Page 40 of Caroline’s Compass

“Nathaniel will be pleased.”

“He usually is.” Eleanor's expression gentled. “Are you frightened of Thomas?”

“No.”

“Of kissing him?”

Caroline glanced toward camp. Thomas was helping Samuel Turner reset a wagon bow. His sleeves were rolled, and he listened to the boy's explanation with a seriousness Samuel rarely received from adults.

“No,” she said again.

“Then what?”

Caroline picked at a loose thread on her cuff. “Everything changed when you married Nathaniel. You belong with him now.”

“I still belong with you.”

“Not in the same way.”

“No. In a larger way.” Eleanor took Caroline's hand. “I did not leave the family. I brought Nathaniel into it.”

“You make it sound simple.”

“It was terrifying.”

That surprised a laugh from Caroline.

Eleanor squeezed her fingers. “Marriage did not make our family fragile. Your happiness will not subtract from ours. You have spent years counting what everyone else needs. Perhaps you should count yourself among everyone.”

“Thomas may stay at Fort Kearny.”

“Then you will know before you give him more than you can bear to lose.”

Caroline looked toward him again. This time he glanced up. Their eyes met across the camp, and she felt yesterday's kiss as clearly as if his mouth still covered hers.

“I may already have given him enough to make losing difficult,” she said.

Eleanor smiled. “Then avoiding him will surely solve everything.”

“You have become unpleasant since your wedding.”

“Nathaniel says I have always possessed the talent.”

The uneventful afternoon allowed the sisters to invent courtship rules for Caroline without consulting her. Charlotte proposed a written schedule so Thomas could speak to Caroline without interrupting wagon duties. Lydia proposed he perform one useful task for every kiss. Grace asked whether prior kisses created debt.

“There is no debt,” Caroline said.

Rebecca looked at the unrepaired harness strap in Thomas's hand. “There may be one task.”

Thomas accepted the strap. “What qualifies as useful?”

“Anything Caroline would otherwise do herself,” Martha said.

Thomas examined the length of harness. “That definition may include the entire westward migration.”

“It does,” Rebecca said.

Caroline informed them that courtship was not an unpaid labor contract. Lydia said that depended upon the courtship. Thomas bent over the buckle and announced that he wished to review the terms before kissing anyone again.