Page 67 of Inventions of the Heart

Annie smiled. “I was just trying to make you feel better about being gone. Yes, I think you should give them a bonus.”

“Maybe you could give them a raise instead of a bonus.” Jilly scooped stew onto her plate. “Is the going wage thirty a month, plus the bunkhouse and meals?”

“That’s what we pay,” Zane said.

“Well, raise it. Make it thirty-five a month. That would be a nice steady reward.”

Jilly set to eating as if the matter was settled.

Judging by Zane’s smile, Michelle thought it well might be.

“And then”—Annie picked up the idea and expanded it—“give them a bonus, say, for Christmas. Maybe hire a fewmore men, too, instead of working with a skeleton crew through the winter like Pa always did.”

“I don’t fire them in the winter, a few just always wander off, and that leads to a shorthanded crew, which is fine because there aren’t so many chores.”

“A few more might stay if you’re paying the best wages around.” Josh was cleaning his plate like a man glad to be back at home.

“Which would ease the load for the other hands and us. If you give them a bonus of...” Josh shrugged. “A couple of hundred dollars, well, it’ll be the most money they’ve ever had at one time in their lives. They might run off just because they have it to spend. Good reason not to give it to them now. It’s a busy time of year.”

“We need to separate the cattle out for the drive. Then drive the cattle to Sacramento. Which isn’t too long of a trip. Maybe I’ll give them a raise tomorrow, then tell them they’re getting a bonus at the end of the drive.”

“Maybe you could do two bonuses.” Jilly chewed thoughtfully. “Give them vacation time during the slower seasons. They could get away, do their wandering, knowing they’d be welcomed back.”

No one quite agreed on how to do it, but they agreed it needed to be done.

The meal was finished, and as they began to gather plates, Michelle jumped in, working as fast as any of them.

As they cleaned, Michelle asked, “What do you think that Bible verse about money being the root of all evil means? Do you think it somehow applies to us?”

“The verse,” Annie said, “is ‘for the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they haveerred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.’” She vigorously scrubbed the empty stew pot. “So theloveof money, and coveting after money to the point you turn aside from your faith,that’swhat the verse warns against. It’s not strictly money that is the root of all evil.”

Michelle nodded, relieved to hear that because she had money, but she didn’t believe she coveted it, nor had it turned her away from God.

“What about the one about laying up treasures in heaven?” Jilly stacked dried plates in a cupboard.

“Nope,” Annie said, sounding sure, “you’ve got that one wrong, too, or incomplete. What it really says is to lay up treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot corrupt. If you fail that, whatever you did, or laid up here, it’s all useless because heaven is our goal, our only true wealth.”

She quoted, “‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’”

“I find myself a little embarrassed that Jilly and I have misquoted the Bible twice in a few minutes,” Michelle said.

Annie set the clean pot aside and turned to give Michelle a hug. “I’m glad you’re in our family. Thanks for marrying my half-wit brother.”

“Hey.” Zane snorted, but he was fighting a grin.

Michelle went to him and slid an arm around his waist. “So we need to make where our heart is the most important thing, and it needs to be with God.”

“Um, we should probably tithe from the money we got from the gold.” Zane looked from his two sisters to his brother, then down at Michelle.

She had a fourth of this newfound wealth through marriage to Zane, just as he shared in all she owned. She liked that Zane included her in the family’s decisions.

They all nodded. Annie said, “We rarely get into town for services, but that little church could use some money.”

“I wondered about Caleb,” Jilly said. “I think he still sees a mission field in his future. We could ask him about his plans, and once he’s made them, we could help finance that. And help him be generous with the people he ministers to.”

Michelle remembered talking with her youngest sister. “They’ve only been home a short time, but Laura said he speaks on Sunday mornings to the lumberjacks. He uses a sawed-off tree stump as a pulpit.” Michelle grinned at Jilly. “Remember how he wanted to do that when we came to the Purgatory settlement, but you started right in building him a church?”

“It was fun.”

“Laura said quite a few have come to his services, and in true Caleb fashion, he’s reaching out to them beyond just Sunday mornings. He’s trying to meet their needs. Trying to show love. None of that sounds like it’s costing him much.”

Jilly’s eyes lit up, and she stood straighter. “I wonder if they need a church built out there?”

“We’ll find a way to make the money support God’s work.” Zane nodded, looking determined. Right in that moment, Michelle felt like she fell deeper in love than she’d known a woman could fall.

He was a good man, and he was hers. To show him, she’dwork at his side, build her irrigation system, get hot and cold water flowing in his cabins, and use this gold to support the ranch and beyond.

Then the kitchen was in order, and they all headed to bed, and Michelle thought of another way to show him she loved him. Smiling, she led the way to their bedroom.

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