“That so? You traveling with the wagon or all on horseback?”
“By wagon. Long story, but the family was in that train wreck by Austin.” Leif felt Robby squirm in front of him. The boy wasn’t comfortable hearing the word ”train” right now. “I’ll tell you more about it later. Right now the wagon and the rest of the family are a few miles back south, so I need to get back to them. Which side of the trail is Moder traveling?”
“East side. Don’t think she’ll stop long for lunch exept to make sandwiches for all of us to pass around. It’s another six miles before we hit water if I remember right, so we’ll plan to camp there for the night. She’ll be happy to see you whenever you catch up.”
“Same here.” Leif tipped his hat and whirled Leo around. He’d been gone long enough from Tina and the kids, and was anxious to get back to them.
Samson started barking his head off when Leif got within distance of the dog knowing someone was approaching the wagon. The dog had been very wary of Leif after getting shot, but more protective and loving to the children. Samson didn’t try to bite Leif, but had a look in his eye like he was tempted.
“We’re back!” Leif yelled to give Tina notice of who was outside the wagon. He spied Emma peeking out the canvas hole in the back before popping back out of view. She was turning out to be a good traveler, most of the time happy to ride in the wagon. Now if they could just get her to walk more to strengthen her legs.
“Hold on to the horn while I get off, Robby,” Leif reminded him since he wasn’t used to riding horses yet. Once Leif swung out of the saddle, he lifted Robby to the ground. “Always let the horse know you’re near him, and give him a wide berth if you’re walking behind him.” Because he was teaching two children the ways of life on the trail, it seems like he was always talking. Leif had to chuckle at himself, because he was considered the serious quiet one of his siblings.
He tied Leo’s reins to a side ring on the wagon and took off the saddle and blanket. Maybe he should teach Robby how to brush the horse next, but the boy had already disappeared to the back of the wagon. Leif stopped to listen as Robby excitedly told his mother about their ride and seeing the herd. Everything was new to the child, and Leif was enjoying the wonder of it with him. Leif had to admit his depression was lifting, all due to children he’d been with the past two weeks.
And Tina. Such a brave soul, a widow, losing all their possessions, but she was putting on a bright face for her children, even though she was still in pain and mourning. She was a good mother, and Leif looked forward to spending the next two months with her.
And then what? He’d be with his family, but it wouldn’t be the same as having a woman, two young children and an infant in his life.
Chapter 6
“Just in time for supper, Leif.” His mother looked up while stirring a pot of food over a campfire. She had a faint smile on her face, but didn’t seemed shocked by their arrival. Her husband or one of the hands probably told her about them traveling behind the herd.
The woman was in her fifties, tall, and looked very strong and capable. She wore a wide-brimmed hat instead of a woman’s bonnet to protect her tanned skin. And she looked at ease wearing a well-worn light blue shirtwaist, a once-white soil-stained apron over a brown split skirt and heavy work boots. Her coarse white-blonde hair hung in a thick braid over her shoulder.
“Thank you, Moder.” Tina was surprised at Leif acting like he’d only been gone an hour instead of two weeks.
“And who is with you?” Mrs. Hamner looked up at Leif again.
“This is Widow Tina Martin, her children Robby, Emma and baby Oliver.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs. Hamner,” Tina said while shifting Oliver with her left arm, ready to extend her right in case the woman offered to shake her hand. But the older woman’s hands were busy and she just nodded to acknowledge her instead.
“Please call me Annalina.”
“They needed help traveling to Kansas to meet up with her brother, so I offered they could travel with us on the cattle drive.”
“Pop-Pa. I hungry,” Emma stated, just as plain and matter-a-fact as a two-year old could do.
Leif was holding Emma, and turned his head and gave her a look of shock, like she hadn’t been calling him that name since they met.
“Leif looks a little like my late husband,” Tina explained to Annalina.
“Uh, we’ll eat after I get the horses taken care of.” Leif slid Emma down to the ground, holding on a minute until she was steady. “I’ll brush Leo and Beam down and put them with the remuda.”
Leif gave Tina, then his mother a quick nod before taking off for the horse team. He had parked their wagon about fifteen feet behind the chuck wagon, and next to the bedroll wagon.
Annalina didn’t say a word, watching Leif walk until he was around the wagon and over unhitching the team. Then her face beamed with a welcoming smile.
“I’m so pleased you’ve joined us,” Annalina said as she walked around the campfire and hugged Tina and Oliver at the same time.
“Oh, you have a newborn! How old is he?”
“Two weeks old yesterday,” Tina said proudly. She was amazed at how fast the boy was growing, but to someone else he’d still look very small.
“My husband, Oskar, told me Leif was back with a young family with him, and why. I’m so sorry for your troubles and glad we could help you out.”
“Thank you. I appreciated Leif offering your support, even though you knew nothing about his promise. Leif has since found out how much work small active children can be. He thought we’d catch up with the herd in a few days, not realizing how often we’d have to stop…”
Tina liked Annalina’s laugh. “But I think it’s been a good eye opener for him,” his mother said. “Leif looks and acts like a different man, thanks to you four, I bet.”
Before Tina could say anything, Annalina dropped to her knees to hug Emma, and then Robby. “Hello children, it’s nice to meet you. Please call me Farmor.”
“That word’s strange,” Robby puckered his brow. “What’s it mean?”
“It’s the Swedish word for…a special older lady, Robby,” Annalina smiled mischievously.
It warmed Tina’s heart and put her mind to ease when Annalina became a conspiring soul once Leif had moved away from hearing distance.
“I promise you we’ll all help take care of the children.” Annalina ran a hand over Robby’s head, causing him to look up at her in question.
“And I bet the first thing I need to do is feed you and Emma, Robby.”
That brought Robby to life. “You make rabbit stew, too?”
Annalina laughed. “Why do you ask about that? Do you want it, or don’t want it for supper?”
“Samson brings in rabbits and Pop-Pa makes stew for every meal.”
“Who is Samson?”
“Our dog,” Robby said while looking around seeking out the giant creature.
“He’s over by the wagon with Leif, Robby. Samson needs to stay there until he gets used to the herd,” Tina assured him.
“What will he eat if he can’t run to catch a rabbit?”
“He’d get our scraps after supper. But let’s get you fed before the hands come in,” Annalina said, while she efficiently moved the campsite.
How did they get so lucky to be taken in by a family of Texas Swedes?
Tina had met six young men who came in to eat supper, before heading back out to spend the evening with the herd. She couldn’t remember all their names, except the two nicknamed Owl and Rabbit. None of them were over fifteen and all were taken by her children. She guessed they reminded the boys of their siblings back home, wherever that might be. This was the third trip north for two of them. It’s was Owl’s first time, and apparently he got the nickname because he was always asking “who, what, why and how.”
She’d meet the rest of the riders either tonight or in the morning.
“So, you’re back, Hamner.” A man in his mid-thirti
es walked up to the campfire, hands on his hips, staring at Leif. Even though his clothes and boots were dusty, they showed quality and wealth.
Leif rose to tower over the man and meet his gaze. Tina thought there was a bit of animosity flowing between the two.
Then the man noticed Tina and his demeanor changed. “Well, nice to see we have company this evening. I’m Miles Wagner, the owner of this herd. And you are?”
Mr. Wagner held out his hand, and he seemed offended when Tina didn’t lift her right hand to shake it.
“This is Mrs. Robert Martin,” Leif intervened. “She and her children were in the train wreck near Austin recently, and I’m escorting them to her brother in Kansas.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I see now you are injured.” Wagner said eyeing the scar on her face. Tina hoped the redness faded in time because she was very self-conscious about it, although Mr. Wagner was the only one of the group who had mentioned it so far.
“Thank you, Mr. Wagner. I’m…we’re doing better each day, thanks to Mr. Hamner’s help.”
Wagner cocked his head and looked at Leif again. “You left, Hamner. So you here thinking you can have your job back as trail boss?”
“If you need me, I’ll do it, or else I’ll tag along behind, because I’m helping Mrs. Martin with her children.”
“I paid for the food for this trip, not expecting visitors to travel the whole way with us.”
“And I brought food for the Martins and myself, so that’s not a problem.”
“Is she paying you for the escort?”
Tina didn’t have time to respond before Leif answered back. “That’s none of your business, but I’m sure Tina can manage part of the time by herself if you want my help.”
“We could use Leif’s help since the man you hired to replace Leif, broke his leg and stayed behind in Waco,” Oskar drawled from where he sat on the ground, eating his supper.
“I don’t remember asking you for any advice, Mr. Hamner.”
“Dumskalle…” Annalina muttered under her breath and Tina gasped before trying to stifle a giggle. Tina looked around to see Leif trying his best to keep a straight face and his parents’ eyes wide realizing Tina had understood the Swedish word, which meant someone was a blockhead, an imbecile or a jackass.
Leif used the word all the time when he got mad at something, rather than use a swear word around the children.
“Did you say something, Mrs. Hamner?” Mr. Wagner requested an answer on what he didn’t understand, thankfully.
“Flies…” Annalina said, while shooing her arms around. “You best eat now before they carry your food away. She grabbed a tin plate and proceeded to pile his ration of beef stew on it, before plopping two hot biscuits on top. “Sit down to enjoy this, then come back for a helping of peach cobbler.”
“Yes, ma’am, I will.” Before he left, though, he turned toward Leif.
“You can start again by taking the night shift.”
“No, I’m not available to start work until dawn tomorrow.”
Wagner was ready to shoot back an answer that might not have been appropriate around two women, but he finally gave Leif a curt nod in agreement.
After Wagner strolled away to eat by himself, Leif’s mother whispered a rapid-fired question at Leif, while watching Tina to see if she understood.
“Yes, Moder, Tina and the children have been learning some Swedish from me, so you better watch what you say around them,” Leif teased her.
“Ha, Son. They’ll be learning Swedish from me, too.” Annalina grinned, then winked at Tina.
Tina was puzzled a moment, then thought back over the day. What word had Annalina already told Robby and Emma to use? Oh yes, the Swedish word for grandmother.
“You remember Sid Narker?” Leif asked his parents. The children were finally asleep in the wagon and the adults were sitting by the campfire drinking coffee as the light left the sky. Between the excitement of meeting new people, plus the constant sound of the cattle, it took an extra half hour of lullabies for Robby and Emma to drift off to sleep. After visiting with Leif’s parents a little longer, Tina was going to crawl into the wagon, too.
“Yes. Why do you bring his name up now?” Annalina asked with a concerned voice.
Tina looked at Leif. Why would his mother be worried about Sid?
“He’s Tina’s brother and she was on her way up to Kansas to meet him when the train accident happened.”
“Oh, my word.” Annalina clamped her hand over her mouth before she started to say something else.
“What’s wrong, Annalina?” Oskar asked.
But she just shook her head, not offering any explanation, and not wanting to look at Tina.
“Annalina, Leif said Sidney was with your cattle drive when you left Texas, but disappeared in March. I got a letter from him in April, stating he was working at a ranch near Ellsworth, Kansas, but I don’t remember the ranch’s name. After my husband died, I wrote of my loss to Sid, and he wrote back to come live with him.”
“He’s in Kansas?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“When did you last hear from him?”
“Actually, not since about the first week in June, I guess. My letters were lost in the wreck, so I can’t give you an exact date. Why?”
“Sid was giving Rania a hard time while he worked with us, and I suggested he leave. I didn’t realize he traveled to Kansas before we got the herd up there.”
“What do you mean by ‘giving Rania a hard time’, Moder? I thought Rania was sweet on him.”
“She was until Sid went too far.”
“What happened?” Oskar asked, now concerned.
“One evening Sid had Rania cornered down by a creek where we’d stopped, when Hilda came upon them. Hilda slugged Sid with a tree limb to get Rania free of his hold and the girls ran up to the chuck wagon. I marched down with my pistol and told him to leave immediately or I’d tell you menfolk.”
“What?! Why didn’t you say something then, Annalina?” Oskar boomed. There were four drovers sitting by themselves away from the group playing cards and not paying attention to their conversation until Oskar’s outburst.
The card players looked their way, but turned back to their cards after a stare from Oskar.
“Because I didn’t want you to get in trouble for going after him.”
Leif stared at his mother a long second before turning his eyes on Tina. Did he blame her for her brother’s actions?
“I…I don’t know what to say. Surely he didn’t mean to hurt Rania…” Tina whispered.
“When I got down there, he laid on his back, stunned by Hilda’s blow, and his trouser buttons were undone…” Annalina gave Tina a hard stare.
Leif and Oskar sucked in their breath at the thought of scene Annalina had come upon. Tina cringed, thinking of Sid’s planned action against a woman.
Oh, Sidney. What have you done?
Tina could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “Do you know if Sidney tried to see Rania since they’re in the same area?” Sidney did have a mean streak if someone did something to him, he thought was wrong. Would he try to retaliate against the Hamner women?
“I don’t think so. We got a telegram while in Texas that both Rania and Hilda married Wilerson brothers this summer.”
Tina let out a breath of relief. Surely Sidney was nowhere near Leif’s sisters then.
“Is it safe for you to be with your brother?” Annalina asked and Leif sat up, alert at his mother’s question.
Tina could only stammer and think of past instances of his mad outbursts. “I think so. We had a good upbringing, but Sidney has always had a bit of a temper, which drove my father….” Tina stopped, realizing she’d said too much.
“Which drove your father to do what, Tina?”
“Forbid him to set foot in our house after he turned eighteen.”
“And you think you’re going to go live with him?!” Leif demanded.
“Leif, he’s my br
other and we’ve always gotten along fine.”
“What if he gets mad at the children? Two are a handful and sweet Oliver….”
“I have no other place to go,” Tina interrupted him. “Yes, I have three children that can make life trying at times, they need a roof over their heads and food,” she pleaded.
“No, you have choices, Tina,” Leif snapped.
“Yes, I suppose I do, but it’ll be hard to find work which pays enough to support us, and the children are too young to be left alone by themselves.”
“You could marry again,” Annalina quietly suggested. Why did Annalina look at Leif when she said that?
“What man wants to take on three young children and an injured woman?” Tina asked in despair. The trauma of the past months and weeks felt suffocating all of a sudden.
“I…it’s been a long day, so I believe I’ll retire. Thank you for everything today, Annalina and Oskar. I appreciate your help.”
“You’re welcome, Tina. I didn’t mean to upset you about your brother, but…”
“No, I understand. If someone hurt Emma, I’d do the same as you did.”
Annalina nodded. They were both mothers and understood each other. Leif and Oskar on the other hand, still looked upset that Annalina had taken care of the situation without them knowing it.
“Do you need help getting in the wagon, Tina?”
“No, Leif, you’ve set up boxes and crates as steps for us, so I can get in by myself. Uh, good night, everyone.” Tina nodded and turned to walk to their wagon. She wasn’t twenty steps away before their low voices were rapidly talking in Swedish.
Tina was so upset, and embarrassed, with her brother. Why did he try do that to anyone? And to someone in Leif’s family made the whole situation worse.
At least nothing happened to Rania, and she was married now. Hopefully Leif would realize Tina was not responsible for her brother’s actions.
Tina sighed when she heard Annalina rapidly talking. Tina didn’t understand Swedish, but she could tell the woman was arguing, maybe why she hadn’t told her husband what had happened back then with Sidney and Rania?
Tina Tracks a Trail Boss: A Historical Western Romance (Brides with Grit Book 8) Page 6