by Barbara Goss
“Well, he thanked me after I helped get him out, so he was lucid, but he seemed in considerable pain. I ran down the road and fetched Doc Harris. When I left the scene, Doc was tending to his injury. About two days later, Doc Harris came back, claimed Simon’s belongings, and paid his bill. I asked Doc how Simon was doing, and he said, and I quote, ‘He’ll live!’ So why would I tell some stranger that he’d died?”
Caroline left the hotel feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Hattie was still grumbling about Ezra’s horrible lie, but Caroline was more focused on finding Simon. Her heart thumped inside her chest at the thought that she might be very close to finding him. She might even see him later that day.
She followed the directions the manager had given her to Doc Harris's place. It turned out to be a tall, wooden building that also housed a barbershop. The side door had a sign that read, “Walk Right In.” She and Hattie opened the door and went up the steep stairs to another door at the top. They knocked, and a pleasant-looking, middle-aged woman answered.
Caroline’s heart raced as she introduced herself, “Hello, I’m Caroline Goodwin, and I understand the doctor treated a man here who was hit by a speeding wagon.”
“Yes,” she answered. “We did. How can I help you?”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Oh, well he was…”she fumbled for the right words, “…my closest friend. Do you know where I can find him now?” she asked hopefully.
“No. He stayed here with us, but he left this morning.”
Caroline sighed. “This morning?” She looked at Hattie. “We missed him." She turned back to the woman. “Is he well? How serious were his injuries?” The woman smiled. “I think you should speak to Doc Harris. I’ll get him. Won’t you please step inside?”
They stepped into a clean kitchen. Pots were boiling on the stove, and a frosted cake was sitting on the table. After a few seconds, the doctor came out from the back room to greet them.
“Come in and have a seat.” He pointed to a cozy, inviting room off the kitchen with a large, brown sofa, and two matching, overstuffed chairs. Off this room were two doors that Caroline assumed were bedrooms. It was a small apartment, but it seemed well kept and comfortable.
“So,” the doctor asked, “what do you want to know about Simon?”
“How bad were his injuries?” Caroline asked anxiously.
“His leg was his only injury, except for some minor scratches and bruises. He stayed here until early this morning. He had an urgent matter to attend to, in- in…” He thought for a moment, and then said, “Oregon City.”
Caroline closed her eyes and sighed. “Did he mention what his urgent matter was?”
The doctor seemed to be thinking again. “He was insistent about finding a woman.”
“Did he mention the name Caroline, or Carrie?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Not that I recall. I told him he could go, but he had to go by steamboat. I didn’t want to see any further injuries to his leg.”
Caroline stood to leave. The doctor stood and walked her to the door.
“Thank you, Doctor."
Once outside on the wooden sidewalk, Hattie asked, “What now? Simon is in Oregon City, and we're here in Portland. How are we going to get back home?”
“Oh, Hattie! I don’t know!”
13
Simon decided to give up stopping at farms. Before long, everyone would be talking about the crazy man looking for someone whose family name he didn’t know. He’d been there for a few days and spent all day walking the area in hopes he would spot her, perhaps near the shops, or walking down the roads. He saw many people, but never Caroline.
He never considered that Caroline might have been a church person—at least, she’d never mentioned being one. Even so, when he heard the church bells ring at ten on Sunday, he hurried to the little church. He thought maybe her cousins might go to church, and maybe she’d be with them. What did he have to lose, anyway?
During the quaint service, he studied every face in the church, but he could not find Caroline. He felt defeated. After church, he walked out to shake hands with Reverend Hobbs, and the minister remembered him.
“Mr. Miller, did you find your person?”
“No,” he said sadly. “Would you mind praying with me after everyone’s gone? If ever I needed a miracle, it’s now.”
“Certainly,” he said.
After everyone left, Reverend Hobbs led Simon into his office. “Have a seat, Mr. Miller.”
“Simon, please.”
“Let us pray,” he began. “Dear Heavenly father, this man, Simon, is in a dire position. He needs to find someone who is nearly impossible to find. You know where this person is, Father. Please help Simon find him or her. Bless this man, Father. We thank you for all Your blessings….”
He continued on with the prayer, and Simon clung to each and every word, repeating them to himself as the prayer progressed. When Reverend Hobbs was done, they both ended the prayer with a robust, “Amen!”
“Thank you,” Simon said. “I’ve prayed and prayed, but I remembered the verse in the Bible about when two or more are gathered together--”
“Yes, Matthew 18:20. Will you be staying in town long?”
“I don’t know what else I can do without her family's name. I don’t want to leave until I find her.”
“Ahhh,” Hobbs remarked. “So it's a woman, is it?”
Simon nodded. “I made a mistake and never told her how I felt, and now I fear she’s gone forever.”
“Tell me, if you will, how you could be in love with her if you don't know where she is or her last name?”
Simon shrugged. “I met her in Independence, Missouri. She needed to get to Oregon and I needed a cook for my wagon train crew. She got the idea we could put our needs together and travel to Oregon, pretending to be a married couple. We did, and—”
“Wait!” Reverend Hobbs cried. “This story is too familiar. I can’t quite believe this, but could your lady’s name be Caroline?”
“Yes!” Simon cried. “Do you know her?”
“I don’t believe this is happening! Fifteen years in the pulpit and in one month, two events I’ve never before experienced have hit me! Caroline came here to church one Sunday with her cousins, Hattie and Ben Ansell. After the service, she asked me if I would teach her about God.”
“She asked to learn about God?” he asked in wonder.
“And do you know why she wanted to learn?”
Simon shook his head.
“So she could feel closer to the man she loved.”
“She’s in love with someone here?” Simon asked reluctantly.
“No, with a man in Portland.”
Simon jumped up. “That’s me!”
“I think I figured that out,” Hobbs replied, with a gentle laugh.
“Where is she? Can you take me to her now?” Simon asked anxiously.
“When she told me her story, my advice to her was to seek out this man and find out if he felt the same way. She left for Portland a few days ago.”
“Oh, no!” Simon cried. “Can you direct me to her cousin’s place? I should probably wait for her to come back here.”
“I sure will. Hattie went with Caroline, and a man named Ezra Schaeffer, who owns the livery. Come—I’ll introduce you to Ben Ansell.”
Ben and Simon shook hands. Simon liked the man, immediately. He had a firm handshake, warm smile, and eyes you knew you could trust.
“So, you’re the famous Simon,” he said, by way of greeting. “You do know she and my wife are looking for you in Portland at this very minute?”
“I just found out. Should I wait here until they return?” Simon asked.
“I think you should go and get them right away.”
“You do? Why?” Simon asked. He was truly puzzled. What a day for revelations this had been! “Surely when they discover I’m not there, they'll return home.”
“They can’t. They have no transportati
on. Ezra Schaeffer, the man who took them to Portland, has returned without them. When I asked him why, he shrugged and told me they wanted to stay. It doesn’t sound much like my Hattie, to me. She hates being away from home. Ezra claims they told him they’d find their own way back, but I think you should go and find them.”
“You think all is not right with this Ezra’s story?” Simon asked.
“I’m not sure what I think, but I would feel a lot better if I knew they were coming home. I just can’t believe that Hattie would say she’d find her own way back. She has no way to get back.”
“How well do you know this Ezra?”
“He owns the livery. I can’t say he is a friend, but he's an acquaintance. Carrie didn’t want to go with him. She doesn’t much like him.”
“That’s enough reason for me. I’ll leave immediately by boat. Want to come along?”
“It’s quite expensive by boat, Simon.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”
“I’d love to—if I can get Mrs. Wilkins to stay with the children."
Before Simon and Ben left for the boat, they stopped at the livery to let Ezra know they were going to pick up Caroline and Hattie.
Ben introduced Simon to Ezra, and Simon shook his hand. The first word out of Ezra’s mouth was a curse.
“I don’t know why they wanted to stay in Portland. They were told you weren’t there,” he said angrily. “And now they expect me to go back and get them?” Another curse. “I told them I’d be back to get them in a few days! I brought them there, and it’s my job to see them home. You don’t need to fetch them. I’ll go today.”
Simon didn’t like Ezra either. He credited his Carrie with having good taste in people. This Ezra seemed unnecessarily upset. Instead of being thankful he and Ben were going to get them, he seemed nervous and agitated. Ben and Simon exchanged a look between them that spoke volumes.
Ben told Ezra, “No problem, Ezra. We want to go. Why do you have a problem with that?”
“I feel it's my responsibility, is all,” he said, this time a bit more calmly.
“Well, I’m releasing you from that responsibility,” Ben said. “Good day, Ezra.”
They left the livery, and the two men hopped on a train. The railroad wasn’t finished yet, but Oregon had an early form of a train—a cart pulled by a donkey that ran on wooden planks. On the way, Ben told Simon he had a confession to make.
“What’s that?” Simon asked, fearing the worst after the events and disclosures of the day.
“I feel guilty about this, and you aren’t going to like it. I talked Carrie into allowing Ezra to court her. We didn’t yet know about you, and we thought she needed a social life. Ezra took her for a ride in his buggy, but Carrie disliked him from the start and refused further courting. I guess he walked her to the door after their ride and tried to kiss her, but she put him in his place, he cursed and left abruptly.”
Simon thought about this for a few moments, and then he smiled, and said, “That’s my Carrie!”
Ben seemed relieved Simon wasn’t angry with him.
“My Carrie's spunky. She can take care of herself.” Then he told Ben the story of how she had been captured by Indians, and how she never once shed a tear through the whole ordeal, and somehow managed to keep herself calm. “I couldn’t believe it.”
“She told us the story, too, but she never mentioned her bravery.”
“Getting back to Ezra: do you suppose this has something to do with his being spurned by Carrie?” Simon asked.
“I’m not sure, but he volunteered quickly enough to take them. I think he may have still wanted to become better acquainted with Carrie. Hattie thinks he's obsessed with her.”
“I’m surprised Carrie went with him,” Simon said.
“Me too. Then again, she really didn’t have much of a choice. I had to work and be with the children, so when he offered, they had no choice but to accept. Still, she wasn’t happy about it.”
“I still can’t figure out why they're staying in Portland, knowing I’m not there,” Simon mused aloud.
“What type of work do you do, Ben?”
“Lumberjacking.”
“You’re joking!”
“No, that’s what I do. I cut down trees—part time though, because I have to farm the land, too. With the help of my family, of course.”
“My father owned a lumber mill in St. Louis. I grew up working with him. I can’t decide if I want to start a lumber place of my own, or take a land grant and farm.”
“Take the lumber business. It’s booming. So many settlers are moving here every day, and they need the wood for houses. Farming's hard work, and three hundred and twenty acres is a lot of land to farm.”
“Did you get a land grant?” Simon asked.
“No. I only have twenty acres. It was my grandfather’s land. He settled here, long before the grants. I moved here after he died, and brought Hattie with me. The grants came later. I don’t think I could have farmed so many acres without any farming experience.”
“You’ve given me some ideas, to think about, Ben, but right now, all I can think about is finding my Carrie and telling her everything I should have told her before we parted.”
“Why didn’t you tell her then?” Ben asked.
“Why?" He shook his head. "That's a question I’ve been asking myself over and over these last few months. I guess I waited for a definite sign she'd reciprocate. I admit to being afraid I’d be turned down, and also afraid of commitment, since I promised myself that I'd avoid marrying until I became financially secure. I also didn’t want to cross any boundaries I’d been entrusted with. I’m a Christian man, Ben. I knew that if things got heavy between us, I’d be tempted to dishonor her after she trusted me, and I couldn’t do it.” When Ben nodded in understanding, Simon continued. “What I should have done is expressed my feelings after we'd reached Oregon, and I…well, I should have done a lot of things, like take better care of the paper she gave me, with your name on it, and the directions to your home.”
“You can soon be rid of all your regrets, Simon. And rest assured, I respect you as a man of morals.”
Hattie and Caroline sat in the dining area of the hotel, nibbling on toast. They didn’t have enough money to buy much more. Hattie hadn’t realized how quickly the room and eating costs would add up. She thought she'd brought enough money with her.
Hattie sighed. “So how do we get home, now? Wait for Ezra? We should have specified a date for him to pick us up. We’re nearly out of money.”
“Simon will be here.”
“How do you know that?”
“He’ll find Ben, and Ben will tell him we’re here. I’m sure that, by now, Ben knows we didn’t go return with Ezra, so Simon will come, I’m sure of it. I’m so glad I thought to give him your last name and directions to your house.”
“We can’t afford another night here, Carrie," Hattie reminded her.
“Simon will take care of it. Don’t worry.”
Just then, the hotel manager called them over to the front desk. “The waitress seems to think you ladies are out of money. I think it might be a good idea if you paid for tonight’s room in advance.”
So that’s how Hattie and Caroline ended up sitting in the hotel lobby with their small bags at their side.
Simon and Ben walked into the hotel to find Hattie and Caroline sitting in the lobby.
“Simon!” Carrie called. She ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck. “I love you, Simon. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how I felt before we parted.”
“Oh, Carrie. I love you, too. I should have realized. I missed you so much!”
“Squeeze me harder, Simon. I want to feel that you are, indeed, alive.”
He hugged her again and laughed. “Do you make a habit of getting tossed out of hotels?”
Caroline didn’t answer him. She rocked in his arms instead. Only two days ago, she thought him dead, and now he was holding her tightly in hi
s arms. Caroline thought to herself, He’s alive, and he’s here, and he’s mine.
Ben and Hattie hugged, too. They walked away to give Caroline and Simon some privacy.
“Let’s sit down, Carrie. I need to talk to you,” Simon said. He had to practically pry her hands from around his neck. He chuckled. “We’ll have plenty of time for that, now we’ve found each other, but I need to say a few things first, things I should have said months ago.”
Reluctantly, she let him lead her to the lobby sofa. “I have things to tell you, too. I’m so glad you aren’t dead,” she said.
“Dead? Where would you get that idea?” he asked.
“Ezra!”
“Oh him. He said I was dead?”
“He said he’d help us find you. He went to the hotel manager, and then came back and told us you'd been were killed in a carriage accident.” She hugged him again. “I thought I’d never get to tell you that I love you. That I’d never get to--”
“Hey. Calm down! I’m still alive.” He handed her his handkerchief. “Did you say that you loved me?” he asked softly. "Or perhaps it was wishful thinking—”
“I do love you, Simon.” Caroline said, wiping her eyes. “I've learned a lesson from all of this,” she sniffed. “Never put off telling someone how you feel, because you might never get the chance, otherwise.”
“Oh, Carrie, I feel the same. All that time I spent in bed with my leg in a sling, berating myself for not saying what I felt, and for not doing what I should have….” He lifted her chin and searched her watery blue eyes. “Because, I love you, too.”
“Oh, Simon!” Caroline sobbed even harder. She huddled close to him, with her head resting on his shoulder. “Promise me we’ll never be separated again.”
“That brings me to my next question, Carrie, but you'll have to stop crying and listen carefully, for I need an answer from your head, and not your emotions.”
“It’s not a bad question, is it? You’re not going to leave me again, or anything?”
Simon shook his head. He dropped down on one knee. “Caroline Goodwin, will you agree to become Mrs. Simon Miller, and to let me love you and care for you forever?” He looked at her hopefully.
