Freed now of the man on the rope, the mare was bucking wildly, trying to dislodge this terrible weight hanging on to her head. Joshua was swinging back and forth, like a clock’s pendulum gone wild, but he wouldn’t let go and finally his weight was too much for her. The bucking stopped, then the swinging of her body from side to side, and finally even the tossing of her head. She came to a halt, her head down, her nostrils flaring, her sides heaving. Joshua slowly straightened, not letting go. He reached out with one hand and began to rub her nose. “There now, girl. We’re not trying to hurt you.” He reached up and scratched at her ears. “See there? Nobody’s gonna hurt my Elena now.”
Slowly he let her go and stepped back. She turned her head to eye him warily, but she was too winded to fight anymore. Joshua turned and walked slowly back to the other two men. As he did so, his eyes lifted and he saw Caroline. There was a flicker of surprise, and a brief wave, but he didn’t change course.
“What are we going to do?” the one man said. “We’re short on teams.” Then Caroline saw the harnessing lying on the ground near the fence. Just out the gate was a wagon waiting, with one horse already hitched in the traces.
“Go get Old Red,” Joshua said. “Bring him in the corral.”
“Yes, sir.”
As the two of them headed for the wagon, Joshua came over to see Caroline. She saw that he was limping heavily but trying not to wince.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. What brings you here?”
“Lydia and I went to see Emma today. I needed to tell you something so I came by here on my way home.”
“Oh.”
“What’s the matter with her?” Caroline said, looking at the horse now.
He turned too. “She’s real high strung by nature,” he said. “And this is still all new to her.” There was a note of disgust in his voice. “Besides, I think that teamster was selling me a load of buffalo chips when he told me she was a good wagon horse.”
“So what do you do?”
“I’ll try one more thing. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to have to sell her off again. We can’t go through this every time we want to hitch her up.”
Caroline felt sorry for the gray. She still stood where Joshua had left her, her head down, her belly still rising and falling.
“What did you have to tell me?”
It took Caroline a moment to come back to that. “Will stopped by the house on his way to get that load from the boat landing. He won’t be home for supper. He’s going to Jenny’s.”
There was an instant frown.
“Joshua,” she reminded him, “he told us that last night. You leave for Wisconsin in two days. Tomorrow night we’ll have the family dinner, so this is the last night he can be with her.”
He blew out his breath in disgust. “Like some lovesick kid. Can’t even leave her alone for one day.”
Caroline sighed, not wanting to fight about that right here. “He just wanted you to know so that you wouldn’t worry when he didn’t make it back with the wagon. He said he’ll bring the team in after supper.”
“Don’t know why he bothers to let me know anything,” he muttered. “Nothing I say or do makes any difference.”
Again Caroline let it pass. She was about to turn and go, when she saw that the two men had unhitched the other horse from the wagon and were bringing it into the corral. Joshua went up and gave Caroline a perfunctory kiss over the top rail. “I’ll be home about six,” he said, then turned to intersect the other two men.
Curious, Caroline decided to see what would happen next. She recognized this second horse they were bringing in. He had been in Joshua’s stables for many years. For a long time, he had been called just Red, being sorrel in color. In the last few years he had become Old Red.
Still in most of his harnessing, Old Red came forward at a steady, plodding gait. Joshua reached out and took him by the strap of his bridle. He waved the other two men back, then started walking Old Red toward the mare.
Immediately her head came up and her ears lay back. Her eyes started to roll again. Speaking softly, moving slowly, Joshua made a wide circle so that when he started in toward Elena he was coming at her head on. Old Red lifted his head and snuffled quietly. Elena shook her head, as though still trying to clear the weight of Joshua, then snuffled back. Joshua stopped and waited for a moment, then moved forward again, even more cautiously than before. Elena was wary, but she stood her ground. Ever so slowly now, stepping back to walk beside Old Red and not in front of him, Joshua eased forward. In a moment the two horses were head to head.
They sniffed at each other for a moment, then dropped their heads so they were side by side. Gingerly, Joshua reached out again and began to rub behind Elena’s ears. She shuddered slightly, as horses do, her flesh rippling back in little waves. Her tail was flicking back and forth, but steadily now, not in any kind of excitable pattern.
Joshua stood there, speaking so low that his voice was only a murmur. Caroline watched in amazement as Elena’s head finally came up and her eyes were calm again. Joshua took her by the halter rope, and still holding on to Old Red’s bridle, he began to walk the two horses, with him in between. Around the corral they went. Once. Twice. Old Red plodded along without hesitation. And soon Elena was doing the same.
After the third circuit, Joshua came to a stop next to where the harnessing lay on the ground. He motioned with his head for one of the men. The younger one came forward, moving slowly so as not to startle her again.
“Take their heads,” Caroline heard Joshua say. Then he stepped around and picked up the bridle from the pile of harnessing. Almost in slow motion, he brought it back around to Elena’s head. He held it out for her to smell. He rubbed it along the side of her face. Back and forth, talking gently all the time. And then almost before she realized it had happened, Caroline saw that he had slipped the bit between the mare’s teeth and then had the bridle on over her head.
Old Red looked as if he were asleep on his feet. His eyes were half closed and his head half down. Elena would keep moving her head across to touch his for a moment. He would push back at her, then return to drowsing. In five minutes she was completely harnessed. Coming back around, Joshua took the horses and walked them out the gate and to the wagon. One more minute had them hitched up and the teamster drove the wagon out of the yard.
Joshua was a little surprised to see Caroline still there. He came back over to see her.
“I can’t believe that was the same horse I saw when I first got here.”
He laughed softly. “Don’t give me the credit. That Old Red, he’s like a wise old grandfather with a granddaughter going out with her first suitor. She just needs a steadying influence, that’s all.”
“Joshua?”
He didn’t look up from reading his copy of the
Warsaw Signal
.
“
Joshua!
”
He lowered the paper slowly. “Caroline, I don’t want to talk about it. All right?”
The “it” he referred to was the clash between him and Will that had happened half an hour before. Will hadn’t gone straight to Jenny’s house. Finishing early at the dock, he had decided to come home and wash up before going back to the Pottsworths’. Joshua couldn’t bear to let him come and go without firing off at least one of his usual barbs. To everyone’s surprise Will had shot to his feet, his eyes blazing—normally he just gritted his teeth or looked away. “I’m going to the pineries, Pa. We leave day after tomorrow. If you’d rather I didn’t see Jenny tonight, that’s fine. Find someone else to go north with you and I’ll just see her after you’ve gone.” And with that he had stomped out of the house.
Caroline just shook her head in weariness. “Actually, I don’t want to talk about it either. Savannah wants you to come and kiss her good night.”
“Oh!” Feeling rather foolish, he laid the paper on the table and stood up. As he walked past her and up the stairs, she didn’t meet his eyes.
“Hi, Papa.”
“Hello, sweetheart. Are you ready to go to sleep?”
“No.” It was petulant and angry. “But Mama says I have to.”
“That’s right. It’s after eight o’clock.”
“But I’m a big girl now. I’m four years old now, you know. I’m almost five.”
He laughed as he sat beside her on the bed. “You little wart. You’re not going to be five for another”— he calculated quickly—“six months.”
“Livvy doesn’t have to go to bed when I do.”
“And Livvy’s almost fourteen. Baby Charles goes to bed at seven.”
“I’m not a baby,” she said.
He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “No, you’re not, Savannah. You’re Papa’s great big girl.”
“Then can I stay up just for a little while, Papa? Please?”
He shook his head. This was how it was with her. Every night was a major negotiation. When he gave an inch, she demanded five more. If he held firm, then she would settle for the inch. She had raised stalling to an art form. He stood up and pulled the sheet up around her neck. “Savannah, it’s late. And Mama and I need to talk.”
Her deep blue eyes were round as half-dollars, and almost black in the half light. “Is Will going to run away, Papa?”
Startled in spite of himself, he reared back a little. “No, Will is going north with Papa, but he’s not running away.”
“Why are you angry at Will, Papa?”
“I’m not—” That was a little hard to deny after what had happened. “Will and I just had a disagreement. We’re not angry with one another anymore.”
“Promise, Papa. Promise Will won’t run away.”
He hesitated for just a moment, then smiled at her. “I promise.”
“I love Will so much, Papa.”
Once again, he reached down and kissed her, this time on the cheek. “I know you do, Savannah. And Will loves you too. You just stop worrying. Everything is going to be fine.”
She snuggled deeper into the covers, and he saw that she had her favorite doll in bed beside her.
“Good night, my little sweetheart.”
He made it to the door before she spoke again. “Papa, I’m thirsty.”
“She’s already had a drink.” Caroline’s voice came up to him from the bottom of the stairs. “She’s already been to the bathroom. She’s blown her nose and fixed her dolly and I put lotion on her sore elbow. She
is
ready for bed.”
“That’s it, then,” he said gruffly, trying not to smile. “Do you want me to shut your door?”
Savannah shot up to a sitting position. “No, Papa!” She hated to have her door closed.
“Then you lie down and go to sleep.”
“Yes, Papa. Good night, Papa.”
“Good night, Savannah.”
When he came back down, Caroline was in the parlor, standing beside the table where he had laid his paper. As he came in, she looked up. “Why do you read this stuff?”
He came over to stand beside her, immediately on the defensive. “Thomas Sharp puts out a good paper.”
“Thomas Sharp is a bitter anti-Mormon, and he uses his newspaper to sow hatred and bigotry. After what happened with Will that day, how can you bring it into the house and flaunt it before his face? That was why he was angry, you know. He thinks you do it just to spite him.”
“Well, I don’t,” he snapped. “What do you want me to read? The
Times and Seasons
? Sorry, but I hear quite enough about the Church just living here without reading a whole newspaper devoted to it.”
She let that go, knowing this would go nowhere. In two days he would be leaving her, and Will would go with him. She didn’t want these last nights to be filled with contention. She turned and started away.
But Joshua was smarting now. First Will had lashed out at him, now his wife. “You think I’m wrong, don’t you? About Jenny. Well, I’m telling you, Jenny Pottsworth is not the girl for my son, and the sooner he gets that into his head, the happier he’ll be.”
“Your son has the right to decide for himself which girl is right for him and which is not.” She hadn’t meant it to, but the “your son” came out with just the slightest touch of rebuke. Joshua winced inwardly at that. He had legally adopted Will and Olivia a few years ago, but both were from Caroline’s first marriage. They were not his natural children, though now he never considered them anything but.
“Joshua,” Caroline said, pleading now, “Will is going to the pineries with you. Don’t you understand what that means for him? He doesn’t want to go. He thinks he’s going to lose Jenny. And maybe he will. But he’s doing it for you. So can’t you let him have this last night or two without trying to make him feel like a fool?”
“She’s the one who’s making him the fool. Everyone knows how she’s throwing herself at that Stokes boy. Doesn’t he have any pride at all?”
“I’m sorry, Joshua,” she said. “I can’t take this tonight. I’m going for a walk.”
“Yeah, yeah!” he muttered. “I’m always the rotten father, aren’t I? It doesn’t matter what’s best for Will. Let’s not hurt his feelings. Let’s not tell him the truth.”
She swung around on him. Her voice was low and filled with anger. “I don’t mind you telling him
the
truth, Joshua. But that’s not enough for you. It’s not just
the
truth you care about, it’s
your
truth. What
you
think, is always the way it is. He can’t be baptized because
you
don’t like it. He can’t like Jenny because
you
don’t like her. He has to go to Wisconsin because
you
think it’s best for him.”
“Maybe so,” he retorted hotly. “But mark my words, by spring he’ll thank me for getting him away from her. I hope Jenny does marry Andrew Stokes. I hope she’s four months with child by the time we come back. Maybe then he’ll get her out of his head.”
Caroline’s chest rose and fell as she stared at him, not believing that he couldn’t see that he had just proven her point. Then she took a deep breath, fighting for control. “Do you know something, Joshua?”
He was wary now. “No, what?”
“As I watched you today, with Elena and Old Red, I was amazed.”
That surprised him. He hadn’t expected this turn in the conversation.
She was staring at the floor now. “It’s ironic, isn’t it?”
“What?”