Sully had official work to do the next day. He had to escort some politician around Colorado Springs, so Sister Ruth used the time to go to the store as she needed a couple of items for herself, and she wanted to buy some food items for Michaela and Sully, not wanting to take advantage of their hospitality.

Loren was behind the counter when she went in.

"Brother Loren, I haven't seen you since I got back in town. You still in good health?"

"Never better, never better. My hearing is as sharp as ever," he said, patting the ear that had been healed.

"The Lord is good," she said with a smile.

"Yep, He sure is," he said with an answering smile before it suddenly changed to a frown. "I was real sorry to hear about Kid Cole." His eyes moved downward and though the sentiment came out in his usual gruff tones, the genuine feeling could still be heard behind the gruffness.

Sister Ruth especially appreciated the words from him because she knew how hard it was for him to say anything that was connected with his more tender emotions. "Thank you. You look like you have something else on your mind, brother."

"The reservation ain't no place for a lady," he said, the words rushing out in a bark.

"Well, that's okay," she said lightly. "I ain't much of a lady, at least as far as following all the rules of polite society goes." She started gathering up her items.

He shook his head adamantly. "It's no joke, and well, the reservation won't be your only trouble. People around here don't think too kindly of Indians, and I've heard a lot of grumblings around the store and about the town already about what you're planning to do."

"I'm sure you have, brother, and that generally means I'm doing something right. I can't keep my light under a bushel because of a few sour apples."

He could see arguing was a lost cause. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you."

"It means a lot that you care enough to warn me," she said gently, as she laid a packet of needles and a big floppy hat on the table. She was buying the hat because she anticipated she would be spending more time out in the sun and she burnt easily. She went back for a bag of flour, a bag of sugar, and a wheel of cheese and then she pulled out a green bill. "This enough to cover everything?"

He nodded. "Enough to have a little left over too."

"Go ahead and set me up an account and tack it on. I may be here awhile."

He gave another nod and pulled out his book to make a note of the extra money.

"I'll be seeing you I'm sure, brother."

He gave a grunt that neither confirmed nor denied the statement.

The needles went into her pocket and the hat onto her head. She found the food items a little more difficult to carry, but it was still manageable.

As she came out of the door though, she found herself in the path of one of the town's matrons, and there was no way to avoid a collision. The flour and sugar landed with a thud, but the cheese rolled a few feet before it fell over. Before she could say anything or make a move to pick anything up, the matron was speaking to her.

"If it isn't the holy woman come to save the bloodthirsty savages. Don't you have any decorum or sense at all?"

"Well, I was going to say I was sorry, but now I'm not so sure that I am."

"You know I never liked you from the moment I first saw you. Coming into church that day like you owned the place."

"I thought I was in God's house, not yours."

"I pay tithes, so it amounts to the same thing," she said, ever so slightly lifting her head higher.

"Give me an everyday, ordinary sinner any day," Sister Ruth said under her breath with a quick glance heavenward.

"Excuse me?" the woman asked, her eyes glittering like hard jewels.

"I was just commenting on how I find it easier to witness to the common sinner. You see they generally recognize they're a sinner and that's the first step in accepting Christ. You can't admit you need Him if you can't admit you're not living right."

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"It's harder to witness to the sinners that warm a pew every Sunday, thinking heaven's theirs because they follow all the rules. They think they know all about God, but they know nothing of His love, and if they don't know love, they don't know Him. 'Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.'"

"Well, I never," the woman sniffed with indignation. "You're surely not talking about me."

"If your heart is telling you that you are such a sinner, now's the time to answer the Lord's call, sister. He can have you loving the so called savages and holy women before you know it, and it'll make you sure that you won't be one of the ones who was calling on God's name in vain."

With one final huff, she walked off, letting her distaste for Sister Ruth be known with the clack of her heels.

"I guess there goes my chances of being asked to join the ladies' quilting circle," Ruth said to herself with a chuckle and shake of her head before bending over to pick up the groceries.