Mona Hodgson - [Hearts Seeking Home 01] (4 page)

“Whatever you say, Boss.”

Garrett wheeled the cart toward the front of the store. All he did was irritate Caroline Milburn, reminding her of the life she’d never have. He needed to avoid her. A difficult task with her bent on going west with the caravan, thanks to Ian and Rhoda Kamden giving her the means to do so.

He shook his head. He’d best concentrate on his own affairs and the task
at hand. “Let’s finish the shopping and get back to camp. You get two sacks of coffee. I’ll find the sugar.”

Caleb nodded and walked toward the mounds of burlap sacks against one wall.

Garrett had just reached for the sack of sugar when he saw Anna Goben outside the front window. Had she looked in through the window, the young woman probably would have turned around. He would have, had it been him. Instead, Miss Goben opened the door and stepped inside. A breeze fluttered the paper sign above the coffee sacks.

Caleb lifted the sack he held to one shoulder. He raised the collar on his coat and looked up. The sack fell to the plank floor, spilling a handful of coffee beans and scenting the chilled air. He glared at Anna. “What are you doing here?”

Miss Goben’s eyes widened like an antelope staring down a gun barrel. “Pardon me?”

That seemed the phrase of the day, at least from any women they encountered. Garrett quickly joined Caleb. “Hello, Miss Goben.” He doffed his slouch hat, and Caleb bent to scoop up the runaway coffee beans.

“Mr. Cowlishaw.” Her jaw tight, she looked around him to the counter where Maren Wainwright took money from a customer. “Have you heard how Mr. Heinrich is faring?”

“I was told he is resting upstairs. His daughter is with him.”

She nodded.

Caleb stood. One hand gripped the sack while the other cupped coffee beans. “The dry goods store doesn’t seem a likely place for you to do your gloating.”

She squared her shoulders, her chin jutting. “You, sir, are a man of ill-formed suppositions.”

Garrett knew he should scold Caleb for his rudeness, but instead he put his effort into hiding the smile that tugged at his lips. He wasn’t one to talk, having had a similar conversation with Caroline Milburn just moments earlier.

“Are you still planning to go west with your mother and grandfather?” Caleb asked her.

“I am. Do you have a problem with that, Mr.—”

“Reger. Caleb Reger.” He arched his eyebrows. “I don’t have a problem with it, but my good friend Boney might.”

“Your
good
friend?” As if surprised she’d said it aloud, Miss Goben looked at Garrett. “Pardon me.”

Garrett nodded and brushed the brim of his hat. He and Caleb both watched Miss Goben walk toward the widow Caroline Milburn, and then he looked at Caleb. “You’re not the one staring now, are you?”

“At her? No sir. She’s trouble.”

Garrett smiled. His exact sentiments concerning Mrs. Milburn.

Hmm. Miss Goben would be a distraction for at least two of his hands. Perhaps it was time he pay her grandfather a visit to question his plans to go west.

S
unshine defied the gathering clouds and warmed Anna’s face, but still she fought the chill running up her spine.

“The dry goods store doesn’t seem a likely place for you to do your gloating.”

Caleb Reger may prove to be a good scout for the captain of the wagon train, but he had much to learn about being a civil human being. Did he really believe she’d made her decision not to marry Boney with lightness and merriment?

Anna’s footfalls were anything but ladylike as she stomped up Main Street. At least she’d been able to visit with Caroline and Maren for a few minutes. Otherwise, she would’ve been better off staying home and tangling with her mother. She knew what to expect from Mutter. Mr. Reger’s insolence had caught her off guard. Now that she knew he was prone to address issues he knew nothing about, it wouldn’t happen again.

“I don’t have a problem with it, but my good friend Boney might.”

He worried about his
good friend
Boney? Mr. Reger had met Boney mere weeks ago. She’d gone to school with him, played dominoes with him and her brother. She’d known Boney for ten years. Her decision not to marry him may have seemed hasty, but it wasn’t in the least thoughtless.

Anna passed Becks’ Cobbler Shop. The elder Mr. Beck sat out on the stoop, whittling a pair of wooden shoes. Mr. Beck and his wife, Irene, his son, Arven, and his wife, Lorelei, were among those joining the Boone’s Lick Company caravan of wagons. His mallet tapped the chisel lightly, in rhythm with her footfalls. The sound followed her as she drew close to her turn.

If true love was anywhere near as complicated as the lack of it, Anna wanted no part of romance. She was better off going west as planned—a single woman
traveling with her family. Somewhere in California, near Hattie and Caroline, she’d set up her millinery. A single businesswoman. That had been her goal before Boney’s return to Saint Charles, and it was still an appealing plan.

First, she had to survive traipsing over hill and vale with the sour Mr. Caleb Reger.

“Look out, lady!”

The gruff order stopped Anna in her tracks. A yoke of oxen skidded to a stop not two feet from her. The contents of the wagon they pulled shifted with a crunch. Her heart pounding, Anna couldn’t move. The lead oxen offered a wet snort uncomfortably close to her face.

A sharp whistle drew her gaze to the burly man holding the lead rope on the far side. “Good thing I was mindin’ what you were doing, ma’am.” His thick brows knit together. “Woulda plowed right into ya, if’n I weren’t.”

“Yes sir. Thank you kindly.” Anna dipped her chin in gratitude and took a few steps backward, motioning for him to move forward.

After seeing the tailgate on the farm wagon pass her by, Anna carefully crossed the busy street and started up the hill. Her encounter with Mr. Reger had been a troubling distraction, one that she needed to push from her mind so she could think and pray about what to say when she arrived home.

Life in Saint Charles had been good. Mutter had worked at the millinery and became involved in Mrs. Brantenberg’s quilting circle. Großvater had been teaching Dedrick his trade of caning chairs. They’d been happy here. But the War between the States changed everything. Anna had learned heartbreak could build your faith or tear you down. In the past year and a half since Dedrick’s death, she’d watched her grandfather take to his chair and her mother turn to the bottle.

When her breaths became shallow, Anna realized she was stomping up the hill. She slowed her pace, but couldn’t hinder her thoughts. If she was old enough to decide to marry a man then choose not to, she was old enough to be heard.

She only prayed Mutter was clearheaded enough to hear her out and later remember what she said.

As Anna approached their light blue house, third from the corner, she saw Großvater sitting on the front porch. Not only was he home, but he sat on a stool with a chair frame balanced on his lap. The once-familiar sight of him working nearly stole her breath.

Now if only he’d quit eating like a sparrow and put some meat back on his bones.

He coughed then rubbed the balding spot amidst his gray hair. “I wondered if you’d be coming back.”

“I wondered the same about you.”

A slow smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “A tough day.”

Nodding, Anna sank into a finished rocker beside him. “I went to the store to see my friends.”

“Did it help?”

She drew in a deep breath. “Some.”

Großvater shook his head. “That was about as convincing as one snow-flake in summer.”

“Garrett Cowlishaw and Mr. Reger were in the store.”

He lifted a length of cane from the washbasin and shook off the water. “I don’t suppose that was very comfortable, them working with Boney.”

“I would’ve expected discomfort.”

His hands stilled and his thin eyebrows arched in an unspoken question. “Mr. Reger felt it necessary to voice his disdain for women who change their minds.”

Großvater threaded the cane through a hole and pinned it with a wedge. “What does he know about it?”

“Precisely.” Anna blew out a long, unladylike breath. Time to change the subject. The insufferable Mr. Reger wasn’t worth another thought. She glanced at the basin then to the chair he was caning. “It does my heart good to see you working.”

He coughed again. She lifted his coffee cup from the table and handed it to him. His hands had gotten so thin and his face was drawn. As much as she wanted to give him a new life—all of them a new life—the trip might be too taxing for Großvater.

“It’s about time I quit skulking and pulled my own weight around here again. You’re young, Anna. I hoped you would marry Boney just so you could have a life besides caring for me and your mutter. You’ve done nothing but cook and work and clean since we lost your brother.”

Anna looked away from his all-too-familiar grief. Mutter and Großvater
had needed her. They still did. How could she have considered marrying, and moving on?

“With my apprentice gone, I didn’t care much about caning chairs.” He laid another length of cane in the washbasin. “Didn’t care about much of anything.”

Anna brushed a strand of wayward hair from her face. “I miss Dedrick too. Especially today.”

His eyes narrowed. “Was your brother the reason you agreed to marry Boney?”

She nodded. “Being around Boney and talking about Dedrick made me feel less lonely.”

Großvater nodded. Grief had robbed him of his appetite and hollowed his cheeks. But here he was, working again.

“Großvater?”

“I can’t remember when my name’s carried that much weight.”

“Mutter thinks I was foolish not to marry him.”

“Your mutter, she just wants you to have a good life. Boney is a fine man. Like me, she probably saw marrying him as your chance to escape our grief and find a better way for yourself.”

Anna shifted in the chair. “She could’ve been nicer about it.”

Großvater nodded, and dipped more cane in the basin. “I trust your judgment, Anna girl. You’ve always been real smart.”

“I don’t feel very smart today.”

“Well, then, I say it’s a good thing you’re trusting more than your feelings.” Smiling, he wove the cane across the seat.

The Großvater she knew was climbing out of his grief and coming back to her before they’d even pulled away from Saint Charles.

He stilled his hands again and looked her in the eye. “Boney will be in the caravan. You still want to go west?”

Anna glanced at the closed door beside her. “As far as Boney is concerned, I feel fine.” Mutter and Mr. Reger were another matter. And so was Großvater’s cough. “What about you? When did you start coughing?”

“Oh, that.” He waved his hand. “Just a bother from that can of wildflowers Miss Hattie brought for the wedding. Set a tickle in my throat from the moment she walked in.”

She hesitated but decided to accept his explanation. “What about Mutter? Do you think she’s strong enough to make the trip?”

“It’s given me new hope for the future. I’m praying the trip will do the same for my Wilma.”

Anna nodded. That was her hope too, even though doubts daily hounded her heels.

Großvater continued weaving the cane. “Do you think Mr. Cowlishaw knows?”

“I don’t know. But Boney does.”

He nodded.

“Boney understands and wouldn’t speak of our business.”

The crease in Großvater’s brow told Anna he was concerned. Was there a chance the captain could deny them passage in the caravan because of Mutter?

Anna’s spine stiffened. She couldn’t let that happen. Somehow, she’d make sure there weren’t any bottles in the wagon when they headed out of town next week.

Caroline Milburn scooped a spoonful of boiled potatoes onto four-year-old Mary’s plate. Her youngest niece looked up, tears pooling her green eyes. Come Tuesday, leaving Mary in Saint Charles would be nearly impossible. Leaving any of her family would be impossible, excluding Jack. She was all too anxious to rid herself of his company. Her brother-in-law sat in his wicker wheelchair at the head of the table pushing cooked carrots to the lonely side of his plate, his nose rutted in a permanent frown.