Page 59 of Wagon Train Redemption
“I hope so.” She stepped away from him.
“I can see us building houses, barns, and corrals. You’ll drive in nails as fast as I do.” Leaning back on his heels, he nodded. “Yup. Partners.”
“That’s what we’ve agreed to.” She freed Sid and Sal and led them toward the water hole.
He sprang forward. “I’ll take care of the beasts. You go help Ma or whatever you need to do.”
She grinned at him across the oxen’s backs. “Do you think Ma needs my help?”
He shook his head, but at the sparkle in her eyes, he changed his mind and nodded.
Her eyebrows rose.
“I don’t know,” he sputtered. “Do whatever you think you need to do.”
“I think I need to help with these animals.” She walked beside one ox while he walked beside the other.
This wasn’t a two-person job. Was she coming along simply to keep him company? He liked the idea that she might be.
“I enjoyed this morning,” he said.
She smiled across the oxen. “I did too. It was fun coming up with building plans.”
“This afternoon we can plan the bigger house. Would you like that?”
“I would.” She stood back as the animals plunged their noses into the water. Her eyes shone with reflected light from the pond. Or did the light come from inside her?
He liked to think it was the latter.
She directed her bright eyes toward him. “It’s fun being partners.”
Had he put that note of joy in her words? If so, he couldn’t be happier. He laughed out loud.
She cocked her head, one brow arching.
“I think we shall do very well as partners.” The oxen would eat and rest without any help from him or Angela, so he caught her hand. But rather than join the others where Ma was setting out food, he drew her into the nearest copse of trees. “I want to show you something.” But when they weresurrounded by leafy trees, he had no idea what he meant to do. And he laughed.
Her brows rose again, though her eyes twinkled.
“On the quarter you and I are going to own, there are trees like this. And there’s a little clearing.” He pulled her onward, and sure enough, there was one here. “Like this. It’s a perfect place for a picnic. All sheltered. Trees bending and swaying in the breeze.” He inhaled deeply. “Can you smell it?”
She inhaled too. “What am I supposed to smell?”
“Life. Promises. ‘But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.’” His speech ended. How often he’d heard Pa quote that verse? “It’s from Psalms,” he murmured.
“I know. Pa used to say it. Every time I heard it, I was encouraged, lifted up.”
“Pa had a way of doing that.”
A shadow not from the nearby trees crossed her face.
“I’m sorry.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I’d forgotten how he’d failed the last few months. I wish I could have been there even if it was hard.”
She wrapped her hand over his. “He suffered so much in the end.” Her throat worked. “Poor Ma.”
His heart cracked at the pain Ma and the others had endured and his own pain at not being able to join them. His face must have revealed his hurt, for she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“It was hard for you too.”
