Wagon Train Baby: Christian historical romance (Love on the Santa Fe Trail Book 1)

by Linda Ford

  In an attempt to soothe both herself and the baby, she softly sang the words to the hymn Luke had taught her. Then she prayed aloud. “God, I am finding it hard to trust You, but I can do nothing to help myself. I can’t even see my hand in front of my face. But You say the darkness and light are the same to You.” From the depths of her past came the Psalm in which that verse was found. Mama had taught Donna Grace and Mary Mae to learn it by heart.

  “You will someday find the verses exactly what you need.”

  Mama would not have been able to know the circumstance Donna Grace would be in but the Psalm was indeed exactly what she needed, and she repeated it over and over.

  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Where could she go from His loving presence? He was with her and Elena, and would surely send rescue.

  And if He didn’t?

  Then He would be with her to the end.

  She tipped her head back against the earthen wall and slept, though her slumber was disturbed by the ache in her legs, and frightful thoughts that jerked her awake, out of breath and with her heart racing.

  Thy right hand shall hold me. She murmured the words over and over until her heartbeat and breathing returned to normal.

  Elena demanded to be fed. If Donna Grace didn’t eat and drink soon, her milk would vanish. I will trust and not fear.

  The door rattled and a wedge of light stung her eyes.

  “You wanting some food?”

  Donna Grace squinted against the glare, but she didn’t turn toward Garcia. She scanned the inside of her prison. Nothing but four earthen walls, an earthen ceiling held in place by thin poles, a solid earthen floor and not a stick of furniture.

  “What is this place?”

  “Shelter for some trapper. I ‘spect he mostly slept outside, though. Or maybe he used this to store his furs in. You want food or not?”

  He didn’t need to ask again. She scrambled to her feet, catching herself against the wall as pins and needles shot up her legs. Somehow she made her way to the door. The sky was pink. She’d expected a fire, but saw no evidence of one. He knew there would be people out looking for her and hadn’t wanted to alert them as to her whereabouts.

  “Help yourself.” He jerked his thumb toward the canteen and a handful of biscuits.

  She took her time crossing the few yards to the place he indicated, partly because she wanted to be in the sunshine as long as possible and feared he would send her back to the darkness of that place, but also because her legs hurt from yesterday’s ride.

  Hungry to the point of weakness, she slowly ate six biscuits, washing them down with a large amount of water.

  “You eat like that all the time and we’ll soon run out of rations.”

  “I was hungry.” She studied her surroundings. The soddie was more of a dugout, built into a low bank which explained why the interior walls on three sides were so smooth and the fourth lumpy and layered. A copse of trees crowded up to the edge of the hill, providing a barrier to hide them from any passersby. On the other side, scrub trees and bushes ran down a small coulee. She guessed a stream of some sort lay on the other side of the trees.

  “Where are the horses?”

  “Can’t see them?”

  She peered into the trees. There might have been two horses there, or she might have been imagining it. Either way, they were invisible, she guessed, unless a person knew where to look.

  A perfect place to hide.

  An impossible place for anyone to discover unless they stumbled upon it by accident.

  “How long do you plan to stay here?”

  He tipped back on his heels, his evil smile revealing stained teeth. “Until your friends give up looking for you.”

  She turned away. Her insides might be as weak as butter left too long in the sun, but she would not reveal her fear to him. She would trust God. No matter what the outcome.

  How long would anyone look for her before they gave up?

  15

  Luke was up as soon as the sky went from indigo to dark grey. A fire would have been nice. Coffee even better, but he saw no point in informing Garcia of their whereabouts. He could be nearby. Luke strained to pick up any sound of them. Perhaps if Elena cried. In the distance some coyotes sang a lonely morning song. The horses rustled. But no baby wailed.

  Gil grabbed his saddle and went to his horse. Luke did the same. They ate cold bacon and biscuits as they sat astride their horses.

  “What do you suggest we do?” Luke willingly would follow Gil’s lead. The man was a good scout and knew his way back and forth along the Santa Fe Trail, and likely most of the area surrounding it.

  “There’s a creek to the west of here. Let’s ride over and give our horses a good drink. It would be the easiest place for them to camp, so we can have a look for signs of them. If we find nothing, we’ll come back to this spot and pick up where we left off.”

  “Fine by me,” Luke said. They needed to fill their canteens and a splash of water on his face might help him think more clearly. “I feel so helpless. My wife and child are in the hands of a kidnapper and I can’t even find them.”

  “You a believing man?” Gil asked.

  “Somewhat. Sort of let it go for a while.”

  “Seems to be now might be a good time to seek some help from a God who sees everything.”

  “I’ve been trying. Last night I realized I could do nothing but ask for His help. I’m trying to trust Him, but it would be a whole lot easier if I could do something to help Him.”

  Gil chuckled. “Did God need your help when He made the world or hung the stars or, for that matter, made that little baby of yours?”

  Only the Russell and Clark family knew the details of Luke and Donna Grace’s marriage, and the circumstances of Elena’s creation. But he understood Gil’s point. “Nope. He seemed to manage quite well without me.”

  “And He will continue to do so.” They rode as they talked and reached the creek. It was a narrow, gurgling little stream, though Luke knew it would run fast and deep following a heavy rain.

  They dismounted and before they allowed the horses to go to water, they squatted down and examined the rocky shore.

  “A rock has been disturbed here,” Gil said. “Looks like a horseshoe print.” He straightened. “He went into the water. He could have gone either direction and left the creek on either side.”

  “There’s only one way to find out. You ride up one side, I’ll do the other. If we find nothing in one direction, we’ll return and go the other way.”

  “Right.” They watered the horses, filled their canteens and mounted up, riding slowly, bent over in their saddles, as they looked for any sign of Garcia and Donna Grace leaving the water.

  They rode for the better part of an hour. Then Luke pulled up. “How far would he ride in the water?”

  “That, I cannot say. He’s half loco. Makes it impossible to judge what he’d do. But let’s try the other direction.”

  They reined about, but afraid he might have missed some clue, Luke rode back slowly, studying the ground before him.

  They passed the spot where they had watered the horses and Luke dismounted. “I’m afraid I might miss something if I ride.”

  Gil dismounted too. An hour later the sun was warm upon their shoulders, but they still had not found anything to indicate what direction Garcia had taken.

  Luke straightened and looked about. “He can’t have vanished into thin air.” Frustration grated through his insides. “We must be missing something. I can only think of one thing to do.” He fell to one knee, pressed his hat to his chest and bowed his head. “God, You see everything. You know where Donna Grace and the baby are. We’re lost and hopeless. Please show us where to go and keep them safe. Amen.” He kept his head bowed a moment. When he looked up, Gil stood across the stream, his hat to his chest and his head bowed.

  The moment seemed blessed and holy. Gil looked up. “It’s Sunday today.”

  “God’s d
ay.”

  They both stood silent, waiting. For what, Luke could not say but neither moved.

  “Let’s go on,” Gil said. “I can’t help but think he would want to get as far from the wagon train and his pursuers as possible. Besides, if memory serves me correctly, the stream veers to the southeast ahead.” He planted his hat on his head and took up his horse’s reins. “Something is tickling at the back of my brain. Something I should remember, but can’t quite seem to.”

  “That’s helpful. Should certainly guide us in the right direction.”

  Gil chuckled. “Have faith. It will come.”

  They continued on, eyes to the rocky, unrevealing ground.

  They reached the curve in the creek that Gil remembered. “Wait. I know what it is.”

  “Mind sharing the information with me?”

  Gil led his horse across the stream. “There’s a tale about a crazy old trapper who had a cabin of sorts around here. I thought it was a made-up story, so one day I went looking and found this cave cut into the side of a dirt bank. There was a door on it. And buried deep in the thicket of trees, was a little corral where he’d kept his mule.”

  “You think that’s where Garcia had gone?”

  “I can’t think of a better place to hide. It took me a long time to find it. I probably rode past it two or three times before I spotted it. You have to come at it from the right angle to see it.”

  “Let’s go.”

  Gil caught his arm. “It’s also very hard to approach without being seen. I don’t know how Garcia is going to react if we come riding in. Like you, I never did trust that man. Shouldn’t have let him join us, but Buck said he paid the fare and hadn’t done anything to justify saying no to his riding with us.”

  “I don’t intend to stand by and not do anything.” Luke slipped his foot into the stirrup.

  “We need a plan.” Gil tapped his chin. “We need to surprise him. Catch him off guard.”

  “How?”

  “Let’s think this through. Come on. I’ll show you the lay of the land.” He went to a spot of bare ground and picked up a stick. “The stream runs like this.” He drew in the dirt.

  Luke squatted beside him as Gil sketched out every detail of the place.

  “We aren’t even sure he’s there.” If he wasn’t, they were wasting precious time.

  “Luke, we prayed. That’s when I remembered something I’d plum forgotten. I, for one, am thinking that was an answer to our prayers.”

  Luke wasn’t quite so willing to throw all his marbles into one game, but he didn’t have a better idea. “Fine. The sooner we find out, the sooner we will have an answer one way or the other.” He carefully studied the diagram Gil had produced. He could see why surprise might be a challenge. But—

  “What if we do this?” He grabbed a stick and showed Gil the details of his plan.

  “That just might work.” Gil clapped Luke on the shoulder. “He won’t suspect a thing until it’s too late.”

  They mounted up and rode along the river making as much noise as possible, yelling and laughing as if they’d imbibed freely on their ride.

  They neared the spot where the trapper had built his secure place a short distance from the stream. Luke slipped from the horse and made his way round the hill, falling to his stomach to wriggle closer.

  Gil stopped by the edge of the water, still laughing and carrying on.

  Luke smiled as he listened to the racket. He reached the top of the hill and looked down. His heart stopped. Donna Grace sat on the ground, baby Elena at her breast. Her skirts were torn and dirty. Her hair falling in strands from her usual tidy bun or braid. He saw one side of her face, enough to see dirt smudges.

  He tore his gaze from the pair to locate Garcia. The man faced the stream and the noise Gil made.

  Donna Grace finished feeding the baby and eased to her feet. With her attention on Garcia’s back, she began to inch toward the creek.

  He couldn’t say if she recognized Gil’s voice, or simply figured her chances were better with anyone else but Garcia.

  Garcia glanced back and saw her intent. “Sit down,” he ordered, sending an angry chill through Luke.

  Donna Grace hesitated.

  Please don’t challenge him. He’s not a reasonable man.

  She sat down. Smart woman that she was, she made sure to sit directly behind him so he had to turn to watch her.

  Satisfied at her cooperation, he turned back to the racket Gil made. He pulled a gun from his waistband. “That rowdy bunch needs to move on.”

  Indeed Gil made it sound like at least half a dozen men caroused.

  Gil was ready for the man, so Luke forced himself to remain motionless until Garcia ducked into the trees, intent on surprising what he thought were a bunch of noisy cowboys.

  Luke slipped silently down the hill and made it to Donna Grace’s side without alerting her to his presence. He covered her mouth with his hand.

  She jerked and fought him.

  “Donna Grace, it’s me. Don’t make a sound.” He removed his hand slowly.

  Tears puddled in her eyes, but there wasn’t time to comfort and reassure her.

  “Come on.” He helped her to her feet and cupped his hand to the bundle cradled to her chest. “Is the little one okay?”

  Donna Grace nodded.

  He led her up the hill, half dragging her. He didn’t slow until he reached his horse and safety in a thicket.

  “You’re safe.” He pulled her into his arms, the baby sheltered between them.

  She sobbed into his shirt front. “How did you find me?”

  Before he could answer, a shot rang out.

  And then another.

  Gil. He was supposed to be ready.

  Luke’s instinct was to race toward the stream to help his friend, but Garcia would be after Donna Grace as soon as he discovered her gone. Luke couldn’t leave her, nor would he risk taking her toward that man.

  Donna Grace clutched at his arm, her eyes wide. “Who is down there?” she whispered.

  “Gil.”

  “Who else?”

  He spared a quick smile. “He was trying to sound like a bunch of wild cowboys.”

  The fleeting movement of her mouth suggested she had tried for a smile and failed. “He succeeded.” She pressed her hand to her mouth. “Did Garcia shoot him?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Shouldn’t we check?” She took two steps that direction before he pulled her up short.

  “We might walk right back into Garcia’s arms.” His jaw creaked so he could hardly speak. “I have no intention of doing that. I need to plan our next move carefully.”

  Donna Grace sank to the ground with a suddenness that said her legs had given out.

  He squatted beside her, brushing the hair from her face. “Are you hurt? Did that man—?” He could not finish.

  16

  Donna Grace trembled inside and out. Her stomach rolled and she swallowed hard to force it to settle. He had come. Luke had rescued her, but it wasn’t over. Luke seemed to think that shots meant Gil had been—she closed her eyes. Garcia would not let her go so easily.

  “Donna Grace?”

  The worry in Luke’s voice made her realize she must answer his questions. “I’m not hurt. Just scared. He didn’t harm me.”

  He plunked to the ground as if his legs were as weak as hers. “Did he say anything about his plans?”

  “Just that he meant to make Grandfather to pay for my freedom.” She groaned. “I don’t even know if Grandfather would.”

  “I would never give up looking for you.” Each word came out as a firm promise.

  “I know.” She touched his cheek. “I know.”

  He looked deep into her eyes, his gaze probing secret places. At any other time she might have hidden her heart, guarded her feelings, but today her fear and relief mingled to undo any caution she normally exerted.

  He caught her hand and turned to plant a kiss in her palm before he turne
d away. “I have to see to Gil.”

  She tapped his shoulder. “We have to see to him.”

  “I can’t ride into danger with you.”

  “I am most certainly not staying behind with any chance Garcia might be after me.” Bile rose in her throat and she coughed.

  He got to his feet, pulled her up. They faced each other. She could not miss the worry in his eyes. Likely he would see the same in hers plus a healthy dose of stubbornness. She would not be left behind with the possibility that Garcia could again capture her.

  “Very well. We’ll have to be quiet. Is Elena going to wake up and cry?”

  “I just fed her. She will be okay for a couple of hours.” Please, baby, sleep through this.

  Luke caught her hand. “First, we will pray.” He grabbed his hat, held it to his chest and bowed his head. “Father in heaven, You have promised to guide and protect us. I’m confessing we need that in a mighty big way. Please help us.” He slapped his hat back on his head and took Donna Grace’s hand. “I know a way that will provide some cover until we are almost there.”

  They hurried down the side of the hill and reached a stand of trees. “Stay behind me and mind where you put your feet.”

  She reluctantly let go of his hand, cradled the baby close and eased between the trees, careful to avoid twigs on the path. Wildlife likely used the trail, but whatever sort of animal they were, they were skinny, which meant Donna Grace had to wriggle between branches in many places.

  Luke stopped moving. She placed her hand on his back needing the strength the touch provided. He held up his hand with one finger extended, signaling he wanted her to either wait or be quiet.

  What was he looking at? She tried to see around him. The stream ran by. The rocky shore was visible. She leaned a little more to the right. Did she see a boot? One that seemed to have a leg attached?

  She pulled upright, a hand to her mouth to keep back a squeak. Was it Gil? Where was Garcia? She feared the sound of her breath would alert the man to their position, so she kept her hand at her lips, allowing only the tiniest bit of air to enter and leave her lungs.