Kid was pacing when Ruth made it back to the hotel room.

"Your friend left you a note," she told him, handing him the letter.

He took it, but he didn't read it. "I wish you had woken me up before you left. You know how worried I was about you?"

"I'm sorry, honey. You knew I had to let the other churches know about the revival."

"Doesn't keep me from worrying," he muttered. He read the note and then crumpled it, throwing it in the fireplace without comment.

She gazed into the small circular mirror straining to see her reflection in the wavy, dark glass. The freckles managed to appear as plain as day though, at least in her own mind. Ruth didn't consider herself a vain person. Looks didn't matter. It was the soul that did, but since the run-in with Camille, she felt overly self-conscious.

He came up behind her. His arms slid around her waist and his chin rested on top of her head. "What are we doing? Admiring your beauty?" When that didn't bring the intended smile, he asked, "You went to see Camille, didn't you?"

"I shouldn't have. It's not that I don't trust you. I just hate that she's trying to get at you this way. I really am covered in freckles, ain't I?"

"Yep, and I love each and every speckle. It's cute. You're cute."

"But I'm not as pretty as Camille." She wasn't fishing for compliments; she was simply stating a fact.

"No, you're prettier, but I didn't fall in love with your body as nice as it is. I fell in love with you."

"I know." She turned away from the mirror. "I invited her to the revival."

"You what?" he asked, not sure he had heard her right.

"I invited her to the revival," she repeated.

He laughed. He couldn't help it. Ruth wasn't afraid to broach anybody about God, not even one of his ex-lady friends. "What'd she say?"

"She didn't say anything. I don't know if she'll be there or not, but I couldn't not invite her. It'd be wrong."

He shook his head in wonder. "You beat all."

sss

Ruth noticed when Camille slipped in long past 4, catching only the tail end of the sermon during which she gave exaggerated yawns. Ruth did her best to ignore it, but that woman did have a way of getting under her skin, which was something people didn't manage very often with her.

After the service, Kid saw Camille coming toward him. He probably should have avoided her, he thought, but he didn't. "So you came," he said instead.

"I wanted to see what this religion stuff was all about and I just don't get it," she said, shaking her head in just the right way to cause her self-made curls to bounce prettily. "Why did you choose this over free living?"

"Because it wasn't free. And you can't get it. Not until you experience it for yourself."

"And how do I experience it?" she asked, exposing the white of her neck and talking huskily.

She was flirting more than being truly interested in the answer, but he answered her anyway. "You have to trust God with everything. Repent, which means confessing and then turning from your sin."

She grew cold, dropping the sultry act. "Well, that's not going to happen. Besides, even if I did, it would not matter. You can't go back once you're ruined."

"That's not true. I was able to change my life."

"It's different for a woman. Men can sow their wild oats and then go on to lead a normal life, but once you're a fallen woman, you're always a fallen woman. Look at you. You didn't settle down with someone like me. You chose a respectable, unblemished woman."

"Because I loved her. If she'd had a past, it wouldn't have mattered to me."

"You say that, but you don't mean that. You may think you do, but people will always look down their nose at women like me."

"Not the ones that matter and God won't most importantly. To Him, you're His precious child."

She scoffed. "At first, I thought this religion stuff was an act for your wife's benefit, but you really do believe it. She has you convinced. That's even sadder."

She looked as if she had more she wanted to say, but when she saw Ruth coming over, she took off like a scalded dog.

"You must have affected her more than she lets on because she ain't the type to run from a confrontation," Kid told Ruth.

"It's not me she's running from," Ruth observed astutely.

"Maybe so."

The black preacher walked over to them.

"This is John Meachum, the fellow I was telling you about yesterday," Ruth said. "John, this is my husband, Kid."

His eyes widened momentarily with surprise. "Not Kid Cole? I check the wanted notices, looking for runaway slave notices. You got a stagecoach company looking for you."

"It's not true," Ruth said. "Someone's impersonating him. He ain't never robbed a stagecoach a day in his life."

"I figured as much. A fellow ain't going to go to the trouble of covering his head and then let it slip so easy who he is. I won't say nothing."

"Appreciate it," Kid said. "You wouldn't know anything else about it, would you?"

"No more than is in the wanted notice," he answered. "Sorry. Wish I could help." He turned to Ruth. "Beautiful service, ma'am. I look forward to seeing you Sunday and I'm sorry that some of our folks coming caused some of your folks to leave."

"If their heart's so hardened toward their fellow human beings, their hearts are hardened toward God as well. Likely the sermon wouldn't have helped them overly much and it would have been a hindrance when they tried to receive healing."

"You got a point there," he said with a smile. "See you Sunday."

The field emptied of people now, they started putting the benches away.

They were putting the last bench in the back of the wagon when they heard the click of a hammer on a gun.

"Move a muscle without my say so and I'll pull the trigger," warned a gruff voice.

"Let my wife go," Kid said as calmly as he could under the circumstances. He didn't fear for his own life, but he feared for hers.

"I don't want nothing with her. Just you. You know it's a shame you ain't wanted dead or alive, so I could just shoot you and be done with it. Instead I got to haul your carcass alive to the stage company. So get moving before I decide you ain't worth the money, and just remember a shot to the leg ain't going to lower the reward none."

Ruth started to open her mouth, but Kid shook it, warning her not to do or say anything. She watched helplessly as Kid was herded back toward St. Louis by the barrel of a gun and a grizzly old man.