The Bride Series (Omnibus Edition)

by Bittner, Rosanne

  “He would not have been! I only meant to leave you without a wagon!”

  Josh jerked desperately to get at the man, and Sam joined in restraining him, and Sam and Cap holding his arms while Aaron crooked an arm around Josh’s neck.

  “Your ribs are still too battered to try to fight,” Aaron growled at him. “And the man has a broken arm.”

  “He’ll have more than a broken arm when I get to him!” Josh’s eyes were burning with rage. “You bastard,” he snarled at John. “You risked Danny’s life, just because you couldn’t stand me and Marybeth being together!” He jerked again. “I knew you’d try something, but I figured it would be against me, not Marybeth and Danny! I want him off this train, Cap! If he doesn’t leave I’ll kill him, I swear it! I don’t give a damn if you hang me for it!”

  “You can’t turn him out of here,” Mac growled. “We’re getting into the worst of the wilderness, headed toward the mountains.”

  “He should have thought of that before he pulled a trick like this,” Josh yelled at the man.

  “I say he goes,” Aaron spoke up.

  “Me, too,” another put in. “We can’t have this constant upheaval between these two men the whole rest of the way. One of them has to go, and it isn’t fair to make it Josh and Marybeth. They haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “The man could have killed them all,” Al Peters spoke up.

  “I agree,” Cap said. He slowly let go of Josh, while Devon continued to hold a pistol on John. “Josh, I’m trustin’ you to keep your head. Neither one of you is in any condition to fight, and a fight wouldn’t solve this anyway. It’s obvious the first one didn’t, and I’m not going to have the women and children submitted to that kind of violence again, much as I understand your feelings.”

  Josh glared at John, breathing deeply for self control. “I’ll keep back,” he snarled, “but only if he leaves—tonight! And when guards are posted, one of them stays near our wagon at all times.”

  “No! You can’t turn him out,” Mac protested again.

  “You can go with him if you choose,” Cap told him. “I’ve a mind to force you out anyway, considerin’ you can be as much of a troublemaker as your son. But you are not the one who got in a fight or set fire to the Rivers wagon, so I’m givin’ you your choice. I’ll remind you you’ve got a woman along, and there are outlaws and Indians in those hills. If you’ve got a shred of decency in you, you’ll stay with the train and with your woman. Your son brags about his strength and size. I reckon’ he’ll find a way to take care of himself and face up to anybody he comes across.”

  Aaron and Sam cautiously let go of Josh, and Mac looked around, realizing what people would think of him if he took Ella and left the wagon train. He turned to his son. “That was a damn stupid stunt!”

  John gritted his teeth, the veins of his temples standing out in his anger. “Without a wagon he could not be with Marybeth,” he hissed.

  “For God’s sake, it’s done now,” Mac told him. “I told you to wait until we get to Oregon.”

  Marybeth felt her heart pounding with fear and dread. “Wait for what!”

  They both looked at her. “Danny belongs with us,” he told her, the old threatening look in his eyes.

  “And so do you,” John added.

  “She’s my wife now, and Danny is my son,” Josh said sharply, his fists clenching.

  “You’re living in sin! It wasn’t a legal marriage. You aren’t Catholic,” John roared.

  Marybeth felt her face turning crimson, felt everyone staring at them. “We were married by a priest,” she answered, her voice shaking. “He wouldn’t have married us if he didn’t deem it legal. He knew how much we love each other, and Josh is going to convert when we get to Oregon. There wasn’t time for all of that, and the priest knew it.”

  “Don’t listen to him, Marybeth,” Josh said, his voice calmer now. “He’s just looking for excuses, trying to hurt you. He knows damn well the marriage was legal.” He stepped a little closer to John, and John, surprisingly, stepped back from him, holding his broken arm. For the first time in her life Marybeth saw fear in John MacKinder’s eyes. “You’re done, MacKinder. You get some supplies together and you go find somebody else to get you to Oregon. But I’ll tell you this, if I see your face again, either before we get there or after, I’ll kill you. That’s a promise.”

  John’s eyes shifted to Cap. “And what if I refuse to go?”

  “Then I’ll keep you tied in the cook wagon the rest of the way. By day you’ll walk with your wrists tied to the wagon with a length of rope and you’ll walk behind it like the common criminal you are. I’ll not let you loose for anything but seein’ to personal needs. They’ve got laws in Oregon now. When we get there I’ll have you tried for attempted murder, and we’ve got plenty of witnesses. Only trouble with the law out here is it’s not quite as civilized as it is back east. Hard tellin’ what the punishment would be. Leavin’ this wagon train is a lot better than your other options.”

  John’s dark eyes turned to Marybeth, and she shivered at the look she saw there. He moved his eyes over her hungrily, making her feel like a harlot, before he turned his gaze to his father. “We never should have left Ireland,” he hissed. “And you never should have let Dan marry her instead of me!” He stormed away, and Mac looked at Ella, whose eyes were tearing. She walked away without a word and Mac followed.

  “Devon, you go along and make sure he does what I told him,” Cap told the scout. Devon nodded and walked off into the darkness.

  Josh stared after them, then turned angry eyes to Cap. “I don’t trust him. I want our wagon watched!”

  “It will be. If there’s no sign of him after we get past Fort Bridger and Fort Hall, I expect you can rest easier. If he’s smart, he’ll head back toward Laramie and hope to hook up with another wagon train. I just pity the ones who take him on.” The man grasped Josh’s arm and squeezed. “You two all right?”

  Josh looked down at a shaken Marybeth and put an arm around her shoulders. She could still feel his rage in the grip. “By God’s grace,” Josh answered. “We were both having trouble sleeping. I was wide awake and I heard something. God only knows what would have happened if we were sleeping soundly. The way that canvas went up, he must have poured some of the coal oil onto it before he set the wick to it.”

  “Devon and I will see that he goes. You stay out of it, understand?”

  “It won’t be easy.”

  “I know that. But you have a wife and child who depend on you now. There’s no sense riskin’ your neck if you don’t have to. I was afraid if you lit into him in front of his pa, John bein’ still wounded and all, his pa would have lit into you. A couple of good blows to your middle could have done you in good.”

  “Some things are worth the pain.”

  “And you can’t go flyin’ off any more. You’ve got responsibilities. As long as you’ve got help and we’ve got laws, there’s no sense usin’ up your energies on trash like John MacKinder. We might need you for more important things. We’ve got a long way to go yet, Josh. We need you to hunt, and we might need your shootin’ skills. Most of all, we need you completely healthy, and so does Marybeth.”

  The man left them, and Marybeth patted Danny’s back, resting the baby on her shoulder. “Cap’s right. Let him go, Josh. He’s lost now, and he knows it. Did you see how he backed away from you?”

  He turned and walked to the wagon, taking his pants from a nail and pulling them on. “We’ll see about patching the canvas when it’s light. You get back inside and tend to Danny.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to go have a smoke with Ben and Trapper. I’m too wound up now to sleep.”

  “You’ve got to try to get some rest before morning.”

  “I’ll manage.” He sighed deeply, putting a hand to her hair. “A man like that ought to be dead,” he said then. “I won’t rest easy until we go a hell of a long time without seeing a sign of him. In t
he meantime, I’ll not let him ever get near you, Marybeth. So you just climb in that wagon and get some rest. I just wish to hell I could have seen better. I didn’t mean for that bullet to just graze his shoulder. I wish it would have gone right through his black heart!”

  He reached inside the wagon again and picked up a shirt.

  “Josh, will you come back later? Please don’t let me lie here alone worrying about you.”

  He leaned down and kissed her lightly. “There is nothing to worry about. I just need some time to cool down.” He took the baby from her and held him until she climbed back into the wagon. He handed Danny up to her. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised. He walked off into the darkness, and Marybeth sank down into the feather mattress, keeping Danny beside her. She lay staring into darkness, listening to loud voices in the distance. She knew it would be John and Mac.

  She closed her eyes against tears, feeling sorry for Ella, thinking back to Ireland and how much had happened since the terrible potato famine. Apart from little Danny, Josh Rivers was the first good thing that had come into her life since that awful time of losing her mother and being married to Dan MacKinder. Josh had been her husband only one week, and already it was difficult to imagine life without him.

  The loud voices continued, as well as the sound of someone banging things together—Probably John trying to pack, she thought.

  At the MacKinder wagon Mac brought a horse and saddle to John. “I bought her off Beckman. He was the only one who would consider selling me a horse,” he spoke up. “She’s not much for speed, but she’s strong.”

  “Looks like a worthless nag to me,” John grumbled. He began tying a sack full of supplies to the pommel of the saddle, hardly noticing the hurt look in his father’s eyes.

  “It was the best I could do. If you hadn’t pulled such a stupid trick, it would not be necessary,” Mac answered. “I told you to wait until we get to Oregon.” He turned and walked to his wagon, coming back with a brand new rifle he had purchased at Fort Laramie. “Here. You’ll be needing this worse than I will.”

  John turned, looking down at the rifle. He took hold of it with his strong hand. “Worth a lot more than the horse, that’s sure.”

  Mac handed him a leather bag full of ammunition. “We’ll be praying for you, son. Just because you’re kicked off this train doesn’t mean you have to be far away. A man could get lost easy in these hills. You hang back, stay close if you can, meet up with us in Oregon. We’ll take care of unfinished business then.”

  “I’ll try to stay close. I ought to shoot down Josh Rivers first chance I get, is what I ought to do.”

  “No. They’d know it was you. I don’t want you being a hunted criminal. We’ll find a way when we get to Oregon. You’ve just got to be patient, son.”

  John shoved the rifle into a boot on the old, worn saddle that had come with the horse. “Patience is something I have little of when it comes to Marybeth MacKinder.” He met his father’s eyes. “Good-bye, Father.”

  Mac squeezed his arm. “Good-bye, son. Stay alert. And stay close.”

  “I will try to do both.” John looked over at his mother. Their eyes held for a moment. John could not remember the last time he had thought of her as anything but his father’s wife, the woman who cooked his meals and washed his clothes. He felt the trace of an urge to hug her, but almost all feelings of affection had vanished when she favored Dan marrying Marybeth instead of himself. Dan had always come first in her eyes, and John could not quite forgive her for it. Ella in turn wanted to embrace her son, but Mac had taught them both at an early age that hugging was a “sissy” thing to do.

  “Good-bye, Mother,” John spoke up. She nodded to him, holding her chin high, hiding the urge to cry. Mac didn’t like weeping women.

  John mounted up. “I will see you in Oregon.” He nodded to Bill Stone and turned his horse, heading east, away from the wagon train.

  Back at her wagon Marybeth heard the sound of a horse riding off. Several minutes later, after her eyes had begun to close in a fitful sleep, someone moved inside the wagon. She jumped awake at first, remembering the fire, and John MacKinder’s threats.

  “It’s just me,” she heard Josh saying. A moment later he crawled under the blankets with her, and she gently moved Danny to her other side and snuggled up against Josh.

  “Hold me, Josh,” she whispered.

  He drew her close, kissing her hair. “He’s gone,” he told her. “I just hope to hell it’s for good.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  The wagon train lumbered on over an undulating sea of yellow grass that sported clusters of cottonwood trees along the Sweetwater. An array of small to medium-sized rocks dotted the landscape and made walking difficult for both humans and animals, causing unending problems with well-worn wagons. Cap had strayed slightly from the main trail because of lack of grass for grazing. Both grass and game along the now well-used trail was becoming more and more scarce, gobbled up by the thousands who had gone to California over the last two years. The trail continued to be littered with the bones of oxen and other animals that had died along the way, as well as with rotting, discarded furniture and lonely graves.

  Food became so scarce that women began looking for edible berries, and one man accidentally shot another in the leg when he fired his rifle wildly after spotting a rabbit. While Devon dug the bullet from the screaming victim, Cap gave orders that no one was to touch his gun unless ordered to do so under an emergency. “Leave the huntin’ to Josh and the scouts.”

  The food scarcity compelled Josh to ride farther from the wagon train to find game than Marybeth liked. She worried not only about outlaws, but about being followed by John MacKinder. For the next two weeks, as they neared Fort Bridger, there was no sign of him. She wished she could feel sorry for him, a greenhorn alone in this new wilderness, but she could not. She could only imagine the wagon on fire and little Danny dying a horrible death.

  By day her worries were soothed by the changing land, the almost constant sunshine and the cool nights, the sight of the snow-covered mountains on the northern horizon, which Cap told her were called the Bighorns because of Bighorn sheep that roamed there in abundance; and the Rocky Mountains to the west, to which they came closer every day. And every evening she breathed a sigh of relief when Josh returned to camp again, especially the night he showed up with two antelope and two rabbits draped over his pack horse. Several women with hungry children quickly converged to help clean the animals and divide the meat as evenly as possible.

  “It’s damn good to have somebody who can ride out and hunt for us,” Cap told them over the night’s campfire. He licked grease from his fingers. “I’ve been on wagon trains where folks got so hungry they was about ready to kill their own animals and eat them. Only thing that kept them from that was the thought of bein’ stranded in the middle of Indian country.”

  Josh fed a piece of bread to Danny, who sat on his lap. “I’ll keep trying, but there isn’t much out there.”

  “Should get better in another month to six weeks. The animals will come down out of the mountains because of winter comin’ on.”

  “In August?” Marybeth was surprised. “Since I have been in this country, it seems August is the hottest time of the year.”

  Cap chuckled. “Maybe in the East it is. Out on the plains, too. But in this country, from August on, you learn not to count on how the weather is supposed to be. You take a day at a time and hope for the best, especially when we get farther into the mountains. I’ve known it to blizzard up there the first of September. ’Course them early snows generally don’t last, but when they come, they come hard and bury you deep for a few days.

  “Don’t you be worryin’, though. I’m just givin’ you the worst picture. If things go like normal, we should make it to Oregon sometime in October, and once we get through the Rockies in Idaho country, we get into lower, flatter land again where the weather shouldn’t be too bad. There’s mountains in Oregon, but once you get to the
Willamette Valley, the weather is pretty decent. ’Course they can get some pretty wild storms there in winter, what with the Pacific Ocean bein’ so close, but you’ll be in a nice, cozy cabin by then.”

  He winked at her and she smiled, feeling the reality of a home in Oregon with Josh coming even closer.

  “We taking Sublette’s Cutoff?” Trapper asked Cap.

  Cap threw a bone aside. “I’ve been thinkin’ on it. It’s a hard decision. If we head down to Fort Bridger, we can stock up a little. But if we just go directly west on the cutoff, we’ll save ourselves five, maybe six days of travel. In another week or so we’d be at Fort Hall.” He looked at Josh, who was handing Danny to Marybeth. “Which do you think is best—takin’ the south loop and pickin’ up supplies at Bridger, or takin’ the cutoff and savin’ a week’s travel?”

  Josh finished lighting a thin cigar. “I’m not the one to ask. I’m as new to this trail as the rest of them.”

  “Maybe so, but you’ve got a feel for the land, and you have a good idea of how low the rations are. Can we afford to pass over Fort Bridger?”

  Josh puffed the cigar for a moment. “If it will save a week’s travel and there will be plenty of supplies at Fort Hall, we can.”

  “Well, I don’t know about plenty, but there will be supplies. And if we can save a week’s travel, we can afford to rest an extra day or so after we get there. I expect folks would like that.”

  “I’m going to put Danny to sleep,” Marybeth told Josh, rising. “You men can make your plans.”

  They all bid her good-night, and she carried Danny to the wagon, laying him inside. She started to climb up when she heard her name spoken softly by a woman. She turned, looking into the darkness beyond the wagon, and Ella stepped from the shadows. “Hello, Ella,” she said quietly.