The Heart's Frontier (10 page)

But Jesse’s second guess hit close to home too. Luke’s thoughts had gravitated more and more often toward life off the cattle trail. What would it be like, to leave work every day and rest your head in your own bed?

Trail Boss. The words still brought a surge of pride. Pa had spent his life taking beef to market, and Luke had ridden beside him on many of those drives, but this was his first time as boss, and it didn’t feel as good as he thought it would. He wasn’t sure he liked the responsibility of men, cattle, and what happened to both in bad weather. He was starting to think he preferred the smell of fresh hay waving in the fields and rich fertile earth turned beneath a plow. On the other hand, if he failed this drive, Pa would skin him alive. His laugh this time sounded a little forced even to him. “Can’t see what that has to do with you not liking the Switzers.”

Jesse stooped, grabbed his shirt by the shoulders, and shook it out. Droplets of water sprayed onto the grass. “I don’t have anything against them personally. It just seems to me that when a man is struggling with something he can get distracted easier. And there’s nothing more distracting than a couple of helpless women, even if they are dressed like nuns.” He aimed a grin sideways. “I’d hate to see you quit and join up with the
Aim
-ish. You’d look stupid in the clothes.”

The sudden image made Luke laugh. He threw back his head and let the sounds of his mirth flow downstream across the running river.

When the moment passed, he felt better. Hours and hours in the saddle gave a man a lot of time to worry things over in his mind. Sometimes that was good, but at other times the worries swelled like an old woman’s ankles. Talking to a friend helped shrink them back down to size.

He clapped Jesse on the back. “You worry like a mother. My only thought right now is getting this herd to Hays on time. In order to do that, we need to haul this wagon out of the river.”

Then with a clear conscience, he’d leave the Switzers behind and get back on the trail.

Still dressed in denims and a Stetson.

T
he young
Englisch
boy driving their cart was apparently in a hurry and not afraid to push his mule. Emma clutched the side rails and held on as they bumped over the rough terrain. The ground beneath their feet bore thousands of hoof-shaped pits and gouges.

“There it is! Oh, my.”

Emma turned at Rebecca’s words, and followed the line of the river in front of them. She spotted the wagon easily, half in the water and leaning at an awkward angle.
Maummi
’s hutch was no longer covered but sat in the back, its polished finish gleaming warmly in the afternoon sunlight.

But the sun gleamed off more than the hutch. Three men stood on the shore, and two more in the water. The ones standing on the grass were dressed in vests and chaps and cowboy hats, but the two standing in waist-high water had stripped off their shirts. As they drew near, she recognized Luke and his saloon-loving friend. Spray from the river had wet their skin, and for a moment she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the sight of his glistening strong shoulders and broad chest.

“
Ach!
”
Maummi
’s cry rang in the air over the sound of the rushing river.

With a stab of guilt, Emma jerked her gaze away from Luke and turned a warm face toward her grandmother.
Maummi
’s mouth gaped, her lips moving soundlessly like a fish’s, her eyes round as wagon wheels.
You’d think she never saw a bare-chested man before
.

“Oh, my,” Rebecca’s repeated. Her eyes were nearly as round as
Maummi
’s, but the sudden flush that brightened her face bore the unmistakable stamp of delight.

“Rebecca.” Emma spoke her warning low as she fixed her sister with a hard stare. Better that than turn around again, where her gaze would be drawn to the water.

Even before the cart stopped moving,
Maummi
leaped down to the ground. She ran toward the cluster of cowboys at an astonishing speed, her apron strings trailing behind her. Emma hurried after her, her cheeks burning.
Maummi
would humiliate them all by scolding a group of grown men as though they were small boys for running around without shirts. She’d probably even come up with a proverb about nakedness.

A large number of cows hovered near the water’s edge, but
Maummi
ignored them. They skittered away when she ran by and came to a halt in front of the wagon. A stream of Pennsylvania Dutch words flew from her mouth, so quickly that even Emma had a hard time following. The cowboys nearby watched her, their expressions helpless.

Then
Maummi
found her
Englisch
tongue. “My hutch! Rescue for me my hutch, before the water takes it!”

For a moment Emma couldn’t respond. Apparently she hadn’t noticed the barely clothed men in the water. She had eyes only for her hutch. A nearly uncontrollable giggle tickled the back of Emma’s throat. When she was as old as
Maummi
, maybe she would focus more on furniture than handsome men, but that certainly hadn’t happened yet.

She snuck a quick glance, and the heat in her face intensified.

Her grandmother’s moan distracted her. “Made with my dearly departed’s own hands.”

Emma placed an arm across her shoulders. Being so upset couldn’t be good for her heart. “Calm down,
Maummi
. They will get the hutch.”

“We’re sure trying, ma’am.” The oldest of the three cowboys dipped his head in her direction. “So far we haven’t had much luck. The axle seems to be caught on a rock ledge or something down there.”

Papa arrived with Rebecca and their hired driver. He stood on the riverbank with his thumbs hooked behind his suspenders and his head tilted sideways, studying the wagon.

“The hutch is safe, I think, unless the entire wagon is washed away,” he told
Maummi
.

“
Ach!
” She raised a hand to cover her heart and wilted against Emma. “Forty years and not a scratch, only to lose it in the river.”

A splashing sound alerted her to the fact that Luke and Jesse were exiting the water. Emma mostly kept her gaze averted, but she couldn’t help another quick peek.

“Jonas, what say we put your new oxen to the test?”

A sloshing close by told her Luke had gained the shore. Oh, how she wanted to turn around and stare at him.
Maummi
’s saying repeated in her mind like a mantra.
“‘Keep your eyes cast down until the Lord raises them.’”
She knew for a fact that the Lord would not approve of her staring at Luke’s half-clad body, so she kept her back turned, standing in front of
Maummi
.
Lord, lead me not into temptation
.

Rebecca, on the other hand, openly gawked. Emma grabbed her by the arm and jerked her around. “Go help the boy unload our provisions.” She added an unmistakable command to her voice.

Her sister surprised her by obeying, though her gaze was so firmly fixed on Jesse and Luke as she wandered in the direction of the cart that she ran right into the hind end of a cow, which sent the poor beast into a sudden gallop.

Luke described his plan to Papa and the others. “There’s a narrow rocky ledge all the way across, which I figure is what the bandits tried to cross. But this side of it, the bottom’s nothing but sand and muck. That back wheel slipped off. We tried using a couple of horses to pull her free, but it’s stuck fast. The best I can tell, the axle is wedged on a rock outcropping. Not by much, but enough. If we’re lucky, it’s not cracked.”

“Please,”
Maummi
intoned in a loud voice, “no cracks.”

Emma placed a hand on each of her grandmother’s upper arms and squeezed comfortingly. An odd pair they must have looked, she with her back to the river and
Maummi
’s gaze fixed over her shoulder on the hutch.

“What we need to do is roll the wagon backward a little. Not too much, because there’s some pretty deep sand this side of that ledge, and if the wheel gets moored in that, she’ll tip for sure.”

Maummi
moaned and clutched Emma’s arms. Her fingers dug into the soft flesh, as if by holding more tightly to her granddaughter, she could keep the wagon upright.

“Once that axle is clear, we’re going to have to pull it out at a sharp angle. It will take a mighty strong and steady hand leading those oxen.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw Papa’s shoulders straighten. “Amish hands are strong.”

“Judging by your handshake, I’d have to agree.” Emma heard the smile in Luke’s voice and fought a powerful temptation to turn so she could see his expression.
Keep your eyes cast down…

The older cowboy stepped up beside Emma and removed his hat. Though he looked to be around the same age as
Maummi
, deep lines crisscrossed the leathery skin of his face, which was shaved clean like an Amish youth. “Ladies, you might want to stand back a piece, out of the way.”

Emma realized they were standing directly in the path the wagon would travel when it came out of the water. “Oh, of course.
Maummi
, we’ll watch from over here.”

She guided her reluctant grandmother to their hired cart, where the boy was busy unloading their purchases and piling them on the ground. Rebecca made a pretense of picking up a light crate, but she moved so slowly to place it near the others that it would have gotten there faster if it had grown legs and walked by itself. Emma could hardly blame her, and not because of the sight of men’s chests. The fate of their wagon and belongings were at risk.

The boy placed the last sack on the ground and leaped back up onto the bench.

Emma went to stand beside the cart and looked up at him. “You’ll wait a moment, please? To see everything’s fit for our wagon to travel?”

He cast an anxious glance toward the darkening sky to the northwest but then gave her a reluctant nod.

“
Danki
.” She went to stand beside
Maummi
and Rebecca to watch Luke’s plan unfold.

Luke helped Jonas and Griff hitch the new oxen to the stranded wagon.

“I hope this works.” Jesse’s tone announced his skepticism for all to hear.

A worry that he might be right niggled deep in Luke’s mind as he double-checked the knots. The oxen’s yoke wasn’t usable because of the angle of the wagon on the bank, so they were forced to use rope. That back wheel was sunk pretty low, and when the wagon backed up, it was going to take brute strength in the water to keep it level enough to tip it up over the ledge so it could be pulled forward. There was no telling how heavy that hutch was, but no way could one man lift it on his own. He hoped he, Jesse, Willie, and Charlie could handle it between the four of them.

Even Jonas’s confidence seemed uncertain. He left Griff holding the oxen steady long enough to follow Luke to the river’s edge. “If the wagon turns over, mind you are not beneath it.”

Luke grinned. “You worried about me, Jonas?”

His expression remained solemn. “Possessions are not worth a man’s life.” A pause, and then he smiled. “Not even an
Englisch
man’s.”

Luke laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “Rest easy. I don’t plan to be under that wagon when it breaks loose.”

Jonas returned to the oxen’s heads, while Jesse, Charlie, and Willie splashed into the water to take their places around the rear of the rig. Over by the cart, the women stood side by side, the hems of their black skirts sweeping the grass. Luke gave a single wave intended to relay his confidence—a conviction he didn’t feel. This thing could be in here forever.

Rebecca lifted an arm above her head and returned the gesture with enthusiasm, while Mrs. Switzer raised both hands in front of her mouth in a posture of prayer. Emma’s only response was to loop an arm through her grandmother’s elbow. Not even a smile for luck.

He plunged in and waded through the rising river toward the rear of the wagon. Water swirled around his waist as he took his place beside the others.

“Willie and Charlie, you two stand there.” He pointed at a place along the wagon’s back panel. “Stay as close to this end as you can. Jesse, you take the corner and hug up close to me.”

Concern drew lines across Jesse’s forehead. “That’s a sandy bottom there, isn’t it?”

“Mostly, but the rock is jagged so I can get a foothold.”