Tina Tracks a Trail Boss: A Historical Western Romance (Brides with Grit Book 8)

by Linda K. Hubalek

  Tina struggled to sit up. “Let’s go. Now!”

  “In a minute. We need to talk about what to expect.” Leif drew in a deep breath, but stalled to say anything more.

  Oh no. The children had been badly hurt. Burned? Lost limbs? Blind?

  “Are the children all right? What injuries did they receive in the accident?”

  Leif stared at her a second then reported what he saw and the matron had told him.

  Tina let out her held breath. It was a miracle they were alive, and found by someone who knew her connection.

  Tina thought back to when she’d heard Leif’s horse team and wagon coming toward the cabin. It had been a long day, waiting for his return. It wasn’t that she was afraid he’d leave for Kansas without them, but she’d come to rely on him for companionship and care. She was getting used to his Swedish accent, how he said “Ole-lee” instead of Oliver, “ya” for yes, “nay” for no, and always “moder” and “fader” for his parents.

  He was patient, kind and respectful… and she could count on him to help her and her children.

  “Thank you, Leif. I can’t begin to express my gratitude for helping me and my children.” Tina watched Leif nod before standing up, looking around the room, but not at her. She knew it was a big step for Leif to take care of a woman and family after losing his own.

  Tina gladly put up with the pain on the trip into town. The horses couldn’t go fast enough to suit her. She had to see her children now!

  “Prepare yourself, Tina. These two might not be yours, I could be wrong,” Leif said for the umpteenth time.

  But she was positive Leif was right. She knew Robby and Emma were there. Now if she could just fly like a bird and get there sooner…

  “That’s the place you were staying in,” Leif pointed to the saloon as they passed by. The place gave Tina the shivers. She’d never seen the front of the place since she had been unconscious going both in and out of the building.

  The wagon rambled down another street. “There’s the store I was parked in front of when your friend snuck Oliver in the back of the wagon.”

  Tina appreciated Leif filling in the lapses in her memory, even if they were hard to face. She had lost a week with her children. How would they have changed physically and mentally during their time apart?

  Would they be scared of how she looked now? She’d lost weight with the birth of the baby, had an ugly scar on her face and she wouldn’t be able to lift them. Anxiety grabbed her throat, sweat beaded on her forehead and she prayed she wouldn’t pass out again. Everything would be better as soon as she held her children again. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

  Leif glanced down at her since Tina was on the seat beside him this time, instead of riding in the back.

  “Things will work out,” Leif assured her as the team pulled the wagon up to a plain-looking house and stopped on Leif’s command.

  Tina stared at the place which had housed her children. Had they received good care, or been traumatized by people who didn’t care and love the children? If she could jump down from the wagon by herself she’d already be charging in the door.

  “Tina.” She finally looked down to see Leif was already around to her side of the wagon and ready to help her down. “Hang on to Ollie and I’ll lift you both down.”

  She never took her eyes off of Leif’s as he lifted her down and settled her firmly beside him. His blue eyes stared back, giving her strength to face what she may find in the next minutes.

  “Let me carry Oliver and you hang on to me.”

  Leif carefully led her up the porch steps and knocked on the door.

  “Breathe, Tina.” She didn’t realize he was watching her as she swayed beside him.

  “The two times I was here it took a while for someone to come to the door, so don’t panic.”

  The door was opened by the same woman, holding an infant in her arms as before when she’d answered to his knock.

  “Hello Mr. Hamner. I assumed you’d be back today,” she said while looking at him, then to Tina.

  “Mrs. Martin? I’m so glad you survived the accident and hopefully we can reunite you with your…”

  “Momma!” Robby pushed past the woman, and rushed to grab Tina’s knees.

  “Oh, Robby, Robby. I can’t believe you’re alive!” Tina cried in pain and joy, trying to get down to her son’s level to wrap her arms around him.

  “Emma!”

  Tina pulled her daughter to her chest after the girl ran up beside her brother.

  “Thank you, Lord, for returning my children to me!” she whispered as she looked at one child, then other before kissing them and pulling them against her chest again.

  Tina finally looked up to Leif, seeing tears in his eyes, but a look of satisfaction, too.

  “Bless you, Leif Hamner, for finding them …all three!” she cried while staring at her children again.

  “Actually it was your friend, Amy, who started this chain of events.”

  “She wasn’t my friend to take my baby away, but you’re right. I’m so glad you saw her in her red dress,” Tina had to be thankful for everyone’s part in this reunion.

  “Momma, I had a big ouchie,” little Robbie pointed to his arm to get her attention.

  “Yes you did, and looks like Emma had injuries, too. But I bet you took care of her for us…or for me, didn’t you?” Robert was gone, so there was no more “us”, just her to take care of her three children.

  Her daughter still hadn’t said a word, just stared at her facial cut, probably scared and confused. Emma looked back at Leif. “Pop-Pa came.”

  “What? No, honey, he’s not…”

  “Um…It’s okay, Tina. She called me Poppa the first time she saw me. No use getting her upset.”

  “But…”

  “Let it slide, Tina.” Leif quietly commanded her. “If it makes her feel safe…I can handle it.”

  Tina saw pain in his eyes when he said that, probably thinking his child who never got to call him Poppa. But he’d let her child call him that to make it easier for Emma.

  “Well, now that it has been established you’re their mother, let me fill you in on their injuries and what we’ve done so far,” the woman said warmly.

  She motioned to the children standing in the doorway around her. “Please back up so these people can come inside.”

  Tina watched the young children slowly move back. Her heart ached for the youngsters. Would any of them be as lucky as Robby and Emma were to have a parent claim them again? Probably not. She wished she had the strength and support to take more children out of the orphanage besides her own.

  Mrs. Thompson pointed down the hall. “I’ll put this child down for a nap and be back in a few minutes. In the meantime I’m sure you’d like some time alone with your children.”

  Tina gratefully sank into the upholstered settee in the room. It was worn but she needed to sit down. Emma and Robby both climbed onto her lap at the same time, causing her to wince. She was going to definitely need help until her body healed.

  “I’ve missed you so much, sweetheart,” Tina rubbed a finger over Emma’s cheek, hating a scar marred it now. “I wish I could have been here to help you.”

  “Where were you, Momma?” Robby cried, now upset again thinking of their separation.

  “I was hurt, plus I had your baby brother.”

  Leif knelt down beside them, showing off their new sibling to Robby and Emma.

  “Who that?” Emma asked.

  “This is Oliver, Emma. He’s your brother just like Robby is. Now he’s real tiny, but he’ll grow so you can play together.”

  Both Emma and Robby pushed harder against Tina, almost to get away from the infant. They would be jealous of the baby, especially since they had been apart for a week, but Tina couldn’t help but be glad for it. The alternative would have been Oliver raised as an only child, and right now she relished every fight the three of them were bound to have.

  Tina hardly notice
d the trip back to the cabin. She sat in the back with her three children, all safe, because of the man lonely for his deceased family.

  Leif pulled the wagon close to the door, and pulled the brake before wrapping the reins around the handle and stepping down. A huge dog had followed them all the way from town, acting like an escort.

  He gave the dog a stare and command to stay before walking to the back of the wagon. It followed Leif around the back anyway, seriously watching what Leif was doing. Would this dog be safe around the children?

  “Back off, Dog!” Leif yelled as he tried to push the dog away while opening the end gate of the wagon.

  “Sit down, Samson!” Her son yelled from the back of the wagon.

  “How do you know this dog, Robby?”

  “He was always around the house, and we played with him, so he knows us. He’s never bitten anybody.”

  Tina looked at Leif but he just shrugged his shoulders. “If he hunts for his own food, I think he’d be a good watch dog since he knows the children,” Leif replied.

  “What kind of dog is he, and would he bother the cattle?”

  “Looking at his face and size, I think he’s a bull mastiff. If he bothers the cattle or horses, he’ll find another home.” Leif said simply when Robby looked up at him, but Tina knew what he meant. They couldn’t have a one-hundred and something pound dog chasing the cattle.

  Leif carefully lifted everyone from the wagon, then grabbed the bundle of clothing he’d stopped at the store to buy for the children.

  “After I get the horses taken care of, I’m heating water for baths. Besides needing a good scrubbing, I think they have lice by the way they’re scratching their heads.”

  Tina laughed. “I don’t care. I’m happy to scrub every inch of these two. I still can’t believe you found them, Leif.”

  “Glad I was at the wrong place at the right time,” he chuckled. It was good to see him relaxed. She guessed it had been a long time since he’d felt that way.

  “Does Samson have to have a bath, too?” Robby asked. Tina had forgotten the dog, who still sat in the same spot after Robby’s command earlier for it to sit down.

  “I don’t think we’ll attempt that today. He can rub on the fresh grass around here and clean up that way this time.”

  They were sitting and eating supper on the porch this evening. Besides not having enough chairs to sit around the table, there wasn’t enough plates. Ants could eat or carry off the bread crumbs from the porch. It did make sense in a way to leave the cabin clean, and the children loved the idea of “practicing” eating outside for their trip.

  The children weren’t in too bad of shape considering what they had been through. Of course, she didn’t know nor want to ask details, when it would be hard for the young children to answer them anyway.

  Besides cuts from flying glass on both children, Robby had a red burn scar on his right arm. Robby had been sitting on the train bench seat opposite of where Tina had sat holding Emma.

  Emma’s right leg had been broken below the knee and her other leg bruised at about the same spot, so something hit her legs when the rail car tumbled down the embankment. Luckily, it didn’t crush her legs, but Emma didn’t like to stand on her splinted leg. Hopefully her leg would heal quickly and she wouldn’t have a permanent limp.

  Both children had reached up more than once to trace her scratch. A hunk of hair was gone, probably cut off when someone had to the clean the blood, dirt and whatever from her head wound. Leif had washed her hair, and braided it the best he could, trying to work the short hunk into the braid while trying to cover part of the scar, too.

  The cabin didn’t have a mirror so she couldn’t see how bad she looked. Leif never said a word about her appearance or flinched looking at her. How did she get so lucky to have this man rescue them?

  Tina felt jealous that Emma preferred Robby or Leif’s touch instead of hers. But besides being apart, the children had baby Oliver to get used to now. Thank goodness Leif automatically pitched in, making supper, changing diapers—now two sets counting Emma—listened and answered Robby’s constant line of questioning. Leif would make a good father and husband if he’d ever marry again.

  Right now Leif’s back was against the porch wall, long legs stretched out, with both children on his lap, patiently eating his sandwich while helping them with their food. Plus, that huge dog was leaning up against his side looking like he could chop a sandwich and the hand which held it, at the same time.

  “Now we’re leaving this cabin tomorrow and riding in the wagon to go meet my parents. They are driving a big bunch of cattle to Kansas. That’s a long ways from here,” Leif started to explain the trip to Robby.

  “You have a momma and poppa, too?”

  “Huh, yes I do, and I have twin sisters and a brother.”

  “What’s a ‘twin’?”

  “My sisters, Hilda and Rania were born the same day and look almost alike, just like if your momma had two little babies instead of only Oliver. But now Rania is a little taller…and Hilda almost always wears men’s trousers instead of a dress so you can always tell them apart.”

  “Oh. Will this funny lady be with your parents?”

  “No, but you’ll meet her in Kansas. She’s married and has lots of horses and a little dog so tiny it fits in a saddle bag.”

  “Is its name Samson, too?”

  “No, its name is Miss Holy Terror, actually. I’ll have lots to stories to tell you about my sister’s dog while we’re on the trail. Right now you need to get some sleep so we’re ready to go tomorrow.”

  Leif looked at Tina, hoping she was ready to put her kids to bed.

  After losing them, she’d put them in the bed, but would probably watch them sleep all night instead of sleeping herself.

  Chapter 4

  “I gotta pee.”

  “Robby, could you wait a little…”

  “Noooo…”

  Leif pulled back on the reins, getting the team to slow down, then stop. After being three days on the road, he knew better to wait once Robby got that tone in his voice.

  Leif pulled the brake, swung off the wagon, grabbed Robby’s arm and lifted him over the wagon seat, glad he was tall enough the grab the boy instead of waiting for him to go to the back of the wagon to get out.

  He just got Robby set ten feet away from the horses to pull down the tyke’s britches when Emma started whining.

  “Pop-Pa…” Leif looked back in time to see Emma trying to crawl over the top of the bench seat, wanting to get down herself. For not wanting to walk, she sure got around at a rapid speed when she wanted to.

  “Emma. Stop.” Leif had learned there was no use saying more than a few short commands to a two-year-old. “Don’t wander off, Robby, while I get your sister.” Considering his pants were around his ankles didn’t mean the kid wouldn’t chase after something.

  “What do you want, Emma?” Leif held her still on the seat so he could look her in the eye. And she shrugged her tiny shoulders up in the air, not knowing what she wanted, besides being with her brother.

  “Need to pee, too?” Spoken like a true father. Leif was broke in, and liking it.

  Her little hands reached back to touch her bottom. “Poop”. Well, better that she tell him, than do it in her pants. Hopefully she’d be out of diapers before they get to Kansas. He lifted her off the wagon seat and tried to get her to stand up.

  “Leif? Are we stopping for lunch now?” Tina called out from inside the wagon.

  He glanced up at the sun’s position while getting ready to wrangle Emma’s clothing.

  “No, you hungry?”

  “Not really, but…I need to walk a bit.” Leif could hear the strain in her voice.

  “Just a minute, Emma. I’ll going to help Momma down from the back of the wagon before I help you.”

  He wasn’t thinking right when he thought they could easily travel fifteen to twenty miles a day. Two young children, an injured mother and a newborn needed to stop often
he was learning.

  Instead of covering forty-five to sixty miles the past three days, Leif thought they might have done thirty. At this rate they might not catch up to the herd until after it got to Ellsworth.

  How did parents handle small children while traveling? Like any parents…practice, and he was still in the training stage.

  “Samson, watch the kids.”

  The dog was doing better on the trail than the children, but that wasn’t saying much. The dog had grown up in town, apparently eating scraps given to him by people, so he was clueless on getting his own food.

  The dog was hungry the first evening, begging for food. Much to the children’s dismay, Leif refused to give him any of their food, hoping the dog would get the hint and hunt on his own.

  Samson finally caught a jackrabbit and brought it back to camp, dropping the injured animal at his feet instead of eating it when he caught it. More drama with the kids watching the poor rabbit flopping around. Leif had to take the rabbit out of sight of the wagon, kill and skin it before Samson would eat it. But the dog gave him a look like he would have preferred Leif to cook the rabbit and serve it with gravy instead of having to eat it fresh.

  At least the dog was getting good at catching rabbits and badgers so they were all eating fresh cooked meat most evening meals.

  “Ready?” Leif walked around the back of the wagon and lowered the end gate of the wagon. Tina slowly scooted off the bedroll towards Leif. He lifted the petite woman out of the wagon and held on to her waist a few seconds for her to get steady. Tina never complained, but the jarring of the wagon must really hurt her back.

  “Okay, if you’ll mind the children, I’ll walk a bit.” Tina put her fisted hands on the back of her waist and pushed her shoulders back, carefully twisting one way, then the other before taking a slow step, then another.

  The infant was in his box toward the back of the wagon, sleeping peacefully, but wrinkling his pudgy nose and pursing his rosebud lips every now and then. Actually, Oliver was the best traveler of the bunch. Leif reached in the box and carefully stroked the baby’s cheek with his finger. Oliver turned his face, trying to find the source of the touch without opening his eyes. Leif forgot the worries of the world when watching this newborn.