A Path Worth Taking

by Mariella Starr

  “Ma’am, Wakefield,” Captain Howell said nodding his head slightly. “Miss St. Claire, I told your brother when he signed on, I don’t hold with no single women traveling on my trains. A woman can’t do what’s necessary to handle the wagons or the animals. I told him to get you married off. I won’t have it. This is Jesse Harper, Melvin Hoffs, and Levi Flanders. Pick one. You need a husband and they’re willing to take you.

  “I don’t even know these men,” Beth protested.

  “It doesn't matter none, a man’s a man. You’ve no way of getting to Oregon unless someone takes you as a wife and agrees to provide for you on the trip. If they’re willing to take you, you should be grateful,” Captain Howell declared. He turned to the three men. “Look her over.”

  Captain Howell turned to Beth. “They’re all strong men who will see you through to Oregon. Pick a husband, Miss St. Claire, or I’ll pick him for you! Either way, you will be married before we set off in the morning.” He stomped off.

  Beth gasped at his words. “I will not have a husband picked for me,” she shouted after the wagon master. “You owe me for destroying my wagon and supplies!”

  Garret pulled her aside. “Hush, Beth! If he decides you’re the next one he wants to be whipped, I may have to kill him.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am,” Sergeant Braxton said rolling the rim of his hat in his hands nervously. “Captain Howell is a superstitious man. The captain commanded ships and a division in the Army during the war before he started leading wagon trains west. He believes unattached women are bad luck. Your brother promised to find you a husband, yet he didn’t. The captain has the authority to marry you to someone and he will.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Beth exclaimed. “He burned my wagon and my supplies! He’s the one who put me in this position!”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am,” Joe said dropping his eyes. “The captain’s word is law.”

  Beth glared at the three strangers eyeing her with interest. “Go away! I’ll not allow this travesty!” She climbed into the wagon and dropped the rear flaps on the bonnet.

  “You heard the lady,” Garret said gruffly as he followed the captain.

  After heated words and several threats, Garret returned to his wagon. He knocked on the wooden gate and called out for Beth.

  She poked her head out between the wagon flaps, glanced around to see if they were alone, and then climbed out.

  Garret handed her a fold of greenbacks. “Captain Howell had no right to burn your property or your provisions. I made him return your train fee. If he didn’t want you on the train, he shouldn’t have allowed you on in the first place.”

  “Have you managed to talk sense into him?” Beth exclaimed, relieved.

  “Partially,” Garret agreed. “Walk with me.”

  Beth followed him as he walked away from the encampment. Once they were out of range of anyone overhearing them, he faced her.

  “Beth, the captain is serious about you being under the stewardship of a man.”

  “What?”

  “Listen to me,” Garret implored sternly. “Being the captain of a wagon train is the same as being the captain of a ship or any other group. He’s in charge and what he says goes.”

  “He’s an idiot!” Beth snapped.

  “Hush,” Garret ordered looking over his shoulder. “I might agree with you, but Captain Howell is in charge. Unless there’s a mutiny of the majority, his word is law.”

  “I’m not marrying a stranger!”

  “No, you aren’t,” Garret agreed. “You’re marrying me.”

  When she took a deep breath to protest, he pulled her to him and kissed her into silence. “Stop complaining and listen to me! You may not like it. Nonetheless, your choices are one of the men the captain has picked or me. You know me.”

  “I don’t know you!”

  “We’re not exactly strangers, either. In some ways, we know each other very well. In others, we don’t.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “We spent an evening and a night together. I remember ever detail of the occasion with fondness and I regret we had to part so soon.”

  Beth’s face flushed with embarrassment with his words. Garret continued. “After the surrender, I mustered out as soon as I could and returned to your farm.”

  “You didn’t!”

  “I did,” Garret admitted. “I spoke to your brother who told me you were engaged to another man.”

  “I was not,” she denied.

  “Well then, he lied to me. I walked away, Beth. A man does not interfere with a woman who’s already spoken for, but I’m not walking away this time.

  “I’ve been crisscrossing this country for years on the Oregon Trail, both before the war and since. Several years ago, I bought land in the Colorado Territory. This trip, I’m going to settle there, and need a wife. You have nothing, Beth. Those greenbacks won’t buy anything until the train reaches the next settlement. You might hold off the captain with begging, but he will make good on his threat to get you married. You don’t have a lot of options. You have no supplies, and you can’t eat greenbacks. Those other three men are willing to share their provisions with you.”

  “In exchange for my…for me!” Beth exclaimed indignantly.

  “I reckon that’s true. It’s a long journey. One of the reasons the captain insists on no single women is because men usually fight over them. There are a lot of single men traveling west, and once they get there, they need wives. Only, there aren’t a whole lot of them available.

  “Jesse Harper’s a good man. He lost his wife in childbirth after only a week on the trail. He has five children and needs another wife. If you like kids, he’ll make a good husband. Melvin Hoffs, from what I know of him, is a hard man. He treats his animals rough and doesn’t get along with many. He offered to wed the Cummings girl, and she’s only thirteen. Her parents turned him down, and I heard he was angry about it. This is his chance to get a wife.

  “Eli Flanders is also a good man. I’ve traveled this trail with him before. He’ll split off and follow the Mormon Trail to Utah. He’s a religious man and would make a decent husband, although he already has two wives waiting for him in Salt Lake City. Given a chance, he would probably make you a good husband, if you wouldn’t mind polygamy.

  “I’ve laid out your choices, Beth. You can pick any one of the three. Once the captain says the words and signs the contract, you’re married, and it’s legal, whether you agree or not. Or you can marry me.”

  Beth took a deep breath and walked away a few feet from Garret. She could not imagine marrying a man she did not know. She had witnessed unhappy marriages, and it was not something she wanted for herself. She didn’t want a forced marriage with a man she might not even like. She would be bound to him for the rest of her life.

  “Beth?” Garret’s tone was impatient.

  “What about you?” she asked. “What kind of man are you, Garret? Do you have a wife or children already? Would you beat your wife because the captain ordered it? I don’t even know your full name.”

  Garret smiled. “William Garret Wakefield. William and Wakefield came from my father. Garret is my mother’s maiden name. I know you’re twenty-three, because five years ago, you were eighteen. I was thirty-three last October. A ten-year difference gives a man time enough to find and know himself, Beth. I’ve never been married, and I would treat my wife with the care and respect she deserves. I won’t mistreat you and, no, I wouldn’t beat you on the captain’s orders. I might spank your behind if I thought your behavior warranted it. I would have to have a good reason. Are you going to marry me?”

  With a whirlwind of thoughts and knowing she really didn’t much much choice, Beth nodded acquiescence. Then she met his eyes bravely and asked a question that was important to her. “Are you going into this marriage as a convenience to your manly needs or do you want a companionable marriage?”

  Garret shook his head. “We will have a real marriage and we will make a life together. I won’t deny the needs o
f being a man. You will be my wife in every way, and you will share my bed.” He took her hand. “You have shared your body with me before, Beth. I promised no harm would come to you and then I took your innocence. I will protect you from harm in the future. I am a dependable man”

  “What if we grow to hate each other? Marriage is forever.”

  “We already know we’re compatible in one important way,” Garret said watching in amusement as her face flushed a bright red again. “I know it was a while ago, yet we spent quite a bit of time together and we liked each other. It was only one evening and one night, yet we spent a whole lot of time getting to know each other with words and later with our bodies. We probably spent as much time together as most couples do before they get hitched. Take a chance on me Beth. Become my wife, and start a new life with me. We will be following a path taken by thousands before us, but we will do it our way. I promise it will be a path worth taking.

  “Should the worst come, there are ways of dissolving a marriage. It’s not a choice I would take lightly, but it can be done. I wouldn’t give permission for an annulment or a divorce, though, unless I thought there was no other way to resolve our differences.”

  Beth observed Garret carefully. He was a bit more mature looking than he had been when she met him before. Still, he was a handsome man and his words rang true. Most girls she knew married after only a few hours of chaperoned social meetings with their future husbands. Most of the girls she had known in her social circle married men chosen by their parents. Had her father lived, she suspected he would have had a great influence on who she married.

  She swallowed nervously and considered the man she had known for one evening and one night of unexpected passion. At least she knew him to be of an even temper, and he had been gentle with her. She believed him to be a decent man and a far better choice than any Captain Howell had offered.

  She found her voice, although it sounded a little wobbly. “Yes, Garret Wakefield I will marry you.”

  Chapter Two

  Beth and Garret stood in front of Captain Howell as he performed the marriage ceremony the next morning. Garret barely had time to kiss her when the Captain was already shouting orders to get the wagon train moving.

  “Wakefield, I want you scouting out as far as five days past the Denver Trail,” Howell ordered. “Double back and wait for us there. I don’t have to tell you what to do if you spot any Indians. Either wipe ’em out or get back and warn us.”

  “Don’t I even get an hour with my wife?” Garret demanded.

  Captain Howell glared at him. “You get paid for scouting and following orders. Move out!”

  Beth looked from one man to another. Garret had a slight muscle twitch in his eye, which confirmed his anger. However, he nodded acceptance of his orders.

  “You’ll be driving his wagon,” Howell snarled at Beth.

  “I have a driver,” Garret exclaimed.

  “Not anymore,” Howell bellowed. “Ambrose Ross don’t want his boy hanging around her and carrying cholera in on his family.”

  “What the hell is wrong with him?” Garret demanded of Joe Braxton when the captain walked off.

  “I don’t know. He’s been acting real strange lately. He’s got a mean temper,” the sergeant grumbled. “The captain’s got it in for your missus for some reason.”

  Joe looked at Beth. “I want you to know most of us didn’t agree with him casting you out the way he did. Still, we couldn’t take a chance he might be right, and you would carry cholera in on us.”

  “I’ll talk to him,” Garret snarled.

  “Don’t,” Joe Braxton said bluntly. “There’s more to it, but it isn’t fitting to say in front of your missus. I’ll keep an eye on her and we’ll meet up with you at the trailhead of the Denver Trail.”

  “Wakefield! Hit the trail,” Captain Howell yelled from across the encampment.

  “I think he’s gone mad,” Beth whispered to Garret.

  Garret glanced over his shoulder. “I have a good mind to leave the train right now except he still owes me for my last scouting trip and this one.”

  “He probably wants an excuse to fire you and cheat you out of your pay,” Beth warned. “I can drive the wagon. I drove ours when Nate wasn’t feeling well. It was more often than not.”

  “Driving an oxen team is harder than driving horses. I don’t want you doing it,” Garret said. “It’s a man’s job.”

  “I can handle it,” Beth said. “We don’t have a choice if he won’t allow the Ross boy to drive for you. Howell is probably behind Mr. Ross not wanting Johnny to drive your wagon anymore.

  “Come with me,” Garret demanded striding off.

  She followed him trying to keep up with his long strides, and he lifted her into the back of the wagon. He rummaged through boxes and pulled out a revolver.

  “This is my cavalry sidearm Colt. Do you know how to shoot a revolver?”

  “Yes, I was taught to have a competent aim.”

  “Good,” Garret loaded the revolver and set it aside. He took Beth by the arms and pulled her to him. “I don’t know what’s wrong with Howell and my gut tells me something isn’t right with him. I want you to keep this gun with you at all times and don’t be afraid to use it. Unless I find evidence of trouble ahead, I’ll see you at the Denver trailhead. If anyone so much as looks at you sideways, I want you to report it to Sergeant Braxton.”

  Garret turned to leave and then he turned back to Beth. “I didn’t expect to be out scouting on my wedding night. I’ll be waiting for you.” He leaned down and kissed her, and then held her as if to memorize her face before he kissed her, again.

  “You’ve never been far from my mind for several years, Bethany St. Claire Wakefield. A little longer shouldn’t matter, but it does. Stay out of the captain’s way and don’t do anything to rile him.”

  The next week was a nightmare for Beth and the other settlers. Captain Howell was pushing them at an unrelenting pace. Without help, Beth had to do everything for the first few days. The hitching and unhitching of the oxen were the hardest chores for her. Oxen were the most uncooperative of animals.

  Eli Flanders, the Mormon man who had offered to marry her, came by early on the fourth morning. He stood with his sons watching her struggle. Then they stepped forward and took over the work. While his boys reloaded the wagon, he hitched the oxen to the yokes. Eli and his boys turned out to be a godsend. He had three sons in their early teen years traveling with him. They chopped firewood for her when it was available and helped her set up camp when the wagons settled for the night. Come morning, they were there to help her break camp. All Mr. Flanders asked in return was for her to attempt to bake biscuits in a Dutch oven he provided. He was appreciative of the baked biscuits and cornbread she made for them.

  Even incurring the captain’s wrath, Eli would not back down. A devout man, he claimed he was doing God’s will. He changed wagon positions with another man and moved his into place behind Garret’s.

  She was beyond exhaustion at the end of each day. Eli allowed his sons to drive her wagon for some parts of the day. Still, the bulk of the driving was on Beth. After the chores were completed, she would try to swallow a little food and crawl into the wagon cot to fall asleep. She was counting the days until the caravan would meet up with Garret.

  Captain Howell had singled her out for his verbal abuse. He rode up to her wagon several times a day, cursing at her, claiming she was causing delays in the train’s progress. She was not, and the men driving the wagons in the positions ahead and behind her knew it. Eli was the only one who spoke in her defense.

  The evening of the tenth day, Beth went into the wagon and pulled off her leather gloves. Beneath them was a pair of lady’s white cotton gloves with blood seeping through them. She peeled away the cotton gloves and pressed her hands into a pan of cool water. Her teeth bit into her lower lip as she closed her eyes and let the tears flow. She was in so much pain she could barely stand it. She was bruised and sore all over
from being bounced against the rough planks of the wagon seat. There was not a single part of her that did not ache or hurt. Her hands were the worst as blister upon blister unrelentingly raised, broke, and bled.

  She had driven their wagon before whenever Nate needed a rest. Horses, not oxen had pulled their wagon. Nate might not have done his fair share, but she had not driven from daybreak until dusk as she was doing now. The horses had been easier to control, too. Oxen needed to be constantly prodded to keep them moving. With her hands aching and burning, she coated them with salve and wrapped them in flannel. Her only relief from the pain was sleep, so she crawled into the cot and closed her eyes.

  Beth awoke to someone getting into the narrow bed built into the wagon.

  “Garret?” she mumbled still half asleep as someone fumbled with her clothing trying to push them out of the way.

  “Shut up, bitch!”

  It was not Garret! Beth screamed as a pillow pushed against her face. The bodice of her dress ripped, and a hand groped her intimately. She fought, scratching and biting. She clamped her teeth down on the only piece of flesh she could reach.

  Her assailant grunted, and tried to hold her down and cover her mouth. She screamed again, and suddenly his body fell on her in dead weight. A second later, his weight rolled off her and laid sprawled across the boxes and crates on the floor of the wagon. She scrabbled backward on the cot as the light from a lantern illuminated the inside of the wagon.

  “It’s all right, Mrs. Wakefield,” Eli Flanders asserted while standing over Captain Howell’s body holding an ax handle. One of his sons was behind him with the lantern. There were shouts from men and women, their voices in the background.

  “What’s going on?” Joe Braxton demanded forcing his way into the already crowded wagon.

  Eli motioned toward the man on the floor. “Mrs. Wakefield was attacked by Captain Howell.”

  “Damn,” Joe said. “Were you hurt, Mrs. Wakefield?”