Measure of Grace by Al Lacy Read Free Book Online Page B

said, drawing up. “Lorene tells me Marshal Woodard let Jordan out of jail a day early. And you’re here because you thought he would be home.”
    “Yes, sir,” said Knight, “but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He kept saying day after day that you didn’t want him to come home. He’s gone somewhere else, for sure.”
    Sylvia’s face was ashen. Jordan’s words he had spoken that day at the jail echoed through her mind.
“Papa doesn’t want me to come home. Ever.”
    “Oh no!” she gasped, putting her hands to her cheeks. “Oh no!”

W ITH HER HANDS STILL PRESSED TO HER CHEEKS , Sylvia Shaw looked at her husband. Tears filled her eyes. She was having a struggle within herself to keep from saying, “William, I told you this would happen! You’ve gone too far in shunning your own son!”
    Though she said nothing aloud, William met her accusing gaze and was well aware of the message in her eyes. Swallowing hard and lowering his head to hide the excess moisture in his own eyes, he looked toward the floor. “Honey, I—I’m sorry. I was only trying to teach him that he must learn to be responsible for his own actions.”
    Immediately, Sylvia’s heart went out to her husband as he raised his head and looked at her. Quickly covering the few steps that separated them, she put her arms around his neck.
    Making a soft, wordless sound, he closed her in his embrace. “I’m sorry, Sylvia, dear. I should have listened to your reasoning. I have been too hard and too calloused. Now look what I’ve done.”
    Gripping his upper arms, Sylvia looked up into his ravaged face. “It’s all right, sweetheart. We’ll find our boy. You did only what you thought was best. We can only hope he has, indeed, learned his lesson. He knows we love him.”
    Lorene moved to her parents and embraced them both. “Yes,” she said softly, “we’ll find him.”
    As the three of them clung to each other, Knight asked hesitantly,“Do … do you have any idea where Jordan might have gone?”
    The trio let go of each other and turned toward him. William wiped a hand across his eyes. “It’s hard to say, Knight. As you know, he’s got friends on ranches and in town.”
    Sylvia dabbed at her reddened eyes with a lace-edged handkerchief. “Knowing Jordan, he might have gone somewhere to be by himself, but we sure need to explore all the possibilities.”
    “I’ll saddle up and ride to every one of the ranches where he has friends,” said William. “And if I don’t find him on one of those, I’ll go into town and check there.”
    “I’ll go with you, Mr. Shaw,” said Knight.
    William smiled. “You’re welcome to come along, son, but shouldn’t you get back to school?”
    “It won’t hurt to miss a little school, sir. While you’re saddling your horse, I’ll run back to the house and tell Mom what’s happened, and that I’m going with you.”
    “All right. Meet you at the barn.”
    The sun’s last red glow was fading in the western sky as William Shaw and Knight Colburn rode onto the Bar-S and headed for the ranch house.
    As they drew up to the front porch and glanced northward while dismounting, they could see out over the Sawtooth foothills where twilight was settling gray on the crests, dark in the hollows. High up on the jagged snowcapped peaks, the final vestige of the sun’s light glowed weakly on rocky crags.
    Two ranch hands were moving past the house in the direction of the barn. When they saw their boss and Jordan’s best friend dismounting, they hurried toward them.
    “Here come Shorty and Vic,” said Knight.
    “Good,” said William, turning to observe as the two men drew near. “I’ll have them unsaddle our horses and put them in the corral.”
    “Boss,” said Shorty, “Mrs. Shaw told all of us about Jordan. Since he’s not with you, I assume you didn’t find him.”
    “No, we didn’t,” said William. “But we’ll pick up the search again in the morning.”
    “Sure hope he’s all