Page 26 of Caroline’s Compass

“I am supporting cooperation.”

“You are enjoying yourself.”

“Marriage has made me cheerful.”

“Your shoulder will hurt again if you continue.”

Nathaniel drank his coffee.

Thomas folded the map. “I should copy the bearing before the paper becomes damp.”

He took out his field notebook.

Caroline watched the rain gather along the awning edge. “Let me.”

Thomas handed her the notebook and pencil.

His pages were neat, filled with measurements, sketches, and small notes about water, grass, and road conditions. Caroline wrote the date, the direction, and the estimated position of the shifted ford.

Her handwriting looked unfamiliar among his figures.

“Keep it tonight,” he said. “You may want to compare the morning water level.”

Caroline looked up. “This is your work.”

“And that is your compass.”

Rain blew beneath the awning's edge. Caroline closed the brass lid and held it toward him.

“Keep this dry, then.”

Thomas accepted it carefully.

For a moment, neither released the instrument. His fingers rested over hers around the worn brass case.

Caroline noticed Eleanor growing very interested in Nathaniel's coffee.

She let go first.

Samuel's near fall unsettled Caroline long after Mrs. Turner had hugged the boy and scolded him in equal measure. Caroline checked the children's positions twice, inspected the bank again, and began assigning adults to watch stretches of water no one had asked them to guard.

Thomas stopped her beside the willow line. “Mrs. Turner has Samuel. Nathaniel has the camp. Coleman and Hall are marking the bank.”

“And if one of them misses something?”

“Then another person may see it. Responsibility shared by twelve wagons is not made safer when you seize all twelve portions.”

She disliked the word seize. She disliked more that it fit. Thomas asked her to choose one task. Caroline chose recording the new ford. Together they measured the shifted channel, compared it with Father's sketch, and marked where spring water had cut a new line. By the time they finished, Samuel was carrying firewood under his mother's eye, and the camp had remained whole without Caroline watching every person in it.

Thomas placed the compass inside his coat. “I will return it in the morning.”

“See that you do.”

“Immediately.”

“Already late.”

His smile appeared slowly.