Authors: Nancy Radke
It was like going to a slave auction.
All of them, especially Elliot, thought they had a chance at me and my outfit.
Some of them were going to be mighty poor losers. I had to stall for time until
Trahern was ready. "Do you have someone who can perform a wedding?"
"Yes. Mark Van de Meyer. He's
a justice of the peace. Used to do weddings back in Iowa." That exit was
closed then.
"Have you told him? Is he
ready?"
"Yes." Mr. Hayes was
getting impatient. "Now which one of these—"
"I want to pick the spot,
first, and I want to change my clothes."
"Fine. But you got to let
these men know, so as they can get ready, too."
How to tell them, without saying
Trahern's name? They would know who he was for sure. Would they have time
though, to do anything? Probably not, but I wasn't one to take chances unnecessarily.
"It's a surprise. You all go back to your wagons. My man already knows who
he is."
They looked amongst themselves,
each trying to see if it was the other. "What?" Mr. Hayes wasn't too
pleased, but I wasn't trying to please him. He knew it wasn't Elliot because
his son would have told him, and he'd have announced it and saved all this
hassle.
"I've things to do," I
told them and cleared out of there right quick.
I wasn't going to tell Mr. Hayes
privately. He'd claim Trahern was too weak to give me any help and insist I
marry someone else. But if everyone was present, he'd not be so likely to speak
up.
Back at my wagon I climbed in and
looked through my aunt's things until I found her lace shawl. I'd not had time
nor energy to comb and do my hair. I had only one other dress I had packed out
of the mountains and it was dirty and not any better than the plain one I had
on, so the shawl would have to do.
If Trahern was able to drive the
rig while I got some sleep, it would be worth it to have him with me. I didn't
know how badly he'd been injured, but I'd heard enough stories about what
happened to folks who had been captured to know he was lucky to be alive.
A scratching on the outside of the
wagon cover announced Web's presence and I climbed out to join him.
"I got him over to Axel's
wagon, Mallory. Figured you'd want it there."
"Thanks." I paused, a
million questions thrusting forward, wanting answers. "What's he like,
Web? How old? What's the rest of his name? Where's he from? Have you known him
long?"
He chuckled. "You'll find
out. But, lass, I'm doing right by you. Don't worry none. Let's go, they're
a-gathering."
So this was it, then...what I had
dreamed about since I was sixteen and starting to look at the young men who
were starting to look back. Mainly the Courtney boys. And Gage Courtney in
particular. But this was different. So very different.
As I walked up to the group, I got
my first look at the stranger.
Trahern was propped up by Axel's
wagon, unshaven and dressed in some of Uncle Dem's clothes. He looked like a
paddy stuffed with straw to chase the crows away from the corn. Was Web right?
Was this the best there was?
His gaunt face was still marked
from the trouble he'd been through. His gray eyes were deeply sunk under black
craggy brows. Long, dark hair that tended to wave slightly. Enough beard to
cover his chin and mouth effectively so that I couldn't see anything.
He was a big man...tall and
rawboned, carrying his weight in his shoulders and chest. Uncle Dem's clothes
were a shade too short for him, and Uncle Dem had not been a short man.
What was I getting into? The
reality of all that marriage entailed was beginning to rear up and scare me.
"Who you want to stand up
with you? Axel?" Burt Hayes asked, and I looked at Web meaningfully. He
had played matchmaker, let him do it. He backed away, but I pointed, insistent.
"Web."
"Web?" Hayes didn't know
the connection and I wasn't a-going to tell him. "All rightee, then. Let's
get on with it. Time's a-wasting." He pointed towards the group of young
men standing silently by, a puzzled look on all their faces. "Which one is
it to be?"
"None of them." His face
darkened and as he began to sputter, I looked over to Trahern. Axel had been
standing in front of him, effectively screening him from Mr. Hayes, and now he
stepped aside. Trahern stood up and walked slowly over to take his place beside
me. "I'm marrying Trahern."
You could see Burt Hayes didn't
like it, not at all. A murmur went through the gathered group. No one knew Trahern
and my action was totally unexpected.
"Now look here—"
I interrupted him, something I'm
not given to do, but I didn't want him tying a knot in my plans. "Trahern
is my choice, Mr. Hayes. Now let's get on with it."
He looked at the tall man beside
me, quietly observing the goings on, and asked him, "You willing to marry
this girl and support her? She's been orphaned twice; she's going to need
somebody steady, not some drifter."
"I take care of my own."
They were simple words, but boldly stated, and they steadied me a lot. He
hadn't denied being a drifter nor had he challenged Mr. Hayes' right to
question him.
Besides, I was eighteen now.
Yesterday had been my birthday. I was a girl no longer. I looked at Mr. Hayes
defiantly and he must have decided that I would cause trouble if I came into
his family—which I would have. I would take orders from my husband, but
not any father-in-law unless I wanted to.
Burt Hayes shook his head as if to
be shut of the both of us. "Well, then. Let's get on with it." Web
stepped up beside me and the ceremony began.
Mr. Van de Meyer knew the words by
heart and ran through them quickly. I had one of Aunt Edith's rings and I
handed it to Trahern to put on my finger. We wrote our names on some paper and
as soon as the witnesses signed, Mr. Hayes handed the paper to me and stalked
away.
He must have been plenty put out
with the way things had turned out. Maybe I would be, eventually, but I had
made my choice—or at least Web's—and must now live with it.
There was a quick time of congratulations
although I noticed that both Elliot and Calvert neglected to step forward.
Hedda gave me a kiss while Axel pumped Trahern's hand, both of them assuring
him he'd got a "prize."
I was kissed and wished luck and
several would have stayed to talk longer, but I could see Trahern swaying and
begged tiredness myself for both our sakes.
Web helped me assist Trahern over
to my wagon and we boosted the big man inside where he promptly passed out on
the feather mattress.
"Give him a day or two more
and he'll be ready to fight," claimed Web. "He was near enough dead
when I found him. Western men recover fast."
I didn't know if to believe him or
not, but climbed up into the wagon and fell asleep beside Trahern, too tired to
worry anymore. I had to be ready to ride herd in the morning.
He was still asleep when I woke up
and climbed out to release the mules and saddle up Comfort. I must have woke
him though, for when I came in he had a small fire going, coffee made and
flapjacks cooking. We shared with Web who had been out scouting around and came
in for a bite before he rode off again. I had forgotten the bean pot, but it
had a cloth over it and it didn’t look like nothing had crawled in during the
night, so I put it back inside.
Trahern was a quiet man, working
with no wasted movements. His injuries had taken a lot out of him and he could
do only so much and then had to stop to rest. Web helped him into the wagon
again while I hitched up the mules and got ready to travel.
I planned to ride for a
while, then go back and see to him. I was still exhausted from the past week,
but the good breakfast had lifted my spirits a heap and if I could get a little
more rest so as I didn't fall asleep driving, I knew I could make it. The mules
were trail broke so well they followed the team in front of them without
guidance—if only they would keep up. When we had been traveling an hour,
I tied the reins up and climbed over into the back.
Trahern had his eyes open when I
handed him the canteen that I had filled that morning from the water barrel. He
sat up slowly and drank, thirsty, but careful not to spill any.
"Thanks, ma'am." His
voice was hoarse, his eyes still swollen red from ant bites, large scabs and
dark bruises evident where he had been severely beaten about the face. There
was no way to tell what he really looked like.
"Would you like some
more?"
"No. I'd best sleep. Get well
so as I can help you. Don't want to make extry work for you."
"I'll leave this here. I have
another, up front."
"Thanks," he replied,
and I left him then and moved back forward, figuring he'd sleep better with me
away.
A stranger he was; one I knew
nothing about. Web wasn't very talkative, but maybe he would fill me in. He
must’ve known Trahern from somewhere before they met out here. Or had he? What
if he hadn't met him before; just figured anyone would be better than the lot I
had to choose from?
The noon stop was brief and Web
appeared with some sort of weed he'd found out on the prairie, with
instructions for me to lay some on Trahern's wounds and later boil some up and
make a potion to bathe them with. I carried the ugly looking weed into the
wagon and looked at the sleeping man. Where was he wounded? Loathe to wake him
while he was sleeping so well, I laid the weeds beside him and climbed back
out.
That day the trail was fairly
smooth as it followed the prairie road that ran towards Fort Kearney. We were
traveling up the Little Blue, gradually, almost imperceptibly climbing in
elevation all the time. It gave Trahern a better chance to recover, enough so
he was able to climb out of the wagon by himself that evening and help me pull
the wagon tongue around after unhitching the mules. Or maybe it was the weeds
that he had put to his wounds while we traveled.
I protested, afraid he'd re-open something,
but he moved carefully. "I'll take the mules out. How we fixed for
food?"
"Nothing fresh," I
admitted. "But I have flour; we can have beans and biscuits."
"Good. Got any pork
rind?"
“Yes." I found him some and
he hacked off a small slice with a long sharp knife I recognized as Uncle
Dem's.
“Add that to the beans. Gives ‘em
substance.” He left, leading the mules out to eat and I looked at the empty
sling under the wagon. I had gathered no fuel during the day, dozing at the
reins. I would have to hunt fuel before I could start a fire.
Madge Ashley looked up as I walked
by their wagon and called me to her. "Mallory. Duncan, Barney and I wanted
to give you and your man a wedding present. I know you're starting off with Dem
and Edith's things and can't take on more weight, but there must be something
you would like that we could give you."
"Madge, right now, if you
would share your fire, I'd appreciate it much. I didn't have time to gather
fuel."
"You're easily pleased. You
do that. I was wondering if you could use an extra dress. I'm near your size,
and have several."
"Now that sounds nice.
I need a dress more'n anything else. I'd sure be glad of another."
"Then put your pans on the
coals and while things are cooking I'll look you out one. What does your man
need? What's his name?"
"Trahern. He's wearing Uncle
Dem's things. You'll have to ask him."
Effie Lind was standing
nearby with her daughter Eliza and offered to go from fire to fire with a
couple of plates in her hand and get a little food from each family group.
"That way you and your man will have a little time together. If we can't
give you anything else, at least we can give you that."
"Thank you, Effie. That's a
mighty thoughtful gift."
"Come along with me, then.
We'll see what we can get." I put my coffee pot on Hedda's fire and took
the plate she gave me.
Everyone was generous and I had to
stop about halfway around the circle. "We'll get the rest tomorrow
night," Effie declared.
It gave me a chance to talk to
those I had had to cut short last night and made me feel more welcome than I'd
felt before. We took our two plates over to the wagon, arriving just as Trahern
got back. He had four fish strung on a line, already gutted and scaled. I
explained what Effie had done.
"Thank you, Ma'am," he
told her. "That was right neighborly of you. I'll put these fish aside for
breakfast." He hung them up, still moving cautious-like so as not to
re-open his wounds. "Where'll we eat?"
"On the wagon tongue."
Usually we ate near the fire, but today we settled down right where we were and
ate that food like we weren't going to get any other. He could put it away,
that was for sure, and I got to thinking that I should've taken another plate
or two and finished making the circle. Pa had been a good eater, but nothing
like this man.
I was full before I had finished
everything, so Trey cleaned up my plate, too. When we'd signed the marriage
paper, he had written James Madison Trahern, but told me to call him Trey or
Trahern. He'd never answered to anything else and probably wouldn't know who I
was talking to if I did.
He gave a brief thanks for the
food and we ate in silence, for eating is serious business when on a trip such
as this. By the time we had finished, the coffee was ready. He was looking
stronger every minute and when we were finished and everything put away, I got
out the rest of Uncle Dem's things and offered them to him. It was twilight,
but still light enough to see. He could use most of the things, and put them
back after getting an idea what was there.
"I've got first watch
tonight, so I'll need both pistol and rifle."
They were behind the seat and he
took them out carefully and put a handful of shells into his coat pocket. The
knife he slipped into a sheath underneath his shirt.
I was nodding by then and he
wished me "Sleep well" as he walked away. We hadn't talked much and I
wondered about the sleeping arrangements. Well, he would have to tell me; I'd
never been married and didn't know what a man expected.
It never occurred to me that he
might not either.