AN: Here's a fresh chapter for you all with another new character. I was going to write him out, but he is needed. Sorry its a long chapter, but I hope it's good. Again please review to let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: Christy belongs to the LeSourd/Marshall family and those who own the rights to the tv series and the movies. This is a work of fan fiction and is not meant for profit.

Chapter 14

It was a balmy day for late September. I was daydreaming absently during the service David delivered. I was thinking about the opening of school in two weeks. We had decided to open school slightly earlier to make up for the shortened term of last year. I looked forward to that last term with mixed feelings. I was happy to begin a third year of teaching, but sad that it would be the last teaching the young children. Miss Alice and I were beginning the groundwork necessary to start adult education classes. We had started the boarding school again this year, finally having enough funds to replace the furnishings needed for it to operate. This was certainly a year to look forward.

As was customary on a fine day after services, many people had brought picnic lunches. I was delighted to see Ruby Mae and Will would be staying today. I had brought several books for them to borrow.

"Ruby Mae won't you and Will come join us?"

"Shorely, Miz Christy. Did ye remember those books?"

"I couldn't forget them."

Will spread a quilt nearby the ones Neil had spread out for the mission clan. That clan now seemed to include Opal's family. It was wonderful to catch up with Ruby Mae, even if some of the tales were a bit gossipy for my tastes. Ida and Michael had gone for a walk. David and Neil had gathered up Opal's children and some of the Allen children as well as Marcus and were teaching them how to play baseball. Will had joined in as well. Ruby Mae and I watched the group.

"Come next spring an summer thar'll be plenty of weddin's and birthin's, I suppose." I looked over at Ruby Mae. There was a knowing glimmer in her eyes. It could only mean one thing.

"Ruby Mae, are you and Will expecting?" I couldn't help feeling a bit anxious for her. She was so young to be having a child. It would be the first of many, I assumed. I was glad for her too.

"Fer certain shore, Miz Christy. Yer Doc confirmed ta other day."

"I didn't know he was to see you."

"I asked him not to tell ye."

I smiled, glancing over to the group where Neil was. He was a good secret keeper.

"As for the weddings Ruby Mae, I don't think they hold on until spring. I think we'll have a fine set of autumn weddings this year."

"Looks that way." Ruby Mae was looking at Opal, who was unaware of our conversation. She had her eyes trained on David. I wondered if I wore the same look she did when I was watching Neil.

Later that week, I went to visit Opal at her cabin. As usual David had taken her boys out to patch some fences and do some other chores. David had become more of the handyman of the Cove than the preacher anymore. Perhaps he had found his true calling in life as a carpenter.

"Opal, I just dropped by to visit for a while. Miss Ida sent some fresh bread and her best apple jelly along with me."

"I'm glad to see ye Miz Christy. Come in and set a spell. We'll have some of that bread an sassafras tea. Miz Ida's bread is so good. I recken I won't be calling her 'Miz' fer much longer. Bird's Eye seems to be in a raight big hurry to get hitched."

"I can't even call him Bird's Eye when Ida's around. She is a stickler for calling him by his Christian name."

"Waal, he's been Bird's Eye for the longest time around here, it ain't going to change ony time soon."

Opal got up from her chair and when to get the tea from the fire. Her mass of brown hair looked different today. I wasn't sure if I should compliment her on it or not. As she brought the tea back to the table, a serious look contorted her normally gentle face. Her doe-like eyes were concerned. I hoped she would open up her troubles to me.

"Do ye reckon I'd make a fittin' preacher parson' s wife? David asked me the other Sunday and I don't know what ta say."

Poor David, always asking but never getting answers. I knew Opal loved David, but I think she was intimidated to be a preacher's wife. I couldn't blame her.

"I think you'll do fine, Opal. You have so much faith and love. I think that you have helped David to grow in his faith too. I know you have helped me to understand God much better."

"Waal, I know that. But I ain't no fancy fine lady like ye or Miz Alice. I ain't book smart like ye neither. I don't wanna make David look foolish like. He should have a fancy city gal like ye." Opal was staring into her mug of tea. I suppose David never told her he had proposed to me. Not wanting to defeat her entirely, I would skip over that fact for now.

"I think that if David wanted a fancy wife, he would have gone back to Pennsylvania. Besides, I don't think anyone expects you to be something your not. Miss Alice and I hardly count as fancy people. You have a strong faith and compassion for others and those are the best qualities for a preacher's wife to have. I've known some preacher's wives in Asheville who were as pretty as a spring day and were cold when it came to the needs of the people. How about I give you some of my old dresses, in exchange for some of your recipes, of course? I so happen to have a nice one that would do for a wedding dress."

"I'd be beholdin to ye Miz Christy." Opal's big brown eyes were shimmering with tears.

"I'll bring them over sometime before school starts. We'll probably have to take them in, and I'm not real good at sewing clothing."

"I'll teach ye how, don't worry. Ye'll have to learn some time when ye've got Doc's youngins runnin' round, might as well be now."

"I'm the one who's beholdin', Opal. You'd better go find David and give him an answer."

"I think I knows where he went with the boys today. I best hie myself on up the ridge then." Opal was glowing just like her namesake, like she was lit with a fire within.

Next Sunday was a day full of happiness for the Cove. David announced from the pulpit the impending nuptials of Ida and Bird's Eye and himself and Opal. It was going to be a double wedding and the biggest jollification the Cove had ever seen. Well I supposed until Neil and I were married. I fully intended to be married where my kin were gathered and my new kin were here in Cutter Gap. That was whenever Neil and I got married.

After services were over, we all gathered together for a picnic lunch. We had to hammer out future living arrangements.

"I am moving into Opal's cabin, so Ida and Michael can stay at the mission. I mean if that's alright with them and Miss Alice of course."

"I do believe that Ida and Michael will do fine looking after the boarding school children. Thee has put a lot of work into the McHone cabin. It would be a shame to waste it David. So let's see now, that leaves an empty bunkhouse."

"I can move in there and leave the newly weds in peace." Marcus chimed in slyly. He winked at me and I groaned inwardly. That left me the only single person in the mission house. Hopefully, I wouldn't be there too long.

"Besides," Marcus added, "there will be a new teacher coming, I expect."

I felt myself blush and glanced at Neil beside me, who to my surprise was blushing as well. Everyone else was beating us to the alter. I reminded myself to be patience that Neil and I would get married in our own time, but I really did not want to be in the mission house with a newly married couple.

"Unfortunately Christy, I don't think that I can teach math and Bible classes anymore. I don't think I'll have time. It'll be enough for me to take care of my new family and preach as well. I want to start a furniture making business, since I have no idea how to farm."

"I think I can manage myself." I must not have sounded very hopeful because both Marcus and Neil jumped at the chance to help. I laughed at their eagerness.

"Fine. Marcus can teach the upper level mathematics and you can teach the Bible classes." Neil looked a little shaken at teaching Bible classes by himself. "Don't worry I'll help you. 'With God all things are possible', remember?"

Later, as the sun was sinking beyond the mountaintops, filling the air with a mellow coral glow, I contemplated my future with Neil. We were sitting on the front porch of the mission house, revealing in the chance to spend a day uninterrupted together. We so rarely got such an opportunity and I felt guilty at keeping my feelings inward. I sighed and leaned my head into Neil's shoulder.

"What's troubling you, dear heart?"

"I was just thinking about the future, that's all."

"What do you see in the future? I had no idea that you were one of those with the gift of second sight?"

"No, I have no such talent for seeing what's in the future. I was just pondering at what will happen after we marry."

Neil smiled at me. "So your certain we will marry?" I laughed at his jest.

"You mean to tell me you don't think we will? I am certain we will and you don't need second sight to see that."

"Dearest heart of mine, I have no doubts as to us marrying. It is only a question of when." Neil turned to kiss me soundly on the lips. We broke apart abruptly to the sound of a boisterous voice and hoof beats coming toward the mission house.

"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior, all the day long;

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior, all the day long."

Neil and I looked at each other in puzzlement. The voice did not sound familiar to either of us and judging by the accent of the voice it was not anybody from these parts of the mountains. We stared down the road that led to El Pano. Into the diffused light of sunset, rode a beautiful gray stallion and a fine, aging gentleman. The man was dressed in an odd-looking black suit without a collar or tie and to my surprise, not a single button. He wore a black hat that covered an abundant mass of graying bronze colored hair. He had stopped singing and slowed the horse to a stop. He dismounted and doffed his hat to Neil and I, who were still gaping in amazement at the figure before us.

"Is this the Cutter Gap Mission?" His blue eyes were twinkling with good humor.

"Yes it is, sir. I didn't realize that Dr. Ferrand was sending anyone to visit us."

"I wasn't sent here. I'm just passing through and someone in El Pano said this would be a good place for me to visit. I'm Pastor James Roth from Eden, Pennsylvania." He extended his hand towards Neil and me. He had an odd way of talking. His vowel sounds were drawn out. It must have been a sort of German accent, but he sounded quite American too.

"Well, please to meet you. Won't you come inside, please?" I called in the door to Ida that we had a visitor.

After we had everyone assembled in the parlor and refreshments served, Brother James, as he told us to call him, elaborated on his biography. Alice and David being from Pennsylvania as well were familiar with the 'plain folk' that he spoke of.

"I felt that I was called by God to spread the word through the Brethren beliefs. So I left Eden and traveled straight into another Paradise. I followed the valleys of these great mountains from Pennsylvania all the way to here."

"What a fine journey. Are all the mountains as beautiful as they are here?" His journey reminded me a bit of Dr. Ferrand's, only Brother James' was during more peaceful times. I hoped that someday, I too could get the chance to see all of the mountains.

"These mountains are the same and different all at the same time. In some places they are not very high as they are here and the valleys are broader. But they are all that lovely shade of blue-green in summer and spring or purple –blue in autumn and winter."

"Would you like more tea, Brother James?" Ida offered kindly, holding the teapot.

"Yes please, Sister Ida." The way Brother James used the term brother and sister reminded me of Miss Alice's thees and thous. I looked up at Miss Alice whose eyes were riveted to Brother James. She seemed to be quite taken by him and I couldn't help but smiling.

"Do you plan on staying? It would really be wonderful to have another man of the cloth around here. This is an interdenominational mission here." David seemed grateful for another minister coming to Cutter Gap. I supposed it would be a relief, since his wedding date approached swiftly.

"So long as your congregation doesn't mind plain and simple sermons from a plain and simple man. We Brethren like to keep our lives and our worship simple."

"Aside from their penchant for a fancy multi syllabic word every now and then, I think you will find our community plain as well. I think you will fit in well here; we are plain out of necessity and pride. But we are colorful as well. Would you like to take next Sunday's sermon? And we will have need of a minister to perform a double wedding ceremony next month."

"It seems as if God led me to where I was needed. I would be happy to preside over such a joyous occasion."

We learned thought the course of the evening that Brother James was a widower and had no children. He felt compelled to go on a personal mission to spread the word of God and to rediscover himself after his wife's death. He left the Pennsylvania-German community he had called home for his whole life and set toward the mountains. For some reason, I felt he would not be leaving Cutter Gap anytime soon. He seemed to belong here, just like I belonged.

I walked with Neil to the porch as everyone was settling in for the night. The evening was clear and it promised to be a cool night. The mists would be heavy in the morning.

"Before I go, I have a surprise for you Christy." Neil bent down to retrieve his ever-present saddlebags. He pulled out a brown paper wrapped package and handed it to me. "Go on, open it."

I tore the paper off to reveal a sturdy volume on the principles of nursing. I stared at the book for a while without saying anything.

"I can always use a hand, you know."

"I'm not sure how much help I can be to you."

"You've helped me during surgery before and you were an effective nurse during the typhoid outbreak. I know you can do it, but if you think you can't, I won't force it on you. We can start tomorrow if it suits you. Marcus and I will be your teachers."

"I will try my best. I was actually thinking of that this afternoon. I feel that I need some sort of occupation after we are married. How did you get this book, anyway?"

"Some connections in Asheville." Neil smiled slyly. So that is what he and George were whispering about. Neil had obviously had George send them from Asheville.

"Tomorrow is as good of day as any. I should try to get some lessons in before school starts. Thank you Neil."

"Your welcome, dear heart. Good night and pleasant dreams." Neil leaned forward and kissed me a gentle good night kiss.

"Good night Neil. I'll see you tomorrow." He turned and waved as he walked to the stable. I longed for the time when we would not often have to part ways and sighed. Some day soon it would happen.