He beamed happily and took off at a run to his mother’s wagon.
“Where is Joe headed off to so fast?” Flynn asked.
He came from the opposite direction than Cora had been expecting him. She jumped and turned to face him. “Why do you always do that?” So much for being aware of her surroundings.
Startled by her tone, Flynn looked about and then asked, “Do what?”
“Sneak up behind me like that.” She smiled to take the sting out of her words, then answered his earlier question. “He’s taking buffalo steaks to his parents’ wagon.”
“Buffalo steaks? Where did you get them?”
Cora pointed to the buffalo robe sack. “We had visitors this morning.”
Flynn walked to the robes and opened the top. He whistled low. “Levi will be glad to have some of this. I hope you saved him a steak.”
She smiled. “Do you know if he’s in camp?”
“He is. Would you mind throwing a steak on the fire for him?” He walked up and placed an arm around her shoulders.
Cora couldn’t resist leaning into him. “I already did.”
“You’re a good woman.” He kissed her temple and then released her, as if embarrassed by his actions. “I’ll go invite him to breakfast.”
Before Cora could comment, Flynn had fled their campsite. She touched her temple where his lips had pressed moments earlier. Cora smiled. Maybe he was starting to feel for her what she felt for him. Maybe losing Noah, even for a few hours, had made them both realize just how much they needed to remain a family.
* * *
Flynn couldn’t believe that he’d just kissed Cora for the second time. What was wrong with him? He had promised the marriage would be one of convenience only, and here he was, acting like a schoolboy with his sweetheart, stealing kisses whenever he could.
Levi rode his horse at the front of the wagon train. Flynn waved to him and the other man galloped to him at a fast pace. “Everything all right at your camp?” Levi asked, coming to a halt beside him.
“Sure is. Seems the missus had a visitor early this morning who dropped off fresh buffalo steaks. Feel like having breakfast with the Adamses this morning?”
Levi’s gaze searched the area. “Did your wife say how many visitors we had?”
The concern in his voice had Flynn on immediate alert. “No, but truth be told, I didn’t ask for details, either.”
Levi’s eyebrows pinched together. “That’s not like you.” When Flynn didn’t respond, he continued, “I’ll report our visitors to the wagon master.” Levi turned his horse to leave but then turned him back around. “Weren’t you on guard duty last night?”
“Yep.”
“And you don’t know how many got past us?”
Flynn shook his head, feeling lower than a snake. “I’ll get more details.”
“If that invitation to breakfast still stands, I’d like to come. I’d like to hear what your wife has to say about the Indians. How many she saw and such.”
Why hadn’t he thought to ask her those questions? Flynn nodded. “We’ll be glad to have you.”
The scout spun his horse and trotted off, leaving Flynn feeling incompetent. Why hadn’t he or one of the other men spotted the Indians in their camp? How many were there? Had Cora been in any danger? And why had he assumed it was a friendly visit? Just because they came bearing gifts didn’t mean they weren’t scouting out the camp as the preamble to some attack.
Flynn walked back to the wagon where Joe and Cora waited. He stopped at a distance and watched his camp. Noah had woken up while Flynn was gone and now sat on his mama’s lap eating cornmeal mush and smacking his lips. Flynn noticed Joe still had his rifle lying across his lap, and even though he smiled and laughed with Cora and the baby, his eyes continued to search the woods behind her. Joe, a teenage boy, had more sense than Flynn did.
Shaking his head, Flynn walked the remainder of the way into camp. “Levi says he’ll be happy to eat with us. He’s got some questions about our visitors.”
Joe’s eyes were serious as he nodded. “I’ll tell him everything I know.”
Cora nodded, as well, her eyes holding a touch of fear and caution. “Do you want to hear it from us first? Or do you want us to wait for him?” she asked, searching his eyes.
Flynn swallowed. “He’ll be here any moment. No need for you to have to rehash it twice.”
She nodded and gave the baby another spoonful of mush. “I don’t believe they were here to cause any trouble.”
Levi entered the camp in time to catch that and replied, “Maybe not, but we still need to know how many you saw and what they said.”
Flynn looked to Joe. “Joe, please tell me everything that happened.”
Cora handed the baby to Flynn. He watched as she flipped the steaks in the frying pan. Was she angry that he’d asked Joe before asking her?
Joe stood and gave the scout his seat. “I heard a noise and rolled out from under the wagon. I circled around to the front, thinking whoever I heard would expect me to come around the end of the wagon. Then Cora came out the back end. She got a drink. I watched as an Indian man placed the bag beside the wagon. He motioned for a woman to come out of the shadows. Then he just melted back into them. It was like one minute I saw him and the next he was gone.”
Levi nodded. “They can do that. Go on.”
“Cora saw the woman and the bag. While they were talking, I walked up behind Cora. The man stepped out of the shadows, I guess just so that I would know he was still around. Anyway, after she talked to Cora, they both left. I’ve been keeping a watch out just in case they come back.”
Still ignoring Cora, Levi asked Joe, “It was just the two—a man and a woman? You didn’t see anyone else?”
Joe shook his head. “No, and they weren’t anything but friendly.” He took the plate that Cora handed him and smiled his thanks.
Levi turned his attention to Cora. “Do you have anything to add to Joe’s story?”
Cora dished up potato cakes and a steak on two other plates. She handed a plate to Levi and set Flynn’s on the crate she’d abandoned. “Joe summed it all up nicely.” She took Noah from Flynn. “If you gentlemen will excuse me, I’m going to go get fresh water from the river.” Cora shot Joe a look before she took the water bucket from the side of the wagon and joined her friends as they passed by.
Levi turned to Flynn. “Did I offend her?”
Flynn shook his head. “Cora’s always busy in the mornings. I’m sure she just wants to get her chores done before we have to leave.” His gaze met Joe’s. The young man raised an eyebrow but kept his thoughts to himself.
Levi ate his breakfast in silence. Flynn noted that both Levi and Joe continued to watch the outside ring of the wagons. Flynn knew he’d messed up. He should have asked Cora for more details about the Indians who had visited before being prompted by Levi. His gaze moved to where she’d left with her friends.
Levi finally spoke. “We’re not going far today. I talked to the rancher who owns this land, Mr. Browning, about camping on his property for a few days. The animals need rest and the ladies are getting tired. Some of them have asked for time to wash clothes and relax with their children.” He scooped up the last of his potatoes and chewed thoughtfully. His gaze met Flynn’s. “That might give you time to sweeten up your new bride.” Levi laughed at his own observation. He placed his plate by the firepit and smiled. “Please thank your wife for the fine meal, Flynn—it was a real treat.” He started to walk away and then stopped. “I’ve decided you aren’t to have guard duty for a couple of turns. It’s obvious you need to rest.”
Flynn nodded. He didn’t mind being off guard duty one little bit. He was never one to sleep during the daylight hours, and the eight-hour night shifts turned into sixteen hours nonstop without rest. It took him several days to get over that lack of sleep. Besides,
if truth be told, he liked being close to Cora and Noah at night. He loved that responsibility. But he still felt guilt over failing to protect them when the Indians had come. Even though there didn’t seem to have been any danger, he still felt as if he’d let Cora down...just as he’d let Miriam down.
Chapter Sixteen
Cora stared across the river at the ranch house. Nestled against the side of the mountain, the long house looked welcoming. Cattle grazed in the pasture while a garden rested on the east side of the building. She sighed. What would it be like to live in such a place?
She shook her head at the thought. Cora had been thinking on what she’d do once they reached Oregon. She couldn’t apply to be a schoolteacher because most school boards didn’t allow married women or widows with children to be teachers. So she’d been wondering if she could become a live-in nanny or maybe take in mending to support herself and Noah.
Cora sighed. She was tired of trying to find something she was good at besides teaching, so, at the moment, she would simply focus on the present and be thankful that the wagon master had decided to stop for a few days. There was plenty of work for her to do, but since they had a couple of days, Cora decided to take the afternoon and simply rest by the cool water.
Thankfully, Martha had agreed to take care of Noah. Cora smiled at the memory of the young girl promising she wouldn’t let the baby out of her sight. Martha said it now every time she took the baby. Losing Noah once was enough to keep the girl fully alert whenever she babysat. This journey was leaving a deep impression on them all, in different ways.
Cora slowly walked to the river’s edge. Fall was underway in full force; the leaves had lost their green colors and had turned bright shades of yellows, reds, oranges and browns. The scent of cool air filled her nostrils.
Fall was her favorite time of the year. Seemed like the wind of time changed, the air was clearer, and the leaves falling reminded her of the Scripture about putting off the old and putting on the new.
When the wagon train began to have serious problems, like sick children, dead livestock, death by drowning and fatal snakebites, Sarah had decided it was time for the ladies to form a Bible study and prayer group. She explained that it was up to the women to raise prayers of protection over their wagon train and that Bible learning was good for all of them.
They had studied that verse about old and new one morning this week and Sarah had done a great job explaining. It had created an eagerness in Cora to learn more about the Word. Sarah had mentioned the seasons and what each one brought with the change. And with that thought in mind, Cora prayed that they would make it to Willamette Valley before the first snow.
“Care if I join you?” Flynn pushed away from a nearby tree. His handsome face offered a smile, but uncertainty shone in his beautiful eyes. He came close, looking down at her intently.
Cora hadn’t seen Flynn since breakfast, when he and Levi had come into camp demanding answers about the Indians who had given them gifts. They had asked Joe, a boy, for answers instead of her. It hurt that Flynn thought more of what Joe had to say over her own words. She moved away, her jaw tightening with each step as she continued toward the water.
He hurried and kept up with her. “You’re angry.”
Should she deny it? Let him think all was well? Or tell him the truth? Cora stopped and inhaled a deep breath. She knew it would sound childish to explain she was offended and angry because he had not asked her first about what had happened this morning. Her reaction reeked of immaturity, since she had evidence in the past of several times when he had considered her advice or feelings. She knew he wasn’t dismissive of her—he’d proved it time and time again. So why did this one occasion hurt down deep within her heart?
“I thought so.” Flynn walked beside her. “Look, I know I should have asked you what happened instead of Joe, but that’s not the way men think—not when it comes to questions of safety. And Joe, well, Joe is proving that he’s growing into a fine man, and Levi and I both wanted to show him our respect for him by treating him as such. He protected you and Noah this morning.”
Cora held her tongue. She wanted to say Joe was still a boy, but truth be told, she hadn’t thought about how Joe would have felt if they had asked her first instead of him. Would he have felt they thought of him as a kid, even though he’d proved he was a man today?
It still bugged her, even as understanding came. She just felt she was the adult and she had protected Noah. Not Joe. But since neither of them had needed protecting, her or the baby, neither she nor Joe had truly protected anyone. So her feelings of hurt were ridiculous, weren’t they? Her emotions were a jumble, and even though they made perfect sense to her, she knew Flynn would never understand. “I see” was all that she could force from her lips.
Flynn knelt and picked up a handful of pebbles. He walked a little away from her and began skipping the stones across the water. His gaze moved to her several times and then he’d look quickly away.
Cora realized he could be doing anything right now but instead he was at the river with his surly wife. Why? Did he really care this much about her feelings that he’d stay with her, even though he thought she was angry? She was a novice at this thing called love. She’d never even had a boyfriend, having allowed her studies and then her teaching career dictate that fact, but now she had a husband and had no idea what to do with him.
She sat down at the water’s edge and watched two wild ducks fly down and land in the center of the river. The squawking shattered the quiet, but their beauty was well worth it.
“Have I ever told you my pa has a ranch like this one?” Flynn sat down on the bank beside her.
“No. I don’t know much about your family,” she admitted. The male duck followed the female around the water. They quacked as if talking to one another.
“Pa owns one of the biggest ranches in Texas. He always planned that I’d inherit and work it for him when he got too old to do it himself.” His gaze moved to the cattle in the field closer to the ranch house.
“You had other plans?”
“I only ever wanted to be a lawman. When I was eighteen, our town sheriff made me a deputy. Chasing bad guys, making sure shops were closed for the night and generally helping others made me happy. Chasing my father’s cattle all over the ranch did not.” He sighed as if remembering the hard work he’d had to do on the ranch.
“What did your pa say when you told him you wanted to be a sheriff?” Cora picked at the rocks around her. She chose a white one and a red and a black one while she waited for his answer. She wondered if she could make a necklace out of the stones as a memento of the trip.
Flynn sighed. “He wasn’t pleased. But he knew I’d never be happy working his ranch, so he told me to go get it out of my system, hoping that maybe someday I’d come back.” Flynn chuckled.
Cora grinned. “So you’re kind of like the prodigal son.” She wondered if Flynn would ever give up being a lawman. The set of his jaw led her to believe he probably wouldn’t.
Flynn turned his head sideways and looked at her. “Something like that, only I’ve gone back to the farm—just never gone back to ranching.”
She rotated the rocks in her hand. “What was it that you didn’t like about ranching?”
He shrugged. “I think my main objection was that I didn’t want to work my pa’s ranch. I wanted to do something that wasn’t handed to me.”
Cora took her shoes off. If she was going to sit by the water, she was going to get her toes wet. She dropped the stones in her shoe.
“What about you?” he asked. “Did your parents have different plans for your life than you did?”
She sank her feet into the sandy edge of the water. Cold moisture squished between her toes. Soon it would be too cold to enjoy the fresh mountain waters. “My parents owned a small store in town. Gracie loved working there, but I hated it. The only times I was happy was when
I got to work on the ledger or when Ma ordered new books. Pa didn’t care for the job of bookkeeping and Ma preferred ordering. Gracie liked waiting on the customers, so Pa had me do the books.” She smiled at the memory.
“Do your parents still own that store?”
Cora’s smile slipped from her face. “No. They both died from a fever when my sister and I were sixteen. After their funerals, we lived with our grandmother for a few months, until she died also. I asked our teacher if she would train me to be a schoolteacher. She agreed, and she and I lived together in the house the school provided while Gracie went to live with our uncle and aunt in Independence.” She leaned forward and let one hand trail in the water. “We lost touch with each other for almost three years. Then one day I received a letter from Gracie saying she was getting married and she asked me to come live in Independence.”
“That’s how you ended up there?” Flynn pulled his knees up and rested his forearms on them.
“More or less. I didn’t go until a teaching position opened up.” Cora wiggled her toes in the cold water.
They sat quietly listening to the water gurgle over the rocks. Cora thought about telling Flynn what had happened next. How Gracie had married Hank and then found out he was a mean drunk. What would he think if she told him that Noah wasn’t the first baby that Gracie carried but he was the only one she hadn’t lost before birth?
Gracie had claimed that accidental falls had caused the first two miscarriages, and Cora had believed her until she’d moved to Independence. Once there, Gracie had confided in Cora that Hank hit her when he was drunk. How she managed to carry Noah and deliver him without Hank killing the baby was a mystery to Cora. Maybe Noah was the gift from God meant to finally convince Gracie she needed to get away from her husband. But sadly, she had waited one day too late and it had cost Gracie her life.
Flynn placed his arm around her shoulders. “I have a present for you.”
She looked over at him. “You do?”
Wagon Train Wedding Page 16
