Hannah's Hanky (Clover Creek Caravan Book 1)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  He grinned. “You are the one who needs a fire to cook, after all.”

  “You need a wife to cook for you…maybe you could help her out with the buffalo chips.”

  “We’ll see.” He kissed her as she hopped down. The gunshot had sounded. “It’s time for our afternoon walk.”

  “You make it sound a great deal more leisurely than it really is.”

  “Are you complaining?” he asked.

  “How can I complain when there are people who have it so much harder than we do?” She couldn’t get Mrs. Bolling out of her mind. Her job was so much harder than Hannah’s was.

  “That’s a very good attitude.”

  Hannah nodded, smiling at him as she headed toward the Bolling wagon. “Do you want me to walk with the girls?” she asked.

  Mrs. Bolling shook her head. “No, I think they’re ready for their nap. Your help is greatly appreciated, though.”

  “Mary shot a deer for supper, so you don’t have to worry about an empty pot tonight.”

  “What would we do without sweet Miss Mitchell?”

  “Survive on biscuits and beans, most likely,” Hannah said. “I’ll check on you in an hour or two.”

  “Thank you.”

  Hannah walked back to Mary, who was again accompanied by her mother. “Mrs. Mitchell, it’s good to see you out and about this afternoon.”

  “I was out this morning as well, but I was walking on the other side of the wagons,” Mrs. Mitchell responded. “It’s easier to keep some of my younger boys from causing mischief if they’re apart.”

  “Sounds like a good plan then.” Hannah felt the kittens getting restless, so she put them down to walk again, watching them closely. “I think Naughty and Naughtier are ready for a little bit of walking as well. I’ve had them in my pockets all morning.”

  Mary grinned. “I’m sure they’re ready to be free for a little while.” Both friends loved to watch the kittens exploring their new reality every day.

  “I just worry one of them will be hurt by a wild animal,” Hannah said, watching as they ran beside one of the wagons for a bit. “I don’t want anything to happen to them.”

  “Of course not,” Mary said. “They’re so sweet!” Mary spotted something Hannah couldn’t see. “Ma, the twins are rolling in the dirt fighting again. Jeremiah!”

  Mrs. Mitchell groaned. “Jesse!” She looked at Mary. “We’ll split up again. I think I’ll go walk with Mrs. Bedwell. She tries to keep her boys separated as well.”

  After Mrs. Mitchell was gone, Hannah watched Mary slouch a little and she immediately looked more like the Mary Hannah was used to. “You make me laugh,” Hannah said. “You act all proper around your mother, but when it’s just the two of us, you seem to turn into someone else.”

  “You’re right. I turn into the real Mary as soon as Ma turns her back.” Mary shook her head. “I hate having to act one way for Ma and another way for everyone else. It makes me feel like a hypocrite.”

  “I can understand that,” Hannah said. “I wish there was something you could do.”

  “Eventually there will be. I just have a few more months of being under Ma’s thumb, and then I’ll be free to do what I want.”

  “I’m glad there’s an end in sight.”

  When they reached their campsite on the Mosquito Creek, Hannah immediately gathered her firewood. She wasn’t about to get up again after she sat. She even grabbed a bucketful of water for the few dishes. She wondered if she could get Jed to rub her feet. She’d happily return the favor by rubbing his. Of course, his probably didn’t hurt like hers did. He was spending his days in the wagon.

  When Jed joined her after dealing with his own chores for the evening, she was frying up venison steaks. Mary’s deer had once again fed much of the camp, and they hadn’t had to get into their store of beans for supper. Hannah was pleased because she didn’t particularly enjoy eating beans.

  Jed collapsed on the ground beside her, rubbing his upper arms. “One more day behind us. Only about one hundred seventy-eight left.”

  Hannah groaned. “Why would you tell me that?”

  “I’m counting down. I want to cheer you up.”

  She shook her head. “You will not be able to cheer me up until you can tell me there are two days to go.”

  He laughed. “Supper smells good.”

  “Thank you. The steaks will be ready in about twenty minutes.”

  He nodded. “Did we drink all the coffee?”

  “We did. Would you like me to make another pot?”

  “That would be nice if you don’t mind. I don’t usually drink coffee with supper, but I feel like it’s the best option.” He blinked a few times, trying to get the sight of the prairie out of his vision.

  “Our next stop is Wolf River, right?” she asked. It made her feel better to always know what their goal was. It made the time go faster somehow.

  “It is. We should be there by this time tomorrow, and we’ll camp on the river, and then cross over in the morning. It’ll probably be a hard day.”

  Hannah shrugged. “Better to have fewer hard days than more easy ones. We want to be settled by winter, and that means we have to go as quickly as we can, right?”

  “Exactly. It depends how high the Wolf River is if we can cross it with rafts or if we’ll have to make canoes. We’re all hoping the rafts will be enough. They’re left from one caravan to the next. Someone has to go over and get them, but that’s better than building new ones.”

  “What do you think? Will the water be low enough?” she asked, slightly worried that the water would be high and they would lose precious travel time.

  “I think we’ll be able to use the rafts. It doesn’t look like rain and all of the creeks and rivers have been low so far. We should make it with ease.”

  “Oh good. Then we won’t lose time.”

  “You’re anxious to be there, aren’t you?”

  She shrugged. “I’m anxious to be there before winter. We don’t need snow impeding us when we build our new house, or when we build the church.”

  “Very true. How’s your split skirt coming?” he asked.

  She sighed. “I haven’t sewn a stitch. Between the Bolling girls and the kittens, my mind is on anything but my clothing.”

  “Maybe you can do some work on it on Sunday. We plan to take a day of rest for us as much as for the animals. And for the laundry.”

  She groaned. “I am not sure I’m ready for laundry on the trail.”

  “There’s really no choice…”

  “I know. I’ll do it, and I won’t complain.”

  “You are a good wife to me, Hannah.”

  “Thank you. I’m trying hard.”

  “It shows.”

  Hannah wrote in her journal again before bed. It was time for them to reach Wolf River. They were going to keep moving along the Trail no matter what.

  Seven

  March 31st, 1852 – Hannah’s Journal

  The days are so long, and the nights are much too short. Today was our third day on the Trail, and I’m already exhausted and want to cry with how much I ache in every bone of my body.

  Mary Mitchell’s brother managed to shoot himself in the foot with her musket today. Thank heavens we have a doctor traveling with our train, and he came to the rescue, patching up Jeremiah. The child has been into everything since before we started on the trail, so I’m certain he will heal well and will be up and about soon—and back into making as much mischief as he can.

  We are camped on the Wolf River tonight, and we expect to be able to cross in the morning on rafts that were found on the river. Bob Hastings volunteered to swim across the river to retrieve the rafts. He is a brave soul, to be willing to swim through that icy water to help the rest of us. We had a fire ready for him along with many blankets when he returned.

  Hopefully, he will be up to helping us all cross the river in the morning, but even if he isn’t, he has made it possible for all of us to cross the river, and it will pro
bably take another half day. My aching feet make me pleased we are spending the morning crossing tomorrow, and there will be no walking. I’m certain I’ll regret saying this in the morning, but for now, it is the truth.

  Wednesday was another long, hard day for Hannah and the rest of the emigrants. They had lost their early excitement for the journey and now were dealing with the daily drudgery of the Trail.

  Hannah walked beside Mary, who had her musket on her shoulder throughout the morning as always. They chattered about their lives before the Trail, and Amanda and Sally walked alongside them a little more cheerfully that day.

  “You girls seem very happy today,” Hannah finally said. “Did something happen?”

  Amanda, the older of the girls, shrugged. “No, but we like seeing the animals.”

  “The animals do bring joy, don’t they?” Hannah said with a smile.

  Little Sally nodded her head. “I love the kitties.”

  Hannah looked around her. She hadn’t thought of her kittens for a few minutes, and she worried they may have left them, but they were following along, hoping for the food they knew Hannah had for them.

  When the train stopped for the noon meal, Hannah went to their wagon and got out food she’d cooked the night before, splitting it into two bowls and carrying half to Jed. Just as she was settling herself on the wagon seat beside him, she heard a gunshot.

  Assuming a member of the party had gotten an animal for supper, she smiled. “Someone will have meat tonight.”

  Then there was a scream from behind them, and Jed all but leapt off the seat and ran back. He found Jeremiah Mitchell lying on the ground with blood pouring from his foot. “Doc!” he yelled as loudly as he could. “Did you shoot yourself in the foot?” He wanted to call him a fool boy, but that would do no good with a boy as headstrong as Jeremiah.

  The doctor hurried back to Jed and looked at the boy on the ground, shaking his head. “Played with your sister’s musket, did you?” The disgust on the doctor’s face was clear. They all knew the boy should have been watched more closely.

  More and more people gathered around as the doctor went back for his medical bag. Captain Bedwell groaned. “He’s going to have to ride after Doc patches him up. We don’t need to be slowed down by a fool boy who couldn’t keep his hands off a gun.” He walked away shaking his head while everyone else worked to make the boy more comfortable. He was not an easy man, and he had no pity for fools. He had a schedule to keep, and by God, they would keep it.

  Mr. Mitchell grabbed Mary by the arm and dragged her off, and Hannah could hear his yells coming from wherever he took her, but at least she couldn’t quite make out the words he was saying. She felt terrible for her friend, knowing she would blame herself for her brother’s accident, and being taken to task right after it happened would only hurt, not help.

  Hannah knelt on the ground and grasped Jeremiah’s hand while his mother put a pillow under his head. Mrs. Bolling carefully removed the boy’s boot. After removing Jeremiah’s sock, the doctor poured a good measure of whiskey over the gunshot wound and ignored the boy’s screams of intense pain.

  Hannah was revolted by the look of his foot as the sock came off, but she swallowed hard to keep her lunch in her stomach. There would be no time to cook something else if she vomited. The Trail was going to make her a stronger person, or it was going to kill her. There was no other option.

  They were slowed down by about an hour by the time they took care of Jeremiah and settled him in the back of one of his parents’ wagons and got back on their way, but Jed was optimistic. “We should still be able to get to the Wolf River this afternoon, and we’ll be able to camp there. Unless some other fool boy shoots himself or something,” he told Hannah, shaking his head. No one was very sympathetic about the accident. Instead, they thought the boy should have had the sense God gave a lizard, and he apparently didn’t.

  As Hannah walked beside Mary that afternoon, her friend was mostly quiet. The girls were napping, as they always did in the afternoons, and Hannah was worried for Mary. “Are you all right?”

  Mary turned to Hannah with tears pouring down her cheeks. “Pa has always told me never to leave my musket sitting around, and this is why. I hurt my brother.”

  “No, Mary, you didn’t. You were a little careless, true, but I’m sure your brother has been told never to touch a musket as well. You can’t take all the blame for this. Besides, his foot is mending, and he gets to ride for a few days.”

  Mary sniffled. “I feel like I should ride with him to take care of him.”

  “Your mother is riding with him. She’ll take good care of him.” Hannah hugged her friend for a moment. “He’ll be all right.”

  “What if his foot becomes putrid? What if he dies, and it’s all my fault!”

  “It won’t be. I know your father taught your siblings as well as he taught you, and he wouldn’t have let your brother get to be five without teaching him not to play with guns, would he?”

  Mary sighed, shaking her head. “Of course not, but he would never have touched it if I hadn’t left it laying around loaded, now would he?”

  “Of course not. But it’s still not your fault. You’re going to have to figure out how not to beat yourself up over it. The doctor has taken care of him, and you have to trust that he’s going to be just fine.” Hannah hoped her words were actually reaching her friend. She didn’t know what else to say that would convince her.

  “I’ll try.”

  They walked a little later in the day that way, but true to his word, Captain Bedwell got them to the Wolf River late that afternoon. For once, Hannah didn’t take the time to worry about all the pain she was in. Instead, she simply got to work making supper. There was no meat that evening, so she made a filling supper of beans and biscuits. It wouldn’t have been her first choice of a meal, but it would see them through.

  As she ate the beans, she swallowed down her negative feelings about them and reminded herself how thankful she was to have food to cook. It was their first time to get into the bean stores, and they’d already been on the road for three days—though it felt like three weeks. It was very strange how slowly time passed on the Trail. Her time before they’d started the journey felt like it was in the distant past.

  Jed helped the others make sure the livestock were rounded up before he joined her. “Right after supper, Bob Hastings is going to swim across the river for the rafts. Unless there’s a sudden downpour tonight, and it doesn’t look like there will be, we should have an easy time crossing. We’ll go over first thing in the morning and keep traveling along the Wolf River for a few days. We’ll have water, meat, and wood for a while yet.”

  “Tomorrow is only half a day walking then, right?”

  He nodded with a smile. “Are your feet still hurting you that badly?” He hated that the trip was causing her pain, but it made sense. It wasn’t a picnic for any of them.

  “They are. I want to stick them in the river to numb them. Numb would be better than this constant pain I feel.”

  “I’ll rub your feet later after we get the tent set up.”

  Hannah perked at the idea. “I can’t ask you to do that. You’ve been driving all day, and I would bet your hands and arms are as sore as my feet.”

  “I’m fine. We could put some liniment on them tonight as well if you’d like.”

  She shook her head. “I hate the smell of liniment. I’ll be trying to escape my own stench if we do that.”

  He laughed. “I’ll just rub them then. It’s really no problem.”

  While the ladies did the supper dishes, all the men went to the river to watch Bob swim across to get to the rafts. He was smart about it, and put the first he saw in the river, before grabbing a stick to float the other raft across in front of him. It looked like he was playing some sort of odd game, but he did a good job of it. When he’d gotten both across, he hurried to the fire closest to the bank.

  After that excitement was over, and Jed knew Bob was in goo
d hands, he walked over to Hannah and set up the tent. “I’m guessing you don’t want people to see you get a foot massage.” They might think she was being pampered by him, and he didn’t think either of them wanted that.

  “No. I don’t want people to think I’m not capable of this journey, because I’m just as capable as anyone else. Do you have any idea how Mrs. Bedwell is doing?” She had barely seen the sickly woman since they’d left Independence.

  He shook his head. “She doesn’t seem to be walking with the others. She’s riding in the wagon with Captain Bedwell today, and the boys are walking and finding all the mischief they can.”

  “Of course, they are! As you would have done at their age.” Hannah could see the spark of mischief that was still in his eyes. She hoped he didn’t plan to play silly jokes on his congregants.

  “Yes, I would have,” he said. “I’m not even ashamed of it.”

  “Nor should you be.” She got out their blankets and got them organized, and settled herself on the ground inside the tent.. “Does this work for you?”

  He nodded. “You might want to remove your shoes and socks though.”

  She laughed. “I thought about that, but I wanted to make sure we were all settled for the night first.”

  “That makes sense.” He waited as she removed her socks and shoes. Taking one foot onto his lap, he rubbed the knots that he found. “I’m not sure if I’m doing this right.”

  “I’m not either, but it feels good so please keep going.”

  He laughed. “What a pair we are.”

  After he’d finished with her feet, he lay down beside her. “Feel better?”

  She nodded. “I’m not sleepy yet though.”

  “Neither am I.” He looked at her, and it was still just a tad bit light out, and he could see her green eyes and her beautiful smile. Without thinking about what he was doing, he leaned toward her and touched his lips to hers lightly.

  Hannah had become worried that he didn’t find her attractive, so when he kissed her, she turned more fully to him and wrapped her arms around him. She’d been waiting for this kiss, and it was finally happening. She was going to make the most of it.