A Dream for Tomorrow (29 page)

“Good evening, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth was surprised to see Will and Hugh walking behind her. They had probably just finished tending to their livestock. “Well,” she said. “I’m glad to see both of you. I have some news to share.” She frowned. “Unfortunately it is not good news.”

The men stopped walking, looking at her with curiosity. “Go ahead,” Will encouraged her. “Please, tell us. Are we about to be attacked by Indians?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Not yet.” And now she pulled out the letter. “I have received word from my sister-in-law in Oregon…all is not well.” Then she proceeded to tell them, without sparing any details, about what Malinda had written. “Here,” she handed Will the letter. “Feel free to read it for yourself.”

Both Will and Hugh looked slightly stunned. And suddenly she felt guilty. “However, Captain Brownlee is at our camp right now, telling my family there is no cause for concern. He thinks this is all simply routine…the price we pay for civilization.” She frowned. “But I felt it my duty to share this grim news with you. Perhaps you and your families will want to reconsider your plans now.”

“Do you mind if we share this letter with our families?” Hugh asked her.

“Do as you see fit,” she told him. “Although I’m not sure I will be reading it to my own children. I do not want to give them nightmares.”

Will nodded. “Sensible.”

“I’m very sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news,” she said.

Will put a hand on her shoulder. “And it seems this has taken its toll on you too, Elizabeth. What will you and your family do?”

“I’m not even sure.” She sighed. “Although my father seems to agree with the captain—he keeps saying we will continue as planned.”

“Thank you for telling us,” Will said.

“I just wished I’d received this letter sooner.” Now she excused herself and, feeling a little less vexed at the captain, returned to her own camp. Matthew and Brady were there now. And from what she could surmise, they were still discussing the contents of Malinda’s letter.

“So what do you think of this new development?” she asked Matthew.

“It’s not surprising.” He simply shrugged. “Although I am sorry to hear of John’s passing. I hadn’t expected that.”

“But you are comfortable taking your new bride into hostile Indian territory?”

“Oh, Lizzie.” Matthew shook his head. “Isn’t that overstating it a bit?”

“Wait until you read Malinda’s letter.”

He stuck out his hand, but she explained that she’d given it to Hugh and Will. “It seemed only fair they should know. They still have time to change their plans.”

“What about the others?” Matthew asked. “The ones on the Applegate Trail?”

But now the chokecherry pickers were returning, loudly boasting about how many berries they had collected and who had found the most. Elizabeth was grateful to be distracted with the making of the cobbler. She poured the juicy chokecherries into the Dutch oven and then layered the cobbler crust evenly on top, finally getting it placed just so on the hot coals. “It should be done in about an hour,” she told Ruth as she stepped away from the fire.

As they gathered around the table, waiting for Asa to say a blessing, Elizabeth no longer felt quite as upset as she had earlier. Then, as Captain Brownlee amused them with tales of adventure on the Western frontier, she slowly began to accept that, yes, they were going to a place that would be fraught with peril. There would be challenges and hardships. Perhaps some of her loved ones would perish. But how was that different from what they were doing right now? As the captain was just pointing out, the most difficult and dangerous days of travel were yet to come. Elizabeth recalled the Bible verse she had Ruth and JT memorize before starting on this journey. Perhaps it was time she reminded herself of its meaning.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Matthew 6:34

Chapter Nineteen

I
t seemed that nearly every day, as they traveled along the Snake River, Elizabeth was reminded that the line “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” could not be more true. Each traveling day seemed to bring new challenges. The rugged terrain and hot August weather only added to their travails. Broken wagon wheels, cracked axles, split harnesses, injured animals…everyone on their train seemed to be suffering in one way or another. No unit was spared. And yet they pressed on.

The demands of the trail made it difficult to have much meaningful interaction with the other travelers. In a way, this seemed a blessing. Elizabeth was not eager to hear Lavinia’s thoughts on the letter from Malinda. However, as it turned out, Lavinia had not been privy to it.

“Hugh and I spoke to Captain Brownlee about your sister-in-law’s letter,” Will told Elizabeth a few days later when they crossed paths while fetching water. “He reassured us that we should not be troubled by it.”

Elizabeth studied his expression. Unless she was mistaken, he was not convinced of his own words. “What do you think?” she asked.

He sighed. “As you know, I’m a city boy. A city boy who was bent on having an adventure in the wild frontier. I suppose I’m worried I may have bitten off more than I can chew.”

She smiled. “I appreciate your honesty.”

“You do?” Will’s frown transformed into a hopeful smile.

“I got aggravated at Captain Brownlee the other night,” she confessed. “He’s a good man, but his bravado and pompous speech about how bloodshed was how the West would be tamed and the price we pay for civilization…well, I found it rather unsettling. Then I reacted, and he made a comment about female sentimentalities.” She let out a big sigh.

Will chuckled. “Oh, my. I’m glad the good captain wasn’t giving his speech to my daughters. They would want to twist him by the ears.”

“Your daughters are too well mannered to do that.”

“Yes, but they would be just as vexed as you. As I mentioned, I have given them the vote…that leads to all sorts of troubles.” He grinned.

“Speaking of the vote, have you asked them to vote in regard to the events my sister-in-law described in her letter?”

“Hugh and I gathered both of our families together last night. We didn’t actually read the letter to them. But we did explain these new developments, tempered with what Captain Brownlee told us. We tried to paint a very fair and realistic picture of what lies ahead.”

“What did they say?”

“Lavinia had some questions. First, she wanted to know what your family planned to do.”

“What did you say?”

“Well, I’d had an interesting talk with your father just that morning. He assured me that your family was not changing your plans.”

“That’s true,” Elizabeth confirmed. “My mother actually helped me to see this situation in a whole new light. She pointed out that poor Malinda will need us now more than ever. Malinda was my best friend before she and John moved to Oregon. Now I’m eager to be by her side and to comfort her and to help her with her children. I can hardly wait to see her.”

“So I told Lavinia that you folks were pressing on. Then, of course, Julius was concerned about Mahala. He told us that even if we chose to remain in Portland, he would continue on to meet up with Mahala.”

“He would be welcome to travel with us.”

“That’s not necessary. When put to the vote, it was unanimous. Even Lavinia, after first voting to oppose, eventually came around and voted to go.”

“She did?”

“Well, you heard that she already sent the letter to the shipping company, didn’t you?”

Elizabeth nodded.

“Lavinia is worried if she doesn’t go, she will never see her goods again.”

“Oh.”

“And she is fond of you and your family too.” He smiled warmly at her. “We all are.”

Elizabeth looked down at her buckets of water, still sitting by the creek. “I must get this back to my mother. We were nearly out of water.” He helped her to hook them onto the water yoke, pausing to push a stray piece of hair away from her eyes.

“There you go.”

She thanked him, and despite the heavy load, her feet felt lighter than they had in several days. She wasn’t sure if it was because of relief—that the Bostonians hadn’t been scared off by Malinda’s letter—or because of Will’s sweet attentiveness. However, these kinds of thoughts toward Will simply reminded her of Eli. And the thought of Eli and how he had kissed her that last day…well, it was enough to scorch her cheeks with unwanted heat. Once again, she pushed all thoughts of that wandering man far to the back of her mind. Perhaps someday when she was an old woman, sitting by her fireplace in the winter, she would allow thoughts of Eli to sneak back out. But in the meantime, she planned to bury them deep.

“I am so very weary,” Mrs. Taylor told Elizabeth at the end of an especially trying day. “I looked down in that steep canyon, down to that river below, and for a moment I thought it all looked very inviting.”

Elizabeth tried not to show her shock. The canyon walls towered far, far above the river. The only way down there was to fall. “Inviting?”

“I thought to myself…if my foot stumbled…if I went tumbling down…well, it would be the end of my suffering.”

Elizabeth put a hand on Mrs. Taylor’s shoulder. “Perhaps you should go lie down in the back of my wagon.” Mrs. Taylor had been staying with Elizabeth’s family for the past several days. “Rest while we prepare supper.”

“No.” Mrs. Taylor shook her head. “I will do my part.”

Still, it bothered Elizabeth to think that Mrs. Taylor had considered taking her own life like that, because she knew that was what she was saying. But at the same time, Elizabeth felt a smidgeon of relief to think that Mrs. Taylor had confided in her. Perhaps it was time for them to finish the talk they’d had weeks ago, after Mr. Taylor’s untimely death. To that purpose, after the supper dishes were cleaned and put away, Elizabeth asked her mother if Ruth could sleep in their wagon tonight. “I think Mrs. Taylor needs to talk,” she whispered.

Clara glanced over to where Mrs. Taylor was sitting in a chair, simply staring out into empty space. “Yes, I think you’re right,” she whispered back. “Ruthie,” she called out, “why don’t you spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa tonight.”

Naturally, Ruth was pleased to oblige, and fortunately, Asa didn’t complain about having to sleep outside of his wagon. Mrs. Taylor seemed oblivious. Or perhaps she simply didn’t care.