Mona Hodgson - [Hearts Seeking Home 01] (37 page)

“I thought you might appreciate a little help with the hive, but if you’re viewin’ my visit as an intrusion, I’ll kindly take my leave.” Boney pretended to nudge his mule.

“Don’t leave.” She drew in a deep breath. “I’m actually glad to see you.”

“Good.” Boney slid off his mule and pushed his hat back on his head. “I was startin’ to think you were disappointed it was me, and not Caleb, who showed up.”

He jerked his head in the direction they’d come from. “I saw you two jawin’ up on that knoll.”

“If you’re keeping such good watch on me, you know I went to that tree by myself. To be alone.”

“Woo-weee! None too happy he joined you, huh?”

Ignoring the conflict raging inside her, Anna shook her head. More like she’d been glad to see Caleb, but upset with herself because of it.

When Boney pulled his rifle from its buckskin scabbard, she backed her horse farther away from the tree. Just in case the hive hadn’t been as abandoned as she suspected.

He jabbed the branch with his rifle barrel, knocking it and the hive to the ground. “So, you’re fumin’ at him, not embarrassed?”

“You’re the one who told Caleb I was embarrassed?”

Boney’s eyes widened. “Just a theory, since you’ve been avoiding him.”

“You two spend a lot of time talking about me, do you?”

“Not a lot. A time or two, is all.” After waiting to see if angry bees appeared outside the hive, Boney swung the branch over the back of his mule and tied it behind the saddle. “You’re telling me you don’t have
feelings
for him?”

“I
can’t
have feelings for him.” Anna met Boney’s blue-eyed gaze. “Let’s leave it at that.”

S
unday, after a quick midday bite to eat with his men, Garrett saddled his stallion and rode down the line. If ever a company of wagons had crammed all they could into a week, this was the one. Reports and investigations of thefts, the ferry crossing disaster, and Dr. Le Beau’s resultant wagon wheel troubles. Two of his men trying to cover up Wilma Goben’s problem with the bottle, and his uncomfortable encounter with Anna and Wilma Goben the next morning. Not to mention the daily sniveling about the dust and the weather, as if that were within his control. All of that since his pleasurable horseback ride with Caroline last Sunday. To say he was anxious for this second ride would be a colossal understatement.

When he arrived at the Goben camp, Anna had her chestnut pony saddled for Caroline, and the redhead sat in the saddle looking every bit a seasoned rider. Wilma Goben sat at the table sorting a stack of fabric, while Anna stood beside the horse, talking to Caroline.

Garrett doffed his hat. “Ladies.”

“Captain.” Wilma smiled, looking well and sober. So far, so good. Anna gave him a tight nod.

Garrett studied Caroline from her wide-brimmed hat, to her relaxed hold on the reins, to her boot in the stirrup. “You certainly look ready for a ride.”

“I am.” Caroline lifted the reins. “I’ll see you after a while, Anna.”

Anna waved. “Enjoy yourselves.” Her voice was tinged with a sullen wistfulness, hounding his curiosity about what had transpired between the young woman and Caleb.

Caroline pulled the reins around, directing her horse beside his, and gave him a wide-eyed nod.

Smiling, he clicked his tongue, directing his mount onto the road. The pony stayed in step beside him with no apparent prodding from Caroline. “One might think you’d been practicing your horsemanship all week.”

“Hardly.” A playful smirk added light to her emerald-green eyes. “But I’d say after the topsy-turvy week you’ve had, you’ve earned an afternoon that didn’t involve worrying whether I could stay in a saddle, wouldn’t you?”

“I agree wholeheartedly.” He looked directly into her eyes, feeling as if he could get lost in them. Or found. “And, Caroline …”

She nodded, her gaze fixed on his face.

“I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather spend my afternoon with, worry or not.”

“Thank you.”

He’d hoped for more. Perhaps an admission that she felt the same way about spending time with him. Instead, they rode in silence up a side trail toward a grassy hillock.

He looked over at Caroline. “Have you talked to Anna? Her grandfather seems to be doing well.”

“Yes. Anna said he is stronger every day.” A shadow crossed Caroline’s face, tightening her features. “But she doesn’t seem as well off.”

“Something seems to have flipped for Caleb and Anna since her mother fell into the river. For days, Caleb was dashing off to their camp early every morning and going for walks to the creek with Anna.”

Caroline nodded. “And the next thing you know, she’s avoiding him. Ever since that day at the river, Anna has been keeping to herself.”

Garrett nodded. “I was hoping you might know what happened.”

“I wish I did. I noticed also and asked Anna about him, but she’s being tight-lipped.” A sigh lifted an errant strand of hair on her forehead. “I thought maybe Caleb had said something to you.”

“Only that Otto was strong again, and the Gobens no longer needed his help.”

“My guess is it had something to do with her mother, but it’s just a guess.”

A good guess. At the top of the rise, he gave the horses a low “Whoa,” which brought them both to a stop. While he was sure Caroline knew about
Wilma Goben’s struggles with alcohol, he didn’t wish to bring it up. The memory of meeting her sodden brother-in-law back in Saint Charles was still fresh in his mind. And although he knew she was all too happy to be out from under the man’s roof, her sister was still there.

Caroline looked out at the meager forest. “It’s much more open here than I was used to back along the Missouri River.”

“Yes. One of the big draws west—wide, open spaces.”

“I can’t wait to see the mountains and the desert. All of it.”

And he couldn’t wait to show it to her.

Caroline loosened the bonnet ties at her neck. Had she read his thoughts?

She moistened her lips. “Rhoda says the pain left her about a week ago and hasn’t returned, but she still seems a mite puny to me.”

“When I asked Ian about her yesterday, he said she was fine, but sometimes we men can be a bit, well—”

“Oblivious?” An eyebrow lifted and her mouth tipped in a grin.

He chuckled. “I was going to say unmindful. But, yes, oblivious may be more accurate. To his credit, Ian does have good reason to be preoccupied. Seems his mother is constantly pecking at him about one thing or another.”

Caroline nodded. “That she is, which reminds me. What has come of your investigations? Have you received any more reports of things missing?”

Garrett shook his head. “Thankfully, no. The two I have are plenty puzzling. Who in the caravan would want a teapot and a pocket watch badly enough to steal them?”

Caroline shrugged. “Both silver. And they were taken from two separate camps. Keepsakes with sentimental value.” She tapped her chin as if trying to think like a sheriff in a Beadle’s Dime Novel. “You said Mrs. Zanzucchi and Otto Goben had left the missing items on their tables?”

“That’s what they both said.”

She tucked an errant strand of hair beneath her bonnet. “So whoever it is isn’t going into a wagon looking for things to steal.”

He nodded in quick agreement. “They may have simply walked by, saw the items sitting out in the open, and decided to take advantage of the opportunity.”

“You’ve had no luck finding out if anyone was seen near those camps at those times?”

“No. Children and people of all ages are coming and going all the time in just about every direction. The pasture. The latrine. The creeks. Hunting firewood and kindling. Working. Playing.”

“I suppose it could be a child.” She stretched the curl on her neck. “I have learned from recent experience that it’s difficult to keep an eye on children at all times.”

“Sally Rengler thinks it could be Oliver.”

“That woman needs to have a second thought, then.”

He chuckled.

“What, pray tell, is so funny?”

He straightened and took on the air of an expert. “Well, ma’am, if you must know … it’s you.”

Her eyebrows shot skyward. “Me?”

“Yes.” He gestured with his hand, like a barrister in court. “Your passion. For answers. For the downtrodden. For justice. I love that about you.”

“You do?”

“I do.” His neck warmed.

Her face pinked. “I feel the same about you.”

“Oh?” He pulled his horse around to face her.

“Yes. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend an afternoon with.” Her hat tipped up, revealing a purposeful expression on her face. “And, in case you’re wondering, I’m not just saying that because a horseback ride with you means a break from my responsibilities with the Kamdens.” She moistened her distracting lips. “I really am enjoying our time together.”

Clearly, there weren’t going to be enough hours in this afternoon.

A lifetime of hours with the fervent and alluring Caroline Milburn wouldn’t be enough.

A
nna added two more river rocks to the canvas sack she carried, then walked back toward the wagon. Großvater knelt at the new fire ring, forming the first layer of rock.

“Do you think we’ll need another load?”

Großvater looked up at the burden she carried. “If we do, I’ll go get it.” He watched as she bent and let the rocks tumble from the canvas. “Anna.”

She knelt at the small circle of rocks across from him and looked up.

Großvater held a rock midair as if he were weighing it. A frown dulled his eyes. “I wish I could bear it all for you.”

Anna didn’t know for certain what Großvater meant, but she nodded anyway. She guessed that he was referring to Mutter. That he’d make life better for both of them, if it were in his power to do so.

“But you and I both know I can’t carry your burdens.” He added the rock to the ring and peered up at her. “Any more than you can bear your mutter’s sorrow.”

Anna sat back on her heels. “I know I can’t take care of her, not the way I wish I could. But she is doing better.”

“And if it doesn’t last? Then what will you do?”

Tears stung her eyes. “How can you give up on your own daughter?”

Großvater’s sigh tore at her heart. “I won’t ever give up on my Wilma, but I have no say if she’s given up on herself.”

The tears rolled down her chin.

“Anna, don’t throw away your life.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Isn’t it?” He stared at her,
into
her, his face solemn. “What about Caleb? He’s the first man I’ve seen you take a fancy to, and you’ve turned him away.”

“You don’t know all there is to know about him.”

“I don’t think you do either.”

“I know enough.”

“You know enough to make a judgment, but not enough to hear him out?” He twisted a rock into the circle, making it fit.

“He’s been talking to you?”

“He tried, desperate to know what he did or said that hurt you.” Großvater pushed himself up from the ground, taking the sack with him. “You’re not going to tell me what he did to end up on your bad side?”

“It’s just better this way. He has a job to do. We don’t need his help any longer. And I don’t need the distraction.”

She took over for Großvater and began to stack rocks more forcefully than she needed to, trying to convince herself she didn’t need Caleb, didn’t want him in her life. It was best for her to concentrate on Mutter’s well-being; success in that area was all she truly needed.