Julianne Parker

Julianne chose a broad-brimmed hat for that day’s outing since they’d be standing in the sun. The bright blue confection was adorned with velvet ribbons sewn to look like roses. Julianne knew it was a special day for Millie and dressed accordingly.

Truth be told, she was more than a little thrilled for a chance to meet Hugh. She reminded herself that even if she saw him, there would be no repeat of the hand holding or kissing she so much adored from their last meeting. She had spent some time considering the matter and couldn’t figure out how to repeat the event.

However, just having a slim chance made her stomach sparkle like sarsaparilla. The reaction was delicious and confusing. Had he even thought of it again? She certainly had—every minute she was alone.

When she pushed back the curtain around her bed and climbed down the ladder to the kitchen, Millie handed her a large basket covered with a towel. She had been baking cookies for two days, and the rewards of that labor were heavy on both women’s arms.

Callum was driving them into Creede. He already had the buckboard nearly full with boxes of quilts and tea towels to send to a merchant in Denver, and a new lectern crated up to send to a church in Kansas.

“You know I’ll worry for you” Callum spoke up s they rode through town, great concern evident in his voice. “Stay together in a place where you can be seen.” He paused. “Another woman was taken last night. Someone saw it and followed the man. There was a tussle and the woman escaped, but so did her abductor. This town isn’t safe.”

“We will, Callum,” Millie said at the same moment as Julianne promised, “We’ll be extra careful.”

Then Millie added, “There’s nothing to worry about. We’re giving out cookies and inviting people to church.”

Near the mercantile, Callum handed the ladies out of the buckboard. “I’ll have to wait for the freight company to process the charges for all this, and then get these boxes and crates settled in cargo cars before I pick you up again here in an hour or so.”

“We’ll be here.” Millie reached in the back of the wagon and pulled out the large basket before hanging the handle over her arm. Then she reached back in for a sign on a tall slender pole that said, “God is good.” That she handed to Julianne.

“Take your time,” Millie called out as Reverend Bing drove off. Julianne noted a mischievous sparkle in Millie’s eye that Julianne asked about.

“Beatrice gave me this idea in a way. She’s the telegraph operator’s wife. I’ll take you to meet her when we’re done. Anyway, she was giving out baked goods before she started selling them. We’re going to give out cookies but in exchange for souls.”

Julianne waited to see what her friend would ask of her. Millie pulled Julianne across the street to stand at the hitching post in front of the Nugget Saloon. She leaned the basket on the cross-pole of the hitching post and plucked the tea towel from the top.

The sweet smell of fresh molasses cookies wafted on the air. Julianne wasn’t at all surprised when men stopped to tip their hats and offer a good morning, but their eyes always dipped to the treats.

“Good morning to you too,” Millie interjected. “Would you like a cookie? Each one comes with a prayer.”

A man stepped forward. “Thank ye’, ma’am.” He held out his dirt-crusted hand.

“Lord, grant Thy spirit to our day.” Millie placed a cookie in his palm and turned to another man. “For you, sir?”

He nodded, and she repeated the gift, saying, “Lord, help Thou our unbelief.”

Men approached looking weary and left with a spark of joy. Soon, Julianne noticed that a tight mob began to gather around them. She wasn’t used to being in large groups or any groups of men, for that matter, and wanted to run back across the street. But she steeled her legs to resist.

Today I can help my dear, generous friend.

Millie passed cookies and blessings out with speed and precision, inviting each man to attend services in Bachelor on Sundays. When Julianne felt more at ease in the crowd, she moved the sign to lean on her shoulder and dug into the basket to dole out a cookie and invocation. “Lord, walk Thou with us.”

The men came forward to receive God’s love, or maybe just another cookie. Nevertheless, Julianne was happy to help with her friend’s little ministry. Men loitered, building a feeling of friendship and community. If any town needed this, Creede surely did. Julianne wondered what would happen this Sunday if even a portion of these men came.

When the last cookies were given out, Millie and Julianne began singing the old time hymn “Rock of Ages.” Julianne’s voice trembled as their little duet began. “Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.”

A few men around them joined in with deep bass voices and lifting tenors. Chills swept across Julianne’s arms. This would be a day she would long remember. How grateful she was to have come. She was unsure if she could speak with more than a whisper as the thrill of the moment stole her breath.

“Let the water and the blood, from Thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure.” She looked toward her friend. Two round cheeks, rosy with pleasure, brightened Millie’s face, giving Julianne courage.

She marveled at the change she felt toward this town. Hope. When she had first arrived, she saw a town ripe with iniquity.

While many men approached that establishment, few of them entered. Julianne noticed even the women above stairs leaning out their windows to watch the gathering. Her heart expanded. Her mind marveled on the calling her friend had taken up. If Millie could bring Christ to this forsaken town to save even one of them from this life, it would be worth the whole afternoon and then some.

Three rugged men rode their horses into their crowd like Moses parting the waters. Julianne and Millie stepped back toward the saloon. The singing faltered and stopped as those men divided the group.

The tall skinny one leaned forward on his horse, over the saddle horn and chided, “Look here. We got ourselves a revival, Dougal.”

Dougal, a huge bear of a man, pushed his hat up on his head and spat tobacco into the dirt near Millie’s foot. With brown spittle sliding down the red beard on his chin, he said, “And two pretty preacher ladies, Wade. Which one do you want?”

Julianne felt Millie’s hand tighten in her own as they stepped closer together. Otherwise, Millie ignored the men, and her voice, like a single bird in a quiet forest, began the second verse. She hooked her elbow with Julianne’s.

From a second-story window, directly above their heads, a buxom woman wearing very little yelled in a shrill falsetto, “Get on up here, Dougal. And bring your boys too. We’ve been waitin’ all day for comp’ny. These do-gooders are robbin’ us blind.”

Millie took a few more shuffling steps back toward the saloon doors, pulling Julianne along with her, blocking the entrance and singing all the louder. The group of men began pushing—some trying to get closer to the door, some trying to knock others away, and a very few appearing to protect Julianne and Millie.

Julianne felt the change in the air. The camaraderie was gone, and agitation quickly took its place. She looked around for an escape, but the crowd had collapsed into a tight group.

Another woman leaned out a window, letting the strap of her shift fall from her shoulder. “Come up here, boys. I’ll make you sing.” She shook her shoulders, and the front of her top barely contained her...self.

Julianne wondered if Millie’s little crusade was the right thing to do—handing out the cookies seemed okay but blocking the saloon didn’t. It seemed to her that people had a right to go in. She looked to her friend, “Shall we scoot over a bit?”

Millie’s face showed a determination to not be moved. Her other hand was holding the side of the doorframe, her fingers white with the grip.

The violence around them was increasing, and bodies began to tussle Julianne from all sides. She wasn’t sure how it began, but she thought Dougal started it, and soon the gathered crowd was embroiled in a fierce fight. Man turned on man, throwing punches, ducking and dodging. Fear flashed from Julianne’s head to her feet. It was hard for her to understand the violence she was witnessing, yet she couldn’t move away.

The men were thick as ticks on sheep, all flailing fists or kicking another’s stomach. She couldn’t see any escape until one man pulled another over on himself and both tumbled to the dirt. Julianne thought to run through the gap and tugged on Millie’s arm, but another man leaped from his horse into that very spot, blocking their way. Her heart sank, and her pulse quickened.

The women huddled together. Any hope Julianne had felt for this town minutes ago burst amid the blood and cursing all around her.