Mrs. Winters face filled with warmth. “That would be wonderful. You are too kind.”
Elise shook her head. “It will be nice to have someone to get to know during all those hours of travel. Just the two days here were hard; I can’t imagine what the next few months are going to be like.”
“It will be a while, that is for sure. Well, I need to get back to the Franks. They invited me for dinner. I’ll see the two of you around.” Mrs. Winters gave them another friendly smile before heading back to the wagon she’d come from.
Elise watched her go; it was going to be interesting riding with the wagon train. She wondered how she was going to handle three long months of travel.
Chapter 12
Ronan woke up early to the sound of wagons being prepared for another long day of travel. They hadn’t crossed that much distance even though they’d been traveling for a week already.
The fact was that traveling in a wagon train was slow, and it was tedious. But it was also safer, which was why many chose that option for traveling to the places they needed to go that were far away.
They were lucky there were so many people headed to California looking for gold and opportunities. Of course, some of the people who had started out on the wagon train had stayed behind in San Antonia and other cities along the way when they found unexpected opportunities.
Ronan got up and started checking the horses. He wondered if Elise was up yet. She was usually the one to prepare things before him. Today, she happened to be the second one to hop out of the wagon and get to preparing things.
Sometimes, Ronan wished there was room for two in the wagon. Sleeping underneath the wagon was fine, but he knew that when it was raining, it was going to be a pain.
“Good morning.” Elise seemed almost happy to see him, and then that familiar mask slipped over her features.
“Good morning. It looks like they are starting a bit early today.”
Elise nodded. “Has Mrs. Winters come by today?”
“No. After yesterday, she probably wants to spend some time with other people.” Ronan grinned. He wasn’t sure that was the case. It seemed that more and more now, Mrs. Winters enjoyed spending time with him and Elise. He couldn’t blame her. Elise was a nice person to be around. Himself, he couldn’t say such high praises about.
When Ronan was done with preparations, Elise put some food into his hands. It was bread, cheese, and some sort of dried meat.
“That’s the last of the bread we bought from the last trading post.”
“That’s all right. We will pass another supply post in a few days. If not, we have other things to eat.”
Elise nodded but didn’t look too convinced.
They took their seats and ate in silence as the wagon began to move. There were several things that Ronan knew were good about traveling with the wagon train, but there were also things that bugged him. Like the fact that they couldn’t go faster sometimes when the road was good, and they had to wait for the whole group. Of course, the group wouldn’t wait for any particularly slow individual, but in general, they waited for one another.
“So, what will you do in California?” Elise’s voice interrupted Ronan’s thoughts.
“I don’t know yet. Maybe I will stay there, or maybe I will just go and turn around. I will probably try to head back by myself. I know the terrain well enough to travel alone.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Elise looked worried.
“It is if you draw attention to yourself. But it’s not like I am planning on making a spectacle of myself.
Elise nodded; she was biting her lower lip, which Ronan noticed was something she did often when she was worried.
“What’s wrong?” Ronan asked. He wasn’t sure what made him ask or what made him think Elise would even tell him.
“I feel like … I feel like I am not myself anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that. I mean, I don’t feel right. I know it’s because of Pa and him dying. I want to think about it, to let myself be sad, but I think if I do, I won’t be able to continue, and he wanted me to make this trip.” Elise’s eyes had gone wide, and they glistened with tears.
Ronan rubbed his hands against his leg. What was he supposed to say to her? Or what was he supposed to do? He wasn’t sure that reaching over and comforting her was the best option. She might slap him away, and that would hurt him.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I know that must sound crazy.”
“No. That sounds … relatable. Getting used to the idea that your father is no longer in this world has been hard for me too.” Ronan had a hard time just admitting that. He hated to talk about his feelings or about what he was going through, but he felt like she needed to hear it.
“Look, it’s Mrs. Winters.” Elise pointed to the older woman who was heading toward them. She had gotten down from the wagon in front and was heading back.
Ronan was actually relieved to see her. He could use some distraction from the conversation with Elise.
Mrs. Winters walked up to the wagon.
“I wanted to walk for a bit. Do either of you want to join me?”
“Why don’t we both? I could use a bit of a walk, and I can pull the horses with the speed we are going.” Ronan knew that it wasn’t fair to criticize the speed of the wagon train, but his anxious mind couldn’t help it. He hated wasting time.
“That sounds lovely.” Mrs. Winters waited while Ronan and Elise climbed down, and then the three started up walking alongside the horses.
“So, tell me, how did the two of you meet?” Mrs. Winters started with one of the most difficult questions Ronan could think of.
He looked to Elise for help, but it didn’t appear as if she were eager to answer from the look on her face.
“When I was young, I stumbled across Elise and her father’s ranch. Her father was kind enough to give me a place to stay for a while.” Ronan left out all the details about his stay, his situation, and how he ended up leaving Elise’s father and never looking back.
“How sweet, and where are your parents?” Mrs. Winters asked.
Ronan had been hoping he would be spared from the rest of the questions, but Mrs. Winters didn’t seem to mind asking all the hard questions.
“I don’t have any parents. They left me at an orphanage when I was young.” Ronan nearly mumbled the words, but Mrs. Winters still seemed to hear him.
“It’s a shame. You know, my husband was also an orphan. From what he remembered, his father died when he was very young, and his mother kept him for a few years before leaving him at an orphanage. He didn’t have a family for so long, and then we found each other, and I became his family.”
“That’s a lovely story.” Elise spoke for the first time. Her voice gave away the fact that she was speaking genuinely.
Ronan thought about her words for a moment. That would be wonderful to find a permanent family if it was possible, but he knew for a fact, it wasn’t possible. He had a family with Mr. Herrin and Elise, but he had lost it when he walked away. They were as perfect a family as he ever would have had.
“So, why did you decide to go west?” Ronan asked Mrs. Winters. He figured it would be a fairly safe topic, and he was more than ready to get away from the complicated ones.
“My husband, sweet Hank, wanted to find gold. We are old. I told him that. I told him we had no business gallivanting across the country in search of riches. He said it wasn’t about the money, but about finding that beautiful gold floating in the river.” Mrs. Winters’ eyes became lost with the memory. “Of course, I agreed to come. He was quite insistent, and I couldn’t exactly let him make the trip alone.”
Ronan nodded. “That makes sense.” He was starting to see that no topic was a safe one as Mrs. Winters began to look as if she were on the verge of crying or laughing; he couldn’t tell which.
“We had a lovely time together, the two of us. It was such an adventure. We had done nothing like this for
years. We were always so busy with the ranch and with life, you know?”
Ronan nodded. He did know how busy things could get, and he certainly knew how you could get caught up in the things around you so much that you forgot about all those dreams and things you meant to do until it was too late to do them.
“Yes. I know.”
“So, we did go, and my husband, he didn’t make it to California. I had to leave him buried along the way. But I know that one day we will meet again in heaven, and for now, I will have to go to California for him and find him that gold. Don’t get me wrong. He was very happy to come on this trip, and I do think he enjoyed himself quite immensely up until he got sick.” Mrs. Winters was happy again, her eyes sparkling with that energy.
Elise was the one who didn’t look happy now. Her eyes clouded with sadness, and Ronan was certain she was thinking of her father.
Ronan was about to mention something to her when something about his horse caught his eye.
“Something’s wrong with the horse.” Ronan said the words before he realized the repercussions they would have.
Elise and Mrs. Winters immediately turned to him.
“What’s wrong? What do you mean?”
Ronan cleared his throat. Maybe alarming Elise over something he wasn’t sure about yet wasn’t the best idea.
“Maybe I’m wrong. It just seems like he is going slower, is all. Or maybe he has just picked up a stone in his shoe.” Ronan frowned. He watched as his horse favored his right back leg. It was slight, so slight that he could barely see it, but the horse was definitely favoring his leg. What were they going to do if they needed a different horse? They were entering the longest stretch between the last and the next town. If they needed another horse, it wasn’t going to be easy to find one.
Chapter 13
Elise knew that something was wrong as soon as she saw Ronan’s face. She’d been worried about his comment concerning the horse the entire night. But even though she’d been worried, she had been hopeful that he was wrong.
“What’s going on? How’s the horse?” Elise asked as soon as she hopped down from the wagon and saw Ronan there, examining the horse’s back leg.
“He’s lame. It’s just starting. We probably have a day or two. He probably sprained it when we went over the rocks a while back. It looks like there is some swelling, and the hoof is cracked a little on the side.”
“What are we going to do? We are barely two weeks into our journey. We still have ten weeks left.” Elise bit her lower lip. They couldn’t pull the wagon with one horse. Even if they emptied everything, it would be a big risk, not to mention they wouldn’t have supplies they would need if they left everything behind.
“We’ll have to start by dropping some weight. Anything that we can possibly spare. In the meantime, we will ask around to see if anyone has an extra horse.”
“Do you think that if any people brought an extra horse, they would be willing to sell it?” Elise was worried that the prospects were unlikely, especially after seeing the deep, worried frown on Ronan’s face.
“Maybe, we can try.”
“What are we going to do if we can’t find another horse?” Elise didn’t want to know the answer to that. She almost didn’t want to know how much danger they were truly in. but she knew she had to find out. She couldn’t just ignore their plight.
“I don’t know. We might have to leave the wagon behind and survive with minimal supplies on the same horse until we make it to the next town. We could take turns riding and walking as we go.” Ronan didn’t look like he was very excited about that plan, and Elise didn’t blame him.
“I should have brought an extra horse. This is all my fault.” Elise ran a hand over her black hair that was messy and unraveling.
Ronan crossed the space between them in a few short strides. To her surprise, he reached out and put his hands on her shoulders.
“This is not your fault. You knew nothing about traveling. If anything, I should have suggested we purchase a second horse. I just thought both of them were in good health and wouldn’t have a problem. Horses are expensive, and I didn’t want to waste money we needed later on for something we didn’t truly need. Plus, they all need feed, and that would have been more weight.” Ronan’s eyes went down to his hands that were still on Elise’s shoulders.
Elise nodded numbly as Ronan pulled his hands back quickly. “We just need to stay calm and deal with this situation as it comes. I will wrap the leg. That should help support it. It will all work out. You’ll see.” Ronan gave a smile, but Elise could tell that it wasn’t genuine. He was worried, but he was just trying to hide it to make her feel better.
She wasn’t sure whether to despise or appreciate the gesture. As much as she didn’t want to, she needed to be aware of their situation.”
“What’s going on?” Mrs. Winters’ voice interrupted them. Elise looked up, grateful to see the older woman. Maybe she knew of someone on the wagon train that had an extra horse to sell or even an ox. Maybe with one ox, they could pull the wagon. The idea made her feel hopeful, even though there were equally as slim chances of them finding someone selling an animal as before.
“One of our horses is going lame,” Elise announced.
“What? Are you sure?” Worry tugged on Mrs. Winters’ brows.
“Yes, we’re sure. It’s unfortunate. But I miscalculated. I should never have come with two horses I wasn’t positive about,” Ronan said. He sounded guilty, and Elise realized that he was taking his debt to her father more seriously than she expected. It really wasn’t his fault they were in the current predicament.
He wasn’t even the one who wanted to travel to California.
“You could take the remaining horse and go your way. I could stick with Mrs. Winters and go from wagon to wagon like she does.” The offer slipped out of Elise’s mouth before she could stop it. She was surprised to see the horrified look on Ronan’s face.
“That is not even a possibility, so stop thinking about it this second. I already told you, I am going to California with you, even if I have to walk the entire way, which in the wagon train, is very doable.” Ronan’s words were full of passion and determination.
“My father would understand the circumstances.” Elise didn’t seem to be able to stop speaking the thoughts that popped into her mind.
“I am sure he would, but that doesn’t mean that I would. I would know that I left you behind. We are arriving in California together, and only then will I go my own way.”
Elise took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on why Ronan was staying with her. It wasn’t because he cared about her or was worried about her but because he still felt indebted to her father. She hated it that his fulfilling his debt to her father made her feel indebted to him.
She straightened her shoulders and forced herself not to show how vulnerable she was really feeling.
“So, what do we do? There has to be something that I can do.”
“I can help too,” Mrs. Winters spoke up. “Anything the two of you need. I want you to get to California safely too.”
“You two could go around and ask whoever you can if they have an extra horse or ox that they would sell us. Don’t worry too much about the price. If you don’t have enough, I will pay the rest.”
Elise nodded, though she had no intention of letting Ronan pay for anything. He had already put his horse toward the trip, as well as his services, and now it appeared his horse was spoiled. She still had a good amount of money left from what she had earned from selling all her belongings and also had some money from when she had worked.
A Long Way to Love: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 9