Page 44 of Wagon Train Redemption
“They were.” She blinked. Nothing remained in her eyes except distance. She resumed walking, leaving him standing alone, his hands empty and his thoughts confused.
What had just happened?
Oh,how different things had been back there. He had no idea, nor did she mean to tell him. She’d trodden too close to revealing details about herself he couldn’t know. From now on, she’d have to be more careful about what she said to him.
“It’s nice to see how happy Ma and Gabe are, isn’t it?” That was a nice safe subject.
“Totally surprising though. I mean—” He grinned and tipped his head toward the wagon ahead of them with Gabe and Ma walking beside it. “Who would have guessed that?”
“You’d be even more surprised if you’d seen them at the start.”
“Do tell.”
Gladly. “Ma wasn’t pleased when the Millers said they meant to accompany our group. She said they could travel a distance from us. Their presence did not suit her. For one thing, it upset Bertie. It was about all she could do to get him to leave the barn the day we headed out.”
“I was kind of surprised about that myself. I imagined him hiding in the barn and refusing to come. What made him agree to come?”
“Gabe needed help with his oxen. And Bertie?—”
“Let me guess. Bertie whispered something to the balking beasts, and they did exactly what he asked them?”
They laughed.
“Bertie’s always had a special way with animals.”
Gabe nodded, “He is a kind and gentle man. I’m glad he’ll be going with Ma and Gabe. He’ll be happy and, in many ways, a help.”
“That makes me think of something I realized when I was assisting the Andersons. How important?—”
Joe riding toward them cut him off. He reined in beside them. “The prairie to the west has been burned off. We’ll have to drop south in order to have grazing for the animals.”
Fire! Angela’s hand fisted at the memory of outrunning the fire that almost consumed them. She pushed words past the tightness in her throat. “Was anyone hurt?”
“I don’t know. I had to return to get back to the wagon train to turn it away.”
“I’ll have to check.” Carson grabbed his horse’s reins and paused to speak to Angela. “We keep getting interrupted, but we’ve still got time to do those four years. I promise.” He swung into the saddle and smiled down at her. “And maybe even the years before that.”
She pasted on a smile as he rode away, pausing at Ma’s wagon to get his red serge.
The look on his face as he said he meant to resume their talk and more was too insistent, too demanding. She’d let him know she preferred looking ahead to reviewing the past. Settled on that matter, she hurried to catch up to the wagons where she fell in beside Bertie, listening to him tell about the bushes Alice had found and enjoyed.
“Her eats funny things.”
“She does, doesn’t she?” She laughed at the way Bertie nodded so hard he almost lost his hat.
“Mr. Gabe say I can have more pets when we move to his farm.”
Did Bertie realize there was no “farm” at the moment? Just a dream.
“He say I might have to wait until spring. Ang—” He stopped to face her, his expression a question mark. “How long to spring?”
Bertie had little concept of time. She explained it another way. “First, we get to the fort. Then there’s fall and then winter. After that comes spring.”
Bertie’s wide shoulders hunched forward. “That a very long time.”
“But there will be so many things to do and enjoy.” Those words applied to herself as well. Hadn’t Pa Woods taught her to take each day and find the good in it? He’d said one verse so often, she always remembered it in his voice: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
I will, Pa. I’ll do my best to remember all the good things you taught me.Including leaving the past and turning always to the future.
