“I think it’s much too wide to cross here. We’ll have to find a place where it’s narrower, and I think the captain already has that place in his mind. He said it would be a while before we found a good crossing spot.” Bob shook his head. “He always knows what he wants, even if he doesn’t communicate it to the people around him.”
“I just hope you’ll be more careful next time,” she said. “I hate the idea of you swimming across and getting hurt.” She wasn’t sure she could bear the fear that would accompany such a swim.
Bob shrugged. “I think I’ll let one of the unmarried men do it next time.” He grinned slowly. “Maybe the captain.” He definitely wouldn’t let the captain do it, because of his sons, but it was fun to joke about.
Mary laughed. “We both know there’s no way the captain would ever risk himself.”
“Very true. Besides, if we lost him, who would lead us?”
“I have no idea. Though I think there are many who could if it came right down to it. Captain has a map he’s following. There are plenty in camp who know how to follow a map.” Mary shrugged. “I think any number of men would be a better captain than Bedwell.”
“That’s very true.” Bob shrugged. “I won’t be the one to swim across if we find someone does need to swim across. I need to be better about providing for my wife.” And any future children. Eventually, they would have children, and he wasn’t sure how she’d cope.
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” Mary walked a little closer to the river before sitting down and watching the river ripple. She hugged her knees in front of her, staring down at the small waves that passed.
“It’s getting pretty dark. Don’t you want to sleep?” He was surprised she hadn’t wanted to go to the tent already. Normally, she wasn’t one who liked to wander around after dark. He joined her on the bank of the river, simply enjoying her company.
Mary shook her head. “Not just yet. Tomorrow is Sunday, so we don’t have to walk. Instead we have our day of rest.” She was relieved to have that day of rest every week. It would be so much harder to keep going without it.
“I love our rest days,” Bob said, tilting his head back. “Jed is a good preacher, and it gives us all time to just relax. Of course, there’s hunting to be done and clothes to wash.”
“Several of the women have started washing clothes at night, so all the work that needs to be done on Sunday is minding the children and cooking.” She smiled. “I like the lazy Sundays better than the Sundays where I have to work all the time. God knew what he was doing giving us all time to rest.”
“I don’t blame you,” he said. “I like the lack of constant moving. I know we’ll get back to it, but the Sundays off are godsends. My arms get so tired of driving all the time, and I’m sure your legs and feet ache.”
“They do. Thankfully, we haven’t had a ton of rain so far. I hope that doesn’t change.” Though she knew rain was needed, it made the rivers harder to cross, and the wagons moved slower in the rain. She wanted to finally be in Oregon soon, and they were on pace to be there earlier in the year than most wagon trains. She simply prayed it would stay easier with less rain.
He nodded. “The lack of rain has made our journey much easier than it could have been.” He glanced over at her, seeing her silhouette in the setting sun. How other men didn’t see her as the beauty she was, he would never know. Her boyishness never bothered him, but he knew Jamie hadn’t been impressed by it, which was good. He wouldn’t have liked to have had to fight with his friend over her. To him she was a perfect woman in every way.
Mary glanced his way and saw him watching her. She smiled. “I love you, Bob.” She waited for a moment for him to react to her. She’d expected an immediate grin, and when it didn’t happen, she was nervous for a bit.
He stilled, frozen for a moment. “You do?”
She nodded emphatically. “I do. I didn’t really understand what love was. I talked to Hannah and Sharon this morning, and they both said that I was being silly.” She sighed. “I was expecting a love like my mother has for my father. A love that would compel me to want to do everything you told me to do. A love that would make me always want to make you happy. And though I do want to make you happy, I don’t feel the need to be a perfectly obedient wife.” That was something she would never be, and she was sure he already knew that.
“I would never ask you to be,” Bob said, still a little overwhelmed with her declaration. It had been completely unexpected, but he didn’t know if he would have been able to believe her if she’d said it after he told her he loved her.
“I’m a very different woman than my mother is, and I know most men want women that are like her. I’m so glad you saw past my boyishness to the woman inside, Bob. I really don’t know what I would have done if I’d had to marry someone like the doctor or Jamie, who would have expected me to stay in camp and never hunt.” She shuddered. “Besides, the idea of either one of them kissing me makes me feel a bit queasy. And they would be more like bulls with cows than you are…” She grinned as she mentioned cows, knowing very well he would be amused.
“Are we back to the cows again? Mary, stop worrying about the cows so much!”
Mary laughed. “I’m not worried about the cows anymore. Do I seem nervous when you touch me?” She wasn’t any longer. Not one little bit. She looked forward to their nights of passion. She wasn’t at all sure things would be the same once they were settled in a cabin somewhere together and not camping out under the stars.
Bob grinned. “Not at all, for which I’m eternally thankful. If we needed to have the cow discussion before making love every time, I think I might lose my mind.” Though he’d certainly attempt it if it made her feel better.
She giggled. “I think I’m doing lots better with the cow thing. I don’t even think about them when you touch me anymore. Though I still love cows. I think they’re marvelous creatures.”
He shook his head, chuckling softly. “That’s probably for the best. I kept worrying you’d start yelling something about cows while I was making love to you, and that may have hurt the mood a little.” The best thing about Mary was that she could make him laugh in any situation. She was perfect for him that way, because Bob loved to laugh.
“More than making love beside a river?” she asked. “Where a snake could join us in our bedding at any moment?” She shuddered at the thought. As long as she had her musket, she wasn’t afraid of snakes, but it was off with their blankets and tent.
“I don’t want to think about snakes joining us.”
“Or spiders,” Mary said, shaking her head. “I can kill just about any animal with my musket, but I want to scream every time I see a spider. I’m not sure why, but it just kind of happens.” Her parents had always thought she was odd, able to handle a musket easily but afraid of spiders. She supposed she was a little strange, but she thought she was strange in the very best of ways.
“Is that going to be my primary job in our marriage?” he asked. “Protecting you from spiders?”
“Well, that and making love to me of course. I think those are probably equal tasks.” She grinned at him, knowing he’d like that task being mentioned.
“I’m so glad you brought that up. I mean…I was worried you’d forgotten about lovemaking.”
Mary laughed. “Like that would ever happen. You know as well as I do, I look forward to it all day.” She leaned toward him and rested her head on his shoulder. “I think maybe I need a night where we just hold each other sometime too. Without lovemaking.” At the moment, that time seemed far in the future, but she knew it would be something she eventually wanted.
“I think we could arrange that. Let’s say in 1875?” Bob suggested.
She laughed. “Maybe a little sooner than that. Perhaps 1855?”
“No, that’s much too soon,” he said with a grin, wrapping his arm around her. “You know what I’m thinking about doing now?”
“Oh, probably making love again.” She said the words as if she w
as making fun of him, but of course she wasn’t. She loved it as much as he did.
“Sleeping. Why are you constantly nagging me to make love to you?” He shook his head. “I guess since you asked…”
She laughed. “Bob, you are absolutely naughty. Do you know that?” Mary couldn’t imagine a man who would suit her better than her Bob. He knew just how to joke with her to make her laugh.
He got to his feet and reached down to help her to hers. “Let’s go find our spot and set up that tent before it’s too dark to see where we’re going.” The sun had set, and it was getting very dark on their little portion of the prairie.
Mary looked up at the sky. “It is getting dark. Maybe we should go back to the circle of wagons and sleep in there like normal people.”
“Normal people don’t plan a walk of two-thousand miles. Trust me. There are no normal people in the circle of wagons.”
“You may just be right about that…”
It took a few minutes, but they found the tent and were able to set it up quickly. When it was done, Mary smoothed out the blankets they used every night. “There, now we’re ready for sleep.”
“Oh, we’re not sleeping yet!” Bob said, kneeling on the blankets and gesturing for her to join him.
Once she had, he took both of her hands in his and leaned forward gently kissing her lips. “I love you, Mary. I loved you from the very moment I laid eyes on you back in Independence. Do you know what my first thought was when your pa introduced us?”
Mary shook her head. “No, but I have a feeling I’m about to find out.”
“I thought, ‘Oh, heck. I just got this job, and I won’t be able to keep it, because I’m going to spend all my time chasing after the boss’s daughter.’ I guess it’s good that you married me.” He had never imagined the first time he’d seen her that she would consent to be his wife. She and her musket had been intriguing from the very first day, though.
She laughed. “Want to know my first thought when I met you?”
“I’m almost afraid,” he said, grinning at her. Had she thought he was beneath her because he was working for her father?
“I thought it was going to be a really long journey if I was expected to be around you every day and could never touch you.” Mary shrugged. “I thought you were awfully handsome, right from the first. And then Hannah came, and I was afraid she’d be interested in you until I found out she was married to the preacher. Her marriage saved her friendship with me. No doubt about that.”
He blinked. “You wanted to touch me?”
“And then you started asking me to dance, and I felt like that was all I needed. We touched a little, and I went to sleep in my tent with my sisters. And then you kissed me. That kiss…well, I never wanted it to end. When Pa told me I had to marry someone, I wanted him to tell me it had to be you. I didn’t want you to think I was choosing you, but I wanted you to be the person I married.”
He laughed. “And instead, you were forced to choose me.” He frowned for a moment. “I do have a confession to make about all that. I think it was Jamie who went to your pa and told him your plans. I told him I wanted to, but that I couldn’t, and I think he thought he was helping me.”
Mary shook her head. “He did us both a favor in the end, didn’t he?”
“I think he did,” Bob said softly. “When we reach Oregon, I want to live near him. He has been a really good friend to me.”
“You know, if we keep living near the people in this company with us, we’re going to end up having an entire village just populated with our friends and family.”
Bob smiled. “That sounds good to me. Are you complaining?”
She laughed. “Never complaining. I’m just not sure that’s what you’re supposed to do on the Oregon Trail. Collect people and force them to live near you when you arrive.”
“Probably not, but let’s do the Trail our way.”
“Sounds perfect to me. I love you, Bob.”
“And I love you. With everything inside me.”
“I’m still not sure I want babies.”
He laughed. “Maybe by the time God provides them, you’ll feel differently.”
“I certainly hope so.”
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Mary's Musket (Clover Creek Caravan Book 2) Page 12
