Bright Morning Star

by J. R. Biery

  Another reason besides the fact that he was already married, to lose interest in Henry. The west was full of handsome men. Not all would be like Calum Douglas, some would want a short, pretty girl to marry. There were a dozen possible candidates seated behind them. Ten to one, she had read in one article. She would meet the perfect man, then, well then she knew how to win him.

  When the priest admonished all present to give thanks and to beg forgiveness, Claire fumbled for her beads. Quickly, she bowed her head and thanked him for protecting and keeping everyone safe last night. She also thanked him for giving her the wisdom to know that one could feel an attraction for someone and not act on it. That a special awareness and fondness for them was not the same as love. She prayed for God to let her know when the right man was present and to guide and protect her heart. Finally, she prayed for each person in their party and murmured, amen.

  <><><>

  By the time they emerged from the shadows of the entrance, Claire was laughing at the pretty flattery from the two soldiers beside her. She heard Bonnie talking to one of the young troopers, a thin man with red hair and mustache much like her brother Ian.

  Claire watched as the young man pulled a letter from inside his shirt, blushing at having the women watch him undo his shirt buttons. He was so young and sweet. Claire had to give him a big smile. Both watched him smooth out the paper, pull a thin, worn pair of sheets from the envelope and offer the empty envelope to Bonnie.

  Happily, Bonnie accepted and addressed the back of it to her two brothers, listing Lieutenant Douglas and the fort at the bottom of the envelope before tucking the three sheets of printed paper that she had covered the backs of with her own letter.

  “I promise you, Mrs. Michaels, I will try to find and give them this letter as soon as we arrive. If they are not there, I’ll personally mail it to wherever they may have been posted.”

  The boy actually bowed to them and Claire and Bonnie both dropped a curtsy. So old fashioned and sweet. Why couldn’t they have all been at the dance last night?

  Father Wimberley stepped up to take his daughter's arm, Mary Anne grabbed Bonnie’s hand. “Hurry, times wasting,” Father said.

  <><><>

  Maybe we’ll see you on the trail, the officer in charge of the troops called after the girls.

  In their absence, Henry had harnessed the oxen. While Barney played with his doggies, Bella had made the lunches. For a while he and Father Wimberley argued about how to run the wagons. With one tandem set of wagons gone with the machinery as well as its three spans of oxen, the choice seemed simple. They put the wagon Bonnie had been in charge of behind their own and ran them in tandem, each still pulled by three pair of oxen. In minutes they were all on their way west.

  As they pulled out of the park gate a man ran up to stand in their path. “Please mister, have you a wagon to sell.”

  Father Wimberley warily studied the man who was holding his arm close to his body.

  “We done had our outfit stolen during the night,” the rough looking man added.

  Claire shuddered. There was something very unsavory about the man and his skinny companion. Bonnie climbed down from her seat beside Mary Anne and stared hard at the man. She reached into the wagon for her shotgun and cocked it. The man winced at the loud sound and stepped back.

  “I might, but it wouldn’t come cheap,” Father Wimberley answered. Bonnie looked at the still loaded bed of the second wagon and shook her head. Cautiously, she walked back to examine the back of the tandem bed of the Lambton’s wagon. Bella looked through to ask what was holding them up.

  “There’s room in my wagon for the rest of your goods, but it would mean the lads and Mr. Wimberley would have to use the tent. A man claims his wagon was stolen during the night and needs to buy a wagon right away. I don’t know if he’s going to make a realistic offer, but it might be a chance for you to make a profit.”

  Bella called out to Henry and repeated everything to him. Bonnie watched the other members of the group beside the side of the road. There was something familiar about the dark eyed man. Decided, Bonnie walked up to join the men.

  The one holding his arm was arguing, “Three hundred is mighty dear, we’ve just been robbed. We could pay you fifty, then at the end of the road, maybe pay another two hundred.”

  Bonnie used the wagon wheel to step up so her mouth was at ear level and hissed to Father Wimberley, mounted on his horse.

  Both mounted men turned to look at her. “Don’t look, but the man behind the gate was at the department store yesterday. I’m pretty sure the one talking is the one I shot last night. Be careful.”

  Claire made room for her friend to sit on the wagon seat. And Bonnie whispered to her. “Do you recognize the man behind the gate? I’m pretty sure he was at the department store yesterday. Claire stared at him and her mother tried to follow the conversation. “I think you’re right,” Claire said.

  “Hey, we’d like to see the wagon up close. Show us all its features, you know, any built-ins or secret boxes, that sort of thing,” the man with the bad arm demanded.

  Henry rode up, excited at the prospect of making an easy sell. “Well, Mr. Wimberley has some fine details. The benches fit into interior slots on each side and clamp during the day, but can be taken out and used for seats when you camp.”

  Mr. Wimberley angrily moved the rifle from the sleeve of his saddle and angled it across his arm. “Sorry, we don’t do business on credit. Good luck to you,” Father Wimberley looked to the twins. “Move ‘em out lads.”

  Claire was aware of how disappointed Henry looked, but at least he had enough sense not to say anything to Father. Bonnie dropped down from the wheel as Henry rode back to manage his wagon. Claire watched Bonnie stalk ahead, the shotgun still cradled in her arms. Even over the creak of the wagons and the plodding and lowing of oxen, Claire heard the man whisper.

  “You will be sorry, just you wait mister. You and them women will be real sorry.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “You said he was there when you sold the clothes?” Father asked.

  “What do you think they were after?” Henry asked.

  “I’m sure of it. Remember Henry, when I told you to block one end of the wagon while I guarded the other. There were two men, supposedly working in the warehouse, but both were trying to watch Claire change.” Bonnie paused for a minute. “They must have seen the store manager pay Henry. I don’t think they were really after the oxen last night, they just couldn’t get close enough to get the money without waking the dogs or boys.”

  “It doesn’t make sense,” Father said. “What does their trying to catch a glimpse of my daughter in her skimpies have to do with last night? Claire was in our room all night.”

  Claire blushed at the image, then perversely wondered if Henry had been tempted to peek.

  “How were they able to get past the three of you, and the two dogs, to take the bells off the animals in the first place?” Henry asked.

  Claire listened closely to the animated explanations. Everyone had an opinion to offer. She racked her brain for something interesting to say.

  Bella leaned forward from coaxing Barney to eat. “Maybe someone at the hotel, one of the bell boys or waiters, saw your wallets were thin and thought there was probably a lot more in the wagons. You both were talking about all the profit you made in town.”

  Mother nodded. “Remember I warned you about talking about your business in public.”

  Henry looked annoyed and the others exchanged glances.

  Claire grabbed Bonnie’s hand. “Maybe they drugged you?”

  Bonnie made a face at her. “Put something in our food? How, when?

  “If they were in cahoots with the waiters,” Mother said.

  Father interrupted her, “Where did you learn that word, cahoots?”

  Mother looked guilty. Claire knew she didn’t want to admit that she and her daughter had snuck and read the dime store novels he had stashed in his room.

&n
bsp; Bonnie saved her from having to answer. “If they searched the wagons and didn’t find what they were looking for, maybe then they tried to take the animals instead,” Bonnie said. “It could be. I ate a little before dinner came and let the boys and dogs finish my meal. That’s why I wasn’t as sound asleep.”

  “That’s why they wanted us to show any secret places in the wagon,” Henry said.

  “If we had, they might have robbed us there and then,” Father Wimberley said. He looked at the frightened women in front of him, but didn’t need to voice what they were all thinking.

  “Thank goodness Calum Douglas taught us all how to use our weapons,” Bonnie said. No one else spoke.

  “I think our priority at this point is to keep moving, stay on guard. As soon as we get an opportunity we’ll join up with other wagons,” Father Wimberley said.

  <><><>

  The soldiers they had met at church showed up just before noon on the trail. They were in high spirits, conducting one of the daily patrols that would end with them back in town at one of the red-light saloons near the river.

  For a while, they rode along with the party, listening to Father’s tale of the thieves the night before. The sergeant in charge promised to be on the lookout for the men. “If we find them, we will arrest and take them back for questioning. But since you said nothing was taken, we probably won’t be able to hold them.”

  “They threatened our women,” he lowered his voice and repeated the threat.

  “One of them may have been wounded,” Bonnie said. “I fired to scare them off last night, and this morning, we were stopped by a man who was holding his arm as though it were hurt.”

  Claire was smiling at the soldiers riding beside her wagon, especially the one who kept twisting the ends of his mustache and rolling his eyes at her. He was so ridiculous, he made her laugh. The soldier on the other side of her wagon couldn’t help but try to compete.

  “Goodness, Miss Wimberley, you are so gorgeous. With that golden hair and those blue eyes, why you’re like a perfect, like a perfect summer day.” It was Mother’s turn to laugh this time. “I meant no disrespect ma’am. She’s just the prettiest girl I ever met.”

  The mustache roller didn’t want to be ignored. “A lovely, English rose, just like her beautiful Mother,” he said, raising his hat and bowing from the waist to them both.

  Claire smiled at Mother, hoped it was true that she was as beautiful as her mother. Mother was half Irish, on her Mother’s side. But she had always been called beautiful, especially by her husband. Up ahead, Claire heard Father raise his voice, knew he and Bonnie were telling the sergeant their exciting story. She was curious, but too busy being flattered to try to listen.

  Henry rode past, grumbling as he had to ride his horse off the trail to get past them. He scowled at all of them and Claire tried not to laugh again. Two of the other soldiers moved up after Henry and soon Claire was parrying comments and compliments from all four of the soldiers.

  When the sergeant ordered the troops to follow him, Claire felt bereft. It might be wrong, but she loved the flattering attention of the young men. After all these days on the trail, it was nice to be made to feel young and pretty again.

  Henry rode back to his wagon, again his face was dark and angry when he looked her way. Claire ducked her head until he was past. The last thing she needed or wanted was to be scolded for flirting with the soldiers. She felt too happy. Instead, she traded places with Mary Anne and hurried to keep pace with Bonnie. She needed someone to talk with.

  Bonnie smiled down at the bubbly blonde who was chattering away as she breathlessly tried to keep up. Impetuously, Bonnie lifted the pink faced girl onto the back of Shadrach, Tom’s pet oxen.

  Claire gasped and teetered. She fastened a hand on the smooth wood of the oxbow to keep from falling. But as the animal plodded along, undisturbed by his unusual rider, she relaxed. Finding her balance on the well-padded shoulders, she took a deep breath and continued to ask Bonnie’s opinion of which man would make a better husband. When Bonnie shrugged, Claire pouted in irritation. “Okay, I’m going to tell you about each one again. But now this time, you need to listen, because I’m counting on your advice.”

  <><><>

  It would be two weeks before they reached Independence, Missouri, where the trail would split and lead them to northern Utah. With each passing day, the men grew more and more irritable. With only two tandem wagons, there were too few, even when separated, to corral the animals at night. More time was spent by the lead rider in finding a suitable camping place. Not only did they need grass and water, they needed suitable terrain or several sizeable trees. Usually they had to create a rope corral, since they couldn’t hobble the cattle and there weren’t that many hills or valleys.

  Although neither man was a weapons expert, they were always armed and ready for trouble. At night, each man stood four hours of guard duty. At first they alternated early and late watches, before realizing they would have better sleep if they kept the same pattern. So Henry stood late watch, Father took the early morning hours. They tried, but the dogs were unwilling to split up. So Tip and Tyler kept, or slept, watch with each man. It was reassuring, because any strange sound or smell would bring the animals instantly awake and bristling in readiness.

  The women learned to work quieter. At times, Claire felt they were walking on egg shells. Anything that Bella said, Henry would flare up in anger. Father Wimberley went to bed as soon as he ate supper, or he and Mother would argue.

  The women remained by the fire, talking softly each night. Henry and the twins would check the cattle, washing their necks when the yokes were removed, lifting and cleaning their feet. At the beginning of the trip, that chore had seemed foolish nonsense listed in the pioneer handbook. But after so many days on the trail, all knew their safety and success depended on the health and well-being of the oxen and horses.

  The days seemed longer and the nights shorter. Claire had taken over the dish washing, just one of the things she now did to help Bonnie. Ever since the girl had chased off the thieves, Claire was determined to treat her better, to help her friend. Tonight was no different.

  Claire stood at the edge of the camp’s light, emptying the dish pan after washing the last of the plates. She felt a tremendous relief when she saw a large glow near the horizon. When she heard a twig snap nearby, she jerked with surprise, until Henry spoke. “Beautiful, isn’t it? First real town since we left St. Louis.”

  “Independence?” Claire asked. It could only be the rugged frontier town where they hoped to join a larger wagon train. In the dark, she couldn’t see him clearly, but knew he nodded. “Father still has a wagon full of mining hand tools, gold pans, and wagon parts to sell. As well as his second wagon. What about you?”

  She knew the Lambtons still had a third of one wagon filled with boxes of undergarments, dress shirts, and skirts to sell. The store owner had been uninterested in any of their ‘boxed goods.’ Patiently, she listened to Henry’s cultured voice explain everything to her again.

  In the distance, they heard Bella stand, keeping a hold of Barney so the child wouldn’t fall. In the night, it was easy to hear her movements. Claire knew she could hear their conversation as well. Guiltily she hurried back to the fire.

  <><><>

  Independence was teeming with a hustling population of wagon trains, trappers, and soldiers. Calvary men rode past and Claire eagerly searched for familiar faces. Bonnie searched as well, then yelled out to one of the soldiers. When she learned they were headed to Fort McPherson she was able to hand a letter to one of the soldiers to pass on to her brothers.

  Claire had helped her write it, reminding her to tell them about the other soldiers they met in St. Louis, and about the thieves she’d chased off. Mainly it was full of news to reassure them all were well.

  Bonnie was walking as usual, holding hands with Mary Anne and carrying Barney. The twins walked like bookends beside the tall woman. All were busy taking in the strange
people and sounds. When Barney screamed, Bella and Claire both clambered down from their wagons. Bella reached him first and took him from Bonnie’s arms. Mary Anne had her face buried at Bonnie’s waist. Together the young women turned to where a handsome man on a wheeled platform saluted before rolling along the boardwalk. He used his knuckles to paddle along because he had no legs.

  Bonnie and Claire exchanged a glance. Claire remembered Lynne’s words about her mail-order bride ad when she first read it. Phillip Gant had written a simple description, Tall, well-formed veteran without vices and Lynne had joked he was probably an old goat with one leg or one eye. Claire crossed herself in prayer for her friend. In her last letter, Lynne had assured the girls her husband was perfectly formed and handsome. They had both giggled over that part of the letter.

  Although Claire had been tempted by all the ads for brides, she lacked the courage, or desperation, to answer one. She could never marry a stranger. She needed time to find the perfect man, one her family would approve of. She knew he was out there waiting for her somewhere and she was keeping her eyes open. Even if she had to kiss a few frogs to find her prince, she was determined she would find him.

  As their party drove down the main street, a man rushed out and asked if either of the men wanted to sell a wagon and team. Henry sold the Lambton’s second wagon, along with four of his oxen. He rushed to move his leftover stock to empty the wagon. Father Wimberley moved around them and on to a store ahead that had tools in front. He had no luck there, but then moved on down the street, letting Bonnie and the boys stay with the wagon while he made inquiries inside.

  Claire returned with Bella and Barney to the Lambton’s wagon. Claire helped Henry move goods and empty the second wagon, then held one team of oxen as he freed the first two pair. Tom and Jim ran up and helped him. She noticed they made sure that the oxen he sold didn’t include their pets. As soon as the wagon was ready, Henry dismounted and went in to ask the merchant if he was interested in acquiring any new merchandise.