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“Davis, I’m here.” She yelled as she climbed up on the front of the wagon seat.
“Nate, stop the wagon,” she ordered. As soon as the wagon slowed, she gathered her skirts and jumped down the same time Davis vaulted off his horse. Emma ran to him and threw herself into his waiting arms.
“Davis, oh God, I’m so glad to see you.”
“Emma, what are you doing here? Why are you traveling with Nate?”
“Just hold me,” she gasped.
Davis held her so tight she found it hard to get a breath, but as long as she had him, there was no need for air.
After a few minutes, he put his hands on her shoulders and eased her back. He wiped the tears from her eyes. “Why, honey? Why are you here with him?”
“I want to go h-h-home.” Her voice shook as she sobbed.
All the blood seemed to leave his face. He licked his dry lips. “So you’re going back to Indiana?”
Emma regarded him with narrowed eyes. “Indiana?” She barely choked out the word. “No, you fool.” She elbowed him. “I want to go home with you. To our home that you built with your own hands. Where I gave birth to our daughter.”
His shoulders slumped and he pulled her against him, crushing her breasts to his rock hard chest. “Emma,” he said smiling down at her with shining eyes, “I love you so much.”
She cupped his beloved face. “And I love you, too.”
He glanced up and his jaw tightened. “Darlin’, I think you and I need to have a conversation about what went on here.” He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders and moved her aside. “But right now you’ll have to excuse me. Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back.”
He stalked over to Nate and grabbing him by the collar, dragged him from the wagon bench. One punch to the jaw, and Nate went down, landing on his bottom.
Holding his chin, he rubbed it and looked up at Davis. “I guess I deserved that. I’m really sorry. I thought I was doing what Emma wanted.” Slowly he got up, giving Davis a wide berth.
“This is the absolute last time I’m saying this, Hale. Keep the hell away from my wife. If I see you on our property, I’ll shoot first and ask why later.”
Davis, Emma and Caroline returned in the wagon. Davis wanted to leave Nate standing where he was, but Emma convinced him to give Nate one of the horses from the team so he could return to Oregon City.
Rocking gently on the front of the wagon seat, holding the baby close, Emma explained what had happened. Davis threw his head back and roared with laughter when she told him about holding the shotgun on Nate.
“Honey, you are truly a western gal now.” He put his arm around her, pulling her head down to his chest.
Caroline gurgled and waved her arms and legs as the Cooper family headed up the road. Hours later as the wagon crested the hill, Emma kissed the top of Caroline’s soft curls and gazed lovingly at the snug white house where her journey ended.
Two years later
“Darlin’, you’ll never guess who just opened up a gunsmith shop in Oregon City.”
Emma glanced up from where she bent over Caroline’s plate, cutting a slice of meatloaf. She broke a biscuit in half and handed a piece to thirteen-month-old Davy, who watched every move she made. “Who?”
“Your old friend, Nathan Hale.”
She stood and rubbed her aching back. If this baby didn’t come soon, she’d have to do as Mae said and start scrubbing floors and walls to get things moving. “My goodness. I haven’t thought of him in ages.” She took a seat at the table and placed meatloaf and mashed potatoes on her plate.
“Is that all you’re going to eat?” Davis nodded at her scant plate.
“I’m not very hungry, and my back’s been killing me all day.”
He laid his fork down and regarded her, his face paling. “You feeling all right?”
“Fine.” She waved a dismissal. “I hope Nate’s doing well. He was always so nice. What he did was so strange, and so unlike him.”
Davis continued to watch Emma as if she would explode any minute. Reaching across the table, he wiped Caroline’s mouth with her napkin. “I didn't speak with him, but from what I’ve heard he’s married with a son, and another child on the way.”
