by Lower, Becky
“Things are going well, Basil, although I haven’t seen much of you at the card tables this winter.”
“I haven’t been in the mood for a game of chance lately. But I guess it’s a way of life for you, since every time you lead a wagon train out of town, you have no way of predicting the outcome.”
“True enough. I’ve about got this year’s group ready to head out. I think I’ve put together a good crop of people, at least judging from their letters and their deposits. Just a few more wagon slots to fill, and I’ll be ready to head out with fifty wagons in early April.”
“Good. I’m glad things are going well.”
“Yep. And you should be paid back, with interest, by the end of March.”
Basil eyed Jake, trying to decipher what Temperance found so appealing. “Everything’s in order, then, with your supplies?”
“Pretty much. I’ll wait until the final days to load up on perishables, but I’ve got oats for the animals, pemmican, wagon parts, flints, guns, bullets, and all that in storage and ready to sell to the wagons as soon as they arrive. First ones are already coming in. I love seeing the enthusiasm they all have when they first start out. I try to make a game out of it, guessing how long it will take for that excitement to fade.”
“And how long does it take?”
Jake grinned. “Usually a few weeks, although there are some who remain upbeat the entire trip. It depends on what kind of hardship comes our way. It’s a rough slog, though, even without major complications, and I’m always happy to see them get to their final destinations so I can turn around and come back here.”
Basil offered Jake a cigar, and both men sat quietly while they went through the ritual of lighting up, and taking the first few drags of the pungent tobacco. Finally, Basil broke the silence.
“Are you still seeing Temperance? How is she?”
Jake glanced up from his boots. “Well enough. We’ve been having fun together this winter. She wants us to get married, and let me take her family to Oregon.”
“Really? So will you?”
Jake shifted in the chair. “Every instinct in my body is telling me it would be a mistake. Not the marriage so much, but taking them west with me. You know what I said about how some wagons just seem to be destined to fail? How a black cloud hangs over them?”
At Basil’s slight nod, Jake rose to his feet and began to pace in front of the desk. “The image I get every time I see their poor excuse for a wagon sitting out at the cabin is one of doom. Judging from the hard time they had just getting from Pennsylvania to St. Louis I’m sure I’m not far off the mark. Already one life has been lost. I don’t want to take them, but Temperance won’t have it any other way. I’ve even told her I won’t be going back to Oregon after this year, but she insists. And she can be persuasive, so I’ve not given her a definitive answer yet.” Jake laughed as he slid back into the chair. “There’s still a month left before I have to let her down, and I am enjoying her company.”
Basil could barely control the burn he was feeling. He gritted his teeth. “So what will you do about her when it does come time for you to head out?”
“Since she thinks she’s fully capable of driving the wagon across the country. I’m going to come up with a plan to test her. Not sure yet what it’ll be, but I’ll think of something. If she passes my test, I’ll let her and that blasted family of hers come on the train. Hell, I’ll even marry her, if that’s what she wants. Why not? She’s comely enough. I would have to bring her back here, though, after we get her family delivered to Oregon. I wouldn’t want to leave her there for years. Might as well take full advantage of my rights as her husband.”
Basil could barely see straight, he was so angry. He was mad at Jake’s cavalier attitude towards Temperance’s safety, but even more so, he was fuming at Jake’s assessment of Temperance. She was more than ‘comely enough.’ She was a beautiful, petite, sprightly handful of a woman who made life interesting. Didn’t Jake see any of that? Basil forced himself to get his emotions under control, and replied with the only appropriate comment he could make. “Won’t you be putting her in harm’s way by testing her?”
“I won’t ask her to do anything we won’t encounter on the way to Oregon. And as for putting her in harm’s way, once we’re out on the trail, my responsibility will be for the whole train, not just her. She’ll have to fend for herself most of the time.”
“That’s a pretty harsh statement, Jake.”
“It would be different if it were just her and me traveling as members of a train run by someone else, but I have to take care of all the lives on the train. Fifty wagons translate to over 200 people. That’s a lot of mouths to feed, and a lot of equipment that can break down. Not to mention keeping the livestock and all those people from the hands of those wily Indians along the way.”
“Sit down, Jake, you’re making me dizzy with your pacing.” As the man took his seat again, Basil glanced at him. His friend, yet his adversary. Basil wouldn’t ever turn his back on Temperance and her needs. Even as the thought formed in his head, he realized he was lying to himself, since he had done just that.
Jake replied. “You know well enough a wagon master is only as good as his last venture. She’s going to have to take care of herself if she gets on with a train. She thinks she’s capable. I don’t. So, I’ll have to do something to convince her otherwise.”
“You’re right, Jake. Your responsibility is to the whole train, not just one wagon. And if she can’t lead the family, it’s best to leave them behind. Just don’t drag things out and let her get false hopes up.”
“Oh, I’ve got a few weeks left, so I’m in no hurry. Quite possibly by that time, my wagon train will be filled, anyway.”
Basil glared at Jake. “So you’ll still not let her go west even if she succeeds in whatever scheme you come up with to convince her she’s not capable? You’re already thinking she won’t make it, but you should never underestimate her.”
Jake glanced across the desk at Basil. “Seems to me as if you know the lady well. I’ve often wondered why you never went out with her. You had a chance, in the months I was gone. Now I’ve got her, and I think that bothers you more than you care to admit.”
“I never took you for a cruel man, Shelton. But, if you play with her emotions, or give her false hope, that’s exactly what you are. I would never have introduced you to her, had I known your true character.”
Jake stood. “Well, it’s my ‘true character,’ as you call it, that has kept me alive all these years. First prospecting for gold and then as a wagon master. I’ve held many lives in my hands, unlike you, who simply sit behind a desk all day. Paying attention to my gut has kept me out of the line of fire more than once, and I’m not going to deny what it’s telling me now, even for the sake of a lovely lady.”
“I’m sorry, Jake. Didn’t mean to offend you. Please sit back down.”
Jake took his seat once more. “Since all my talking to her has fallen on deaf ears, I think the test of her abilities is the only way she will admit defeat. If you have any other suggestions, I’m eager to hear them.”
Basil remained silent. What could he say?
“Aren’t you two good friends? Can’t you try to talk some sense into her?”
“We aren’t friendly anymore. She quit working here, and I haven’t seen her in quite awhile.”
Jake glanced across the desk. “Oh. I thought you were a friend of the family.”
Basil wished the man would go away. Or at least stop asking questions. “Of the family, yes. Of her, no. Even if I was to talk to her, she is not inclined to listen to anything I have to say.”
• • •
Jake listened to the catch in Basil’s voice. “I see.”
Somehow, there was more to the story than Jake currently was aware of. He sensed it in Basil’s voice when h
e talked about Temperance. Maybe he was mistaken and they had gotten close, but she pulled away from him? Or vice versa? Was that why Basil introduced her to Jake? To take her off his hands? Was she maybe not as pure as she led him to believe? She certainly had acted a bit brazen a couple nights ago, when she let him fondle her breast. Right before she started talking marriage. Maybe she tried the same ploy with Basil, only to be rebuffed by him?
Jake and Basil haunted the same places in St. Louis, and the dance halls and taverns were filled with women who were all trying to find a husband to make their lives more comfortable. Some were willing to go to great extremes to tie a man down. But Jake and Basil both were aware of all the tricks by now, and had a few of their own. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that Temperance had tried to get Basil to marry her, and he wisely said no. Why else would she have left the job at the bank for the tedium of the laundry?
If Basil was the one to have stepped back from a relationship with Temperance, Jake was grateful he was there to take his place. Basil’s loss, as he viewed it. After all, Temperance was a great lady. Her outgoing nature at the various socials and dances they had attended in the past couple of months helped him tremendously in his attempts to meet and do business with all the right people. His list of contacts to make his job easier had grown fat over the winter, and a lot of the credit was due to her. She was part of the reason his train of fifty wagons had filled up so quickly, since all the respectable businesses in town sent folks his way over the other wagon masters vying for the same people.
So, she helped advance his career. But what had he done for her, other than to buy her a bonnet? Maybe it was time to stop thinking about Temperance’s wish to move her family west as an annoyance, a subject to be avoided at all cost, and take a hard gander at what she was attempting to do. Maybe he could take her family with him on the train this year. Lord, having that sweet thing in his bed every night on the trail would help make the trip more enjoyable.
He could stay in Oregon for one winter before heading back to St. Louis to pick up the next group heading west. By then, her family would be situated and she could return to St. Louis with him. The burden of caring for her entire family would then be off their shoulders, and he and Temperance could begin their life in St. Louis as well-respected members of the community.
The more Jake thought about it, the better he warmed up to the scenario. Maybe, to ease Temperance’s mind, he’d put off changing his route for a couple of years, and make an annual trek to Oregon to check on the family. Without a man, he didn’t know what they could do in Oregon to get by, but it wasn’t his worry. All he had to do to satisfy Temperance was get them there. And if he promised to do that, Temperance would stop toying with his emotions, and finally satisfy him.
He sniffed the air as he walked down the sidewalk, lost in thought. Spring’s coming, I can smell it. I should decide once and for all, what I’m going to do with Temperance.
He didn’t falter in his decision to test her to prove to himself, and to her, that she could handle the wagon. Then, if she passed his test, he’d ask her to marry him and offer to take her family on the train. He finished the last of the cigar he had lit up in the bank, and drew the tobacco smoke deeply into his lungs. Yep, it was time for Jake to marry, and he could think of no one he’d rather be with than Temperance Jones.
• • •
In the next few weeks, Basil anxiously kept track of signs of snowmelt. He walked to the shores of the river daily, knowing the wagon trains would soon be on their way out of town. Temperance was stubborn enough to tag along behind the trains, if Jake refused to give her a proper spot within the train. And that thought made Basil’s blood run cold.
While he paced the city streets, he thought about Temperance and her family. Hell, he had thought of nothing else since the night he told her to leave before he lost control and took her virginity. Was Ginger right? He groaned as he ran a hand over his face. God forbid he should take advice from his younger sister. He was always the one who took care of her. Lately, though, it seems their roles had shifted. She had been right about Joseph, and he had been too stubborn to see it. In fact, he was the one who forced them apart, until a disaster brought them back together. He’d been an ass, and she called him on it.
Was he that slow? Or that rigid? Did he really think he should pass up the opportunity for true happiness with Temperance simply because she and her large family were a package deal? He hated to think that a man would pass over one of his own sisters simply because she came from a large family. Big families were expected. It was part of what made America the great country that it was. So why was he letting it get in the way? What kind of twisted logic was he employing when it came to Temperance, anyway?
Besides, hadn’t her family already wound their way into his heart? Could he possibly say goodbye to all of them and watch them head off into the West where he’d never see them again? He wouldn’t be able to ever again play with Noble and enjoy his wide-eyed expression every time he found a new species of animal to touch. Or Faith, who reminded him so much of his own little sister, Saffron, back in New York.
Having the Jones family here helped ease the pangs of homesickness and loneliness that sometimes overtook him. He smiled when he thought of Prudence and Etienne, who were growing to love one another, even though they were so young. Could he watch that budding relationship be torn apart simply to fulfill a desire of a dead man? Was Basil so selfish, so set in his ways, that he’d let that happen? And what about Martha Jones? The last time she was in town, he noticed she was well along on her pregnancy. She would probably give birth in the back of their wagon before they were on the trail more than a week or two.
Childbirth was one of the leading causes of death for a woman under the best of conditions. Was that the best possible circumstance for her? Martha Jones could tell it wasn’t, but she would go along with Temperance’s wishes in spite of her feelings, he was certain.
Goddamn it, Ginger was right. He had been taking care of the Jones family ever since that first day in the bank. He enjoyed getting to know them, and relished his role as their protector. And he had so wanted, on that fateful night in January, to destroy Temperance’s reputation just so they would be forced to get married. Then the decision of what to do would have been taken from him, and he would gladly accept the responsibility of the entire Jones family along with Temperance, to pay penance for his actions.
I am a coward. Basil stopped at the riverfront and stared at the water. Holy hell. I’m just a big chicken. All my life, I’ve been finding the easy way of doing things. My job’s been handed to me by Father. I’ve dallied with actresses and dance hall girls because they don’t expect anything from me other than money and a good romp for one night. And the easy way now is to say goodbye to the Jones family and Temperance and turn my back on them once they leave. Maybe it’s time to become the man Ginger would prefer to have for a brother. And the man Temperance deserves to have as a partner. Am I strong enough to admit to the world that I’m a cad? Can I do it?
Ginger thought he could. He wasn’t so sure.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Are you and Jake going out again?” Martha Jones studied her daughter as she combed her hair.
“Yes, Ma, we are. He’s coming out to the Lafontaine ranch to look at the horses and decide how many to buy. I’m going to help him pick the best ones, and then we’re going to have dinner at the public house, even though it is my night off from there.”
“You two have become mighty friendly pretty fast, don’t you think? Whatever happened to proper courting?”
Temperance glanced at her mother. “Things are different on the frontier, Ma. Jake explained it to me. Things are more uncertain here, and it’s best not to dally, if you know something’s right. Besides, you see what luck I’ve had with proper courting so far. Jeremiah lost interest in me long before he got around
to thinking about marriage. Maybe I’m the kind of woman who needs to marry fast, before my intended discovers who I truly am.”
Martha stood beside her daughter and smoothed her hair. “Your ‘intended’ needs to know your strength of character before you marry. And to be aware of what a wonderful woman you are. Maybe your strong temperament will put some men off, but they’re not the men for you, then. You need someone who’s just as resilient and capable as you are. That’s the only way to find true happiness. You can’t try to be someone you’re not. Here, why don’t you sit and let me comb your hair? How long has it been since we’ve done that?”
Temperance sat in front of her mother. “It’s been a long time. But I used to love it. We never seem to have the time for small pleasures these days.”
Martha Jones ran the brush through Temperance’s hair. She leaned over and sniffed. “That new shampoo you’re using smells nice.” She straightened again and began to brush all the snarls from her daughter’s hair. “You have been working awfully hard since we pulled into St. Louis. I feel bad about the burden of responsibility you’ve taken on.”
Temperance shrugged. “It can’t be helped. I’m certain Da had no intention of placing us in such dire straits when we left our life in Pennsylvania behind.”
Martha sighed. “And now you want to uproot us again, and possibly place us in even more danger.”
“We must, Ma. St. Louis was never in our long-range plans. The boys aren’t safe enough from the war here. We were only going to pick up a train, and head on out.”
“But that didn’t happen, did it? We’ve had to settle in here, and thanks to Mr. Fitzpatrick and his sister, we have been blessed to find a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. Do you really want to have us go back to living in a wagon, and not knowing where our next meal is coming from?”
Tears threatened at the back of Temperance’s eyes. “But we must, Ma. We must,” she replied in a soft voice as she laid her hand over her mother’s.