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Lying next to her, listening to the soft sound of her steady breathing, Davis put his hands behind his head and thought about the letter. Because of his foolish response to the whole thing, it had taken on a life of its own. He wasn’t sure if it was the letter itself, or the smirk on Nate’s face when he mentioned it in front of him that had tempered his reaction.
Once rational thought had surfaced, he admitted Emma would of course want to tell her parents about the major changes in her life. His stubbornness in not wanting to discuss it had created a hole larger than the grave they had placed Peter in. Sighing, he pulled Emma to him, putting her head on his chest. She immediately cuddled up, her warm skin soft and scented. Tomorrow he would find a way to let her know the foolishness with the letter was over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Emma, this has gone on long enough. I was upset to hear you’d sent a letter home. Not that you’d written to your parents, but that you didn’t tell me.”
They sat side by side on a log in front of their campfire as darkness settled in. It had been another long and tiring day. Emma sighed with relief at Davis bringing up the subject that had stood between them for days. She sorely missed the closeness they’d shared before.
“Come here.” He threw down the stick he was poking the fire with and pulled her over onto his lap. Lazily he rubbed
his hand up and down her arm as she laid her head on his chest. She brushed her cheek along his shirt front, comforted by the strength and scent of him.
“Do you still want to go back to Indiana?”
She’d been struggling with that very question herself the past few days. Surprised at how much she missed the closeness she and Davis had shared, if she returned home, would that emptiness continue? Had she grown so used to him?
“Yes. No. Oh, I don’t know.” She sat up and swung her legs back and forth. “I still miss my parents and seeing Nate brought back memories of home. But right now the thought of repeating this same journey back again doesn’t appeal to me.”
“Darlin’, I won’t take you back to Indiana. I think you know that. Ever since I went to work for Ezra, my plan was to eventually settle in Oregon and start a horse ranch.”
She tilted her head, a smile teasing her mouth. “A horse ranch? I didn’t know that. Peter planned the same thing. He hated farming.”
“I’m no farmer, either. I took over my parent’s place to help my mom out when Dad died, but I always wanted to raise horses.” He leaned over and picked up his coffee cup, while Emma snuggled again to ward off the evening’s chill.
She remembered the night they’d sat by a fire much like this one, and Davis had told her the story of his mother’s and sister’s deaths. Always having had the security of two parents, a wave of compassion for what he’d suffered had engulfed her. To lose those you loved in such a horrible way had to scar a person.
Davis returned his cup to the ground, then pulled her closer. “I have a bank check from the proceeds of my parent’s farm which I’ll use to start my ranch. We won’t have much at the beginning, but from what I hear, a horse farm would do well in Oregon.”
Emma continued to think about that as she gazed into the fire. She still had the money tucked away that Peter had received for the sale of his grandmother’s farm. Davis had already made it clear he didn’t want any part of it, but if they added it together, it would certainly give them a good start. Or did she want to use that to return to Indiana? Too tired to make sense of it all, she drifted off to sleep right there on her husband’s lap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nate sat in front of the campfire he shared with Corporal Matt Stevens. Even though he saw Emma every day since they’d left, he still hadn’t been able to talk to her without Cooper breathing down his neck. It still bothered him that she had married this stranger in such a hurry. He had asked around, and discovered she’d been practically forced into it. In fact, her wagon master more or less tortured her until she’d relented. That rankled. If she had held out until she reached the Fort, she would be Mrs. Nathan Hale right now.
Staring dejectedly at the fire, he thought about how he always had expectations of marrying Emma. It was his own fault that he waited too long to make his intentions known, giving Peter Thorpe the opportunity to move right in. In fact, in his ignorance, Emma and Peter announced their engagement before Nate had even found out about their courtship.
Angered at his own stupidity, he joined the army two days before their wedding. In the time since he’d last seen Emma, he thought his feelings for her had ended. But coming face to face with his lost love again resurrected those sentiments full force. And it stung to know she’d lost Peter and then turned right around and married someone she hardly knew. Muttering a curse, Nate banged his fist on his knee, jolting the other soldier sitting across from him.
“What’s the matter with you tonight?” Matt asked. “You’ve been brooding and fretting since ya sat down.”
“Nothing,” Nate responded. “Just crazy thoughts. I think I’ll turn in now. See you in the morning.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emma leaned over a small bush and retched for the fourth morning in a row. After a few minutes she wiped her lips and made her way to the wagon where she rinsed out her mouth, splashed water on her face, and fixed her hair in a braid that she wrapped around her head.
As she worked, the smells of frying bacon and coffee drifted toward her, causing her stomach to take another dive. What in tarnation was wrong with her, anyway? She hoped it wasn’t a return of influenza. It had been a few weeks since she had it, but she’d been feeling tired and nauseous for the past week. After a quick clean up from breakfast she would find Dr. Bennett before the wagons rolled.
She left Davis’s breakfast for when he returned from dealing with the animals. In truth, she couldn’t get away from the food fast enough.
Emma passed Sarah’s wagon while searching for the doctor. Her friend ordered her boys around, trying to get chores done before the wagons started up.
“Honestly, Emma,” she sighed, “trying to get these boys to finish their chores gets harder every day. I’m going to have to get Buck to take a strap to them if they don’t start doing what they’re supposed to.” She looked ferociously in their direction. Sarah and Buck would never take a strap to their boys, and it seemed they knew it, too. They were good children, just a bit energetic.
Emma smiled as they scattered in all directions when they found their mother’s attention no longer riveted on them.
“Sarah, I think I may have gotten Influenza back. I’m sick to my stomach again, and I’m so tired.” She fidgeted with her apron. “I felt fine during the time at the fort, but for the past week or so I’ve been very tired and nauseous.”
