“I doubt if you’ll need me, Laura, if I point you in the right direction.”
“You know?”
“I suspected. Sure, I’ll see you back to the wagon. Things going all right, Lottie?”
“Tolerable, Lucas.”
Lucas took Laura’s arm and led her over to a box. “There’s a seat behind you if you want to sit.”
“Thank you. How did you know I couldn’t see? Tucker and I thought we had fooled you.”
“You would have, but you smiled at me and ignored my hand. I thought it was strange. Then I remembered a man in California who is blind; he does the same thing. Why were you keeping it a secret?”
“We were afraid you wouldn’t give Tucker the job if you knew about me and . . . she’d never go away and leave me.” She paused to give him a chance to speak. He didn’t. “Mr. Steele, I’m not her sister, either. Tucker and I are orphans and we don’t have anyone but each other, but we’re not sisters. I feel I should be honest about that, too.” To her surprise he laughed. “You suspected that, too?” she questioned innocently.
“I didn’t really think about it, but there’s no family resemblance,” he pointed out.
“I know. People have told me that Tucker is beautiful. Very beautiful. Is it true?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “Yes, she’s very beautiful, but so are you.”
“I am?” She said it with disbelief. “Tucker said I was, but Tucker loves me.”
“She’s right about that, anyway.”
“I came to ask if Tucker still has the job. She’s awfully worried and I asked Lottie if she could get in the wagon and cry. She’d just die if she knew I said
that! She hates for anyone to see her cry. She’s real proud.”
“I could see that,” Lucas commented dryly.
“Well? Are you going to send us back?” Laura pressed.
“What for? Have you another terrible secret to tell me?”
Laura giggled. “Well . . . I could tell you about Tucker getting fired ’cause she whacked Mrs. Rogers’s husband with a razor strap.”
Lucas chuckled. “That sounds like something I’d like to hear about.”
Tucker’s tears dried up as soon as she got into the wagon. She had let them all out in front of Lottie and had felt like a ninny. She sat for a while and tried to convince herself that Lucas Steele wouldn’t be angry because she had been less than honest about Laura. How would a man like Lucas Steele know what it was like to be a woman and alone? No, not alone; she had Laura. If not for Laura she might have given up long ago and taken the easy way out, hired out to a farmer or plantation owner, or ended up working in a saloon. That was the usual fate of the girls from the throwaway farm. She’d had a taste of the pawing and the pinching. The very thought of it made the hair stand up on the back of her neck.
She sat thoughtfully. A big green horsefly buzzed in under the canvas and she watched it buzz out again. A woman’s voice, scolding a child, reached her. A mockingbird sang in the tree above. Somewhere during this time her ambivalence left her.
She smoothed her hair with a few quick, artful movements and realized how stiflingly hot it was in the airless wagon. She wiped her face on the hem of her dress and climbed out. She had never before felt so physically and emotionally wrung out.
Tucker circled the wagon before her eyes began to search the camp for Laura. Her heart started to pound as it always did when Laura wasn’t where she expected her to be. She began to walk rapidly down the line of wagons, but stopped when she saw Lottie coming toward her.
“Where’s Laura?”
Lottie took her time answering. “Over yonder.” She jerked her head back over her shoulder, a habit Tucker was to become used to.
“Over where? She can’t wander around till she gets to know a place,” Tucker cried desperately.
“She’s with Lucas. Leave ’er be.” The big woman said the words flatly, leaving no room for argument, and walked on.
Tucker was stunned speechless for a moment, then resentment took over. She followed after Lottie.
“You took her to him? I said I’d talk to him after supper.”
“Yup. I took ’er. He’ll bring ’er back.”
“Lottie!” Tucker’s heart was racing even though it felt as heavy as lead.
“The little gal knows what she’s about.” Lottie kept on walking.
“She doesn’t! She’s only . . . fourteen.”
Lottie stopped. “If’n she’s fourteen, so am I. And
if’n she is, she’s got more gumption than some
teachers
I’ve met up with.”
“Well . . . !” Tucker felt the color drain from her face.
“I might not ort to of said it jist like that.” Lottie’s face softened just a fraction. “What I mean is, you ort to give the little gal more rein. It’s her what’s causin’ the ruckus. Let ’er try ’n fix it.”
For the second time that day tears sprang to Tucker’s eyes. What Lottie said made sense. All these years she had been so protective of Laura she hadn’t stopped to think that Laura was a grown woman.
She sniffed. “I think I’m going to like you, Lottie.”
“Humph! Mebbe. Mebbe not. Come on ’n let’s figger out the sleepin’. You’ll be stayin’ the night anyhow.”
The longer Laura was away, the more anxious Tucker became. She was almost to the point of taking action of some kind when she saw her, her hand on Lucas’s arm, moving toward the wagon. Lucas was looking down and his face was unreadable, but Laura was beaming and talking as usual. Tucker stood with her hands clenched behind her and waited for them to approach. Lucas looked up and pinned her green eyes with his gray ones. He looked at her long and deeply. Laura couldn’t know, so she kept up her breathless stream of chatter.
“We hadn’t been in the coach an hour when a man moved over by Tucker. He said she sure was pretty and then he said did we want to look at what was in
his case, ’cause he was a drummer—you know, a peddler—and he had things that would sure be pretty on Tucker. I heard him get down the case and open it, and then Tucker slapped him. He fell back in the seat and later she told me that he—”
“Laura!” Tucker was almost choking with embarrassment.
“Tucky, are you there? Are we back already?” She held out her hand and Tucker took it and drew her close, as if together they would face the enemy.
“Are you settled in, Miss Houston?” Tucker opened her mouth to say something, but Lucas turned and said, “Lottie, I told Mustang to come over and put some wire around that spoke. Glad you told me. It might mean the difference between having to put in a new one.” The sound of a shot rang out and Tucker was startled. “That’s the call to supper.” Lucas looked amused, and the sight of his lips twitching caused her to grind her teeth. He walked away after saying, “Take care of big sister, Laura.”
Tucker’s back stiffened at his knowing tone.
Laura waited to speak until the quick pressure on her hand told her they were alone. It was a signal they had used since childhood.
“It’s all right, Tucky. He knew anyway. He said he knew when he met us in Fort Worth, but was waiting for us to tell him. He said I would be expected to do whatever I could and that he’d have no one lazying. He’s got a friend in California who’s blind, and he said he’d take me to meet him when we get there.
He’s like me. The friend, I mean. He’s not always been blind. He’s married and has two little boys.”
“Oh, Laura, honey!” Relief was all the emotion Tucker could feel. “I was so scared. I didn’t know what we’d do. But whatever possessed you to go to him alone? I said I’d talk to him.”
“You always have to do everything, Tucky. You’ve taken care of me for eleven years. I want to make things as easy for you as I can. I may not be able to do a lot of things, but I can talk.”
Tucker hugged her briefly. “Yes, you can, you blabbermouth! What were you telling him about that traveling salesman for?”
“I like to talk to him. He’s interested in everything, and he listens. Not many people really listen, but he does. I like him, Tucker. I like him a lot.”
“Well, I can’t say that I really like him, but as long as he lets us go with the train to California, I guess I like him better than I did.”
Lottie handed each of the girls a granite plate, a tin cup, and a spoon. She jerked her head toward the other end of the camp and started off at a brisk walk. Tucker decided that Lottie knew no other way to move. They followed her. Women were coming out of the wagons in front of and behind them. Laura, with her hand on Tucker’s shoulder, walked confidently, and they took their place in line behind Lottie.
A woman was dishing out stew from a large iron kettle. Another removed a pan of corn bread from a portable oven and was slicing it with a broad knife. A squat, bowlegged man, his face covered with
whiskers, and a dilapidated hat on his head, was poking sticks beneath a black pot suspended over a blaze. Coffee boiled over and he cursed.
Tucker turned and smiled at the woman standing behind her. She was a tall, handsome woman, with dark hair pulled back severely and fastened at the nape of her neck. The beautiful gold earrings she was wearing didn’t seem to go with her worn clothes. She nodded, but didn’t smile. A tall boy stood silently beside her. He had her dark eyes and hair and her quietness.
The woman dishing out the stew took Laura’s plate from her hand, filled it, and put it back into her hand. She smiled shyly when Laura thanked her. Tucker led her to the far side of the campfire to sit beside Lottie and went to get coffee for the two of them.
The drover looked out from beneath his tattered hat and grinned at her. His smile was almost toothless, but his blue eyes were bright.
“Howdy. Name’s Mustang. We been a waitin’ on ya and the little missy to get here.”
“Tucker Houston.”
“Figgered it. Ya got the purtiest hair I ever did see. Comanches’d give six ponies fer ya.” He gave her a sly, mischievous wink.
“Only six? I think I’ll hold out for ten,” she said in a confidential whisper.
The old man chuckled and tilted the pot to fill the cups. Tucker looked over his head and saw Lucas
standing at the end of the grub wagon. His eyes were on her, and she looked away quickly.
Tucker attacked the meal with relish. The stew was surprisingly good, the coffee strong and bitter. She emptied her plate and sat quietly watching the women. They were in groups of two, three, and four, all except the woman and the boy who had stood behind them in line. They sat alone.
“Where are the rest of the men?”
Lottie eyed her sharply. “Why?”
Tucker bristled. “Not for the
why
you’re thinking. I just wondered. I know Mr. Steele can’t take us to California by himself.”
Lottie grinned, if you could call it a grin. Her weathered face wasn’t used to smiling.
“Got yore back up, don’t ya?”
“Maybe,” Tucker admitted.
“No maybe about it,” Laura said and giggled.
“Someday I’m going to wash your mouth out with soap, Laura Foster.” Tucker’s mood could switch from resentment to tenderness to teasing all in a matter of seconds.
“The men is comin’ in now. They been out with the remuda. The horses ’n mules done et up all the good grass ’round here, we been a waitin’ so long,” Lottie finally explained.
Tucker heard the sound of running horses. The riders pulled their mounts to a sudden halt, leaped from the saddles, and draped the reins over a rope that had been stretched between two trees. There were eight of them, some older, whiskered, range-toughened, and a
few were young Mexican boys. They crowded around the grub wagon, filled their plates, and squatted down on their haunches to eat. They ate swiftly and went back for second and third helpings. It was comforting to hear the quiet rumble of masculine voices keeping up a steady stream of talk while they sipped at the hot coffee Mustang poured from the squat black coffee pot.
Everyone was quiet and waiting. Tucker found it hard to believe she, Laura, and the others were seated out in this field on the edge of nowhere. They sat with their backs to the darkness, looking at each other’s faces in the flickering light of the fire. There was a certain tension, and all eyes turned to Lucas as he stepped out and away from the other men.
“Ladies.” He had removed his hat and the white streak across his forehead stood out in bold relief from his suntanned face. “Ladies,” he said again after he was sure he had their attention. “The last of our party arrived today, and we’ll be heading out in the morning. Some of you have heard this before, but I’ll say it all again. This is going to be a hard, fast trip. I’m hoping to make it to California in fifty to sixty days. I’m thinking if the Butterfield stage can make it in thirty, we can do it in fifty. We’ll be going over a well-traveled trail and will have army escort for part of the way. Now I don’t reckon anybody has gone across country before with twenty-two unmarried women. We would’ve had twenty-four, but two have been sent back. I’ll not put up with cat fights, shirking, or whoring. I want that understood right now. If
any of you get the notion to make eyes at the Army, you better forget that, too. The men in Coopertown raised the money to send me back here to fetch you. They paid to outfit this train to bring you back and, by God, that’s what I’m going to do. They’ll at least get a chance to see you and to court you. The rest will be up to you and to them.” He put his hat back on his head and pulled the brim down over his eyes. He was facing in Tucker’s direction, and she could almost feel the impact of his sharp, gray eyes.