Page 5 of Wagon Train Honor
“This.” She shook the papers in front of him. The flower drawing appeared and disappeared with the movement. “This.” More emphatic waving.
“I don’t understand. Shouldn’t you be proud and happy about the offer? Your skill is evident.” He waved toward the drawing crimped in her hand. “I felt like I could reach out and touch the flower.”
“You did?”
At his nod, she blinked three times. “Thank you.” She smoothed the crinkles from the papers. “Nevertheless, I am asking you to keep this all a secret.”
“A secret? Why?”
Red roses blossomed in her cheeks. Her lashes curtained her eyes, and she avoided meeting his gaze. A long-suffering sigh was breathed past her lips. She plunked to the ground and lowered her face to her drawn-up knees. “Because I’ve never told anyone my plans.”
Robert eased closer and sat beside her, careful to keep a decent distance between them lest she take offense and rush away. “Why would you keep it from your family?”
Her head came up, and she stared at the ground before her feet. Gently, she touched the nearby flowers.
“They think I am keeping notes about the journey.”
“I see. No, actually I don’t. Shouldn’t you be proud to let them know of your skill?”
One shoulder came up and again lowered. “I’ve been drawing for years. All my life, really. I wasn’t always good.”
He mulled over her words. Perhaps she’d given him a clue to her behavior. “Am I to guess that, at some point, someone informed you they weren’t”—he couldn’t think of a kind way to voice his question—“satisfactory?”
Her back stiffened like someone jabbed a rod down her spine. “You could say that.”
“But things have changed. You’re excellent now. The people from the planned expedition think so.”
“Yes.” She shifted around to face him. “It’s my dream to have my drawings used for…”
“In a publication?” he prompted when she didn’t seem inclined to finish. He didn’t need to see her nod to know it was at least part of the truth. “Proving how good you are?”
Another nod, and then her eyes snapped. “It’s more than that. It’s knowing I have a part in…in…” She fluttered the papers, sweeping them toward the vista as if to encompass the whole world. “Well, in people really seeing things and appreciating the beauty of every detail.”
Ahh. She loved what she drew and wanted others to see things the way she did. Kind of reminded him of a Bible verse. “‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’”
“Exactly. Even the Bible extols the beauty of nature. How can we do less?”
“I agree.” He drew a knee up to his chest. “But why hide it from your family?”
A blade of grass at her foot consumed her interest.
He waited. Silence was often the best way to get answers from someone. His waiting would pay off.
“I guess I never really thought why. Yes, at first, it was because I wasn’t very good, and criticism hurt me. Then, I didn’t want anyone to think they were obligated to admire my work.” Another sigh. “Besides, Ma and Pa’s hands were full with Bertie and the others. I was content to be by myself and draw.” Another one-shouldered shrug. “Guess I got used to it. And now, I don’t want to say anything to worry them until we get to the fort.”
Robert studied the girl. Yes, sometimes it is nice to be invisible. But his circumstances had been entirely different.
“Will you keep my secret?”
He didn’t know which was more enticing—her tone or the way her eyes softened with her request. He wouldn’t be able to say no. But?—
“I will agree?—”
Her eyes danced with gratitude.
“On one condition.”
The gratitude faded into wariness.
