The Bride Series (Omnibus Edition)

by Bittner, Rosanne

  “We should do what Cap says and wait our turn,” Marybeth spoke up.

  “It’s not for a woman to decide,” Mac told her. “Don’t be sticking your nose into men’s business.”

  Marybeth took Danny from the wagon, hating Mac more than she ever had before. His only remark when he saw the bruise on her face was that it was about time she learned her place. “When you marry John, he’ll tame you down soon enough,” he had told her. “Then you’ll behave like a proper daughter-in-law.”

  The day was refreshingly cool, and Marybeth wrapped a blanket around Danny. “If you’re going to cross against orders, I’m not going to be inside the wagon when you do it,” she told them.

  Mac ordered Ella to get into the wagon, and John whipped at the oxen, shouting at them to get moving. Mac walked beside him as the wagon creaked and groaned. Oxen and wagon moved out around the others, and Bill whistled and cracked a whip at his own oxen, following the MacKinder wagon. The wagons passed Marybeth, who decided to lag behind. She didn’t want to be present and suffer the embarrassment the rest of the MacKinders and Bill Stone would experience when they were reprimanded for falling out of place in line and disobeying orders.

  She watched as they passed the other wagons and headed for the river. In the distance she could see Josh Rivers riding toward them. She held her breath as she watched him shouting at John and Mac. As she came closer she caught the words “damn fool,” spoken by Josh.

  “I’m tired of taking orders from the likes of you, Rivers,” she heard John shouting. “You can’t always be telling us what to do. That river is plenty shallow and we’re taking the wagons across.”

  “It’s shallow, but some places are more dangerous than others. There are rocks in the river, and places where a wagon can sink so deep nothing can get it out.”

  “And you know everything there is to know, right? That makes you a big man, does it?”

  “I’m only telling you what Devon has told us. He knows this river like the back of his hand. But you’ve insisted on making a total fool of yourself this whole trip, so go ahead and do it again!”

  “We’ll get across just fine, and when we do, others can follow and we’ll be saving a lot of time. Cap’s an old man who gets a little too careful,” John yelled back.

  Other wagons began moving out of line, several others agreeing with John, even though most disliked him intensely. The weather and boredom, mishaps and fatigue had begun to do their dirty work on tempers and patience. Others were anxious to get to the water, and even more anxious to get to Fort Laramie. They began lining up behind John, and John proudly drove the oxen into the river, feeling like the victor, deciding he was becoming just as experienced at these things as Josh Rivers thought he was. He was sick and tired of being made to look the lesser man just because he had never been in such country before; also, he was tired of Josh Rivers looking like the great hero just because he was a good hunter.

  Give me a horse and musket, and I’d do just as well, he thought as he headed into the refreshing water.

  The oxen balked a little and he whipped and shouted at them. Josh rode up to Devon and Cap. “What should we do?” he asked.

  Devon just grinned. “Let him go. You will enjoy it.”

  Half way across the oxen seemed to stumble. Their eyes grew wide with frantic fear as their hooves slid off smooth rocks and their feet sank into a quicksand-like river bed. Instantly they struggled to get free, lurching forward and dragging the wagon against a huge hidden boulder, bringing the left front wheel up and over the rock so that the center of the wagon came crashing down against it, cracking the bed. John shouted at the oxen to calm down, but they kept charging ahead, even though the rear wheel had become embedded in the soft bottom and could not be pulled up and over the rock. The oxen strained until the rear wheel snapped away from its hub, breaking spokes and cracking the rear axle. Finally the oxen, with a mixture of fear and their mighty strength, strained so hard at the yoke that they snapped the tongue from the rest of the wagon and made it to shore dragging the tongue behind them, leaving the badly damaged wagon behind, still in the river.

  Several men hurriedly brought the shaken oxen under control, and John stood in the river, cursing with such vehemence that mothers tried to cover their children’s ears. In spite of the gravity of the situation, Marybeth could not help the laughter that rose inside of her and came out in full force. It felt good to laugh, especially to laugh at John MacKinder. For the moment it didn’t matter that the wagon was buried and broken. All that mattered was that John MacKinder had lost again.

  She realized then that others around her were also laughing, and she glanced at Josh Rivers, who looked back at her and grinned. Mac was helping Ella out of the wagon, and the woman waded back to shore while Bill Stone waded back in with Mac to check the damage and try to figure out how to get the wagon out of the water. Cap rode to the sight on his mule, ordering those who had got out of line to get back where they belonged.

  “This is what happens when my orders are disobeyed!” he shouted. He rode the mule part way into the river. “MacKinder, I ought to kick you off this train! It’s gonna take the better part of four or five days to repair that damn wagon, I can tell that from here! We ain’t waitin’ that long. You can just sit here and fix that wagon and catch up. We’re goin’ on without you, you damn fool!”

  “I’ll catch up sooner than you think,” John shouted back, raising his fist. “This is Josh Rivers’ fault! He nodded toward this section of the river like it would be all right.”

  “And you’re a damn liar!” Cap turned to Devon. “Help the rest of them across. We’ll make noon camp on the other side and then we’re going on without the MacKinders. They can catch up.” He shouted across the river. “Some of you men on the other side see if you can help MacKinder get that wagon out.”

  While John and Mac were busy cursing and tugging at their wagon, Josh rode back to Marybeth, who was still laughing. He grinned and looked down at her. “You don’t seem very upset.”

  “I can’t help it. John MacKinder always has to learn things the hard way. I enjoy seeing him make such a grand fool of himself. It serves him right.”

  Josh detected the bitterness and hatred in the remark, in spite of her lingering laughter.

  “The only bad thing about it is Mac’s going to leave them behind to repair the wagon. They’ll have to catch up. Between repairing the wagon and making up for time, it could be six to ten days before they reach the wagon train again, maybe longer.”

  Marybeth’s smile faded. She looked up at him, suddenly looking like a beautiful, vulnerable young girl to Josh. “You mean—we’d stay behind—alone?”

  He nodded, noticing a growing panic in her eyes.

  She hugged Danny closer. “Wouldn’t that be dangerous? We could be attacked by Indians or…or starve to death. Anything could happen!”

  “Another wagon train would probably come by in a week or two.”

  “But…I don’t want to be with another wagon train. I want to stay with this one…with Delores…with—” She looked up at him. “With you,” she wanted to say.

  He could read it in her eyes, sensed she only felt safe when he was around. “I’ll go talk to Cap. Maybe we can figure something out. I’ll try to convince him that because of the baby you shouldn’t be left behind.”

  Her eyes shone with gratefulness. “Talk to Delores. She’d let me stay with her, I know she would. Cap might be more agreeable if he knew I had willing help.”

  He nodded. “Good idea.”

  “John and Mac—they might not allow it.”

  “After what they pulled today? They’ll have to go along with Cap or suffer the wrath of most people on this wagon train. You wait right here.”

  Her eyes showed their gratefulness. “Thank you.”

  Their eyes held and he gave her a wink. “All in a day’s work, ma’am.”

  He turned his horse and she watched him ride up to Cap. He dismounted and seemed to be arg
uing with the man, but she could not hear what was being said.

  “You think I don’t know why you want her to go ahead with the rest of us,” Cap was saying. “You’re lookin’ for big trouble, Josh Rivers, the kind I told you to stay out of when I first hired you on.”

  “It isn’t for me, Cap. She’s afraid of John MacKinder. He put that bruise on her face. My God, Cap, if she’s left behind alone with them, that man might force himself on her. How is she going to fend off a man that size? You know how crazy a man can get out in a wilderness like this, and you know Mac MacKinder or Bill Stone wouldn’t do a thing about it! Besides, she’s got a baby. That could be your excuse for insisting she be allowed to go on.”

  Cap looked him over. “I know how a single man can lose control out here, all right. That what you’ve got in mind?”

  Josh sighed mightily. “Damn it, Cap, I didn’t plan on any of this. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about it, but I haven’t had the chance. Right now I’m not asking for my sake, Cap. It’s for her!”

  Cap scratched his head. “What would she do? Walk? Sleep out in the open with a little baby?”

  “Delores Svensson would let her ride with them. I haven’t asked her yet, but I know she would. She’s become a good friend to Marybeth.”

  “Marybeth? What happened to Mrs. MacKinder?”

  Josh closed his eyes and sighed again. “Cap, please.”

  The old man grinned a little. “All right. But it’s against my better judgment.”

  “Thank you, Cap. And be sure to make it look like your idea—your order. Leave me out of it. I’ll ride across river and talk to Delores,”

  Marybeth watched Cap nod, saw the two men shake hands. She breathed a sigh of relief and kissed Danny’s head, and she prayed there would be no big problems over the decision. Six to ten days away from the MacKinders! It would be like being let out of prison! How she relished the thought of it. She walked up to the edge of the river and watched as several men tied a team of mules to what was left of the wagon tongue. Several more men lifted the back of the wagon and shoved while the mules pulled, and after a lot more cursing and shouting and one man suffering a badly pinched hand, they managed to get the wagon to the other side, where its broken bed sagged sadly and its left rear comer hung nearly to the ground. A few others carried out what was left of the broken wheel.

  “I’ve got a spare wheel,” Marybeth heard Bill Stone telling Mac. “You can use that. I’ll stay behind and help you, Mac.”

  Mac shouted for Ella and Marybeth to wait until Bill could bring his own wagon across and come across with him. Marybeth waited, watching with a pounding heart when Cap crossed the river and rode up to talk with Mac and John.

  “Never!” she heard John shout. “She stays with us!” His big, booming voice was easy to hear.

  “…baby!” she heard Cap say more calmly. She couldn’t catch all his words, but she heard something about Indians and food. “What kind of men let pride get in the way of the safety of women!”

  John looked around, realizing others were staring. “All right,” she heard him bark. “But my mother stays with us. We’ve got to have a woman to cook for us. With one less mouth to feed, our food should last.”

  “I’ll give you some extra meat rations,” she heard Cap tell them. “Get some of your sister-in-law’s and the baby’s things out of the wagon. She’ll be riding with the Svenssons until you catch up.”

  Marybeth could not imagine why John had suddenly agreed, except that he probably knew that Cap meant business, and if he argued any further and lost, it would make him look bad. He had made enough of a fool of himself for one day. Whatever his reason, Marybeth had not known such joy in years.

  The long line of wagons finally got across, and Marybeth climbed into Bill Stone’s wagon with Ella and they crossed the river. Marybeth had to struggle not to show her joy at the prospect of leaving the MacKinders behind, even Ella.

  “You’ll have to take everything out of that wagon,” Cap was telling Mac. “You can’t fix it with all that weight in it.”

  The man rode up to Marybeth and told her to take out what she needed. Marybeth handed Danny to Ella and walked to the MacKinder wagon on shaking legs, still afraid John would change his mind. But John and Mac were both too involved in inspecting the sagging wagon bed to pay her any attention. She quickly grabbed some clothes and toiletries, the bucket for Danny’s diapers, and more clothes for the baby. She set them outside, then returned inside the wagon to get some blankets. When she turned to leave, she found John standing at the back of the wagon. He climbed part way inside where he couldn’t be seen by everyone and grasped her hair painfully.

  “Real happy about this new arrangement, aren’t you?”

  Marybeth winced. “I’m only obeying orders. Do you think I like the idea of putting someone else out because of your stupidity?”

  He suddenly kissed her, savagely pressing her lips against her teeth. Marybeth tried to get away from the kiss, but he held her head too tightly. With so many people around, he knew she would not make too much of a fuss. He finally released the kiss, keeping a tight hold of her hair. “That was just to make sure you know where you belong, Mrs. MacKinder; and to remind you you’d better not do something to shame yourself and this family! If I hear you went anywhere near that Joshua Rivers, I’ll kill him with my bare hands, and you know I can do it! You understand what I’m telling you?”

  “I understand you’re a pompous fool!” She watched his eyes blaze with a desire to hit her, but he didn’t dare do it right now. She smiled. “Your arrogance caused the destruction of our wagon and some of our belongings, John MacKinder. And it just might cost you more than that some day! If you make trouble for anyone who has helped us on this journey, including Joshua Rivers, I just might take a gun and kill you myself, no matter what others might do to me for it! It would be worth it to keep Danny from growing up under your influence!”

  “Ah, and aren’t you brave when others are about? We both know you don’t have it in your soft little heart to do such a thing. You’ve got no choice but to belong to me eventually, Marybeth, and I’ll kill anyone who gets in the way of that. I wanted you much worse than Dan ever did, and I’ve waited too many years already. It wasn’t fair, him getting to marry you just because he was the oldest. Do you know what torture it was for me knowing he had you in his bed? You should have been mine, and you will be—soon! You remember that, and if you don’t want to be the cause of Joshua Rivers’ death, you stay clear of him while we’re away from this wagon train!”

  “I’ve got no reason or desire to be near the man. But I also don’t have to take your orders. I’ve told you that, and I mean it. Threaten me all you want, John MacKinder! I will never marry you! And I will never bow to your orders.”

  He only grinned, pulling her hair so hard she was sure it would come out. “I have to say, I like your spirit, Marybeth. It will be a great challenge conquering it.”

  He let go of her hair and Marybeth quickly climbed out of the wagon with the blankets, shivering inside at the knowledge she truly was helpless against him, but refusing to let him see her fear. She opened a blanket and threw hers and Danny’s belongings inside it, telling herself not to worry about what she would do when the MacKinders returned. The only thing she could do now was take advantage of the peace the next several days would bring her.

  She picked up the blanket full of belongings and walked to the Svensson wagon, saying nothing to Mac before she left. She faced Delores with tear-filled eyes, and the young woman walked up and hugged her.

  “Oh, it will be so nice for us, won’t it, Marybeth, especially for you?”

  Marybeth swallowed back tears. “You don’t mind then? I mean, you and Aaron haven’t been married long—”

  “It’s only for a few days. Aaron would never refuse. Oh, Marybeth, many are the times he has wanted to give John MacKinder a piece of his mind and a taste of his fist. He just doesn’t want to make trouble for Cap. I was so happy
when Joshua Rivers told us Cap was going to ask us to take you along. We didn’t hesitate for one minute saying yes.”

  Marybeth sniffed back tears. “Thank you, Delores.” She pulled away from the woman and looked up at Aaron. “Thank you, Aaron. The baby and I won’t eat too much, and I’ll be sure John and Mac pay you something.”

  Aaron shook his head. “Pay is not necessary. We are glad to do it.”

  Marybeth saw the somewhat worried look in the man’s eyes. She hated having to put anyone out, but she knew what would happen to her if she stayed behind. “I’ll go and get Danny from Ella.” She left, her natural pride wounded at having to turn to others for help. She went to get Danny from Ella, who handed him over with a look of stern disapproval on her face, then marched to the MacKinder wagon.

  Marybeth hugged Danny close, feeling as though a mountain had been removed from her shoulders, in spite of having to infringe on Delores and Aaron’s privacy. For the first time since she could even remember, for a few days there would be no MacKinders in her life.

  Chapter Nine

  “Cap?” Josh approached the cook wagon, where Cap sat at the campfire. The old man looked up at him.

  “I already know what you want to say, Josh. You’re lettin’ your feelin’s for that MacKinder woman run away with you.”

  Josh sighed, sitting down across the campfire from him. The air was filled with the sound of crickets, and a mosquito buzzed near Josh’s ear. He slapped it away, thinking how loud the slap sounded in the dark, quiet night. Most of the emigrants were already bedded down, and the whole camp was unusually quiet.

  “I didn’t lie about why I wanted her to stay with the train,” Josh told Cap. “You know as well as I what John MacKinder would have done to her once they were alone.”

  “I know. I also know the trouble that’s brewing. I know you ain’t gonna let this chance to get to know her better slip away from you. I was a hot-blooded young man myself once, you know.”

  Josh grinned, taking out a thin cigar and lighting it. “You ever do something totally stupid and risky over a female?”