The big man took the small boy from Amy who looked like she wouldn’t have been able to hold the squirming child much longer. “You cry now to be rescued from the arms of a pretty girl, but it won’t be long before all you’ll want is to be held by a lovely woman, partner.”
Marietta could feel her face turn a crimson color.
Jase fidgeted. “Sorry, ladies. I shouldn’t have spoken so audaciously.”
“Nothing in the world to apologize for, Jase. No truer words ever spoken,” Amy said.
Though Marietta was surprised by Amy’s casual, undaunted response to Mr. Kent’s boldness, she admired her for being so uninhibited.
Amy looked at Zack. “Say, young man, those gingerbread men we were working on should be ready now. I’d bet they’re just waiting for a little boy to eat them up!”
“Yum!” He pushed out of Jase’s embrace and bolted to the tiny kitchen off the parlor.
“I guess he likes gingerbread. I’ll have to remember that.” Marietta sighed. “That and about a thousand other things.”
Amy put her arm around Marietta. “You’ll do fine, honey. Zack’s a great boy. He’ll help you along the way.”
Marietta was astonished at how comforting the words of this young woman were to her. Amy certainly was at least four or five years shy of her own twenty-nine years, yet she spoke with the wisdom and reassurance of a woman twice her age.
“Thank you, Mrs. Carson. Your words of encouragement mean a great deal to me.”
Amy stepped back and pushed at a stray blonde strand which had escaped the hair arranged on top of her head. Her blue eyes softened, and she stretched to reach a five-feet, two-inch stance. “You seem a very strong woman to me, Miss Randolf, don’t you think so, Jase?”
“Anyone who can make the trip from Chicago to Fort Kearney can handle one little boy,” Jase replied.
“I hope you’re both right.” Marietta looked around. “Where would you like me to put my things?”
“You’re going to bunk with me, sweetie,” Amy said. “My husband will sleep on the sofa, and Zack can sleep on the floor next to him.”
“And, if the colonel doesn’t mind,” Jase added, “I’m going to see if I can pull up a piece of wood in his quarters for the night.”
“You’re staying at the fort tonight?” Amy asked, surprised.
“I promised Miss Randolf I’d take her to Kathy and Clint’s graves tomorrow.”
“But, I thought you wanted to leave for Chicago immediately,” Amy said to Marietta.
“I can’t leave until I’ve told my sister goodbye, no matter how eager I am to return home.”
Amy placed a hand on Marietta’s shoulder. “Of course you can’t.” She looked up at Jase. “We should have considered that. How heartless of us.”
“I’ll change the arrangements as soon as I bring Miss Randolf’s things in from outside,” Jase said, straightening his stance. “I’ll find Jackson and tell him the trip to the Missouri River is going to be delayed.”
“That sounds good,” Amy said. “Why don’t you get Miss Randolf’s belongings and take care of your errands while I tend to her needs.”
Jase nodded toward her and did as she suggested.
When the ladies were alone in the parlor, Amy took Marietta’s cape and coat and led her to the sofa.
“Sit, honey,” she said. “If you don’t, I’ll fall over myself. I can feel your exhaustion clear down to my toes.”
Marietta lowered her body to the softest couch she’d ever sunk into. “I think I’m sitting on a cloud.”
Amy released a girlish giggle. “I understand completely. I remember the unbearable trip out here. We came overland from the Missouri River on a rig like you’re going to take back. I think I turned the trail into mud with my tears. I had no idea how grueling the trip to Fort Kearney would be.”
“Where did you come from?”
“Independence.”
“It’s civilized there. Not like St. Louis or Chicago, but civilized.”
Amy smiled and shrugged. “More or less.”
Oh, my, she’d spoken thoughtlessly, she realized. “I don’t mean to insult your home city. What I meant was how could you leave Missouri to live here? The idea of any woman wanting to live in this wilderness is unfathomable to me.”
Amy’s blue eyes sparkled in the gray light of late afternoon. “Have you ever been in love?”
Marietta shook her head. “I haven’t had time for such things.” Nor did she have the inclination to let any man influence her life. She’d considering falling in love a risky, even foolish thing for a woman to do. Her mother had preached against letting infatuation with a man cloud good judgment. A woman should lead her life conservatively and carefully, her mother always said. For Marietta, that precluded falling in love.
“When you’re in love,” Amy said, letting her voice drift to a heavenly softness, “you’ll willingly live anywhere to be near your man.”
Marietta looked around the tiny quarters, through the window at the desolate landscape and decided falling in love had to be the worst of all afflictions if what Amy said was true.
“When you fall in love, you’ll understand what I mean.” Amy looked at her carefully.
“Perhaps,” she said, hoping to appease Amy with a noncommittal comment.
“Love is a very powerful emotion, but then I believe you already recognize that, don’t you?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Wasn’t your traveling here an act of love? Hasn’t love enticed you to do something you might not have done otherwise?”
“I’m not sure I comprehend what you mean.”
“You traveled here because you loved your sister, and, because of that love, you want to care for her son, give him a good home.”
“That’s true enough.”
“The power of love enables us to do many things we never thought we would or could do.”
Marietta was letting Amy’s words sink in when Zack burst into the room.
“Where’s Jase?”
“He had some business to take care of, Zack,” Amy explained. “Are there any gingerbread men left in the kitchen?”
“Some.”
“Do you think you’ll have room for beef stew and pumpkin cake come suppertime?”
Zack rubbed his tummy. “I better do something to work up my appetite again. Ma always told me work makes a boy hungry. You got work for me to do, Miss Amy? I want to get hungry for that pumpkin cake.”
Marietta hid the tears Zack’s reference to Kathy caused inside her.
“The wood’s out back,” Amy replied. “Bring some in for the stove, then get the bucket by the back door and fetch water from the well--lots of it. Fill the cistern full. You know where the well is.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Zack said, saluting Amy.
Amy returned his salute. “Hop to, soldier.”
He dashed out of the room.
“We’ll wear the boy out carrying water for us, Miss Randolf. I’m assuming you do want to take a bath before you do anything else. Am I right?”
Marietta was amazed by Amy’s thoughtfulness. “How kind of you, and what a mind reader you are.”
Amy sat next to her. “I’m no mind reader. I’ve been where you are now. The first thing I wanted when we reached the fort after the long journey was a hot bath. I’d expect you to want no less.”
“Bless you, Mrs. Carson,” Marietta said, hugging her.
“Not Mrs. Carson, Marietta. I’m Amy.”
Marietta released Amy from her embrace. “Thank you for your kind friendship.”
“Just so you know, Kathy was my friend too, and I miss her terribly. She was a wonderful girl.” Amy wiped away a tear. “Not nearly as pretty as you, but sweeter than sugar.”
“I’m glad to know Kathy had friends as kind as you in Nebraska.”
“Everyone at the fort loved her, Marietta.”
Tears slid down her cheeks.
Amy went to a rustic wooden st
and near the door, opened the top drawer, and withdrew several hankies. She walked back to Marietta and handed them to her.
“I’ve got a feeling you might just need a good cry. You’ve been through more than a body should have to stand.”
“I believe you’re right,” she said, wiping her cheeks. “I think I do need to cry, but I wouldn’t want Zack to see me like this.”
“Don’t worry about him. He’ll be busy hauling water into the house, and I’ll try to heat it as fast as I can so you can have your bath. I’ve already set up the bathtub in the bedroom so you’ll have all the privacy you’ll need.”
“Thanks, Amy, but I really shouldn’t let you bother and fuss over me like this.” She began to get up.
“It’s all settled. You cry or rest or do whatever you want, and I’ll call you in a little while.”
Marietta could see Amy was determined. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” She left the room, and Marietta lay back on the sofa. It wasn’t long before she dosed and began to dream.
When Amy roused her from her nap, Marietta went straight to Amy’s bedroom. There she found the luggage Jase had hauled to the house and a tub full of warm, inviting water. She bathed quickly because Amy had told her supper would be ready in less than an hour.
Seeing the alabaster color of her skin reappear once the trail grime had been scrubbed from her delicate, soft flesh helped Marietta to feel like a woman again. She was suddenly excited about wearing the best dress she’d brought from Chicago to supper.
It was unfortunate her black woolen dress with the full skirt and long, slightly puffy sleeves hung loosely on her, but it was impossible for a woman to keep a nice, full figure while living the rough life Marietta had experienced the past weeks. No woman could go through what she’d been through without losing weight, thanks to the meager, distasteful meals she’d eaten on her journey.
But, tonight she would eat well. She loved beef stew, and pumpkin cake was her favorite dessert. What a feast!
Marietta looked at herself in the large mirror in the corner of Amy’s bedroom. Her dress didn’t hang right, but her dark cinnamon hair was stunning against the black frock. A bath with Aunt Mamie’s lilac soap and freshly washed and combed hair brought her femininity to the surface. She hadn’t felt this good in a long time. She took a deep breath, full of womanly confidence, and smiled at her reflection before going to meet the Carsons and Zack in the kitchen.
“Look who’s come to join us for supper,” Amy said, delight in her voice.
Marietta’s gaze lifted to meet Jase’s. He seemed to freeze the second he laid eyes on her.
“Mr. Kent,” Marietta said, “I thought you were joining the colonel.”
“I… I was, but, when I brought the rest of your things from the stage, Amy asked me to stay to supper.” He cleared his throat, but his eyes never left her. “I never turn down beef stew.”
“I see.”
“Miss Randolf...” Jase cleared his throat again.
“Don’t be shy, Jase,” Amy said. “Take the lady’s arm and escort her to the table.”
He hesitated a moment then moved toward Marietta, offering her his arm. She took it and walked the few feet to the table in the center of the kitchen.
He continued to stare at her. “You look absolutely lovely, Marietta.”
Thick silence hung in the kitchen as they locked gazes. She felt the warmth of his eyes pierce her heart. Had he just called her by her given name? How very bold of him!
He held her chair for her. “Please sit down.”
She complied, and he took his place next to her.
Will Carson had been standing since Marietta entered the room. “I’d like to second Jase’s observation,” he said. “You do indeed look lovely, Miss Randolf.”
Marietta turned her attention to the soldier across the table from her. “Thank you.”
“As I’m sure you’ve guessed I’m Amy’s husband, Will Carson.” The tall, uniformed man with wavy blonde hair, green eyes, and a bushy wheat-colored mustache turned to Amy. “Did I tell you, my dear, how lovely you look this evening?”
She touched her fingers to her disheveled hair. “Oh, my. You must fancy an un-coifed look,” she said, laughing.
Will leaned over and touched her cheek. “You’re beautiful.”
In that simple exchange, Marietta understood what Amy had tried to tell her in the parlor. Will and Amy had found true love, and, for them, it seemed to have conquered even a desire for the comforts of a more civilized land.
The evening passed quickly. The conversation exchanged, the after-supper cleanup and almost everything else that happened seemed a blur to exhausted Marietta. As she lay in the first real bed she’d laid in since she’d left the boat on the Missouri, she thought it strange the only distinct memory she had of the evening was the comfort she’d felt in the presence of Jason Kent.
Wasn’t it odd a total stranger would have such an affect on her? And wasn’t it even more peculiar that his absence had left her feeling more lonesome than she’d felt on the trail between the Missouri and Fort Kearney?
Perhaps as she slept and dreamt on a real goose down pillow, she’d be able to figure out how Mr. Kent had seduced her into experiencing feelings entirely unfamiliar to her. Or perhaps not.
~ * ~
Jase arrived before daylight the next morning to take Marietta and Zack to Kathy and Clint’s burial site. He wasn’t pleased the outing forced him to change his plans for attending a business meeting, but he’d never shirk his duty to Zack or to Kathy’s sister.
He loaded their belongings onto the buckboard he’d borrowed. When they finished paying their respects to the dearly departed, Jase would take them straight to the cabin where they’d stay until Sledge Jackson and his party were ready to leave for the Missouri River.
Zack did most of the talking on the twelve-mile ride to the Morgan ranch. He asked Jase over and over to tell him about all the adventures he’d had on the cattle drive from Texas in 1852. Zack knew his dad and Jase had been among the first men to make such a drive and bring cattle so far north. He loved to hear the stories of dirt, rivers, horses, and snakes.
Marietta seemed fascinated by the tales herself.
Jase’s stories made it clear he had led a hard life, but a life he’d specifically chosen for himself. His life pleased him in a most fulfilling way, and he made no secret of that.
They reached the graves about noon. The bright sun of the morning had given way to clouds about half way through their journey. After Jase helped Marietta down from the buckboard, she took her cloak and walked to Kathy’s grave. She laid the cloak on the ground and sat down.
“Kathy,” she said, rubbing her hand over the brown sedge as tears began to pour from her eyes. “Oh, sweet Kathy.”
Marietta lay prone on her sister’s grave and cried harder than Jase had ever seen any woman cry. Nothing seemed to exist but her grief, her throbbing heart, the coldness of the earth.
“How could anyone hurt you and rob you of your life?” she said between sobs. “You were a flower among rocks in this harsh land. You should never have left me--blast your rebel ways! You should have stayed with me where you belonged. Chicago died when you left. We all died the day you left us behind, most especially me.” Jase could hear her struggle to draw air into her lungs. “And now there will be no more letters, no more slips of paper allowing me to touch what you have touched. Oh, Kathy, take me with you! I can’t bear to live without you.”
Jase couldn’t stand her pain any longer. He’d held Zack back, giving Marietta time alone to be with her sister, but she was only making matters worse for herself carrying on as she was. Her behavior prodded Zack to break free of his restraint and run howling to Kathy’s grave, throwing himself on the brown sod.
“Mama, take me too! I want to go with you like Aunt Marietta.”
Jase had set broken bones on men who weren’t hurting as much as Marietta and Zack were. He knew how to
ease the pain of a man with a cracked femur, but how did he stop the pain of death?
He rubbed his face with his hands as Marietta and Zack continued to beg Kathy to take them with her. When their agony overcame him, he closed his eyes and tried to think of something else. Minutes passed, but he couldn’t fill his mind with anything but Zack and Marietta’s cries. He raised his face to the sky, opened his eyes, and noticed snow was beginning to fall.
He looked toward Kathy’s grave and found Marietta still prostrate with Zack pushed up against her. They held each other tightly and wept together. Jase walked to the buckboard and leaned against it. The snow began to come down a little more heavily. He didn’t like the look of the snow or the sky or the open prairie prone to sudden, fierce storms. They needed to head back to Sledge Jackson’s before the drive became dangerous, but how could he tear Marietta or Zack from Kathy and Clint?
He couldn’t.
He could only hope the sky would hold tightly onto the wind long enough for him to be able to ensure the safety of his two charges.
He tried once more to put his mind on another subject. As Marietta and Zack’s grief turned silent, he was able to think about his land project. Thinking about the development he intended to pursue would take his mind off the pain feeding on his two companions.
It had been just over two months since he and Zack’s pa, Clint Morgan, had talked with a group of men interested in founding a new town along the Oregon Trail. The men had speculated the railroad might come through somewhere near the Trail one day. If it did, lots of money and plenty of glory would be available in towns which sprung up along the Trail. Speculators could garner both fame and fortune.
Not that Jase wasn’t happy being a rancher. He was, but he wanted more. He wanted to leave his mark on the world. What better way than founding a new town? An entity he would establish along with his partners would live on long after he was gone.
He glanced at Marietta and Zack and found they were still huddled together on top of Kathy’s grave. Jase felt his jaw clench. He’d already missed the first meeting of the land consortium due to his responsibilities since Clint and Kathy’s barbarous murders. The next meeting was in two days at Red Rock Junction. He needed to get Marietta and Zack to Jackson’s as soon as possible. He couldn’t afford to miss another meeting. His chance at immortality was just too important. If he’d learned anything from Clint’s death, it was that a man had to reach for opportunities when they came and not put them off.