“Ahem.” Captain Clark cleared his throat.
The two of them broke apart immediately. Pierre’s ears were as red as her cheeks. They had forgotten that the officer was still there.
“Am I to assume this wedding will take place before the expedition departs?” he asked.
“Yes,” Pierre said. “It must, since for lack of a priest in these parts, either you or Captain Lewis must perform the ceremony.”
Clark grinned. Of all the surprise duties this expedition had produced, a wedding was surely the most unexpected. “When exactly must this ceremony be performed?”
Pierre looked at Claire, his black eyes dancing with delight. “What about today?”
She let out a laugh, partly one of joy, partly in disbelief. Surely he didn’t wish for her to come to him looking like this. “As eager as I am to become your wife, Monsieur Lafayette, some time for preparation would be appreciated. I would rather be wed without bruises upon my face and wrists.”
“You are beautiful to me just as you are.”
Her resolve to wait wavered, but she was determined to stand firm. “Have you not duties to perform before your captains depart?”
“He does indeed,” Clark said with another grin.
Pierre growled like a bear, albeit a playful one. “Have I not labored long enough for you this week? I know for certain I was assigned more duties than the others.”
“Yes, you were,” Clark admitted, “but it was for your own benefit. There is nothing like hard work to focus a man’s mind.”
In which direction Clark had wanted him to focus, westward or right in front of him, he did not say, and Pierre did not ask. “The expedition is to depart on the first, is it not?”
“It was, but Captain Lewis informed me this morning that we will most likely wait one week longer. The floating ice should be sufficiently diminished by then, making the northern Missouri much easier to navigate.”
“So, the seventh of April?”
“That is the date now fixed,” Clark said.
“And that,” Claire added, “would be sufficient time to prepare for a wedding.”
* * *
April seventh dawned bright and clear. Though Pierre might be a bridegroom, he was, at least for a few more hours, a member of the Corps of Discovery. Therefore he spent all morning and a good part of the afternoon with his comrades, loading the keelboat and pirogues. The former carried the artifacts and reports of the land previously viewed. The latter contained every article by which Lewis, Clark and the others were expected to subsist and defend themselves in the unknown.
It is a grand adventure, Pierre thought. Like Columbus of old. But an even grander one was about to commence for him. I am about to become a husband and, God willing, one day a father. With faith, love and hard work, everything he and his family would need was before him.
He and Claire were to reside temporarily at the fort until Pierre could craft a small private lodge in the village. Three Horses had offered to teach him the Mandans’ building secrets, and Chief Black Cat had already chosen the spot—right next to his own lodge, as his most honored guest.
They were welcome in the village. Pierre prayed that in time, Claire’s uncle would feel the same about them. Since their confrontation, Running Wolf had not spoken to either of them, but he had not resisted Claire’s careful tending of his wound, nor the meat Pierre had brought from his last hunt.
“Crates accounted for!” Pierre heard Private Cruzette call.
The last of the sundries and supplies had been loaded. The boats now sat low in the rippling water.
“Hadn’t you better go make yourself presentable?” Captain Clark asked Pierre. “Your young bride will be here soon.”
Indeed she will, Pierre couldn’t help but think with a grin. “Thank you, sir.”
After a wash and a shave, Pierre donned his best elk skin breeches, linen shirt and coat, then returned to the river. There his comrades and a large group of Mandans who had gathered to witness the “curious ceremony” were assembled. Sadly, Running Wolf was nowhere to be found, but Chief Black Cat and his family, One Who Smiles, Little Flower and her children were foremost among the crowd.
A flock of geese flying overhead trumpeted the bride’s arrival. Pierre drew in a breath. Claire arrived on horseback, wearing the red dress her mother had made. Her long, dark hair hung loose about her shoulders, and a crown of beads and fresh juniper shoots wreathed her head. The bruises had faded. A happy glow now graced her face. She was breathtaking.
French and Indian, he couldn’t help but think, and Pierre wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Three Horses helped her from her mount, led her to where Pierre stood eagerly waiting. With a smile, the man then placed her hand in his.
Pierre gave her fingers a light squeeze. “You are beautiful,” he whispered.
She grinned, her dark eyelashes fluttering against her olive skin. “And you are most handsome,” she said.
Captain Lewis stepped forward and conducted the simple ceremony. After a prayer of blessing, he looked straight at Pierre and said, “Lafayette, you may now kiss your bride.”
“Yes, sir!” Amid the cheers of all those gathered, Pierre drew Claire close and pressed his lips to hers. The world around them faded for the space of a few heartbeats, until the captain invaded the moment. Duty called.
“Well, now that you have your affairs settled, I wonder if you and your wife would consider an offer of future employment.”
Somewhat annoyed by the interruption, Pierre blinked. Claire, however, looked intrigued.
“I have spoken with Chief Black Cat of the possibility of traveling to Washington to meet President Jefferson upon our return,” Lewis said. “We shall need interpreters, and I do believe the chief would be more comfortable traveling with members of his own tribe.”
Pierre looked at his bride. He could see the eagerness in her eyes. “It would be an honor, sir.”
Lewis nodded. “Very well then, Mr. Lafayette, Mrs. Lafayette...we will see you upon our return.” With that the captain gave the order for the men to board the boats. Hand in hand, the couple watched them do so.
“Are you certain you don’t want to go with them?” Claire asked.
Pierre turned and looked into those beautiful spring-green eyes. “I’ve all the adventure I need right here,” he said. “I love you.”
She grinned bashfully. “And I love you.”
Drawing in a satisfied breath, Pierre then said, “Well, wife...our life together awaits.”
“Indeed, husband.”
And they turned their back on the river and walked toward the fort.
Epilogue
Washington City
December 30, 1806
“I take you by the hand of friendship...”
Claire repeated President Thomas Jefferson’s words to the Mandan delegation. Since Chief Black Cat could not make the long journey, the President shook hands with his representative, Sheheke-shote, and then nodded graciously to the warrior’s wife and child. The little boy flailed his arms in delight and squealed, causing Jefferson to smile.
Claire looked across the room to her own dark-haired son, Rene François, whom Pierre was holding. Anxious to exercise his newly acquired walking skills, he squirmed in his father’s arms.
And soon there will be another to join our lodge, she thought happily as she laid her hand across her still-slender belly. She had not told Pierre the news yet, knowing he would be even more concerned for her than he had been on this long journey east.
Much had happened in their short time together as husband and wife. No sooner had Captains Lewis and Clark left the village than the Sioux had come calling. Sadly, there had been thieving and loss of life. Eight warriors had died, but thankfully there was no all-out war
. Committed to peace, the Mandans and several other tribes of the plains had sent their representatives to Washington in hopes of securing it.
Claire was greatly encouraged, but she did not place her faith in treaties or the men that brokered them. She placed it in God alone.
As President Jefferson turned away from the delegation to speak with Pierre, Running Wolf whispered in her ear, “You have done well, Bright Star. The White Father has honored our people. I in return honor you. Your mother would be proud.”
She smiled at her uncle, so thankful that he had come on this journey, so thankful for the friendship he and Pierre were forming. “It was not my doing,” she whispered.
“I know, but the Great Spirit has worked through you—” he nodded toward Pierre “—and your husband.”
Running Wolf had finally come to accept the love and sacrifice of Christ. Now he walked not the path of war and superstition, but one of love and truth.
Her mother had insisted God would bring healing. He has surely done it for my household, one member at a time. And if men and women continue to open their hearts to Him, what a world this will be... No longer did Claire fear the future for herself or her children. God would be with them whatever came.
Inadvertently she again laid her hand across her middle.
Noticing, Pierre’s eyes widened. His lips moved into a curious smile.
He knows, she thought. Try as she might, she could not hide her grin.
The moment President Jefferson turned away from him, Pierre came to where she stood. Rene François immediately dove toward Running Wolf. The tall, fearsome-looking warrior caught the child with a laugh and a smile.
Pierre pulled her aside. “Is there something you need to tell me?” he asked, a twinkle in his eye.
“Only that our children are greatly blessed.”
“Children?”
She nodded. “They have a God who watches over them and a family that will love and teach them everything they need to know in order to live life well upon this earth.”
He took her hand in his, squeezed it gently. Pierre’s charcoal eyes told her he would like to have kissed her if not for propriety’s sake. He gave her a handsome smile. “What adventures for us lay in store.”
* * * * *
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Dear Reader,
Thank you for choosing my book, Frontier Agreement. It was during a family vacation out west several years ago that I first became enamored with the story of Lewis and Clark. Returning home, I devoured the expedition journals and any other material about the explorers that I could locate. Soon my imagination was off and running. In this story, Claire and Pierre are, of course, fictional characters, as are all of her immediate family, but the setting and events in which they find themselves are, to the best of my ability, historically accurate.
Lewis and Clark did spend the winter of 1804–1805 among the Mandan people in present-day North Dakota, and the medical difficulties, misunderstandings of tribal customs, struggle for food and trouble with the Sioux actually happened. Toussaint Charbonneau and Sacagawea did live at the fort for a time and serve as translators. Charbonneau’s disagreement with Captain Lewis, however, actually did not take place until March of 1805. I took the liberty of moving the event forward a few months in order to place Claire at the fort during Christmas.
While working on this project, I kept wondering what it would have been like to have been a part of the expedition. Would I have been able to endure the hardships? Would I have been able to trust God and complete the tasks assigned to me, or would I have given in to fear of the unknown?
I hope Claire and Pierre’s story will inspire you to forge your own frontier.
Blessings,
Shannon Farrington
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Pony Express Mail-Order Bride
by Rhonda Gibson
Chapter One
Wyoming
January 1861
Philip Young’s horse raced into the Turnstone Pony Express relay station. Extremely tired and chilled to the bone, Philip prepared himself to jump onto the cold saddle that awaited him. Relay stations were every ten to fifteen miles on the trail and this one had been fifteen. They were the places where Pony Express riders exchanged horses and continued on until they reached their home station.
Thankfully this was the last time he’d change horses before he would reach his family’s farm and his home station. After a couple of days’ rest at the home station, Philip would head on to the relay station he and his brother Thomas ran on the other side of Dove Creek.
He prepared to swing onto the saddle of the horse that the relay station manager, John Turnstone, held for him. “Glad to see you made it.” John’s grin spoke volumes of his pleasure and yet didn’t tell him anything as to what he was getting pleasure from.
Philip paused with his foot in the stirrup. “What’s going on?”
John’s shoulders shook as he tried to hold back his laughter. He held the horse’s head and said, “A special delivery arrived for you today by stage.”
Philip dropped his foot back to the ground. “What kind of special delivery?” The need to get onto the waiting horse battled with his curiosity.
His job was to keep the mail going through, but then again John’s curious behavior had him hesitating. Philip felt torn. John to
ssed him the reins to the horse Philip had just rode in on and then jumped on the back of the fresh mustang. “You best go inside and see. I’ll finish your run. See you later.”
Philip didn’t take time to watch John and the horse speed away. He tied the spent horse to the hitching post by the barn and then hurried to the house. He took the steps two at a time.
The door banged against the wall as he called out to John’s wife, Cara. “Cara, John says I have a package waiting and felt it was urgent enough to take the rest of my run.”
His gaze fell on two little boys who sat side by side on the couch. Their big blue eyes stared at him in fear. He’d never seen them before and for a brief moment wondered as to their presence. Surely they weren’t his special delivery.
“Cara isn’t here. She went to check on Mrs. Brooks, their neighbor.”
He looked to the kitchen, where a young woman with blond hair, blue eyes and a heart-shaped face stood in the doorway. He couldn’t help but notice a dimple in her left cheek that came to life when she smiled. She motioned for him to join her. Hesitant, Philip moved into the warm kitchen.
John and Cara’s house was small but comfortable. Most relay stations were manned by one man and consisted of a small shanty or barn for the man and Pony Express horses. This one wasn’t like most; it held warmth and a sense of family.
He held out his hand. “I’m Philip Young.”
She placed her smaller hand in his palm. Her fingers shook slightly. “Bella Wilson.” Bella pulled her hand from his grasp.
Philip looked to the boys. They had stopped watching the adults and were playing with small wooden horses. His gaze returned to Bella. “Do you happen to know where the package is that the stage dropped off for me?”
A weak smile touched her lips. “I guess you’re looking at it.” At his frown, she pressed on. “I’m your mail-order bride.”
“What?” Philip wished he could cover the shock in his voice, but he couldn’t.
Frontier Agreement Page 23
