A Man for Temperance (Wagon Wheel)

by Gilbert, Morris

  After the breakfast, Quaid and Thad had the oxen yoked, and the moment came that Temperance had been dreading. Kate Blanchard was holding Timmy, and she held him out. “I guess you want to say good-bye, Temperance.”

  Temperance took the baby and held him for a moment. She looked down in his face, and touched his fat cheek, which made him grin as it always did. She kissed him, smoothed his hair, and then handed him back. She could not keep the tears back, and Kate Blanchard said quickly, “When you get settled, you write to us. You’ve got my address. We’ll have pictures made of Timmy and we’ll send them to you as he grows up.” Kate reached forward, put her arm around Temperance, and pulled her close. She was a big woman, and Temperance felt small and vulnerable. “We’ll never let him forget Miss Temperance Peabody,” she whispered. Temperance pulled away when the woman released her and walked outside.

  “You OK, Temperance?” Thad asked.

  “Yes,” she said and got into the wagon. Thad spoke to Babe, and the wagon lurched as the animals leaned into their oxbows. They left the Blanchard house, and despite herself, Temperance looked back and saw the Blanchards with Kate holding Timmy. They were both waving, and she did not have enough spirit to wave back but turned and kept her eyes down until the house was out of sight.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH Temperance, Rena?”

  Rena and Bent were sitting in the wagon seat. Rena was holding Bess in her lap, rocking her gently. She was silent for a moment and then she said, “She misses Timmy, that’s all.”

  “Well, shucks, she knew she was going to have to leave him.”

  “That didn’t make it any easier, Bent.”

  Bent was whittling on a piece of wood with a knife Thad had bought him. He watched the shavings curl up for a time and then he said, “That was a good place for Timmy. He’s going to have it good, ain’t he?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Well, if he’s going to have it so good, I can’t see why Temperance is so miserable.”

  Impatiently Rena said, “She needs her own babies, you dope!”

  “Well, you got to have a man for that. She ought to get one.”

  “That shows how much you know. A woman can’t always do that. She always has to wait until a man wants her and then asks her. The man has to do the asking.”

  “Why, I reckon I knew that, but I know what I’m going to do.” Bent clicked the pocket knife closed and stuck it in his pocket. “I’m going to tell Quaid to marry her.”

  “You keep your nose out of it! It’s none of your business.”

  Bent gave her an angry look, then jumped down to the ground and hurried to walk beside Thad, ambling along beside Babe. He started once to tell him his plan for Temperance to marry Quaid but then decided, Maybe Rena’s right. Maybe it ain’t none of my business.

  * * *

  THE OVERMEYER CHILDREN WERE not the only ones who had taken note of the changes in Temperance and also in Thad. Belle had been highly skeptical of Thad’s “conversion,” for she had had some unfortunate experiences with so-called Christian men who were hypocrites. She had been walking beside the wagon, and after Bent left to look for something, she walked up beside Thad and said without preamble, “You notice how quiet Temperance is? She’s downright miserable.”

  “Yes, of course I noticed.”

  “Not much for butting into other people’s business, Thad, but I know what’s really wrong with her.”

  “She misses Timmy. She was real attached to that youngun.”

  “Well, if she had her own babies, she wouldn’t miss Timmy.”

  Thad suddenly turned and gave Belle a hard look. “What are you talking about?”

  “She needs a man.”

  For some reason this angered Thad. “She’s got money and a farm. That’s more than a lot of women have.”

  “Have you even talked to her, Thad? You’re dumber than a ball of hair!” Belle exclaimed. “That farm doesn’t mean anything to her. She needs a man and babies.”

  “I can’t do anything about that, Belle.”

  “Well, you’re even dumber than you look. But don’t worry,” Belle said. “She’s got a man to cheer her up. Quaid’s got more than loving on his mind this time. You wait and see!”

  * * *

  BELLE’S REMARKS HOUNDED THAD, and he waited for an opportunity. That evening after everyone had gone to bed, Temperance was sitting by the fire, as she often did at night. Usually she was holding Timmy, but tonight she was simply staring into the flames, her arms empty. Thad walked over, pulled up one of the boxes they used for seats, and sat beside her. “Guess we’ll be in Fort Smith in a couple of days.” When she did not answer, he said, “I’m grieved to see how sad you’ve been.”

  “I’m foolish,” Temperance murmured. “I know that. Timmy’s just where he needs to be with his people, but I can’t help missing him.”

  “Well, it’ll get easier, I reckon.” He waited for her to respond, and when she did not, he reached a hand out tentatively and started to touch her shoulder but then drew it back. “I hate to see you grieving, Temperance.”

  Temperance turned to face him. He made a tall shape outlined by the flickering flames of the campfire. The planes of his face were strong, and his deep-set eyes were watching her in a way she could not quite understand. She said quietly, “My father used to say that we all had to eat our peck of dirt in this life, so I guess this is part of mine.”

  “I guess we do have to eat some dirt along the way, but there are some good things too. This trip has been good for me in a lot of ways.”

  “You didn’t think so. I had to force you to come.”

  “Well, that was just ignorance, but things are different now.” Desperately Thad tried to think of some way to ask her if she would consider him as a husband. It had been on his mind for some time, but the idea seemed so alien that he at first rejected it. The fact that he had nothing and that she had money and a farm seemed to put a huge wall between them. But as he sat beside her, watching her, he knew that this was the woman he wanted. He traced the sadness in her expression and said huskily, “I hate to see you hurt.” He put his arm around her, and then to his surprise she turned to face him. He pulled her close against his chest, and when she looked up, her face was so close to his that he could see tears fill her eyes and then run down her cheeks. The thick shadows of the night surrounded the wagon, but the slivers of light from the moon above highlighted her face. He thought suddenly, A woman asks her own questions and makes her own answer, and a man can’t really do anything about that.

  She was watching him in a way he could not define, and he saw in her eyes something he could not name. But it was something that touched him powerfully. It shook the restless, vague wish that had been with him for a long time though he had not recognized it, and then he pulled her close and kissed her. He caught the fragrance of her hair, which somehow revived an old forgotten memory, and at that moment her sweetness and strong spirit touched him.

  As for Temperance, she was held in a sort of strange bondage. The weight of his arms was around her, pulling her close, and she sensed his strength. He had his weaknesses, many of them; she knew all about them, but there was an inner strength, too, and a sureness and dependability she suspected she needed in her own life. When he lifted his lips, she looked up and whispered, “Why did you do that, Thaddeus?”

  Thad wanted to say something to let her know how he felt. The pressures that had driven him to her and brought her to him were a magnetism he had never felt with a woman, but he wasn’t sure that she felt it too. The words would not come, and finally he blurted out, “I—I reckon I’m sorry for you.”

  Temperance suddenly stiffened. Her lips drew together in a tight line, and her eyes flashed. She reached out and struck him with her fist on his shoulder. “Go feel sorry for somebody else!” she grated. “I don’t need your pity!” She was furious, filled with disgust and anger, and mostly disappointment that a man would kiss her for no ot
her reason.

  Thad watched her leave and stood there helplessly. Nice going, Brennan, he thought. You can really charm the birds out of the trees. He was filled with self-disgust and loathing. Some men learned how to talk to women, but he had not been one of them. Now he regretted that fact with every bit of his strength. He stood there under the stars, listening to the crackling of the fire and the far-off cry of a coyote, and he resolved: I don’t know how, but I know she needs a man, and I’m thinking that I’m going to be that man somehow!

  * * *

  ALL THE NEXT DAY Thad tried to think of some way to reverse the scene with Temperance, but she was cold to him, and he saw what he thought was abhorrence in her expression. He kept to himself that day, riding Judas far ahead, ostensibly looking for game for the pot, but that night when everyone had gone to bed, he pulled his Bible out. I heard people talk about how God gave them Scriptures when they was up a tree, so, God, I reckon that’s what I’ve got to have.

  He began reading the Bible, but, as usual, he was confused by the different books. He knew they were written by different men over thousands of years, but at this time he desperately needed scriptural guidance.

  The Bible was not new, and he had come across several notes and passages underlined. When he flipped it open near the middle, suddenly he saw a passage underlined and he pulled it closer so he could read it: “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.”

  He noted the location, the twenty-second verse of the eighteenth chapter of Proverbs, and kept his finger on it. Slowly he began to feel that this verse was what God wanted him to hang on to. All right, Lord, I’m going to take this as a sign from You. You say a wife is a good thing, and so I’m asking You to show me favor. I don’t know how You can do it, but I know I can’t. So, Lord, turn Your wolf loose on Temperance and let her see as how I’m the man for her!

  He closed the Bible, crawled under his blanket, and lay there for a long time looking up at the stars, far glittering points of light. If You made all them stars, I reckon You can change one woman’s mind, he murmured sleepily and then knew no more.

  * * *

  THEY REACHED FORT SMITH and, as he had done in St. Joe, Thad set out to ask directions to the home of Luther and Rachel Norris, Virginia’s parents and the grandparents of Rose and Billy. He saw a man leaning against a pillar that held up an awning and saw a star on his vest. “Reckon a sheriff ought to be safe enough,” he muttered. Dismounting, he walked over and said, “Howdy. My name’s Thad Brennan.”

  “Cyrus Little,” the sheriff said. He was a compact man in his midforties with a set of steady, gray eyes. “Just pull in?” he said, glancing at the wagon.

  “That’s right. Need you to help me locate somebody. We brought two children to their grandparents.”

  “What’s their name?”

  “Luther and Rachel Norris are their names.”

  “Do you tell me that!” Sheriff Little exclaimed. “Why, Luther and me are deacons in the church. We’ve known each other all our lives. I knew his wife’s people. You say you brought their grandchildren?”

  Sheriff Little listened as Thad explained the situation, then shook his head. “Well, I’ll be switched. I’m plum sorry to hear about Virginia and Vance. I knowed them both, but I can tell you, Luther and Rachel will be tickled to death to take the younguns. Why, they told me as how they intended to go all the way to Oregon before that lady wrote and said she was bringing them. Is that her in the wagon?”

  “Yes, it is, Sheriff.”

  “Well, let me meet that little lady.”

  Thad accompanied Sheriff Little and introduced him to Temperance. Little swept off his hat and said, “I plum admire you, Miss Peabody. That’s a noble thing. Now, you come right along. We’re going down to Luther’s smithy. He’s going to jump over the moon when he sees these kids!”

  Sheriff Little led them down the main street and to a blacksmith at the end of the road. He called out, “Luther, come out here,” and a strongly built man with crisp brown hair and warm blue eyes walked out.

  “I want you to meet your grandchildren, Luther,” Sheriff Little grinned. “All the way from Oregon Territory.”

  Luther Norris’s eyes flew open, and he threw a bit of iron bar away as he ran to Rose, who was holding Billy by the hand. He got down on his knees and looked at the small girl in the face. “So this is Rose. I’m your grandpa, Rose.”

  “I’m glad to meet you, Grandpa. This is Billy.”

  “Well, ain’t he a fine one!” The big blacksmith picked up the boy, who was watching him intently.

  “He likes you,” Rose said. “He usually cries when strangers pick him up.”

  “Well, you come right along with me, missy,” Luther Norris smiled. “We’re going to take you right now to meet your grandma. She’s going to have one hallelujah-shouting, Methodist fit when she sees you two!”

  The sheriff accompanied them as Norris led the way, carrying Billy and holding Rose by the hand. She was looking up at him with a smile as he spoke, and when they got to a white-framed house on the edge of town, he called out, “Rachel, get out here! Rose and Billy have come.”

  A tall motherly woman burst out of the door and flew to her husband. She grabbed Billy, kissed him, and then leaned over and hugged Rose. She looked at Rose’s face and cried out, “Look, she’s just like Virginia.”

  “These folks brought them all the way from Oregon Territory, Mother,” Norris said. “I think we ought to feed them.”

  “Why, of course we will.”

  “There’s too many of us,” Temperance tried to protest. But, as had been the case with Timmy’s family, there was no argument.

  “I guess Billy and Rose are going to be all right,” Rena said to Belle.

  “Looks like it,” Belle answered. She put her hand on the girl’s shoulder and said, “I’m anxious to meet your family.” She noticed that Rena said nothing and saw fear on the girl’s face.

  * * *

  THE DINNER WAS EVERY bit as enormous as the one they had had with the Blanchards. The table seemed to be groaning under the weight of the meats, vegetables, and desserts.

  But the big difference was the visitors kept coming in. The Norrises had four grown children. All of them were married and two of them had children. They were all strong, prosperous-looking people, Temperance noted, and each one of them made friends instantly with Rose and Billy. One daughter-in-law, a handsome and well-dressed woman, said, “Mama Norris, you’re going to have to let Darryl and me keep these two.”

  “That’s right.” Darryl grinned then added. “Give us a start on a family.”

  “I’m keeping these children myself for awhile, and then”—Rachel smiled at Rose and winked—“we’ll let her pick who she wants to be her mama and daddy.”

  During the meal Luther Norris tried to talk to Rena and Bent, but they were very quiet. Luther then began praising Temperance for what she had done. He was so fulsome with his praise that she finally grew nervous and said, “Well, if you must thank somebody, thank Mr. Brennan. He’s the one that brought us all the way here safely—and Mr. Mitchell. The two of them are the ones that need to be thanked.”

  “That’s not so, Mr. Norris,” Thad spoke up. “As a matter of fact, I fought against having to come, but Miss Peabody there, she’s the one that got all this together.”

  “And where’s your next stop?” Mrs. Norris said.

  “We’re going to take these children to their relatives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.”

  “Oh, that’s a terrible long ride and bad roads. You can get there a lot easier by boat.”

  Temperance was surprised, for she knew little about river transportation. “Is that possible, Mr. Norris?”

  “Why, it sure is. I’ve got a nephew that runs a boat—the Mary Alice. It goes from right here in Fort Smith, all the way down the Arkansas River to the Mississippi River. From there you can get on one of them big floating palaces that’ll take you right into Baton Roug
e.”

  Temperance was weary of the wagon and of the trail. She looked at Thad and asked with hesitation. “What do you think?”

  “Well, the oxen have done good, but they’re plum wore-out. I’d hate to put it on them. What I say is let’s sell the wagon and oxen, and we’ll use the money to pay the fares to Baton Rouge.”

  “There won’t be no fares,” Luther said and slapped the table. “If that nephew of mine charges you, I’ll put him flat on his back. He wouldn’t have been a river pilot if we hadn’t helped him. Time for him to start paying back. Of course, you’ll have to pay your fare on the Mississippi, but that won’t be much.”

  There was much discussion then, and finally with a sigh of relief, Temperance said, “All right then. Thad, you sell the wagon and the oxen. I’m going to miss Babe.” Then a thought came to her. “Where will we stay? When does the boat leave, Mr. Norris?”

  “The day after tomorrow, but you’re staying right here with us, missy. Anybody we can’t crowd in, why, we got grown children that’ll be glad to have you.” He reached over and took Rose by the hand and smiled. “I’m not letting this one get away though. She’s staying right here where she belongs.”

  * * *

  QUAID HAD SAID LITTLE during the supper. He liked the Norrises very much and said so to Temperance. He stayed in a hotel, though, and the next day when he came by, the children were outside playing. When he stepped inside the parlor, led by Belle who said that Temperance would be right in, he found that Thad had followed him. Thad’s face was very serious, and he said, “Quaid, you’ve been a help on the way. I don’t know what we would have done without you when I got cut up, but we don’t need you from here on.”

  Quaid stood perfectly still, but there was anger in his eyes. “I’m going to New Orleans and I’m going to ask Temperance to marry me. I’ve already told you that.”

  “You can’t marry her, Quaid.”

  “What do you mean I can’t marry her? I guess I’m old enough to get married.” He laughed, but suddenly Thad grabbed his arm. “Get out of here, Quaid! You can’t marry her because God’s told me she’s going to marry me.”