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She moved away from his touch. “Why, what?” Finished torturing the shirt, she headed to the bush to drape it.
“Why did you marry a nobody, a stranger? You couldn’t have known him more than a few weeks. Do you know anything about him? His family? Why, he could even be wanted by the law. Or have half a dozen wives all over the country.” His face grew redder, eyes flashing.
“Yes, it’s true, I only knew Davis a few weeks, but I pretty much had no choice. When Peter died, I tried for a while to go it alone, but I couldn’t. It’s too much work for a woman to be on the trail by herself. I had nursed Davis, who was injured in the same accident that killed Peter. We got along.” She picked up another shirt and scrubbed the garment in her hands vigorously as she spoke.
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sp; “Also, Davis is an honorable man.” Wiping her forehead with the sleeve of her dress, she turned to him. “He’s kind, considerate and hard working. I don’t feel as if I have anything to fear from him.”
“What about love, Emma? You and Peter loved each other. You can’t possibly love someone you only just met.”
Sighing, she returned her washing. “Love grows, Nate. It’s done. I’m married.”
“It might not be done. If you married him by force, your marriage could be annulled. I’ll look into it for you when we get to Oregon.”
“Nate, please. Let it go.” She returned to her scrubbing.
“Corporal Hale, imagine meeting you here with my wife. It appears you’ve lost your way. If I’m not mistaken, your tent is down yonder.” Davis gestured with his chin, standing behind Nate with legs spread, his hands shoved into his back pockets.
“We were just talking, Cooper. No harm in that.” Nate flushed, his hands fisted at his side.
“Well, you’ve had your conversation, and it’s time for me and Emma to go back to our wagon for our noon meal. I’d invite you to come along, but I know you have other things to do.” He nodded his head in Nate’s direction, reached out for Emma, and started to pull her along.
“Davis, wait.” She tugged herself free. “I have all this washing to do. You go on back and have your meal. It’s wrapped in a cloth inside the wagon.”
Davis looked over at Nate, and waited patiently until the soldier turned, then stalked back to his tent.
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning Davis was awakened by the sound of Emma again vomiting outside the wagon. After a few minutes of the sound of her swishing water in her mouth, then spitting it out, she crept back into the wagon.
“Darlin’, when do you plan to tell me?” Davis rolled over, propped himself up on one elbow, and looked at her pale face.
She placed both hands over her stomach and glanced nervously in his direction. “Um, what do you mean?”
“You’ve been taking these treks outside the wagon every morning for over a week. If you don’t know what that means, I’ll be glad to enlighten you.” He hauled her to his chest, inhaling deeply of her rose-scented hair.
She placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed back to regard him. “Oh, look at you smiling like a strutting rooster.” Her face lit up. “I just couldn’t believe it. Dr. Bennett said I’ll probably give birth a few months after we reach Oregon. Since nothing had happened after my months with Peter, I thought maybe there was something wrong with me.”
He smoothed back the curls from her face. “Sometimes it’s the rooster and not the hen, you know.”
Emma grabbed the pillow and swatted him with it. “You and your rooster. Stop smiling like that.” She averted her eyes. “I was worried you might not be too happy. I have no idea how you feel about children.” Her troubled gaze met his.
“Sweetheart, children are the result of what we’ve been doing a whole lot of.” He grinned as a deep blush spread from her neck to her hairline. He was tempted to pull the nightgown out to see if the blush went all the way down to. . .
“I’m scared, though.” She reached for her dress. “I don’t know anything about Oregon, I don’t know any people there, and my parents are so far away.”
“You’ll be fine. Women have babies every day, and not all of them have their mamas with them.”
She knelt alongside him. “If I was back in Indiana, my mama. . .”
“You’re not in Indiana, Emma,” he snapped. “And I’m tired of discussing that place.” His stomach clenching, he jumped up, grabbed his pants, and struggled into them before stalking from the wagon.
Indiana. He sluiced water over his face and mumbled to himself. The woman’s brain was stuck on that accursed place. How Peter Thorpe managed to drag her away from her parents to begin with baffled him. In many ways Emma was a capable, intelligent woman. In other ways she was a little girl. The letter she’d sent still troubled him. And why was Corporal Nathan Hale traveling with them? That was another thorn in his side. Not that he was jealous, he assured himself, just looking out for his own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next couple of weeks passed with monotonous regularity. Emma continued to visit the bushes in the morning, and found it necessary to take a nap every afternoon. She saw quite a bit of Nate, but their relationship was simply a nod and “good morning.” That was fine with her. She liked Nate, always had, but lately the looks he threw her made her decidedly uncomfortable. Also, Davis tensed up when she was around Nate, so keeping her distance was best.
