Woman of Courage (Four Full length Historical Christian Romances in One Volume): Woman of Courage Series

by Cynthia Hickey

  “Getting yourself kidnapped.” The woman smirked. “We haven’t run across unfriendly hostiles the whole trip. Why’d they choose you? What do you have up that mountain trash sleeve of yours, anyway?”

  Delly wished she had a weapon stashed up her sleeve. Anything to wipe the hateful words from the other woman’s mouth. But that wouldn’t be Christian. Two wrongs did not make a right. “I have no claims on Mr. Williams.” With a swish of her skirts, she stepped off the mercantile stoop and headed toward the wagons.

  “Hey.” Zeke jogged to her side and grinned, twisting his hat. “I’ve found that bath you’ve been longing for.”

  “What?” Delly squealed. “Really? How did you know about that?” Her smile quickly faded. Had their kiss, given at a moment of weakness after he rescued her from the Indians, given Zeke ideas? A bath sounded lovely, but not at the expense of Delly letting go of her ideals and goals.

  “Junior told me. No strings attached.” He crooked his arm.

  She bit the inside of her lip before slipping her hand into the crook of his elbow. It was mighty hard to turn down the offer of a hot bath. Maybe the warm water would settle her stomach. She glanced back to see Sophia glaring at them. A shiver ran down Delly’s spine.

  Zeke led her to a small room behind the Captain’s quarters. Inside, sat a metal tub full of steaming water. Zeke ushered her inside and stepped out. “I’ll send Sadie to help you. You deserve a time of pampering. There’s a pretty smelling soap for you to use too.”

  Tears stung her eyes. “Thank you.” And when she’d finished, she’d treat Sadie to the same.

  “Miss Delly?” Sadie poked her head inside. “You ready for me to wash your hair?”

  “Heavens, Sadie, I’m not even in the water yet. Come in and close the door.”

  Sadie did as she was asked.

  Delly dropped her dress in a puddle on the floor. “You do mine and I’ll do yours. And please, drop the Miss. Aren’t we close enough friends by now?”

  “Old habits are hard to break.” Sadie stuck a hand in the tub. “Nice and warm.”

  Delly shed the rest of her clothes and stepped into the water, sinking down until nothing showed but her head and knees, she closed her eyes while Sadie poured water over her head.

  “I got me some news to share.” Sadie said.

  Delly opened her eyes. “Good news?”

  Sadie rubbed a bar of rose smelling soap between her hands then spread it through Delly’s hair. “I’m thinking so. Luke done asked me to marry him.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Delly’s turned to face her and gripped her friend’s hands. “When?”

  “There’s a lay preacher staying at the fort. So, tonight.” A grin spread across Sadie’s face. “I’m marrying my love, Miss Delly.”

  “Hurry up and rinse me, Sadie. We’ve got a wedding to get you ready for.” Delly ducked under the water. Her friend was getting married. Although marriage wasn’t for Delly, she couldn’t be happier for Sadie. She’d seen how she and Luke looked at each other. Witnessed how he’d give his life for his woman. The two proved that love did exist in the world.

  The ceremony took place in the center of the wagon circle. Sadie was radiant in a pale yellow dress, her hair hanging free around her shoulders. Luke towered over her petite frame, wearing patched, but clean overalls. A simple, humble picture that loosed the tears from Delly’s eyes. She sniffed and put her arms around the shoulders of her children.

  “You all right?” Zeke stood beside her.

  “They make a pretty picture.”

  “They do. If it’s okay with you, I’m giving them the tent. Junior usually bunks down with me under the supply wagon anyway.”

  She glanced at his strong profile. “That’s mighty nice of you.”

  He chuckled. “I can be nice.”

  He could. That’s what made it so difficult for Delly to keep her mind, and heart, focused on the land in Oregon and being self-sufficient. Zeke’s many admirable qualities made keeping her distance more difficult with each passing day.

  She tried to tell herself that his risking life and limb to save her and the girls was just what a wagon master did for anyone, but she was starting to think that maybe Zeke had growing feelings for her. The idea scared her to death.

  After Luke bent to his kiss his bride, Delly turned. “I’ve got food on the fire for tonight’s celebration. I’d best tend to it. See you later, Zeke.”

  Bending over the hot coals, Delly stirred the pot of beans. Her stomach heaved. What was wrong with her lately? More fatigue than she deemed necessary, even with the daily grind of traveling, and food rarely looked appealing.

  She straightened and clutched her stomach. It couldn’t be. God wouldn’t do that to her, would he? She mentally counted the last time she’d had her … monthly. It’d been a while. Subconsciously, she’d written it off due to fatigue and not enough nourishment. How could she keep her condition a secret? She glanced at the children playing in the shade of the wagon. One more mouth to feed.

  17

  They were two days out of Fort Laramie when they passed the first of the recent graves. The wagons passed close enough for Delly’s mind to register more details than she would’ve liked. She couldn’t pull her gaze away from the grisly sight. Some had been dug up by animals and bones lay scattered around the mounds. A comb lay next to one, a woman’s hair stuck in the teeth. As they rolled along, they came by discarded wagons and mattresses. One of the beds held the remains of someone who’d died and been left behind.

  Delly shuddered. Icy tentacles of fear wrapped her heart in its clutches. She tightened her hold on the reins and glance at Zeke who rode by their wagon. “What killed these people?”

  “Cholera, I think. Keep moving.” He spurred his horse and galloped past.

  “Lord, help us,” Sadie clutched her throat. “We’ve traveled into the Devil’s land.”

  Delly tightened her face rag around her face. She’d heard the dreadful stories of people dying like flies. Alive one moment, dead the next. Lord protect us. Keep us safe.

  A woman, thin to the point of starvation, wailed beside a grave, obviously left behind by an earlier train. She clutched a man’s hat and rocked on her knees.

  “Stop.” Delly turned and bent into the wagon.

  “What are you doing?” Sadie’s voice rose shrilly.

  “I’m giving her some food and water.” Delly jumped to the ground. “Then I’m going to convince her to come with us. She doesn’t look sick, just starved.”

  “Get back in the wagon.” Zeke put his horse between her and the woman. “You can’t help her now.”

  She moved sideways, trying to get around the prancing animal. “I can try. We can’t ignore her plight.” How could anyone with an ounce of compassion drive away and leave her?

  He dismounted and grabbed her arm. “Please. I beg you not to go to her. She could be ill. There’s got to be a reason she was left behind. You’ll put the entire train in jeopardy. If you aren’t concerned for your own safety, think of your children, of Alice and Sadie.”

  Delly’s eyes burned with unshed tears. The naked fear on Zeke’s face gave her pause. She glanced from him to the woman then nodded and set the food on the ground. With a shuddering sigh, she climbed back into the wagon, glancing behind them as they moved ahead until the woman vanished from sight.

  “We should’ve helped her more.” Delly couldn’t remember a time she’d ever walked away from someone in need.

  “You fed her.” Sadie patted her shoulder. “That’s all you can do now. You’ve got children to look after. And another one on the way, if I’m not mistaken.”

  “How did you know?” Delly took a deep breath.

  “Ain’t hard to figure out with the way you’ve been acting. Tired all the time. More so than the rest of us, and I caught you looking peaked a few mornings.”

  Her secret wasn’t secret anymore. How would Zeke react with one more responsibility? Delly was quickly realizing that her
wanting self-sufficiency might be a fool’s dream, and that Zeke wasn’t the type of man to stand aside and not help his kinfolk. She sighed and focused on the landscape stretching before her.

  The trail they traveled that day seemed like a road of death. Discarded wagons and belongings. Hurriedly dug graves. And hanging over it all was the ever-present cloud of exhaustion and fear. The sun slipped past the horizon before the train stopped. Almost as if Zeke thought he could help them outrun the threat of death.

  Every muscle in Delly’s body protested as she climbed from the wagon seat. She hadn’t been able to get the picture of the dying woman out of her mind. Tears started fresh and cut a path down her cheek.

  “Delly. Sadie.” Alice dashed up to them as fast as her expanding waistline would allow. Tears cut tracks through the dirt on her face. “It’s Seth. He’s vomiting and complaining of stomach cramps. They started last night but I thought it was something he ate. I don’t know what else to do for him. He won’t take any food or water. Help me.”

  “We’ll come right away.” Delly reached into the back of the wagon for the medicine box.

  “Yes,” Sadie’s hoarse whisper drew Delly’s attention.

  Luke stared at his wife. The whites of his eyes shined with unshed tears. “He ain’t the only one taken sick. People are talking about ill family members.”

  Cries of cholera drifted through the circled wagons, widening the terror. People hunched over the reins of their teams, faces pale beneath their hats and bonnets. Several families panicked, wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the ill as possible, and headed into the prairie on their own.

  Delly leaped out of the way as one wagon lumbered past her. Their lives had gone from dull to dreadful in the space of a day.

  She glanced over her shoulder as she and Sadie climbed into the Johnsons’ wagon. Zeke and Luke stood with slumped shoulders, dread on their faces. Her children peered out from the safety of the wagon’s bonnet.

  Delly held up a hand to stop Alice from joining her. “No. Go back to our wagon. You’ve got to think of the baby.”

  “And you don’t?” Sadie hissed.

  “Hush.” Delly glared. If she didn’t help, questions would be asked. Questions she had no answers for. She twisted her lips. Pregnant from one night with her husband. While she’d cherish her baby, she couldn’t help but wish it had chosen a better time.

  Alice buried her face in her hands. “But Seth is one of my babies. I need to do something.”

  “You got help. Sadie and I will do all we can.” She ducked inside the wagon’s bonnet. “See to your daughter.”

  Seth lay on his side, his legs curled close to his small body. The stench of sickness hung heavy over him.

  Sadie met Delly’s eyes and shook her head. “I seen this before. He’s awful dehydrated and can’t keep nothing down. I’m afraid he ain’t going to make it.”

  Delly opened her box and carefully spooned some bismuth into the boy’s mouth. His lips hung slack, and the precious medicine dribbled from the sides. “We have to try.” They’d had one case of cholera in the orphanage and the head mistress had used bismuth. Delly prayed it would work.

  “Delly?” Zeke called from outside.

  She stuck her head and shoulders outside. The fresh air was like a breath of heaven. “Yes?”

  “Do you think it’s cholera? The Oglesby boy just took ill. We’ve moved him from the corral to a tent.” Zeke twisted his hat in his hands. “We need to quarantine the ill.”

  “I’m not sure. I think so and Seth is too weak to be moved.”

  “I read in one of the eastern newspapers that dehydration is a major concern. You’ve got to try and get fluids into Seth. Do you hear?”

  She nodded. “I’ll try.”

  Sadie joined her. “Won’t matter now. The poor thing just went to be with Jesus. We’ll try the water on the others. We were too late for Seth. I’d best tell his ma and pa.”

  By nightfall, Delly had prepared Seth’s body and fed her own family before she collapsed in a heap by the fire. The emotions she’d held in all day caught up to her and she succumbed to her sobs. Alice’s own cries of grief drifted to her ears on the evening breeze.

  Zeke joined her, dropping to his knees in a cloud of dust. “We lost two more. A mother and her child.” He sat cross-legged. Delly leaned into him.

  “It’s so fast.” She sniffed. “Seth died within hours. Alice said he felt poorly at bed time last night, but she thought it was from drinking bad water.” She sniffed. “Do you think it’s because I stopped to help that woman?”

  “No. Cholera seems to hit with no reason. If what you told me is true, Seth was sick before we stopped.”

  “I’m not a doctor. I don’t know what to do.”

  “I want you and Sadie to wash your hands. Every chance you get. Use soap, especially when you touch someone and move on to someone else. Promise me. I know I can’t keep you from helping, but I won’t lose you. God knows there’ll be enough deaths.”

  “You’ve seen it before?”

  His shoulders slumped. “I was married before. On my first trip west, my wife and son took ill with cholera and died.”

  “I’m sorry.” She listened to his heart beat against his cheek and thanked God for this man who cared about the people under his command. He’d do all he could to help them. The knowledge gave her strength. She too, would do all she could.

  “I read in a newspaper that some doctors believe the disease is carried from one person to the next.” His voice rumbled beneath her head. “They think fluids and cleanliness work best against the illness. And boil all drinking water if you aren’t already. I told everyone to do that from day one, but I’m afraid some slacked off, not wanting the extra work.

  Delly thanked the Lord that she and Sadie had followed Zeke’s orders. Although it meant extra work, all water for human consumption was boiled before being poured in the barrels.

  “I want you and Sadie to take shifts. I don’t know what I’d do if you got sick too. Luke is already beside himself with worry. He lost his parents to cholera years ago.”

  She sighed. “How many more are sick?”

  “About twenty.” His arms tightened around her. “There will likely be more dead by morning. You don’t have to do this, you know.”

  “I want to.” Caring for the people of the train helped keep her terror at bay. At times it rose like a snarling beast and threatened to engulf her. Drown her in black fear that smelled of death. Even taking turns with Sadie watching the children and caring for the sick left her steps dragging and her limbs heavy.

  Digging deep, she found the strength to rise and shuffled away to give Sadie a rest from watching her brother. She was relieved that Sophia and her son were bunking with another family and she wouldn’t have to deal with the woman’s hysterics.

  John Oglesby slept fitfully, tossing and moaning. Despite his discomfort, Delly dozed, waking hours later to a weak, but smiling young man. She felt his forehead.

  “Much cooler, John.” She grinned at him. “Do you think you can take some water?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’d treasure a drink.”

  She gave him a dose of bismuth then sips of water until he fell back, exhausted from the effort. “You rest now. It’s the best thing for…”

  “Delly!” Sadie called from outside. “Come quick.”

  “Who is it?” Delly’s heart seized in a fist of dread. She climbed from the wagon and gripped Sadie’s arms. “Who?”

  “It’s Dorcas. She’s had the dysentery and vomiting.”

  Delly lifted her skirts and sprinted to her daughter’s side. Dorcas lay in the tent, thrashing in delirium. Zeke sat beside her, trying to spoon broth between her lips. He glanced up with red-rimmed eyes. “I can’t get her to take any. It just runs out of her mouth.”

  “Dorcas, you listen to me.” Delly dropped to her side. Her chest ached from the weight of possibly living without the joyful little girl who dreamed of being a co
wboy. “You take this broth or we’ll force it down you.” She grabbed the bowl from Zeke. “Hold her down.”

  He placed a hand on each of the little girl’s shoulders. Delly managed to dribble a bit into her mouth then reached into her pocket for the medicine. At this rate, the bottle would be empty before she could save many more. But her daughter she would save, or die trying. She grabbed a clean rag and dipped it into some water, dribbling it between Dorcas’s lips. God, please, don’t take her. Not my feisty little girl.

  ###

  Zeke gazed at the dark circles under Delly’s eyes then at the dirt and perspiration stained dress that covered her body. He lifted a hand to brush the limp hair from her face.

  She slapped his hand away. “Don’t fret over me.”

  “Delly.”

  “Don’t.” She buried her face in her hands. “I never should have come on this trip. It’s been one trial after another. Addle-brained, that’s what I am, and full of pride, thinking I could do this. Me, an orphan nobody wanted. Just go.”

  He crawled from the wagon and leaned against the side. What could he do to ease her pain? Three times he’d made this trip as wagon master. Other than Becky’s death, they hadn’t encountered the evil devastation of cholera either time. Why now? What had he done differently? He’d warned the others to boil their water before drinking it. He wondered if Alice had simply been too tired one time, or someone else too lazy.

  He didn’t know how long he waited before going back inside to check on Delly. She lay on the pallet of quilts next to her daughter; her face as pale as the muslin beneath her cheek. He gathered her to him. “Please, God. Don’t take another one.”

  “What?” She muttered against him. “I was sleeping. Her fever broke, and I’m so tired.”

  His voice shook. “I thought you’d taken the illness too.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve been following the instructions you gave me and drink plenty of water.” She shoved her hair out of her face. “How many?”