Echoes of Dark and Light (51 page)

I couldn’t help hearing the excitement in his voice, though tried to ignore it. In desperation, I spun around, spitting out, “But you’ve been sick! You don’t have the strength to travel that far!” I turned to Cora, hoping for some support.

She smiled gently as if trying to ease my pain. “Yes, right now, Robert is weak and still recovering. But by springtime, he should be back to his usual healthy self. Besides,” she paused for a moment, and then continued, “if it makes you feel any better, I’ll be there to keep an eye on him.”

“No,” I retorted, “It doesn’t make me feel any…Wait! What do you mean you’ll keep an eye on him?”

“I’ve decided to go with him.”

I flung glares back and forth between them, too stunned, too upset for words.

Cora shrugged. “I’ve been feeling out of place, too, and Boston doesn’t hold anything for me. In fact, the entire eastern part of this country is scarred with horrific battle wounds. I truly didn’t know what to do and felt rather lost. But back in Manchester, hiding in my uncle’s cellar, Robert started sharing his dreams with me. After that, it all fell together. Bobbi, this feels right.”

Robert jumped in to fill up the silence. “We’ve decided to travel west as brother and sister. Funny how even in this modern age of 1864, society frowns upon unrelated men and women traveling together.”

“Besides,” Cora added, smiling, “we sort of feel like siblings anyway, through you, Bobbi. We desperately hope that you’ll approve.”

I continued staring out at Lake Superior, failing the battle against my tears.
I am going to lose my brother all over again.

Robert climbed to his feet and came up behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders. He leaned his head against mine. “This is important to me, please understand. I don’t want to do this without your blessing, Bobbi.”

I turned my head to look into his eyes. I must admit it felt good to see a sparkle there again. I sighed. If there were one person in the world more stubborn than me, Robert took the prize. Heck, I learned it from him. Besides, it would kill me to rob his eyes of that sparkle.

I sighed again, reaching up to wipe away my tears. “I’m not okay with it just yet, but give me some time. I’m sure by spring I’ll even help you load up your wagon.”

Robert let out a whoop, lifted me up and swung me around and around.

“Robert, put me down before you hurt yourself,” I yelped.

He did put me down, but didn’t let go right away. “Thanks, sis,” he whispered in my ear.

“Come on, Robert,” Cora said, smiling bright and nodding back the way we came. “You should probably get some rest after all of that exertion.”

“Yes, ma’am, Nurse Cora!” He saluted and then grinned. “Besides, I want to start reading that guide book to the Oregon trail.”

“Hey,” I said, stopping Cora as she walked past. “It does make me feel better that you two will be together.”

Cora smiles. “I’ll keep an eye on him,” she promised.

“And he’ll take care of you, too.”

I watched as Robert and Cora slowly made their way back through our footprints in the sand, then wiped away my remaining tears and plopped down on the log next to Toby. He’d remained silent through their entire announcement, and remained silent for awhile longer. Grateful for the quiet, I absently ran my fingers over the smooth surface of the log, its rougher edges filed down from years of wind, waves and weather.

After awhile, Toby spoke. “You know, I think I like it here. This northern stuff isn’t so bad. In fact, with the lake and the trees, I could get used to this.”

“Yeah, maybe you should wait until February when the snow piles up four feet deep, when the temperature barely peaks at zero, and the wind blows so strong as to make even a trip to the outhouse near impossible.”

Toby slowly turned to me, eyes wide with disbelief. “You’ve really got to be kidding about that.”

“Nope,” I answered, surprised by my own returning cheeriness. “The U.P. winters keep away everyone but us crazies.”

“You’re supposed to try and talk me into staying, not chase me away.”

“You might as well know the truth up front,” I said, grinning at him, enjoying myself despite Robert and Cora’s announcement.

“Like you’re real good at sharing the entire truth right up front, instead of making a fellow squirm for months while he attempts to treat you like one of the guys.”

“Oh, yeah.” I shrugged, slightly embarrassed. “Thanks about that, for keeping my secret and for helping me find Robert. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Well, maybe you can show your gratitude by trying to reassure this old southern boy in his decision to stay up here in this northern freezer.”

“You’ve decided to stay then?” I tried to keep the hope out of my voice.

“I don’t have anywhere better to go.”

“Good, ‘cause I’ve been doing a lot of thinking of my own. There’s a cute cabin down the road from Gran’s I’d like to show you. It’s for sale, and I thought it’d be perfect for after the wedding—”

“Wedding? What wedding?” His eyes twinkled with mirth, while his face reflected innocence.

“Oh,” I answered coyly, “didn’t I tell you? I finally met a fellow who doesn’t annoy me overly much, someone who can put up with my attitude.”

Toby’s mouth slipped into a smile, but a second later, he forced a mock glare. “And just who is this fellow? Tell me and I’ll plow a few punches into his face!”

“Very funny!” I shoved him off the end of the log and he tumbled down into the soft warm sand.

“Hey! Is that any way to treat your fiancé?” he demanded, not able to keep the smile from his face any longer.

I shrugged. “Just keeping you in your place.”

“Yeah, right next to you!” With that he pulled me down into the sand next to him.

I started laughing, at least until he wove his fingers into my hair, pulling my face close to his. As his lips softly brushed mine, explosions brighter than any wartime weapon burst in my heart.

Eventually, he pulled back to study my face. I felt breathless and couldn’t find a single word to utter.

“So,” Toby whispered, “think we should write to Cora’s uncle and have him ship us that pink dress for the wedding?”

Words quickly flooded back in my mouth. “I’ll piss on the flames of hell before I ever don that monstrosity again—”

Toby’s laughter cut off my ranting, and I joined him.

“Bobbi,” he said, toying with the collar of my jacket, “you wear whatever makes you happy.”

“You make me happy.”

“Hey, what’s this,” he asked pulling a weight from my jacket pocket.

“Hmm? Oh, my Colt. I mean Gran’s Colt. I keep meaning to return it. I don’t need it anymore.”

Toby pulled me into a warm hug, making me feel safer than the Colt ever had.

“I love you, Toby.”

“I love you, too, Bobbi. So much.”

We laid there in the sand, holding hands and watching the sun set over the lake. A peace had settled over me. I’d found someone I could trust, with my life and my heart.

I would like to thank my family for their enduring encouragement and support. Also sincere thanks to my mom for her help with some religious questions, and to my dad for the tutorial on steam engines and theodolites, to my big brother for some tips on the Civil War, to my little brother for grammar and punctuation assistance, and to my sweet husband for information on guns and nature. And I must include a thank you to my great-great-great grandfather, Captain Nelson Truckey, and to my great-great grandmother, Emma Truckey Shanley; I so hope they approve of their fictional counterpoints.

Thank you so much to everyone at Curiosity Quills for believing in me and my manuscript, especially my sharp-eyed proofreader, the talented cover artist, my incredibly helpful editor Vicki, and the awesome Jade.

Thanks to all of the books, documentaries, and web sites I explored for inspiration and information; I tried to make this fictional story as realistic as possible. I’d also like to include a thank you to my 7
^th
grade history teacher for introducing me to the role women played as soldiers in the Civil War; you planted a seed in my imagination way back when.

And finally, thank you to all of the readers for taking a chance with Bobbi’s story.

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