“Oh, hello.” Ruby stood up and shook her head. “That doggone fire is so stubborn tonight.”
“Oh, look,” Doris said happily. “It’s starting to catch.”
“Keep blowing on it,” Ruby told her.
“Is Jess around?” Elizabeth asked.
Ruby gave her a suspicious frown. “I’d like to know…why are you spending so much time with Jess lately?”
Elizabeth glanced around to be sure that no one was near enough to hear. “I know that she’s a girl,” she said quietly.
“Oh?” Ruby chuckled. “Well, it was bound to happen. I told her as much.”
“I promised Jess I’d keep it to myself. But now my mother has guessed her secret as well. I want to encourage Jess to give it up.”
“Good luck with that,” Doris said.
“It would be easier for everyone,” Elizabeth told them. “Jess could make friends with some of the girls her age.”
“You think they’ll be friendly after thinking she was a boy all this time?”
“Some would be. Belinda is a sweet girl. I’m sure she’d befriend Jess.”
“Even with folks like Gertie Muller spreading her poison about?” Doris said bitterly.
“So you heard about that?”
Ruby placed another stick on the fire. “Hard not to hear when all you got is canvas for walls. And some folks talk so loud.”
Elizabeth took in a slow breath. “You should know,” she began slowly, “that Jess told me that you ran a dance hall in Saint Louis, Ruby.” This sure wasn’t a conversation she’d looked forward to having. And she hadn’t planned on having it tonight.
“It was a profitable venture for all of us,” Ruby said defensively. “Put a roof over our heads and food on the table.”
“Yes…I’m sure it did. But I doubt it was a wholesome place for a young girl to grow up in.”
Evangeline stuck her head out of the wagon. “Don’t you go faulting Ruby for being a good businesswoman,” she said.
“Hello, Evangeline.” Elizabeth gave the pretty woman a stiff smile. “I hope you’re feeling better. And I’m not faulting Ruby for anything. I’m only here to speak about Jess.”
“Elizabeth is a trusted friend,” Ruby assured Evangeline. “And she’s right about Jess. The dance hall wasn’t a good place for her. And we all know that’s why she goes around dressed like a man.”
“One of my biggest concerns about Jess passing herself off as a man is that she’ll be expected to do guard duty with the other men,” Elizabeth confided to them. “And, believe me, my father would have a fit if he found out he’d put a woman on guard duty.”
“Jess can shoot as good as a man,” Ruby told her.
“That’s not what I’m concerned about.” Elizabeth frowned. “It just wouldn’t be proper. It would be unfair to Jess and to any man serving next to her. Surely you can understand that.”
Ruby rubbed her hands together over the warmth of the fledgling fire. “Yes, I suppose I can. And I don’t much cotton to the idea of Jess out there in the middle of the night in the company of a strange man…and with firearms involved.”
“So perhaps you can talk to her?” Elizabeth felt hopeful. “Tell her about my concerns and also that my mother has guessed her secret. And warn her that others might figure her out as well. Really, it would be much simpler if Jess just admitted to everyone that she’s a girl and then got on with it. Certainly, folks will talk about it for a spell, but everyone has plenty else to concern themselves with. I s’pect it won’t be long till they forget Jess pretended to be a boy.”
“Well, I’ll talk to her. But Jess can be awful stubborn sometimes.”
“She’s an intelligent girl,” Elizabeth assured her. “I think she’ll make the right decision.”
As Elizabeth walked back to camp, she hoped that Jess wouldn’t see this as interfering. She really liked the girl and understood that her life was complicated. But hiding behind men’s clothes wasn’t going to make it any easier. Elizabeth looked down at James’ old barn jacket and chuckled. Really, she was one to talk!
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Taylors’ Sunday morning service was just as well attended as last week’s. And as promised, Mrs. Taylor sat in the back of their wagon, playing on her slightly out-of-tune piano and singing all the verses in a shrill, tinny voice with no concern that no one seemed to know the words to the somewhat obscure hymns. Then Horace Taylor preached a long-winded sermon on the seven deadly sins. Despite the cheerful sunshine that was warming their heads, Elizabeth felt quite gloomy walking back to their camp with her mother and daughter.
“I like Grandpa’s church better,” Ruth said glumly.
“I think we all do,” Elizabeth said quietly.
“Do we have to go to the Taylors’ church every Sunday?”
“I don’t plan on it,” Clara said. “And I’m sure we can talk Grandpa into doing a little family service for us.”
“Matthew sneaked out early,” Ruth said.
“I noticed.” Elizabeth chuckled. “So did a few others.”
“Who’s that at our camp?” Ruth pointed to where someone was sitting by their fire.
“Looks like Jess,” Elizabeth told her. Ruth was still unaware of Jess’ true identity, and Elizabeth wasn’t even sure how she was going to explain it to her. “How about if you go tend to the chickens,” she said quickly. “I thought if their crates could be set out in the sun for a while, it might help their cages to dry out a bit.”
“Yes, I’m sure they’d like that,” Ruth agreed. “You know what they say about a wet hen.”
Clara laughed as Ruth skipped away. But her expression grew serious when they saw Jess’ tear-streaked face. “What’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked Jess.
“I just had a big argument with my aunt,” Jess told her. “She says I have to stop dressing like a man.” Jess looked up at Elizabeth with defiant eyes. “And that you and your mother are behind it.”
They both sat down next to Jess, and Clara poured her a cup of coffee, smiling sympathetically as she handed it to her. “We aren’t trying to make trouble for you, child,” Clara said gently. “We’re just concerned for your welfare.”
“We don’t want to see you doing guard duty,” Elizabeth explained. “My father would be beside himself if he knew that he’d put a girl on guard duty.”
“I could do it.”
Clara put a hand on Jess’ shoulder. “I’m sure you could, dear. But you are a woman. And it’s senseless for you to pretend to be anything else.”
Jess held her chin up, but her lip quivered slightly. “I didn’t bring any dresses with me. So my aunt said I had to wear some of Evangeline’s things since we’re the closest to the same size. And I told her I would rather wear a gunny sack and of course Evangeline got mad and then we all started to fight.”
Elizabeth exchanged a quick glance with her mother. “I have extra clothes,” she said quickly. “You and I are about the same size, Jess.”
Jess looked alarmed. “I can’t take your clothes.”
“I have plenty of things,” Elizabeth assured her.
“And we have fabric,” Clara said quickly.
“I didn’t come here to beg for clothes,” Jess said as she stood.
“I know you didn’t,” Elizabeth assured her. “But we like you, Jess. We want to help. Won’t you let us?”
Jess looked as if she was about to cry again but trying not to.
“Come on,” Elizabeth insisted. “Come to my wagon. This will be fun.”
“But I—”
“Come on, it’s just like having a sister,” Elizabeth said quickly. “I always wanted a sister.”
Jess continued to protest, but Elizabeth led her to the wagon, and soon they were inside, where Elizabeth was peeling back the bedding and digging about until she found the crate marked “old clothes.” “I packed clothing that I thought might be useful in Oregon,” she explained. “Some of my late husband’s things for JT to grow into an
d some of my dresses that I thought I might alter for Ruth someday. I knew at the time I was over-packing, but I figured that clothing was lightweight—you know,” she laughed, “compared to pianos.” She pulled out a light-blue calico, holding it up to Jess. “This was a dress I wore before having children. I’ll bet it’ll fit you perfectly.” She pulled out a brown gingham. “And this one too.”
Jess was fingering the fabric, examining the seams. “These are nice dresses, Elizabeth.”
“I’d love to see them on you.” Elizabeth dug around to find some petticoats and camisoles and a few other things, including a split riding skirt with a tiny waist that fit her before having children. She thrust them all toward Jess. “Go ahead and put something on now. I need to go help my mother with dinner.”
“Are you sure?”
Elizabeth laughed. “I can’t wait to see how you look as a girl, Jess. Why don’t you wear the blue calico today?”
As she climbed out of the wagon, she saw Ruth standing on the ground with a perplexed expression. Matthew, JT, and Asa were standing behind her with a variety of emotions on their faces, everything from concern to shock.
“Ruth said that you took Jess into your wagon,” Asa said solemnly.
Elizabeth couldn’t help but giggle. “That’s true. I did.”
“But why?” demanded Matthew.
Elizabeth was suddenly reminded of Mr. Taylor’s sermon against the seven deadly sins. Was it likely that her own family suspected her of being guilty of some? Surely not. “JT and Ruth,” she said quietly, “come with me.” Then, casting her brother and father a stern look, she ushered her children around to the other side of her wagon.
“Can you keep a secret for a little while?” she whispered to them. With wide eyes, they both nodded. Then she quickly explained about how Jess was really a girl pretending to be a boy and how she’d been helping her with some girls’ clothes just now. To her relief, although they were surprised, both of her children seemed to simply take this news in stride. Now if only the adults would be as gracious. Fortunately, the men had the teams and livestock to tend to since they would be pulling out at noon.
“Remember, don’t tell yet,” she warned JT as he scurried off to his own chores. Then she and Ruth went back to help her mother, quietly replaying the scene with Matthew and Asa.
Clara laughed loudly. “Oh, my!”
With dinner well in hand and the table set, Elizabeth knew that the men would be coming to eat soon. “I’ll be right back,” she promised Clara. Then she slipped back to her wagon to check on Jess. To her relief, Jess was fully dressed in the blue calico, and it fit almost perfectly.
“Wonderful,” Elizabeth told her. “I thought you were about the same size as me—at least before I had children. Childbearing changes the figure some.” Elizabeth reached for a brush and helped to comb out Jess’ dark-brown hair. Long and wavy, the color of chestnuts, it was really quite lovely.
“It feels good to have my hair down again,” Jess admitted as she picked up her big brown hat and sighed.
“You look very pretty,” Elizabeth told her.
“Thank you.” Jess smiled shyly as she held out her hands. “Thank you for everything. I don’t even know how to thank you properly.”
“Seeing you like this is pretty good thanks.” Elizabeth was bundling up the other clothes now. “And I want you to take the rest of these with you.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “And you can do one more thing to thank me, if you don’t mind.”
“What?”
“Let me introduce you to my father and brother.”
Jess giggled. “I heard them outside the wagon. They sounded rather perturbed.”
“They were very perturbed.”
Together they walked back to her parents’ wagon, where everyone was just sitting down to dinner. “I have someone I want you to meet,” Elizabeth announced. Everyone looked up, and although her mother and children were wide-eyed with bemusement, the men looked downright bewildered.
“This is Jessica Morris,” she told them. “Previously known to everyone as just Jess. And some of you probably assumed that Jess was a boy. But you were wrong about that. For as you can see, Jess is actually a lovely young woman.”
Now Asa and Matthew and even old Brady looked completely stunned. But after a long moment of startled silence, Asa started to laugh. And standing, he went over and clasped Jess’ hand. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Jessica.”
She nodded, smiling nervously.
Elizabeth handed her the bundle of clothes. “You’re welcome to join us for dinner if you—”
“No, thank you,” Jess said politely. “I should go find my aunt and the others.” She reached out and hugged Elizabeth. “Thank you so much!”
“Well, I’ll be,” Asa said as he sat back down. “I never saw that one coming. Not at all.”
Matthew shook his head in wonder. “So that’s why Jess was so quiet all this time, keeping to himself. I mean to herself.”
“She’s real pretty, isn’t she?” Ruth said pleasantly.
“She surely is,” Clara answered. Elizabeth saw Matthew nodding with a hard-to-read expression. But unless she was mistaken, she thought that Jess might have just turned her brother’s head. Of course, this reminded her of Violet and how she’d broken his heart. But if ever two women were completely unalike, it was Violet and Jess. As different as night and day. Perhaps that would be a good thing.
After dinner, Elizabeth asked Ruth to go over and invite Jess to ride with them in the afternoon. “Since she’s wearing that dress,” she told Ruth. “It’s not really suited for riding.”
Ruth was happy to oblige and returned shortly with Jess and her horse in tow. “It might be interesting to ride in a wagon for a change,” she told them as she tied her horse up to the back. Meanwhile JT had opted to ride Molly.
“Do you know how to drive a team?” Elizabeth asked as they climbed up into the seat.
“Ruby’s been wanting me to learn, but I haven’t even tried it yet.”
“Well, then it’s probably high time you did.” Then feeling almost like she’d gained a sister, Elizabeth released the brakes and snapped the reins, and the wagon eased ahead, directly into the Nebraska sunshine.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The next week passed somewhat peacefully with mild springlike weather, and the wagon train made good progress along the trail. Rumor had it that Gertie Muller was ailing from a cold she’d gotten during the rainy week. And although Elizabeth and her family were praying for Gertie’s recovery, they did enjoy this quiet reprieve. Jess enjoyed it too, and thankfully, after everyone got over the initial surprise regarding her identity, no one seemed much concerned.
Not only were they unconcerned, but Jeremiah Bramford, Will’s son, seemed to have taken an interest in Jess. “Jeremiah wants to know when you folks are going to have another party with music and dancing,” Belinda told Elizabeth as several of the women and girls walked together alongside the wagon on Saturday afternoon.
Elizabeth shrugged. “I don’t know of any birthdays coming up.”
“Augustus has a birthday next week,” Lavinia said without enthusiasm. Augustus was her youngest son, just a bit older than JT.
“Let’s have a party for Augustus,” Belinda suggested.
“Yes!” Evelyn agreed. “But instead of waiting for next week, when everyone will be worn out and want to go to bed early, let’s have a party tonight!”
And just like that, the girls were suddenly planning another birthday party. The Bostonian girls promised to handle everything. And Ruth even suggested that her grandma might help them bake a cake. “But you’ll have to do most of the work,” she said sternly. “So you can learn how it’s done and do it for yourself the next time.”
“And we’ll invite everyone in our unit to come,” Amelia said eagerly.
“Let’s go start inviting them right now,” Evelyn suggested.
“Can I go too
?” Ruth asked hopefully.
“It’s all right with me,” Belinda said as she took Ruth’s hand. Elizabeth simply smiled and waved to her daughter, and just like a small flock of birds, the girls flitted away, chirping and running back and forth to all the wagons, inviting everyone to the evening celebration.
“Oh, my,” Lavinia said as just she and Elizabeth plodded along through the tall grass. “I wish I had just a portion of their energy. As it is, I’m exhausted, Elizabeth. Sometimes I feel like I can’t even go on.” As Lavinia complained, going on and on about all the deprivations and hardships, Elizabeth looked longingly out to where Jess was on horseback ahead of them. Wearing the split skirt and her hair in two long braids, she was cantering along in a carefree sort of way, and Elizabeth suddenly wished she were with her. But instead of riding as she’d wanted, she had agreed to walk with Lavinia this afternoon.
“I know it’s hard work,” Elizabeth said patiently. “But look at your children, Lavinia. They are having such an amazing adventure. This is something they will remember for the rest of their lives.”
“If they all survive this trip.” Lavinia sniffed. “Oh, sometimes I think I must have lost my mind to let Hugh talk me into this nonsense. I am halfway tempted to demand we turn around at Fort Kearney next week. We could hire a guide to get us back to St. Louis and be back in Boston by late April.”
“Oh, Lavinia.” Elizabeth could hardly believe her ears. “You cannot be in earnest.”
Lavinia swatted at the gnats that were flitting out of the grass in front of them. “I am simply not cut out for this rugged life. I am a city person. I like my conveniences. I like having a comfortable home and a housekeeper and a cook. I am sick to death of making fires with wet wood and trying to cook with smoke in my face. I’m tired of being damp and cold. Tired of sleeping in a lumpy bed in the back of a wagon. My feet hurt. I am sick of everything. Every single bit of it. I hate all of it.”
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