Westward Hearts (24 page)

“With these three girls, you should have no problem preparing meals,” Elizabeth told Lavinia. “Once you get more order and figure things out.”

Lavinia still looked flustered, and her patience often seemed to run thin, especially with Evelyn. She looked even more frazzled with the dusting of flour across one cheek. “I’m not sure I even know how to get organized. I can manage a retail establishment, but I seem to be useless with food preparation. And this cooking over an open fire…” She held up both hands. “What in the world have I gotten myself into?”

“My mother and I will help you.” Elizabeth promised. Now she looked at Belinda. This girl seemed to be the fastest learner of the group. “I have an idea. Why don’t I take Belinda back to my camp with me? She can see how my mother runs her kitchen, and then she can return to help you to run your own.”

Lavinia nodded. “I suppose that would work. Someone needs to teach them how to cook. Perhaps the girls can take turns visiting your camp while we’re preparing meals. They could provide labor in exchange for cooking lessons.” She made a helpless sigh. “I just never realized how difficult it would be. I’ve always had cooks and household help.” She frowned at Elizabeth. “And I don’t mean slaves. My family have been abolitionists for as long as I can remember.”

Elizabeth bit her tongue. This was not the time to get into that discussion. Not with all the hungry people about…people who’d put in a hard day’s work without even having a decent midday meal. “Well, it looks as if you have things under control.” Elizabeth gave Lavinia and the two girls a few more pointers, and then, feeling that they were off to a fairly good start and promising to come back to check on her, Elizabeth took Belinda back to her own camp, where Clara and Ruth were well into their own supper preparations. Clara liked Elizabeth’s idea of labor in exchange for teaching, and she quickly put Belinda to work peeling potatoes. As they worked, they talked.

“After my mother died, I tried to learn how to be more useful in the kitchen,” Belinda told them. “My mother was such a good cook. Oh, she always had kitchen help, but she was in charge of our meals, and they were always wonderful. I thought I could do it too. But then Dad hired a full-time cook so that I could apply myself to my schooling. He said there would be plenty of time for cooking later.”

“It looks like later has come,” Clara said lightly.

“What made your families want to make this trip?” Elizabeth asked Belinda.

“For as long as I can remember, my dad has dreamed of going to the far West.”

“My daddy dreamed of that too,” Ruth told her.

“Everyone thought it was odd,” Belinda confided. “I mean with him being a lawyer and all. And no one would guess to look at him that he’s really an explorer at heart.”

“That’s just like my brother,” Ruth said eagerly. “He loves explorers. He’s always talking about Lewis and Clark.”

“My father loves reading about their expedition too.” Belinda paused from peeling a potato. “It’s what he’s always wanted to do, and now we are doing it.”

“So are we!” Ruth beamed up at her new friend.

“What part of the West are you going to?” Clara asked.

“I’m not sure. Somewhere near the coast I think.”

“We’re going to live near the coast too,” Ruth told her. “Maybe you’ll be near us.”

“Oregon is a big place,” Elizabeth told Ruth.

“But they might be near us,” Ruth persisted. Elizabeth could tell that Ruth was quite enamored by the pretty, friendly girl. “It would be fun to be your neighbor.”

Belinda smiled down at Ruth. “I would love to be your neighbor.”

“Speaking of neighbors, I should probably go back to your camp to see how Lavinia is faring,” Elizabeth told Belinda.

Unfortunately, the Bostonian cooks were floundering again. According to Amelia, Evelyn and Lavinia had gotten into a big argument over how to properly make coffee, of all things. Now Lavinia was in her wagon fuming, and Evelyn and Amelia were trying to finish making supper on their own.

“Goodness gracious! However will you people survive this expedition if you can’t work together?” Elizabeth scolded the girls. “And you have a family of
how many
people to feed?”

“Nine,” Amelia meekly confessed. “And those men and boys eat a lot.”

“Clearly, there’s no time to squabble and fuss.” Elizabeth took over now, putting a slab of bacon into a cast-iron pot and shooting orders at the two girls. “Amelia, you peel the outside skin off of that onion and chop it into small pieces. Evelyn, you get out some rice and another pot.” Thankfully the girls didn’t argue with her. In fact, they seemed to enjoy being ordered about, even laughing about it and calling her Captain Elizabeth as they scurried around the camp. She even made certain that they both knew the correct way to make coffee on the campfire.

“Light a couple of lanterns,” Elizabeth called to Amelia as she helped Evelyn roll out the biscuits. “It’s getting too dark to see back here.”

“Something smells awfully good,” a male voice said from behind her. “Lavinia, you must be improving your culinary—”

She turned to see one of the Bostonian men approaching, but he stopped in his tracks, blinking in surprise.

“Why, you’re not Lavinia at all. Am I in the wrong camp?”

“No.” She smiled with a meat fork in her hand. “I’m Elizabeth Martin, and I came to help out.”

“Oh, yes, I remember now. You’re Asa Dawson’s daughter.”

She pointed the fork toward the wagon. “I believe you’ll find your wife in the wagon.”

He tilted his head to one side, and Amelia giggled as she set a lantern next to Elizabeth. “Lavinia’s not
his
wife,” she quietly explained. “This is my father. William Bramford.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m as confused as you are. I thought you were Mr. Prescott.”

Amelia pointed at the other man now coming into camp with a couple of young men. “That’s Uncle Hugh.
He’s
Lavinia’s husband.”

With a confused look he joined them, and more introductions were made. “So tell me, where
is
my wife?” he asked Elizabeth.

Again she pointed to the wagon. “My father was concerned that your camp was having some…uh, cooking challenges.” She made an uneasy smile. “He thought I might be able to lend a hand around here.”

Hugh grimaced. “Word travels fast.”

Elizabeth looked back at Mr. Bramford. She knew some explaining was in order. “So you see, my mother and I thought we could help out. Right now, your daughter Belinda is at my camp learning some things about cooking. I’m helping out here.”

“Sort of an exchange program?”

She shrugged. “I suppose you could call it that.” Noticing the cooking fire was dying down, she pointed to the sparse stack of wood beside it. “Do you suppose your boys could gather us some more firewood, Mr. Bramford? And more water as well?”

“Captain Elizabeth has spoken,” Amelia teased.

“At your service, ma’am.” He made a mock salute and then turned and called to the boys.

Elizabeth looked back at Evelyn. “I wonder if you might coax your mother out? She really needs to learn to do these chores too.”

“My mother is not speaking to me.”

“I’ll get Lavinia,” Amelia offered.

“Good luck,” Evelyn snipped.

Elizabeth continued working and giving orders, and eventually, despite Lavinia’s absence, Elizabeth proclaimed that the meal was done. It wasn’t the caliber that she and her mother had been preparing lately, but it smelled tasty and appeared edible. Much better than the uncooked beans they’d suffered through for dinner. And there was plenty to go around and perhaps even enough for leftovers tomorrow. She hoped they would appreciate it.

She moved the coffeepot away from the flame. “I’ll go tell your other daughter that it’s suppertime over here,” she told Mr. Bramford.

“You might not be able to tear her away from your camp now that she’s seen what real cooking looks like.” Mr. Bramford chuckled and the others laughed.

“Well, I hope your own supper will be somewhat tolerable, Mr. Bramford.”

“Please, you’ve slaved over our fire and cooked our meal. Just call me Will.”

“Fine. But if you’ll excuse me, I’ll take my leave.”

“You could stay here and eat with us, Captain Elizabeth,” Amelia suggested in what seemed a sincere invitation.

Elizabeth smiled at the girl. “Thanks for the offer, but my family is expecting me.”

“I wish they were expecting me too,” Evelyn teased.

As Elizabeth made her exit, several more food-related jokes were made, all at Lavinia’s expense, and it was likely the poor woman heard every one from the not-so-private confines of her wagon. Elizabeth just shook her head and hurried toward her wagon. To think this was only the first day of this trip. She hoped cooking would get easier for the Bostonians before long.

T
he next couple of days passed as uneventfully as the first one. The weather remained cool with intermittent showers, which thankfully fell in the evenings, sometimes accompanied by lightning storms that boomed through the prairie. And there continued to be occasional delays in traveling due to various breakdowns. Captain Brownlee assured them this was all quite normal and unfortunately inevitable.

“We hope to get the kinks out early on,” he told Asa when he stopped to check on the status of unit five at the end of the day. “The second week usually goes smoother.”

Elizabeth was helping with her team this afternoon, not because Brady couldn’t handle it but simply because she just wanted to give Beau and Belle a thorough grooming and inspection. She wanted to check their hooves and their hocks and make sure they were in good shape and ready for the upcoming week.

“Some of the wagons in my unit had problems too,” Asa told the captain as he led a pair of oxen over to the grazing area. “The Prescotts just about lost a wagon wheel this morning. That was a close one, but my grandson noticed it was wobbling. And then the McIntires kept having trouble with their team this afternoon. Turned out they put the yoke on wrong.” He chuckled. “But they’re learnin’.”

The captain nodded. “Most of the greenhorns will be old hands come June. Course, that’s when the traveling will get rougher.” He ran a hand over Beau’s back now. “That’s a mighty fine team you got there, Elizabeth. Handsome pair of horses.”

She smiled as she ran the currycomb over his coat. “They’re strong and smart too. Called Percherons, and they came from France.”

“All the way from France?” He shook his head. “Well, it’s reassuring to see you taking good care of ’em. I hope they make it all the way west without trouble.”

Elizabeth’s smile faded, but she just nodded. “Thank you. So do I.”

“Now, being that tomorrow’s Sunday, everybody can enjoy a little reprieve, including the stock.” He turned to Asa. “We don’t pull out until one tomorrow.”

“I nearly forgot it was Saturday.” Asa coiled a lead rope, setting it by the yokes. “And that reminds me. Today is my grandson’s twelfth birthday.”

The captain went over to where JT was picking a rock out of a mule’s hoof. “Congratulations, son. What will you do to celebrate?”

“My grandma’s making a chocolate cake.” JT stood up straight, smiling at the captain. “And I’d be obliged if you and Eli would stop by our camp and share a piece with us.” Now JT glanced at his mother as if to be sure it was all right.

She grinned back at him then turned to the captain. “We would be honored to have you join us. But not just for cake, Captain. Please, come for supper too. We’ve got a roast and all sorts of other good things that we need to cook. Our ice pack is only good for another day or so. So unless our men have luck with hunting or fishing, our menu will soon become much less interesting.”

“Well, I got to hand it to you folks, you do make eating a pleasure.” The captain smacked his lips as he clapped JT on the back. “I’d be delighted to come for your birthday, JT. Thank you.”

After Elizabeth finished up with her horses, she left the rest of the stock to Brady and JT to tend and hurried back to her camp to tell her mother about their unexpected supper guests. “I hope you don’t mind,” she said as she washed her hands and reached for her apron. “I think it’ll make JT happy.”

“Don’t mind a bit. I wish we could invite all our neighbors,” Clara said. “Course that might not be too practical. Asa says we have around forty people in our unit. I s’pect that’d be quite a crowd to feed.”

“Maybe we can have a big potluck supper sometime,” Elizabeth suggested. “That might be fun.”

“A chance to eat someone else’s cookin’.” Clara chuckled. “Although I’m not sure I’m ready to sample Lavinia’s just yet.”

Elizabeth frowned. This was the first evening since they’d started on the trail that she and Clara weren’t helping their Boston friends. And none of the Boston girls were having cooking lessons at their camp kitchen. As much as Elizabeth liked the chatty girls, it was nice just having their own family again. “I hope the Bostonians are faring all right,” she said absently as she washed the cabbage.

“Belinda came by and offered to help,” Clara said. “I told her that she might be more useful at her own camp since we planned to do our own cooking tonight.”