charge. Pray on your decision, Hendrick. He’ll give you the guidance you need.”

Trouble was, Hendrick couldn’t hear the answers above the din of everyone’s conflicting needs.

“I’m going to take a walk,” he grumbled and headed out to find some peace.

Mariah held her tongue until Felicity took Luke upstairs for bed.

“I’d like to see the river,” she announced to her brother, rising from her chair. “Will you show me the way?”

Of course she remembered how to get to the river, but she needed to talk to Gabe away from the parsonage.

She silently followed him across the expansive backyard. Any wind had vanished, and the evening descended with a golden haze and the croak of bullfrogs. Once Gabe closed the backyard gate behind them, she let loose. “How could you? You know Hendrick and I had a falling-out. Traveling with me for a month is the last thing he’d want to do.”

Gabriel whistled a few notes. “Seems to me he said he’d go.”

“Naturally he did, once you forced him. What could he say? You certainly manipulated that little scenario your way.” Every word only made her angrier. The air was thick and cloying. The last bit of daylight barely filtered through the trees. She felt trapped.