“Aw, Fannie, none of the other kids do lessons on the trail.”
Kip’s protests were loud and heartfelt, but Fannie stood firm. “I’m tired of having this argument with you, Kip. You know I promised Mama I’d see to it you and Katie get an education, and I intend to keep to my promise. Now sit yourself down and finish those sums, or you’ll be here all day.”
“It ain’t fair.”
“It isn’t fair. And you know what? I don’t care if every other child on this train is as stupid as a squirrel. You and Katie are going to keep up with your lessons. So put your nose in that book and finish those sums.”
And the sooner they finished, the better. Inside the wagon, it was stifling hot. She envied Toni her spot driving the team in the gusty wind that had grown cool over the past couple of hours. She figured a storm was most likely brewing, and longed to sit outside before being driven back inside the wagon to wait out the rain.
“I’m done, Fannie,” Katie piped up. “May I walk with Becca?”
Fannie hesitated. Over the past week, since Willard had disappeared from camp, she’d lived in constant fear, despite the fact that Blake made sure guards were posted by her wagon every night. So far, she’d kept the twins close, refusing to allow them out of her sight. But she was beginning to see that they couldn’t stay by her side for the rest of the trip. “Be sure Hank is around to watch you walk back to their wagon, okay?”
The little girl’s eyes lit with excitement. “Thank you, Fannie.”
She leapt for the canvas flap. “Whoa,” Fannie called. “Climb up front with Toni and wait for Hank like I said.”
“Oh all right.” She pouted, but obeyed and crawled back through the wagon. “You never used to make me wait for Hank. I don’t see why things have changed all of a sudden.”
Fannie had chosen not to reveal the Wanted poster’s existence to the twins. There was no reason to make them afraid. “I already told you, Katie. Mr. Tanner is asking us to be more careful than we were in the beginning because it’s more dangerous in this part of the country. More Indians, more outlaws, wild animals. He just wants to make sure everyone stays safe. Now do you understand?”
The little girl lifted her tiny shoulders in a shrug. “I guess.” She crawled onto the bench by Toni. Fannie stuck her head out of the opening. “I told her she can walk with Becca. Make sure Hank keeps an eye on her, please.”
Toni’s eyes showed the same concern Fannie felt, but she nodded just the same. “I see Hank coming back down the line. I’ll talk to him as soon as he gets closer.”
“Done.” Kip’s announcement brought a sigh of relief to Fannie’s lips. “All right. Hand it over.”
“Mr. Tanner said I can ride Peaches and scout with Mr. Two Feathers if you say it’s okay. Can I go?”
Fannie hesitated again. “I don’t know, Kip. It’s starting to rain a little.”
“Oh, Fannie. Let the child go,” Toni said, her voice filled with tension. “A little rain isn’t going to hurt him, and you know well and good Sam won’t let any harm come to him.”
Fannie considered her friend’s words although she couldn’t help the tiny bit of resentment that welled up in her at the way Toni undermined her. But she did have a point. She couldn’t keep the children locked away out of fear. She made a swift decision. “All right. Be back here before dusk.”
“Okay!”
“I mean it, Kip. Don’t be late this time!”
Fannie watched Kip until he disappeared up the line, then she turned back to Toni. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing. Just leave me alone.”
Hurt jumbled through her. “Have I done something to upset you, Toni?”
The woman’s shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. “No.”
“Has someone been cruel?”
“No. I can tend to cruel women.”
“Don’t make me guess, Toni. It’s just a waste of energy. Tell me what’s upset you.”
She gave a jerk of her thumb toward the side of the wagon. “Hank. He asked me to marry him last night.”
Fannie gasped. “I thought he was already married.”
“He is, Fannie. He wants me to go through with a ceremony by a preacher in front of all the wagon train folks so they’ll think we’re married after we get to Oregon. H-he says he can’t be this close to me every day without being…close.”
Fannie’s face warmed. “You told him no?”
“I was too scared.” She shuddered. “He was insistent.”
“We’re a full week gone from the last town, anyway. There’s no telling when we’ll find another preacher.” Fannie shook the reins to get the oxen’s attention away from a piece of prairie grass. “Can’t you just sort of hold him off for a while?”
She shook her head. “He wants to ride back on horseback, get married, and rejoin the wagon train within a week.”
“But then no one would see you get married.”
“I know. I told you, he’s unhinged.”
And for the first time, Fannie was starting to believe maybe Toni was right. She would always be grateful to the man for helping her leave Tom, but she couldn’t bear to watch Toni in such turmoil.
“Toni, you have to come right out and tell him that you aren’t going west to build a life with him.”
“I know. You’re right. But it’s not an easy thing to do.”
The wind burst across the plain and flung dirt and sand at the wagon train. “Good heavens,” Fannie said. “Where did that come from?”
“Look at that sky, Fannie.”
Shades of green and black rolled across the horizon. The wagon train came to a slow stop as the rest of the travelers began to realize they were in for a storm.
Blake rode by, his face grim. “We’re circling the wagons now. Brace yourselves. This isn’t going to be much fun.”
“Where’s Kip?”
“He’s helping get the supply wagon secure. Do you need him to help you?”
Fannie shook her head. “We can do it.” She hopped down, and Toni followed suit. They fought the wind and dirt as they began unhitching.
“Fannie, when the storm hits, don’t get inside the wagon. Get underneath. With any luck it’s loaded down enough to keep from blowing away.”
“What do you mean blowing away?” Alarm shot through her. “Are we in for a twister?”
“Could be.”
Fannie had lived on the Kansas prairie long enough to be all too familiar with storms. But she’d never seen a twister. The very thought of it filled her with dread.
The two women got the wagon in place and the team unhitched just as the thunder and lightning began to make a terrible show in the heavens.
“Should I get Katie?” Fannie asked just as hailstones the size of dumplings began to rain from the sky.
“Mrs. Kane will see to it that Katie’s safe. Let’s get under the wagon.”
“There’s Kip!” The boy ran lickety-split and reached them in no time flat. “Why aren’t you under the wagon?” he demanded.
Kip took his own advice, and Toni followed suit. Just as Fannie was about to join them, the tail of a funnel began to slip from the clouds along the horizon. She watched, mesmerized, as the tail grew wider and longer, swirling and moving and coming straight toward the wagon train.
Blake saw the twister forming and dread hit him full in the gut. He began to question why they hadn’t stayed one more day and celebrated the weddings or why they had stopped at all? Either course of action would have allowed the wagon train to escape the impending disaster. But you just couldn’t predict these things. Blake was about to slip under the supply wagon when he noticed one person still standing outside, watching the twister form as it headed their way. “Who is that idiot?” he muttered to himself. His heart grew cold as he recognized Fannie’s red hair whipping around her head in the wind. “Fannie!” he called. “Get under the wagon!”
She seemed transfixed by the tornado. He’d seen it before. Fascinated terror rendered people paralyzed. The proximity of the twister to the wagon train was troubling, but he couldn’t just leave her there. Her tiny body wouldn’t stand a chance against the wind as the storm grew closer and closer.
He ran toward her, calling her name, dodging pots and pans and other flying debris.
“Fannie!”
Fannie heard her name, carried on the wind. The twister, fearsome and wild, bore down upon their camp and she knew that this time she really was about to die. “Is that you, God?”
“Fannie! Get under the blasted wagon, you little idiot.”
Definitely not the Almighty. The angry shout roused her from her hypnotic state, and she turned to see Blake running toward her.
“Blake!”
“Fannie, get under the wagon.”
She dropped to her hands and knees and scrambled toward the wagon. She looked back and, just when she thought her heart couldn’t beat any faster, a skillet flew across the camp and slammed into the side of Blake’s head. He went down out cold.
Fannie’s stomach dropped. She jumped back to her feet and ran the few yards to where the unconscious Blake lay next to Mr. Cooper’s empty wagon. Fannie grabbed his arms and began to pull.
“I’m coming, Fannie!” Kip called.
“No!” she shouted back. “Toni, don’t you let him set one foot out from under that wagon.”
She pulled, her muscles screaming against the burden. “Blake, wake up! Dear Lord in Heaven, please wake him up. I can’t pull him alone.”
Giving a great heave, she jerked again and again. The wind roared louder and louder, but she was afraid to look up. The force of the gale was so strong now that she had to fight to stay on her feet. If she saw the twister, she knew her courage might fail. And right now, Blake’s life depended upon her courage remaining firm.
The rain started in sheets, driving hard onto the parched, dusty earth. It whipped about in the wind until Fannie could barely see. “Blake!” she screamed. Finally, he moved. She crawled under the wagon, grabbed his arms, and tried to pull. “Blake, you have to do this. I can’t.”
“Fannie?” He turned to the west, and his eyes widened. The twister was so close, only a miracle would keep it from leveling the wagon train. Blake scrambled beneath the wagon and covered Fannie with his body. Hidden in the warmth, Fannie closed her eyes and waited for the end to come.
Blake crawled out from under the wagon and reached down to help Fannie. His head ached and bled, and by the way it spun when he stood up, he figured he had a knot the size of Oregon on his head. Fannie gave a soft gasp as they surveyed the barely recognizable camp. Wagons overturned. Animals on their sides, hurt or dead. Toni and Kip joined them. “I can’t believe it,” Toni said, shaking her head. “It’s just too terrible to believe.”
“It looks like the twister hit more directly closer to the end of the train.”
And then screams began to fill the air. Blake turned to Fannie. “Are you and your family okay?”
“I have to find Katie,” Fannie said. “She was walking with Becca.”
“Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her along toward the Kane wagon.
She found Katie sitting alone on the ground. The little girl was staring straight ahead, tears streaming. Fannie rushed to her and gathered her up in her arms. “Thank God you’re all right.”
“Fannie,” Blake said quietly. “Look.”
She turned the direction of his gaze. Mrs. Kane sat before the wagon, her arms wrapped around Becca’s broken little body. Her face remained stoic, and not one tear glistened on her cheeks. “She was the only baby I had left.”
Her weeping husband tried to take her in his arms. “You leave me alone!” she yelled. “This is your fault. I should never have left my home and followed you west. My ma warned me. But I wouldn’t listen. Now look. There’s nothing left.” A strangled sob hit her throat. “Nothing!”
Fannie clutched her little sister tight. That little body could have been Katie. It could have been any of them. Had she really done the right thing taking the twins out of one danger into another?