“We need firewood,” she called. Trying to make her voice stern didn’t quite work. She envied them, but someone had to be in charge and make sure supper happened. After all, she’d walked farther than any of the others.
Lilac soon came hurrying into their campsite with an armload of firewood.
Lark nodded her thanks. “We need to remember to put some wood in the wagon in case we hit a rainstorm.”
“Which will happen sooner than we planned.” Lilac pointed to the west, where black thunderheads were chasing away the sun.
Lark blew out her disgust. They were prepared for rain with slickers hanging from one of the hoops, but she would prefer to be near a barn or someplace to shelter. Lightning forked the burgeoning blackness. She dumped out part of the coffee water so it would boil more quickly, then threw in a couple of handfuls of ground coffee. The others hustled back with more wood.
“Break it up and stack it in and under the wagon,” Lark instructed. “What did you plan for supper, Del?”
“I was planning to make biscuits and fry the beans with bits of bacon.”
“Better get the beans in the frying pan, quick. We can eat in the wagon.”
Thunder rumbled in the distance. The animals continued to graze, ignoring the drops that spattered as the wind kicked up. Forsythia handed out the slickers, shivering all the while.
The mare threw up her head, wind catching her mane. Lark snapped a rope to her halter. “Just to be safe, girl.” Patting Starbright’s neck and watching the sheet of rain draw nearer, she blew out a breath. Please, Lord, protect us from this storm. She drew the mare into the shelter of the trees, but the oxen kept right on grazing.
The others had retreated to the wagon, carrying the steaming coffeepot and sizzling frying pan. Lark leaned against Starbright’s warm shoulder, and the mare went back to grazing the sparse grass around their feet. The storm hit like an upturned bucket of water. Thunder roared closer and closer as lightning stabbed the sky.
When the thunder crashed right over them, Starbright jerked her head up against the lead. Lark murmured to gentle her down, all the while locking her hand in the rope right under the mare’s jaw.
“Look at that, heading on east.” She puffed out a sigh of relief. The torrent soaked everything around them but didn’t hover over them. Within a couple of minutes, the rain went from drenching to dancing and then to dripping. “Okay, girl, go join the oxen.” She unsnapped the lead rope and stopped to look at the fire pit. There would be no trying to restart the fire.
“Come and eat, Lark,” Del called. “The coffee is still hot too.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” She joined the others crammed in the rear of the wagon.
“Fried beans are really good when you’re as hungry as I was.” Lilac handed her big sister one of the metal plates Anders had supplied.
“Where are we going to sleep?” Forsythia asked after a jaw-popping yawn.
“Two can sleep in here, and I’ll spread the oilcloth on the ground under the wagon for the third,” Lark said. “We’ll be taking turns keeping watch, three each night. Who wants to go first? I’ll take the third until daylight.”
“I can go first. Will we start a fire to fix breakfast?” Forsythia asked.
“I think not. Everything will still be wet. We’ll eat what we have.”
When Del woke Lark for the third watch, the moon was flying so bright that even the grass etched shadows.
Lark stretched and pointed to the bedroll. “I kept it warm for you. Isn’t this glorious? Kind of like a benediction after the storm.”
“Thanks to the moon, I could keep track of our grazers. They kept wandering despite the hobbles. But they just laid down a few minutes ago. Guess they finally got full.” She tucked her boots under the foot of the bedroll and slid in between the blankets.
Lark rubbed her hip where there must have been a rock hiding in the grass. Sleeping on the ground was going to take some getting used to. She poured herself a cup of cold coffee, and her mind leapt to the road ahead, all the unknowns. Had they brought enough supplies? Would the money she’d won stretch far enough to set up a whole new life? Had they even left early enough in the season to join a wagon train? During the storm, she had questioned the wisdom of leaving home like this.
“Lord, you know I’ve prayed about this, and I so hope I was listening for your answers. We could still turn around and go home if you think that’s best. I don’t want to be out of your will. Thank you for never leaving us alone.”
With the moonlight so bright, the stars were dim. Her father had loved the stars, taught her the major constellations and how to navigate by them, little dreaming she would ever need that knowledge.
When dawn cracked the eastern skyline, she roused the others, no closer to being sure of God’s will. Everything had happened so fast—and all because of her actions. As light colored the sky so they could see more clearly, she rounded up the animals while her sisters dressed. Del helped her yoke the oxen.
The sun just glimmered on the horizon when they bowed their heads for Forsythia to pray for God’s blessing on each of them, the animals, and the long day ahead.
“And thank you, Lord, that you moved the rain on quickly so we needn’t be concerned about muddy roads. Please bless our travels today, and thank you for your protection and guidance hour by hour, day by day. We rejoice and praise your holy name.”
They all said the closing “amen,” and Lark checked
