Zeke drove a new wagon with Mose in tow to Miss Polly’s boarding house. He hadn’t seen Beti, as he came to call her in his head, since the day she’d hired Toby Abbott to escort her to Kentucky. The man himself met them in front of the barn.
“That’s a fine-looking wagon, Mr. Smith.”
Zeke nodded at the pleasant greeting.
“Hey, Toby!” Mose hollered. “I reckon this will be ye rig for Kentucky?”
“Aye.” Toby made his way toward Mose leaving Zeke free to scan for Beti. He spied her just as she stepped out on the back stoop. The slanting late day sun lit the strands of hair escaping her cap. His breath stopped when joy radiated through her entire person at the sight of the wagon. Happiness that he had pleased her pumped through his remaining thoughts.
Zeke alighted favoring his right knee. He welcomed the pain that reminded him that it was wrong of him to think of Miss Sigridsdatter as Beti in his mind, along with all the other things he’d allowed himself to dream in the week since he’d seen her. Soon they would all join the wagon train, and it was just as well he abolished foolish notions. Though he could not squelch the feeling that this trip put her in danger.
She rushed to the wagon running hands along the side. “It’s beautiful.” Blue-green eyes gleamed as she took in his work. “It didn’t take ye very long.”
Pride swelled in his chest. “A wagon is not as complicated as a boat.”
“Thank ye for it.”
A shaggy black dog arrived at her feet and turned to face him. She reached down and plunged fingers into the scruffy fur. “That’ll do, Nellie.”
The dog relaxed its position though it waited for her next command.
“May I?” Zeke asked before extending a hand to the dog.
“Aye.”
The dog took a cautious sniff of his outstretched hand, but didn’t leave Beti’s side. Miss Sigridsdatter, he reminded himself.
“This is Nellie. She helps with the sheep.”
“Sheep?”
Beti waved a hand toward the pasture, where, on the far side, six sheep stood munching grass. That complicated matters.
“Ye are bringing sheep.”
Her answer was to look him straight in the eye. The challenge was clear in her steady gaze and her rigid shoulders. He could see the little fluffballs roaming all over the mountains while she chased them.
“Nellie keeps them from running away.” It was as if she read his mind the way he could read her body language.
He could do aught but smile. “I bet she does. Have ye considered predators?”
“I own sheep, Mr. Smith. I am constantly aware of predators. Nellie and I are a good team.”
“And the two-footed variety?”
A knowing look gleamed in her eyes as she raised her chin. “I have been aquatinted with those beasts as well.”
A powerful protectiveness rose in his spirit. How had she become acquainted with those particular beasts? Who had saved her?
“Are ye sure ye wish to make this trip? We keep hearing of savage attacks on the roads and settlements in Kentucky.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Are ye sure ye should be making the trip yeself? Ye know what happens to a single man caught by Indians in the fields?”
“Aye, but—”
“I will tell ye what I believe, Mr. Smith.” He kept quiet watching those magnificent eyes flash she rocked on her feet on her toes by the time she’d made her point. “I believe that when it is my time to die, the Lord will call me home. How it happens is not for me to decide, but I do know that it will not happen one minute before the Lord intends it to.”
Arguments about tempting fate and several others surged into his mind. He swallowed them.
He slapped a fist on the wagon. “I must go.”
She stepped back. Nellie stayed put.
* * *
A week later Zeke stood with Isaac and the others at the front of the forming wagon train on Main Street.
“As we’ve already discussed. I’ve spaced ye evenly through the line. As to the single women. I put Aggie behind ye Gordon so she won’t know yer keeping an eye out for her. Zeke yer last in line with Miss Beti in front of ye,” Isaac finished.
“What are we going to do with Aggie?” Mose asked in his usual wide-eyed no filter manner.
“What’s yer meaning, Mose?”
Bewilderment blew through Zeke just as clear as the confused looks on his friends.
“One of us has got to marry her.”
They all looked around to see if their loud-mouthed friend was overheard. Zeke froze when he saw Aggie pop out from behind Issac.
“No, none of ye has got to marry her.” Aggie, hand on waist, finger pointed at the lot of them, fumed. “Aggie is not a problem. Aggie is a full-grown woman who is headed to a new life.” She made sure to include each of them in her angry glance and pointing finger. “Now, I’m not saying that I won’t need some help from my husband’s friends, but I will not—and let’s be sure we are very clear on this last point—” She pointed around the circle. “I will not be marrying any of ye lot.” Her voice never raised above a quiet whisper, but they heard each and every word. She about-faced and headed down the confused group of wagons and well-wishers.
“Aggie,” Mose whined in her wake. “Come on, Aggie. Ye know I didn’t mean nothing…” Aggie continued on, her back stiff with Mose trailing her skirts.
Zeke stepped closer to Isaac. “She’s still coming?”
Isaac nodded. “Miss Sigridsdatter? Yep.”
“It’s not safe.”
“Since when do we get to decide what other people are willing to risk?”
“Ye know what I’m talking about, a woman alone—”
“I thought this was about freedom, besides that, she’s hired a man.”
Right.
Zeke turned his gaze to the forest ahead of them and then back down the line of travelers. It was about freedom. His freedom. Freedom from attack, freedom to live life on his own terms.
Of course women deserved the same freedom he longed for and fought for, but he would be much more comfortable if she would wait until the unrest had settled down a bit. For all her knowing looks, just how did she think to fend off a man determined to best her? Especially a savage determined to capture that silky mahogany hair? Physically she didn’t stand a chance. How would she build a house for herself? Toby was common farm hand, and before that he’d freighted goods. What did a common farm hand know of building cabins? A possibility glowed in the dimness of his assessment.
Aggie moved in his peripheral vision. Checking her traces, soothing her oxen. Aggie broke all the things he knew about women. She was strong in a way he wasn’t. Her strength got him off the battlefield to Doc Jones who could heal him. Did Beti possess the same strength?
“Does she have family there?”
“No.”
“How will she survive?”
“She’s not yer problem.”
“She’s a weak link in this chain.” Zeke waved a hand toward the gathering before them. Again he fought the thought that she was his. “She’s everybody’s problem.”
“It’s been decided, Zeke.”
Resignation didn’t come easy.
“Yessir.”
Zeke made his way back to his wagon assessing the group as he went. It was the first time he’d seen most of the families of the men who’d come to their meeting. Claiborne Edwards, the stocky outspoken parson from their meeting at the church, approached Aggie.
“Fine ox ye’ve got there, Mrs. Thornton.”
“Much obliged, Mr. Edwards.” She eyed Zeke out of the corner of her eye. Now there was a woman who could take care of herself. And him. Maybe he should consider marrying her. It would give him a reason to help her get her house built. He could count on her. She would need more help than she realized. Nah. He pushed the thought down. He didn’t want to marry Aggie, and she certainly didn’t want to marry him.
“Boys!” Kate Stamp called her sons, and the boys came to attention. She stuck out her hand.
“I don’t got it, Mama. Evan let it go.” Indeed, as they stood there in formation, a little green line slithered into to grass.
Zeke turned his face so they wouldn’t see him chuckle. It wasn’t so long ago he’d stood in the same formation with Jonadab and Tirzah. They lost Jona at Saratoga. A brief sadness wafted through his excitement but didn’t stay. He was glad he could think of Jona without an overwhelming sense of loss. He moved toward the end of the line.
Gordon slipped under the wagon to catch his boys. “Gotcha!”
“Mr. Smith!” Nathaniel Baldwin called from the driver’s seat. “I should like to introduce my wife, Helen.” Helen Baldwin took a shy look him and rubbed her hand across her expanding belly.
“Nice to meet ye, Mrs. Baldwin.”
Mrs. Curd walked up, and she placed a hand on her own expanding belly. “Looks like we have something in common When do ye think?”
“Early summer.”
“Late spring for me. We will have to be good friends.”
Relief shown in an answering grin from Helen. Zeke sealed his lips together so his disapproval wouldn’t leak out. Obviously they had no idea where they were going or what they were facing.
“Mama!” A miniature of Mr. Curd slammed into Mrs. Curd’s middle. “Safe!” The child called to the small horde waiting just beyond the edge of the wagon. A slightly larger miniature of their mother with golden hair pulled back from soft brown eyes called to the child. “Franklin. Don’t bother Mama when she’s visiting.” The missile, apparently named Franklin, released his target and lined back up with his sister still grinning at his siblings.
A bellow of laughter issuing from behind the wagon enticed him to take a peek. At the back of Miss Sigridsdatter’s wagon, Mr. Tunstall Curd stood with more small versions of himself and his wife wiping tears from his cheeks while Beti looked at him with incredulity.
“Miss Beti ye are a hoot. My wife and I look forward to knowing ye better.”
Zeke nodded to her as he passed trying hard not to wonder what had inspired Mr. Curd’s outburst. Before he could make it to his own driver’s bench he stepped wrong and lost his balance. He heard her intake of breath as he reached for the traces. He grasped the leather tightly in his left hand. They snapped and he hit the ground with a thud.
She stood over him in three rapid beats of his heart.
“Are ye all right?”
Thank God his mother hadn’t seen. She’d be more breathless than he was sitting here right leg jutting out in front of him in the dust next to a cow. The tail slapped his face.
Beti laughed. A loud, full, belly laugh.
He looked around. Had Curd come back?
“Ye’re right.” She gasped between long strangled sounds of laughter. “It is funny.”
He couldn’t help the grin appearing on his face as she leaned against the wagon trying to gain control. So she thought it was funny did she? He’d never before heard a sound that made his heart sing quite like that.
Before she’d stopped gasping, his mother came up and caught sight of him on the ground.
“Oh, no!” Lightning flashed in her eyes. “How dare ye laugh at a cripple,” she raged at Beti.
Zeke grabbed hold of the wagon wheel and pulled himself to his feet. “Stop fussing, Mama.”
“It’s outrageous.” Then it sunk in that he was standing. “Ye’re all right then?”
“Yes. Is Tirzah with ye?”
His mother left them as quickly as she’d come casting a withering look at Beti.
“Ye are amused, Miss Beti?”
Her blue-green eyes twinkled in the sun. “Yes. I admit I was quite confused the other night when ye tied the reins of yer friends. Today ye have solved my conundrum of what was funny.”
“So ye swapped my harness for yer own worn and discarded leather.”
“Oh, no. I did not say I perpetrated the deed. I only found humor in the obvious retaliation of yer friends.”
He had to concede it was more likely to have been Mose or Gordon, but he found he did not wish to stop the banter between them.
“The good book has plenty to say about being kind, especially to a cripple.” His mother appeared next to him with a new harness.
“Stop calling me that,” Zeke snapped. He took the harness and proceeded to remove the shredded leather from his team. “Miss Beti didn’t do this, Mother, it was Mose or Gordon.” His money was on Mose, after watching Gordon chase his boys, he knew he probably didn’t have the time to think of it much less execute it.
“It wasn’t kind.”
Beti clasped her hands. “I am sorry, Mrs. Smith. If ye could have seen him plop just that way…” Another fit of giggles over took her. Zeke hid his smile by adjusting the traces. His mother remained unmoved. Beti cleared her throat to regain her composure. “Perhaps if he’s so bad off, Mrs. Smith, then he should not attempt this journey at all.” She pointed a look at him.
“Precisely what I and his sister have been telling him. But he will be stubborn. Just like his father.”
“Mama,” Zeke admonished.
“Since there is no use in arguing, and everyone who wishes to, will be traveling, perhaps we should all let the matter drop,” Beti offered.
“Indeed,” Zeke added. He limped toward his mother. A curious numbness still wrapped around his hip.
“Perhaps I should reconsider, Hezekiah. It won’t take me but a couple of hours to make us ready. Ye did just suffer a tumble.”
Silas gave her a nudge. Beti gave Zeke a grin and went to her own rig.
Zeke let out a groan. “No. Mama, it has been decided. All is settled between ye and my uncle, is it not?”
Mama looked down. “Aye.”
“I will let ye know when I have settled and then send for Tirzah.”
His sister hopped up to the bench rocking the entire wagon.
“Are ye sure ye will not change yer mind? I can help ye.” Her hopefulness pulled at his heart. He could have allowed his sister to come. She would at least be company, and her stew was more than a sight better than his own cooking.
“Tirzah.” His mother’s voice took on that quality that only his mother could achieve. “Ye will not be traveling to Kentucky with ye brother alone.”
“I am sure.” He answered.
Her eyes pleaded. “Ye will not forget to come to get me once ye have the cabin built.”
“I will come for ye.”
“Ye promise.”
He grinned. “I promise.”
* * *
Beti wasn’t sure just what came over her. It wasn’t like her to laugh at a person in distress, but the surprise on Zeke’s face when he landed in the dirt tickled her funny bone like it hadn’t been touched in a long time. Her soul stretched enough to break through grief that had encapsulated her for so many months. Movement ahead alerted her that the foremost wagons had begun.
A thrill ran through her entire body. This was it. Her dream was coming true. She was going west. Beti called Nellie to bring the sheep into a closer group. She took a spot at the head of sheep sending Nellie to the back to keep them in good order.
The unpaved road out of town was wide enough that she could keep her flock to the left of her wagon and Zeke’s behind her. Once they hit the woods, she’d have to drop behind the wagons or risk one of the sheep getting trodden by a wheel. Deciding she’d best start as she meant to go, she nodded to Toby in the driver’s seat and took her place in the front of Silas and his ewes. She’d lead them behind Zeke’s wagon.
Men and women lined the street wishing the best to family members. It was all she could do to keep Silas and company moving forward as they shied away from the crowd.
“Miss Beti, there ye are!” Miss Polly waded through the sheep. “My dear, I am so glad I caught ye. I was just collecting the post and here was this letter for ye! It is such a blessing that I found ye.” She fanned herself with the folded paper square. “My goodness, but this wagon train sure is taking it’s time to get started.” Miss Polly stepped out of the way of the sheep to take a look at the column slowly heading out of town.
Beti eyed the letter serving as Miss Polly’s temporary fan. “Is that the letter?”
“Oh, my, yes. I’m sorry, child. Ye know, I’d forget my feet if they weren’t anchored on.”
Beti received the letter as her heart filled with regret at leaving the dear lady. She’d been so kind. Beti stuffed the letter into her pocket and wrapped her arms around Miss Polly.
“Thank ye, Miss Polly. I will miss ye.”
Surprised by Beti’s hug, Miss Polly quickly recovered and returned Beti’s embrace with warmth and not a few tears.
“I will miss ye, child.” She stepped back from Beti to dab her nose and eyes with her kerchief. “It is not too late. Ye can stay here. I have plenty of room.”
Tears misted Beti’s eyes. For a split second she reconsidered. Before she could form a solid thought, her dream resurged. “Thank ye, Miss Polly, but I have to try.”
The dear lady took the resigned breath of a wife and mother who’d heard all the arguments for adventure before. “Of course ye do. Go with God, child. Ye have my prayers.”
Zeke’s wagon rolled forward.
“I shall pray for ye,” Beti answered, and then she called for Nellie. The dog came around the back of the little group, and they all took their first step toward their new home. Beti prayed for the wagon train and all the road they would travel. She prayed for dear Miss Polly.
Beti supposed she could have made her home in Kemp’s Landing. Miss Polly hadn’t been the only Godsend in this place. The little church where she’d worshiped. Mr. Morgan. Even the townspeople who didn’t know her and therefore didn’t judge her every step. And of course there was Hezekiah Smith. The infuriating man who made her laugh.
Why had she not paid more attention to his injury? Perhaps because everything about the man vibrated with a playful energy. When she’d first seen him, she’d been captured by his strength, nearly overpowered by his masculinity.
He didn’t seem to focus on his leg. On the other hand, his mother and sister hovered over him like seagulls with a cracker source.
In truth, she was glad there was a wagon between them. While walking with her flock gave her lots of time to think, she didn’t want him before her eyes constantly. Then she would only think about him. And she was having enough trouble with that already.
* * *
Mose loped down on his horse giving the call for dinner. They hadn’t gotten far, between four and five miles since they left, but slow and steady was going to win this race. And Zeke’s numb backside would be only too happy to get off the seat and circulate a bit. Kids and their parents took off into the woods on either side of the road to take care of necessary things. Zeke rounded the wagon just in time to hear Beti command her dog to lay down.
Nellie laid belly down behind the sheep. The flock stopped too. All morning he’d watched her control the ever forming and reforming group of animals. She’d stopped them several times as the train of wagons ebbed and flowed. Zeke found himself fascinated by the precision of her commands and the response of the dog and the little herd.
“How long have ye been driving sheep?”
Beti looked up into his eyes. Wisps of mahogany curls escaped from her cap softening her face. He held his hand to keep from curling one around his fingers. Rather than fatigue, her tanned skin flushed with exertion gave her a look of exhilaration and vitality that caught him by surprise.
“Since I was a wee girl.”
“Shall I watch them for ye?”
“I shall wait for Toby. No doubt he will return momentarily.”
“He should have waited for ye.”
“I am his employer, Mr. Smith. I go second.”
He touched the brim of his hat and stepped back to his own wagon.
Mose returned from his rounds and swung himself down from the saddle. He pulled a folded cloth from his saddle bag and sat stood next to Zeke’s wagon.
“I think I’ve had enough sitting for a spell. Watchoo got to eat?”
“Same as you, I expect.”
“It was kind of yer sister to make me a meal.”
“Aye.” Zeke didn’t wish to talk about his sister. The disappointment in her eyes when their mother had told her she was staying behind still tugged at his heart. No matter the rightness of the decision.
“She said she plans to come to Kentucky herself.” Mose stuffed half the biscuit in his mouth.
Toby came back, and Beti slipped out to the woods.
Zeke nodded and took a bite out of his own biscuit. He squelched the notion to double check that his sister hadn’t stowed away in his gear. He made it through two biscuits before Beti returned.
“Captain says Mr. Edwards has offered to hold services on Sundays,” Mose offered.
“Ye make it right with Aggie?”
Sheepish, Mose shook out the now empty cloth and bunched it in his hand. “I did. I told her I was sorry as I could be and that I just wanted to look out for her was all.”
Zeke grinned. “How’d she take that?”
Mose rubbed the back of his neck before grinning back. “She smacked me with a rein and told me not to be late if I wanted supper. She said ye can come too.”