“We’re going to be sleeping outside plenty. Enjoy a bed while you can.”
A while later, Forsythia woke to the sounds of someone starting a fire in the round-bellied stove. She lay and watched Lark, now dressed in her new persona as Clark, blowing on the tiny flame started by a flint. Her sister’s beautiful dark hair was shorn shorter than many men’s, and her faded, rolled-sleeve shirt and pants hitched up with a belt above worn boots completed the picture. Her boots would be doing a lot of walking in the days and weeks ahead.
Forsythia sat up and stretched. “Is there an outhouse here?”
“Good morning to you too.” Lark smiled at her. “Out behind the house.” She pointed to a door on the back wall.
Forsythia left her shoes by the bed and headed outside. The dew on the grass soothed her feet and soaked the hem of her dress. Something else to be thankful for. They would not see outhouses along the trail.
“We’d better appreciate a hot breakfast,” Lark said, dishing up the bacon and scrambled eggs while Lilac poured coffee into metal cups. “Thank you for this cozy house, Mr. Holt. I can see why your wife loved to come here. Trees for shade, water to wade in. Such riches.”
“We thought often about moving here, but you can’t leave a farm for any length of time. You all get on the road, and I’ll clean up here and shut the house down again.”
“Oxen are hitched up and ready to roll,” Jonah said, coming through the door. He joined them at the table. “I’m sure going to miss all of your cooking. Did you talk to Anders about moving the wedding date sooner?” He looked at Forsythia.
“I did, and he said they are seriously considering it. I wish they could have had the wedding before we left, but that couldn’t happen.”
Anders and Josephine had grown up together but only recently decided that their friendship was a good basis for marriage, perhaps because of Anders’s near brush with death. If Josephine had had her way, they’d have been married the day Lark brought him home over six months ago. Anders had refused until he knew he could manage the store again and make a life for his future family.
With everyone ready and the wagon loaded, Lark stepped up beside the oxen and lifted her whip, pointing it down the road. “Lord, as you blessed the Israelites with the crossing of the Red Sea, so we ask that you bless us as we head west into our new life. We thank you in advance. Amen.”
She flicked the whip, and the oxen began to move.
Jonah rode near Lark, who walked beside the off ox. He kept his voice low. “I know you’re glad to be leaving and see this as an adventure, but please be careful. I mean, I know you are always careful, but . . .”
Lark gave him a look from under the brim of her slouch hat.
“I know, I know. Who am I to talk? But I never thought . . .”
“Ja.”
“You sound like Pa, but . . . but I . . . Sorry sounds like such a mealy word.”
“And what would Pa tell you?” She walked with her gaze straight ahead.
“To think of others before myself.” He paused and snorted. “Actually, he’d tell me to think before I do anything. I can hear him saying, ‘You got to think and ask God for guidance.’ I’m sure Jesus didn’t want me in the saloon.”
“Nor me either. I fell in the same trap you did, and look what it has cost us.” She shook her head, regret lacing her chest. “Lord, protect us.”
“I better get on back. Write soon so we know how you’re faring.”
“Now you sound like Anders.”
“Guess that’s not such a bad thing.” Jonah pulled his horse back toward Mr. Holt. “You ready to head back?”
“Anytime you are.”
They said their good-byes, and the girls watched them go. Tears dripped down Lilac’s cheeks as she perched atop Starbright. “What if we never see them again?”
“Then we’ll live with that.” Lark, ever practical, motioned Lilac to bring the horse alongside her. “Keep your eyes out for something we can have for supper. Rabbit, squirrel, quail, doves. Get out the shotgun and make sure it’s loaded with small shot. We’ll set snares every night, as there are rabbits all around here. Remember that time I brought in a deer and Pa was nearly flummoxed? He wasn’t sure he wanted his daughters to be so proficient with firearms. But if I hadn’t been, I never could have brought Anders back.”
“Did you have to use your gun?”
“I did. Ran off a pair of ruffians who thought my horse and wagon should belong to them. I shot one in the leg and the other in his shooting hand. He was right upset about that, but they both hightailed it away. It took my heart a while to settle back down where it belonged. Other times I stopped at a house or farm and was welcomed right into the family. I never could have made it without the loving and caring people along the way. I was able to buy a bag of oats in one town, but so many were barely hanging on themselves. They’d gotten real handy at hiding the supplies they had to keep the raiders and soldiers from stealing them blind.”
“Forsythia gave up. She said we’d never see either you or Anders this side of heaven.”
“It took a lot longer than I figured it would, but when I left home, I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that God told me to go and He would get me there and back. Perhaps some evening around a campfire on this trip, I’ll tell you more about what I saw and experienced. One thing for sure, I knew the hand of God was around me.”
“Do you feel that now?”
“Not so much,
