Westward Hearts (9 page)

Elizabeth wasn’t terribly surprised to spot her parents’ carriage pulling up in front of her house the next morning. Fortunately, the standing water had receded, and although the ground was still soggy, the children had already ridden Molly to school. She didn’t usually let them ride a horse to school, but the idea of them slogging through the mud made no sense. Besides, she realized it would be prudent for them to both get more comfortable on horseback. Jamie was an experienced rider, but Ruth still had room for improvement.

“Hello,” she called out to her parents, watching as her father helped her mother from the carriage. Brady came hurrying from the barn, giving Asa a hand with the team.

“Elizabeth!” her mother exclaimed. “Matthew tells us that you have decided to go west. We wish to get to the bottom of this.”

“Come in, come in.” Elizabeth opened the door. “The coffee is still—”

“We did not come for coffee,” Asa said in a stern tone. “We came to talk some sense into our daughter.”

Casting a concerned glance toward Brady, who didn’t yet know of her plans, Elizabeth ushered her parents into the house. “Please,” she said to her father. “Brady doesn’t know yet and—”

“You’re worried about Brady?” He frowned. “What about us?”

She patted her father’s shoulder. “I’m plenty worried about you, Father. But Brady is dependent on me, and I—”

“Brady is a good man. He’ll have no problem finding employment,” Clara assured her as she peeled off her gloves.

“We’ll be happy to have him work for us.” Asa hung his hat on the hall tree and began to remove his coat.

“Elizabeth!” Clara blinked and opened her eyes wide. “You’re not wearing black!”

Elizabeth looked down at her calico dress. “Well, there’s some black in the print. But you’re right, it’s mostly violet.” She sighed. “Ruthie had been begging me to put away my widow’s weeds.”

“Good for her.” Clara briskly handed Elizabeth her hat. “But that is not what we came to discuss.”

“That’s for sure and for certain.” Asa shook his head glumly.

Elizabeth felt guilty as she led the way to the kitchen. She knew her parents were hurt by this news, but what could she do to soften the blow? Soon they were seated around the table with three mugs of hot coffee and a plate of leftover doughnuts between them.

“There’s really not much to say,” Elizabeth quietly told them. “We have decided to go with Matthew to Oregon.”

“Just like that?” Asa shook his head.

She gazed sadly at her parents, wishing there was an easier way to do this. “The hardest part by far will be leaving you two.”

“Yes…well, that is precisely why I insisted your father and I pay you a visit this morning.” Clara spoke in an uncertain tone that didn’t sound quite right. “In order to discuss this a bit further.”

“Not that it will do much good.” Asa picked up a doughnut and peered into the hole as if looking for something. “Seems to me she’s already made up her mind, Clara.”

“It seems that way….” Clara looked intently at Elizabeth now. “But I am not going to take this lying down.”

Elizabeth blinked. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

“I refuse to sit idly by as my only two living children and my two precious grandchildren trek to the ends of the earth…perhaps never to be seen again.” She pulled out a handkerchief, dabbing her eyes, although Elizabeth didn’t detect any tears. “There is only so much an old woman can take.”

“You’re not an old woman,” Asa insisted. Now he pointed a finger at Elizabeth. “See what you’ve done to your poor mother.”

“I’m so sorry.” Elizabeth patted Clara’s hand with a curious look. Either Elizabeth was mistaken or her mother was up to something.

Clara turned to Asa now. “It seems our hands are tied. Apparently the only thing left to do is to pack up and go with them.”

Asa’s heavy brows arched.
“Go with them?
Have you lost your senses, woman? You want to go with them? At our age?”

Clara tilted her head to one side. “But you just said I’m not an old woman, Asa.”

“Well, you aren’t. Not exactly, anyway. But you cannot be serious.”

She gave him a stern look. “I am serious. If the children insist on doing this, I must insist on going with them.”

He blinked. “You can’t possibly mean what you’re saying, Clara.”

She nodded firmly. “I do mean this. Matthew and Elizabeth…Jamie and Ruthie…they are all I have.”

“You have me,” Asa said meekly.

She put her hand on his cheek. “I know, dear. It would be terribly hard to leave you behind. But there are four of them…and only one of you. So tell me true, Asa, could you honestly sit by and watch them leave—perhaps never to be seen again?”

“Well, I… uh…I don’t know for sure.”

“You used to be a strong and adventurous man, Asa. You loved hunting and fishing and riding the horses.” Clara squeezed his arm. “I hate to say it, but you’ve let yourself get a little soft.”

Now he lifted his arm, flexing his muscle with a determined look. “I am not soft!”

She squeezed again and then chuckled. “No, I see you’re not. That’s what I’m saying, Asa. There’s a lot of life left in you—and in me. Why shouldn’t we want to have an adventure together? And with our children and grandchildren? Certainly, you don’t want to spend the rest of your days sitting in your rocking chair, do you?”

He frowned. “Well, no…of course not.”

“So why shouldn’t we go? What is stopping us?” She looked directly into his eyes. “You’re not scared, are you?”

“Scared?” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “No, no…I’m not scared. But I’ve read a lot about the Oregon Trail. It’s a grueling trip, Clara. Full of perils and pitfalls and dangers.”

“So you are scared?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I am not scared. But are you sure you’re capable of such a strenuous journey?”

She sat up straighter, narrowing her eyes. “You doubt me?”

“No, no…I’m not saying that, dear. But have you given this serious thought?”

“I have thought of little else since Christmas Eve.”

Asa looked at Elizabeth now. He appeared to be just as stunned as she. “What do you think about this?”

She paused to consider her words. “I think…well, if you and Mother know this is the right thing for you…I mean, if you truly believe God is leading you in this direction…then I would love nothing more than for you to join us on this adventure.”

He frowned with uncertainty. “You don’t think we’re too old?”

She smiled. “I think you and Mother have so much to offer in the way of experience and wisdom and knowledge.”

He nodded. “That’s true.”

“And if there are tasks that are difficult along the trail, you will have Matthew and me and the children to help. And you are both strong and in good health.”

“That’s true,” he said again.

She reached out and grasped both their hands. “I want whatever is best for you.”

“And I want the good Lord to lead us,” Asa said quietly.

“Maybe he is leading us,” Clara suggested. “Remember the scripture…‘A little child shall lead them’? Perhaps our children are leading us.”

Asa nodded thoughtfully as he turned back to Clara. “You truly
want
to do this?”

She nodded with misty eyes. “I do, Asa.”

He took in a deep breath and finally smiled. “Then so do I.”

Elizabeth could hardly believe her ears. “You do?”

His smile turned into a grin. “There’s so much to be done.” He stood. “I need to look into wagons, and we need to start deciding what to take. We’ll have to sell our farms and get organized.”

“I have lists,” she told him.

He laughed. “Oh, I have lists too, Elizabeth.”

“You do?”

He nodded with a sly look. “Surely you don’t think that I was going to let you and James and the children go off without being informed of what you were up against. I’ve been gathering information and reading up on the Oregon Trail for years.” He reached for Clara’s hand. “Come on, wife, we have work to do.”

Clara tossed Elizabeth a surprised but pleased expression. “Thank you for the coffee and doughnuts,” she said lightly.

“Certainly,” Elizabeth replied, still half dazed as she walked them to the door. “And when the ground gets dry enough, I suggest you start walking every day, Mother. Perhaps you could walk over here and back.”

“Every day?” Clara pulled on her gloves.

“That’s nothing compared to how much you’ll be walking on the trail,” Asa told her.

“But I thought I would ride in the wagon,” she said.

He chuckled. “Well, you can do that if you like.”

“It can be a rough ride in a wagon,” Elizabeth explained as she walked them outside. “Not like our carriages, Mother. Many women prefer to walk alongside the wagons.”

Clara tied her bonnet strings beneath her chin and nodded. “Fine, then. I will begin walking daily. I’ve always enjoyed a good invigorating walk. I’ve heard that it’s good for the vital organs.”

Elizabeth smiled and waved as her parents drove away. Flax chased their carriage down the driveway and then happily trotted back, his tail wagging. “Come on, boy,” she called. “Let’s go inside.”

As she closed the door, she felt torn. On one hand, she could not be happier to think that they would all be doing this together. On the other hand, what if this trip proved too grueling for her parents? What if some unexpected calamity befell them? Would she feel responsible? Would she blame herself?

Instead of worrying about something she had little or no control over, Elizabeth decided to pray. Standing in front of the parlor window, she thanked God for how he had led her, and she then asked him to guide her parents’ decision. If there was reason for them to remain here in Selma, she prayed God would stop them from going…that he would direct them away from this before it was too late to turn back. But she hoped with all of her heart that wouldn’t happen. More than anything, she wanted her parents in Oregon with her.

As she went into the kitchen, she realized she needed to share this good news with John and Malinda. Wouldn’t they be surprised to hear that not only she and the children were coming west, but the rest of her family as well! Malinda’s last letter had mentioned how their little town grew a bit bigger each year as new citizens arrived from the East or babies were born. She would be so pleased to learn that their population was going to increase by six this year.

However, Elizabeth knew it would take some time for her letter to reach the other side of the continent. And it was doubtful she would hear back from Malinda before it was time to depart on their trip. But John and Malinda were experienced with life in the West, and perhaps they would know points along the way where they might send correspondence to Elizabeth. She hurried to James’ old writing table, and opening a new bottle of ink, she began to plan the words she would pen to her relatives—words of hope and joy and great expectations!

I
t didn’t take long for the folks in Selma to stop gossiping over the broken engagement of Matthew Dawson and Violet Lamott. Even talk of Walter Slake, who’d been renamed Walter Snake, subsided some. Elizabeth knew this was because their friends and neighbors had something more scintillating to discuss. The talk of the town now revolved around the news that the Martins and Dawsons planned to migrate west come spring. Some folks thought the family courageous, but others thought they’d lost their ever-loving minds.

“Have you sold your farm yet?” Oliver Thorne asked Elizabeth as she did some shopping at the Thorne Mercantile. Elizabeth knew that the store owner was well aware of the status of her negotiations.

“Thomas Barron has made me an offer,” she informed him. “I expect we’ll come to an agreement soon.”

His dark brows arched as he measured off ten yards of moss-green calico. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

“I don’t quite know what I’ll use this fabric for just yet, but I’m sure it will be useful in Oregon. It’s certainly pretty enough. Perhaps it will become dresses for Ruthie and me.”

He cleared his throat. “I’m not speaking of the dry goods, Mrs. Martin.”

Of course, she knew that. She was simply being coy.

“I can’t fathom why you and your family are making this move.” He used what he probably assumed was a paternal tone. “I’ve done a fair amount of reading on the subject, and I can assure you, I would never dream of taking my wife and children out to that savage wilderness. Do you have any idea what it’s like out there in the Wild West? Are you prepared for what you’ll encounter?”

“I’ll admit that I don’t know everything there is to know about traveling that far west,” she confessed. “But I’ve been studying up on it for years. And as you know, my in-laws have all relocated there. From what they’ve written me, it’s a wonderful place to farm and raise a family.”

“But a lone woman, traveling through Indian country?” He frowned as he snipped a straight line through the fabric. “Seems mighty perilous to me.”

She gave him a tolerant smile. “I won’t be alone, Mr. Thorne. Didn’t you hear that my parents and my brother are going as well?”