A Dream for Tomorrow (38 page)

Sincerely and affectionately yours,

Malinda Martin

Chapter Twenty-Five

T
he next few days at the fort passed very slowly for Elizabeth. There were plenty of distractions and chores to be done as they shopped for needed supplies, preparing for the last leg of their journey. But always, she wondered about JT and the others. No one spoke of it much, but she suspected that they were all preoccupied with similar thoughts. Why were they not here yet?

“I wonder if I was mistaken to let Jeremiah go with them,” Will confided to her on their fourth day of waiting for the livestock drivers to arrive.

“Why is that?” she asked.

“Jeremiah is the least experienced rider. Julius has taken riding lessons since he was a tot. But Jeremiah took it up only a couple of years ago.”

“He seemed an accomplished rider to me.”

“Thank you. But my imagination has been playing havoc with me. And if anything has happened to him…I will never forgive myself.”

“I’m sure he and the others are just fine.” Elizabeth waved to where the others were coming over to join them now. The plan was for everyone to walk out to where the wagons were stored. It would be their last chance to load the supplies they’d purchased and to get anything they needed for the voyage—which was now only three days away.

“What will we do if JT and Uncle Matthew and Brady don’t make it here on time?” Ruth asked Elizabeth as they were walking toward the docks and their wagons.

“Some of us will go on the ship with our wagons.” Elizabeth explained Asa’s plan. “And some of us will remain behind to wait for them. The ship will return in two weeks and take the same route again.”

“Oh…I hope that’s not what happens.” Ruth’s voice was filled with disappointment. “I miss my brother and my uncle and Brady and Flax.”

“I know.” Elizabeth sighed. “I miss them too.”

They all worked together, packing the wagons and taking what they needed while aboard the ship. Fortunately, their voyage would stop at a couple of ports along the way and last only a few days. And then, at Asa’s suggestion, they removed the canvases and the wooden bows. Tucking everything flat inside their wagons, they wrapped the canvases snugly over their goods and tied them down with ropes. It took a couple of hours, but everyone helped until all six wagons were secured. Among some of the things Elizabeth had pulled out of her wagon were JT’s good go-to-meeting clothes. She’d done the same for her and Ruth, thinking that once they were on the ship, they might need them. However, she knew that there was also the chance she’d have to leave JT’s behind with her father. Asa had made it clear that if anyone in their family stayed behind, it would be him. Of course, she hoped and prayed that would not happen.

They were just traipsing back to the fort when Ruth let out a scream. And imagining rattlesnakes or Indian attacks or something terribly gone wrong, Elizabeth turned and dashed back to where Ruth had been walking with Amelia and Belinda. But Ruth seemed fine and in fact had a huge grin on her face as she pointed up the river. “That’s them!” she cried. “Mama, that’s
them
!”

“What?” Elizabeth squinted, shading her eyes from the sun to see a group of animals moving toward them from a distance. Perhaps some of the soldiers bringing cattle to the fort. “Well, it certainly does look like someone driving a herd,” she admitted. “But how do you know it’s—”

“
Look, Mama!
” Ruth grabbed her by the arm. “That’s Beau and Bella—see those tall black horses? And there’s—”

“You’re right, Ruth Anne!” Elizabeth took Ruth’s hand, and they both began rushing toward them. “That’s our men and our animals!”

The rest of them started running too—even Lavinia and Mrs. Taylor. And although Elizabeth knew they must look a sight for whoever was on watch back at the fort—a bunch of emigrants dashing out to meet some cowboys—for the life of her she just could not stop herself. And soon they were all together again, everyone laughing and hugging and talking all at once.

“JT,” Elizabeth said to her dust-encrusted son. “You look like you grew several inches since I last saw you!”

He laughed. “It’s just these boots, Ma. They got higher heels than my old ones.”

She firmly shook her head. “No, son, I’m sure you grew. And you look just like a man now.”

“All right, everyone,” Asa called out. “Let’s get these animals to the corral over by the docks. They need to be watered and fed. And then we’ll get these hardworking cattle drivers to a bathhouse. I reckon we might be able to get them cleaned up just in time for supper.”

“We’ll go on ahead,” Lavinia suggested, “and make sure the bathhouse has plenty of hot water for all of you.”

Instead of going with the other women back to the fort, Elizabeth sent Ruth with her mother and then went along with the men to tend to the livestock. She wanted to make sure her animals were well cared for and in good shape for the short ocean voyage awaiting them. And perhaps more importantly, she wanted to have a word with Brady.

She worked, feeding and watering and checking hooves and hides and mouths and ears of her animals, until finally it was just Brady and Matthew and her.

“Brady and I plan to camp here with the livestock,” Matthew told her. “But we’ll walk you back to the fort and get cleaned up some and eat.”

So while they walked together, Elizabeth explained the law that had been recently passed. “I know Will explained part of it to you,” she said.

“He told me to act like a slave,” Brady said. “So I done that.”

“I’m not sure it mattered much,” Matthew told her. “The only folks we ran across didn’t seem to care one way or the other.”

“I hope that’s how it will be here, but the new laws are complicated. Although they voted to oppose slavery, they also voted to keep Negroes out of Oregon.”

“Less’n they act like they’s already a slave,” Brady filled in.

“Yes, if a settler has slaves, they’re allowed to stay for three years.”

“For three years?” Matthew sounded shocked.

“That’s what Will told me. But he also said that law might be unenforceable.” She looked at Brady, seeing he was confused. “Or the law might get changed,” she told him. “Right now lots of laws about slavery and abolition are changing. So Will thinks you’ll be all right if you stay with us, Brady. The problem is that you won’t be able to own your own land.” She felt a lump in her throat. “You don’t know how sorry it makes me to tell you that. More than anything I wanted to see you settled with your own farm.”

Brady looked down at the ground, saying nothing.

“I am so sorry.” Elizabeth exchanged glances with Matthew and could see that he looked angry.

“That is so unfair!” He swung a fist in the air. “It makes no sense.”

“I agree,” she told him. “I couldn’t believe it when Will explained it to me. How can voters be abolitionists and then oppose Negroes as well? Where do they think folks like Brady are going to go?”

“California?” Matthew said sadly. “Unless their laws are just as ridiculous.”

Elizabeth looked back at Brady now. She could tell he was hurting. “So I don’t know what to tell you, Brady. You are a free man. You know that. You can make up your mind to do whatever you think is best. Father and I both owe you for all the work you did and—”

“And I owe you too,” Matthew said.

“We can pay you and you can choose where you want to go.” Elizabeth felt tears coming.

“Is that what you think I should do?” Brady’s brow was furrowed deep. “Just go on my way? By myself?”

“I don’t know what’s best for you, Brady,” she confessed. “I wish you could stay with us. But I don’t want to tell you what to do. It’s your decision.”

“As much as I’d hate to see you go, I’d understand,” Matthew told him. “There are opportunities out there. Mining and cowboying, which you’re good at. And I hear the railroad’s going to be coming this way.”

“I just don’t know what to say.” Brady let out a weary sigh. “I s’pect I’m too old for some of that. But then I rode with you youngins, and I think I done all right.”

“You were better than all right,” Matthew assured him. “We needed you.”

“Anyway, you don’t have to say anything right now,” she told Brady. “Just get yourself cleaned up and get some food, and then you can sleep on it. The ship doesn’t leave for a couple more days.”

Elizabeth knew she was trying to avoid Will Bramford. And knowing this made her feel both guilty and confused. She felt guilty because she genuinely liked Will. She enjoyed his company and felt they had established a good friendship…but one didn’t usually run the opposite direction when a friend was approaching. The confusion came every time she remembered what he’d said about wanting to court her. Any widow in her right mind should welcome such attention. And yet Elizabeth did not.

“You seem troubled,” Clara said to her on the morning they were preparing to board the clipper. Everyone had stood out on the docks the night before, marveling at the enormous boat and watching in fascination as the crew began taking their wagons aboard. The men were down there right now, helping to load the livestock. And the ship was set to sail at noon.

“I’m not troubled.” Elizabeth smiled as she packed Ruth’s sweater on the top of her bag, keeping it handy in case the sea air turned chilly. “You must be imagining things.”

“So it must be my imagination that whenever Will Bramford comes your way, you distract yourself by speaking to someone else, or sometimes you simply turn and walk away?” Clara sat down on a cot, carefully studying her daughter.

“Mother.” Elizabeth shook her head. “I think your imagination is running away with you.”

“Elizabeth, I might be old, but I’m not blind.”

Elizabeth looked around the room that the women had been sharing the past few nights. The others had already gone down to the docks to watch the goings-on, so it was only Clara and Elizabeth now.

“Sit down.” Clara patted the cot next to her. “If you can’t talk openly to your own mother, who, pray tell, can you talk to?”

Elizabeth reluctantly sat, folding her hands in her lap and suddenly feeling as if she were Ruth’s age again—about to get a scolding from her mother.

“When I’ve heard you and Will in conversation, you always sound quite friendly, and it’s obvious to me that you both like and respect each other.”

“That’s true.”

“And I suspect that Will’s interest in you is sincere.”