“I think this is going to be a long journey,” she said, and he laughed as he put his arm around her shoulders.
“It is a bit long but much quicker than riding all the way there or going by wagon. On the last leg, we will rent a wagon and ride it up into the hills.”
As Belle looked around at the other passengers, a question stuck in her mind. They were heading to Geordie’s home, to his family. Did that mean he wanted her to stay there with him, or was he just bringing her for a visit? They really should have cleared such things up before they left.
Now was not a good time to have such a talk, not in a car full of people and two small children close by. She had come because Morgan had seemed rather determined that they would all go together. Abel had demanded that he come, although she was not sure if it was to make sure he stayed with her or because he wanted to see where Robbie lived. The more she thought on it, the more she realized even her aunt had been of a like mind, helping her to pack and rushing her out the door.
“Was Mr. Hobbs headed back to Boston?” she asked Geordie as she began to wonder why her aunt had so heartily assisted in what was beginning to look like a conspiracy.
“I dinnae ken. Forgot to ask him, but I would think so.”
“Why? He has no job back there at the moment.”
“He doesnae? He must. Lawyers always have work.”
“He said his only job right now was to make sure Morgan was settled. He saw to that. Auntie mentioned he was going to help her keep her house and told me he had been part of a law firm, and Morgan was his first job now that he was on his own. That carriage he loves so much was given to him when the firm shut down.”
“So you are worried about him staying there alone with your aunt?”
“No, just wondering if it was why she shoved me out the door.”
He chuckled. “She didnae shove ye out the door, just stopped ye from dawdling.”
“I was not dawdling, I was merely making certain we had everything we needed for this trip.”
When he just mumbled a sound of agreement, she glared at him, only to find him asleep. Belle shook her head, then settled herself more comfortably in her seat and closed her eyes.
* * *
It was growing dark by the time the train stopped. They all got off so that Geordie and James could get tickets for the next leg of the trip. Belle did not like standing there in what seemed like a huge crowd to her. And the air itself felt dirty. Hanging on tightly to Morgan and Abel, she waited tensely for the men to return. When they finally did, she breathed a big sigh of relief and followed Geordie back onto the train. It was not until they were seated and the train started on its way that she realized she had seen nothing of the town they had stopped in. She hoped she could regain enough courage to look around more the next time they stopped.
* * *
Sleepy and struggling to remain steady on her feet, Belle let Geordie lead her off the train. Three days on trains had wrung her out. They all went to a rooming house and soon had the children tucked in bed in the room she and Geordie would share. Knowing she needed to eat, she went to get a meal with James, Robbie, and Geordie after they had securely locked the children in the room and paid a housemaid to keep a watch on them. It was the last thing she could recall until she felt herself set down in the back of a wagon. She knew she ought to ask what was going on, but she fell asleep again. The thought of how she should learn more about why she was in a wagon when she had been on a train brought her back to wakefulness quickly. She was abruptly awake and alarmed.
Even as she sat up so fast her head spun, Belle saw Morgan and Abel staring at her with openmouthed surprise. She pressed her hand to her forehead until the dizziness faded, then looked at Geordie, who was sitting on the seat next to Robbie while James drove. “Did I finish my dinner?” she asked.
Geordie laughed as did the other two men, and that annoyed her. “Aye, ye did. Ye didnae fall facedown into your food. I am nay quite sure what happened. Took us a while to guess that ye had gone to sleep. It was the not waking up that worried us.”
“You didn’t wake up when he brought you into the bedroom, either. You just rolled over and went to sleep, or back to sleep,” said Abel and then he giggled. “If I hadn’t been able to see you breathing I would have thought you had died.”
He then hopped out of the wagon when James stopped in front of a stable. She let Geordie help her down and found her legs still a little wobbly. She really needed to find out why she had gone out like that, as it appeared to have taken a lot out of her.
“It was frightening, funny, and inexplicable all at once. One man on the train was a doctor and he said it was either a very deep exhaustion or you were having trouble with what was coming out of the smokestacks. That is why we have been riding in a wagon, which we have been driving to the next stop but we’ll now try again.”
Morgan nodded. “He felt that, since you couldn’t leave the train yet, you should be kept away from the windows and taken a distance away from the train whenever it was stopped. Geordie was happy when we reached that last town and he could rent a wagon.”
“Maybe you aren’t one who can ride a train,” said Abel.
“But I have to be able.”
“Why?”
“Because Geordie and I need to go back and forth from his house to my house, from the hills to the shore.”
“And we will,” said Geordie. He helped her onto the train and started looking for seats. “Either by train or by wagon or by horse. I did notice, Belle, that if ye are at the clear end of the train and there is a goodly amount of circulating air, ye are fine. I will admit that when I was headed east on the train I started to feel as though a piece of rock was caught in my throat.”
“Lozenges,” said a woman and held out a small wrapped thing for him to take. “I take them a lot when on one of these contraptions. Next time you get that feeling, try one. Be sure to save the wrapper so you know what to buy if you want more.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He frowned a little when the woman scurried across the aisle to sit next to Belle, then he quickly bit back a smile when Abel sat on Belle’s lap with his arms crossed over his chest.
The woman looked at Abel and smiled. “Good lad. Protecting her, are you? But, not to worry, I am a nurse.”
“Belle is a nurse, too. She says I can’t say doctoring about what she does because it will hurt the feelings of the ones who get the piece of paper.”
“Hush, Abel. Can I do something for you, ma’am?”
Her eyes widened when the woman leaned very close and whispered, “Are you with child?”
“I do not believe so,” she replied equally softly, shaking her head a little.
“Just wondering. Extreme exhaustion can be a sign.”
“Thank you. I will keep that in mind.”
The woman hurried back to her seat and Belle could see no sign that anyone else had overheard their whispered conversation. Geordie was about to get in the seat when Morgan tugged on the sleeve of her dress. Belle turned to face the girl and worried over how pale the child was.
“What is wrong, Morgan?”
“Are you feeling better now?”
“I am. It was just all that smoke from the train, but that is something I can somewhat protect myself from.” She brushed a few strands of hair off the girl’s face. “Now we should get ourselves settled. Geordie might be getting tired of waiting for his seat.”
“And the train is soon to pull out, and I would appreciate being able to be seated for that,” Geordie said.
He slid along the back of the seat in front of them until he reached the window seat. Abel sat next to him and Morgan sat next to Belle. Morgan slipped her arm around Belle’s and kept a hold on her until she fell asleep. What had happened to her mother had obviously scared the child, Belle thought. She would have to take more care with herself. She had thought violence would be what the child was worried about, but it appeared it was any hint of weakness or illness in the woman w
ho took care of her that frightened the child.
It was somewhat dark, and that, along with the regular rhythm of the train, soon put her to sleep. Belle had tried to fight it but then wondered why she bothered. If nothing else, it would make the trip go quickly.
Geordie looked down the row at Belle, who was asleep again. It did not look like the last sleep she had taken, which had definitely appeared wrong, looking more like she had passed out or, at times, was even slipping into a coma. He wondered what Belle and the woman who said she was a nurse had whispered about.
He knew one thing that could make a woman go to sleep fast and hard. He had caught Emily and Abbie in that state several times. Once Emily had been out cold on the floor, with her nephew and baby curled up with her, and he was sure she had not been fully aware that they were there. There was certainly a chance he had gotten Belle pregnant, but the shake of her head when the woman had whispered to her left him with doubts. He gave up worrying about it. When she knew she would let him know. Looking around and seeing how many people had gone to sleep, including Robbie and James, he decided he might as well join them. At the next stop, they would switch to traveling by wagon. They were close enough to his home to drive a wagon there, and he wanted Belle to get a good view of his home and the land around it.
Geordie closed his eyes, and it surprised him to see the beach in front of her house. Maybe, in his heart, he had already made his choice. It was not one his family would be happy with, and he was sad about that. Yet the thought of sitting on the front porch and listening to the music of the waves did make him happy. There was the storm season to consider, but her home was at a distance from the water. And he liked her family. Plus now, with the many trains starting to cross the country, coming home for a visit or having his family come visit him was not such a great concern. He decided that no matter where Belle wanted to stay, he could be content.
* * *
As he stepped down from the train, Geordie squinted against the sun. It was going to be a hot day and he was glad to be off the train. He just hoped Belle did not mind riding in a wagon. With James, he went to rent one. Once James started negotiating the price, he went to get their horses off the train.
While James and he hitched up the horses and spread blankets on the wagon bed, Robbie went and got them what few supplies they would need.
Robbie came to pack the supplies in the wagon and then went to collect Belle and the children. Abel leapt up into the wagon, then helped Morgan get up into it. Geordie went to lift Belle up into the wagon and she immediately set to dividing up the blankets and camp pillows Robbie had found, after giving each one a careful sniff. By the time James got into the driver’s seat, she and the kids were settled comfortably and a spot awaited Robbie for when he decided he had used his leg enough for now. Robbie and Geordie mounted their horses, tied James’s to the back of the wagon and started toward home.
Belle watched the countryside go by as the wagon rolled along the road. There were occasional glimpses of wildlife, such as a deer leaping through trees after being startled from its feeding, or a hawk swooping down and then rising with its prey in its beak. She had the feeling there were a lot more watching them from the woods. There was a wilder feel, more untamed, to the woods they wound through than she was accustomed to.
She liked to look at the wild landscape, but was not sure she could live in it. Belle did not like a crowd of people around every corner, but the emptiness here bothered her. It was like an itch under the skin. The town was a nice distance away, which suited her, but there were no small villages either.
When the people living here needed something they could not grow, mill, or make, they had to travel a long way to get it. A long way through the empty, dark woods. Belle could not see herself dragging her little wagon off for several miles through the dark woods and then heading calmly back. She used to get nervous when she did it at home, where it was much more civilized. There was a lot she needed to learn about this area before she made any decisions.
They turned onto a road that was wider, better tended, and with less impenetrable forest surrounding it. In the distance she could see beautifully green, rolling fields neatly fenced in and dotted with a lot of what she assumed were sheep. Next they started past a house tucked off to the side, surrounded by rocks and gardens. There were a lot of children and two women sitting in big wooden chairs set beneath a large, healthy shade tree.
Robbie and Geordie yelled out greetings to the women. The redhead leapt to her feet and grabbed hold of two boys who had started running toward their wagon, and did it with a speed and skill that deeply impressed Belle. The woman then brought the boys closer to the wagon, and the other woman, largely pregnant, levered herself out of her chair and carefully drew nearer.
“Feeling all right, Abbie?” asked Geordie. “Think I need to smack Matthew around for ye?”
“That might be an idea,” she said and laughed. “He is up at the house. Tell him to come and get me if he plans to stay up there for a while. Me, Red, and the children.”
“So he will need a wagon. Got it.” He pointed at his companions in the back of the wagon. “This is Mehitabel Ampleford, Abel Ampleford, and Morgan Haggert. Brought them from the oceanside to see the fort.”
After Belle exchanged greetings with the women, James started off toward the main house. They rode up a small rise, and at the top she could see the family home they’d called “the fort.” It was a fitting name. The walls were tall, the wooden posts tightly packed and sharply pointed at the top. The gates, which stood wide open, appeared huge and she had to wonder how easily they could be closed, especially if the men were not at hand. Iain was evidently a man deeply driven to keep his family safe, and had learned two vital lessons: Hold fast to your land, and protect your family.
“That is truly impressive, especially considering how young many of you were when you built this,” said Belle.
“Weel, we were raised to do for ourselves. Learned carpentry and learned the value of finding a book about it. My fither always said ye can find most everything in a book. People who ken how to do something often want to share their knowledge.”
“And Iain wanted it.”
He laughed. “Aye, I fear we had fallen into the habit of obeying him like we would our da. That annoyed us about ourselves, not him. After a few drinks, once in a while we would all decide he wasnae our da and the next time he told us what to do, we would say nay. Unfortunately, the next thing he wanted us to do was to give Mrs. O’Neal and her kids a place of their own inside the stockade.”
“And you couldn’t say nay.”
He shook his head. “She was so happy, and she cried. Most unfair. Plus, she said she would make us cake as a thank-ye.” He grinned when both James and Belle laughed. He looked at Robbie. “Are ye ready?”
Robbie nodded. “Nervous. Afraid the leg willnae cooperate.”
Belle patted him on the back. “It will. Just make sure you don’t keep standing and moving about if that leg lets you know it is tired.”
“Understood.”
“I will try to stay close, if you want.”
He nodded. “Might give me some added confidence.”
James halted the wagon in front of the door and helped Robbie get down. Belle got out of the back of the wagon and Geordie helped her collect their bags. As she started to put some down on the ground because Geordie’s arms were full, two young boys came bounding out of the house yelling the brothers’ names. Three older children came around the corner and waved at them. A tall man with red hair strode over and clapped Geordie on the back.
Just as she was being introduced to Iain, a pretty young woman with blond hair hurried over and then began a long series of introductions. Iain turned to offer Robbie a hand, only to stare as Robbie stepped over to the pile of bags and picked up his own, revealing his improved movement and his stronger hand.
“Ye didnae mention this in that tiny letter ye wrote,” Iain said to Geordie.
�
�He was still newly hurt from his fall, and we could only hope that fixing the bones correctly would help.”
As the rest of his brothers wandered out, Geordie introduced them to Belle, Abel, and Morgan. He continued to introduce them to the rest of his family as they made their way into the house. By the time they got inside and seated at the kitchen table, Mrs. O’Neal was setting out food and had a pot of coffee brewing. Belle was also deep in admiration of Nuala, Emily’s little girl, and the baby. Geordie broke up the lovefest and started to take Belle up the stairs, Mrs, O’Neal telling him what room he could have.
“She only told you one room,” Belle said and blushed.
“Weel, dinnae correct her. One room is all we need.”
Setting her bag on the bed, she said, “I really want some of that coffee I could smell brewing.”
“All right. And I want some of the food. And, I suspect the mob wants to ask ye a few things.”
Belle bit her lip and then sighed. “If I get the coffee first, I guess I can manage answering some questions.” She crouched down and ran her hand over the carpet at the side of the bed. “This is beautiful. Does someone in town make them?”
“Robbie made it. Remember, I told ye, he used to weave things. Think I even mentioned that he had done the carpets in the house.”
“You did. I remember now, but I never pictured this kind of work. I hope his hand gains the nimbleness and strength needed to get back to weaving. It is art, really. If he lived in Boston he could make some decent money with this skill.”
“Dinnae tell him that now. He might feel compelled to push himself too hard. It isnae just the weaving ability he needs to get reacquainted with, it is the art of it,” he said as he took her by the arm and started to take her back downstairs. “He hasnae got any grand dreams of becoming a fancy, rich mon, but he isnae averse to making a fine income. That was why we did so many tours of cider mills, even though he was in that chair that he hated for some of them.”
The Scotsman Who Swept Me Away Page 19