Ruth carried her washboard and the dirty clothes down to the river where Evelyn was carefully washing the costumes.

"It's nice to have somebody to talk with while you work, ain't it? Helps make the time pass easier."

Evelyn gave a noncommittal shrug and looked a little bit nervous.

Ruth decided it was better to break the ice. "We found out Francis takes laudanum regular." She didn't make eye contact but started with Isaiah's diapers first.

Evelyn didn't say anything.

"You know sometimes that causes a terrible strain on a marriage. Them spending all that money on the drug that they just have to have. And it can change a person too. Make them dangerous even. I just want you to know that I can be a pretty good listener even though it seems like I never stop talking. And you wouldn't be the first I've talked to in a similar situation either."

"He's a good man," Evelyn said fiercely.

"I didn't say he wasn't," Ruth answered gently.

She realized immediately she was being over-defensive. "I'm sorry. I just wish you'd have known him before. Breaking into the business back east wasn't as easy as I thought. There were plenty of pretty English girls who could act back in New York and I was hungry. Going back home wasn't an option. Francis took me under his wing before he'd seen a second of my acting."

"And ya'll fell in love working together?"

"Indeed, we did."

There was a long pause as she studied the makeup that still covered the area around Evelyn's eyes. "He hits you sometimes, doesn't he?"

"Mostly the laudanum makes him calm, but when he doesn't have it or realizes he's about out, he can get a little upset. More than a little upset. He was expecting, hoping, that there would be laudanum in Austin and there wasn't. And heaven help you if you come between him and the bottle like trying to suggest maybe he shouldn't take so much or hiding it from him. That's his first love."

"It's that way whenever someone is in the throes of addiction, but if you can get them through withdrawal, it's much easier for them to resist it."

Evelyn looked hopeful now. "You do have experience with this, don't you? You think you can help my husband?"

"I'm not a miracle worker, but Kid and I will do everything we can to help. In the end, it won't matter if your husband won't accept any assistance. My best advice to you is to pray because God is in the business of miracles and He can help when no one else can."

"Thank you and I will."

"And protect yourself. It may seem hard at first, but let him know you won't stand for him hitting you again. I know there aren't many options for leaving, but there are some."

"But you're practically a vicar. And you're suggesting I leave my husband?"

"I'm not suggesting you remarry. What I am saying is your safety is important and no man has the right to hit you, not even your husband. You may not have the choice to divorce without sinning on those grounds, but you have the biblical right to physically separate from him and live separately if need be, keeping in mind that you can always return if things change."

She was such a long time in answering that Ruth didn't think she was going to, but at last, she said, "I'll remember that."

sss

Mercy celebrated her 5th birthday somewhere between Austin and San Antonio.

Ruth made her a cake in the frying pan. Maybe not as good as it would have been baked and had there been more ingredients on hand, but Mercy was thrilled with it and especially with the store-brought doll that had been her gift. It was a lovely doll with rosy cheeks, china blue eyes, blonde hair, and the sweetest little, brown outfit.

The Wilkersons even gave her dark, silken red ribbons for her hair, which was getting long enough to start braiding.

At the end of the day, Mercy commented after prayers, "The Lord sure has blessed us, hasn't He, Momma?"

"He sure has, angel," Ruth replied, tenderly pushing her hair back.

And it wasn't but the next day that Mercy asked, "Little kids can be bad, can't they, Momma?"

Ruth, who worked on darning one of Kid's socks while the horses were getting watered, replied, "Everybody's bad sometimes, honey, even if we don't want to be. That's what the curse of sin does. Nobody's all good but the Lord."

"And sin makes God very sad. Momma, do little kids go to hell?"

She put the sock down and looked her in the eyes. "No. You have to be old enough to be able to choose whether you want to follow Jesus or go the devil's way. But God loves all His people young and old and He gives us as many chances as He can to choose Him. The Bible tells us that He doesn't want any of us to have to go there."

"So I won't go to hell?" Mercy asked, wanting to be sure.

"We don't have to be afraid of hell because Jesus took our punishment for us. And all we have to do to accept the free gift, when we're old enough to understand it, is tell Him we're sorry and ask Him into our heart and life. 'If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.'"

"I am sorry and I do believe that."

"That makes me very happy to hear," Ruth said, picking the sock back up.

"Can I ask God into my heart and life now?"

Ruth stopped the darning again, momentarily surprised but recovering, she said, "Well, of course you can if you really want to." She enveloped her in a hug.

"Can you pray with me?"

"Sure I can. Just say the prayer with me." She bowed her head, but then she looked back up. "You know there's no magic words, don't you? You got to mean this with all your heart."

"I know," Mercy insisted in earnest.

So Ruth bowed her head and closed her eyes and so did Mercy.

"I know I sin and that You sent Jesus to save me from those sins."

Her daughter repeated the words with true feeling that greatly relaxed Ruth.

"I know that He died on the cross and rose again 3 days later and is alive today and is coming again."

She stumbled toward the end remembering the long string of words, but Ruth helped her.

"Lord, forgive me. Come into my life and change me."

Ruth struggled not to cry happy tears when her little girl repeated the words.

"And help me follow You all the days of my life."

Any misgivings she'd had that Mercy didn't understand enough to know what she was doing or saying were completely gone.

"Thank you for saving me so that I can live in heaven someday. Amen."

Ruth pulled her into another hug as soon as she finished the amen. "And thank You for Mercy," Ruth added silently to herself. She hadn't expected that she'd come to the Lord so young, but nothing could have made her happier.

"So can I be bap-a-tized?" She'd watched enough people coming to the Lord at the revivals to know baptism followed confession.

Ruth smiled, reminded of the Ethiopian who asked what hindered him from being baptized. "I don't see why not. There's a river, ain't there? We'll just get your daddy and Isaiah and get ourselves on down to the river."

They told Kid together as soon as he was done with the horses and he was as happy over the news as Ruth was and proud too.

"Don't that beat all," he said to Mercy. "I'm mighty proud of you, pumpkin. And I know God is too. Starting out following Him so young will be a big help. Believe me, I know. I wish I'd been smart enough to accept Him as a child."

Francis, who'd overheard asked, "Isn't she a little young to be baptized?"

"A little old in some churches," Evelyn pointed out. "We baptize our children as babies in the Church of England."

"It's the beauty of the gospel," Ruth answered. "Wondrous enough to confound the most brilliant minds and yet simple enough that even a child can understand."

Kid carried Isaiah and Ruth slipped on her revival gown and they went down to the river. Francis, Evelyn, and Permelia went too.

Ruth waded out into the shallow part of the river with Mercy where she explained to her that she was going to briefly dunk her in and that she had to hold her breath until she came up, but of course, Mercy had seen countless baptisms in her short life and knew the drill.

"I baptize you, Mercy Fiona Cole, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." She immersed her." Buried with Him in baptism." She brought her back out. "And raised to walk in the newness of life."

The Wilkersons applauded.

Kid hugged the dripping Mercy as soon as she was on dry land and reflected. There was a time he hadn't even been sure he'd see her first birthday and now to see his firstborn being baptized, it was a gift from God. Every single day was, and he and Ruth must have been doing something right in their parenting to have a child like Mercy.

Isaiah played with the button on Kid's shirt with intense concentration. And he certainly had never expected to live to have a son too.

As Mercy had said, the Lord sure had blessed them.