Westering Women Read online

  Nine

  June 15, 1852

  Fort Kearny

  Maggie was fearful that Big Joe would return or that he would tell the other Indian men about the caravan of white women, and they would come and take them away. She kept Clara close to her the rest of the way to Fort Kearny.

  The fort was a disappointment. She had expected a stockade, but there was only a collection of dilapidated buildings made of mud and sod. Hundreds of emigrants were camped on the rain-soaked ground a mile outside the fort, creating a sea of white-top wagons and milling and bawling animals, as crowded as St. Joseph.

  William set up camp near the Platte River, where the women could wash themselves and their clothing. He said they would stay for a few days, since some of the wagons needed repairs and the oxen could use the rest. So could the women, Maggie thought. She and Mary used the time to repack their wagon while Winny searched for more items they could discard. Caroline and Bessie mended shoes and clothing and caught up on letters home.

  * * *

  AT FIRST, PENNSYLVANIA House stayed close to the camp. On the trail, she had hidden in the wagon whenever another train passed them, afraid that Asa would be among the travelers. He had purchased mules, which were much faster than oxen, she told Maggie. Now, with so many emigrant groups arriving at the fort, Penn said, she was sure that Asa’s company would be among them. He would be looking for her, waiting to snatch her up. Maggie understood. Like Penn, she, too, worried about the travelers who passed them on the trail. Her situation was even worse, she thought, because men who knew about the reward for her might be out there, and she would not know who they were. She told Mary about the reward, and Mary insisted that Clara, still dressed like a boy, keep company with her. No one would confuse her with the description the lieutenant had given of Maggie.

  “Perhaps Asa has forgotten you by now,” Maggie told Penn, although she knew that was not likely.

  Penn shook her head. “I know he’s out there. He’ll find me one day.”

  “Well, you cannot live in a wagon all the way to California. “You ought to visit the sutler’s store. The fort is so crowded, and with all the soldiers about, he will not be able to hurt you there.”

  Penn thought it over and shook her head.

  “You cannot live your life in fear,” Caroline said. She had been helping Maggie repair a rip in a wagon cover, holding the edges together while Maggie sewed. “If God does not protect you, Joseph and William will. I will go, too.”

  Penn was still reluctant. “I don’t need nothing there.”

  “We must get you a shawl,” Caroline said. Women in the train had given some of their clothing to Penn, and she had picked up items abandoned on the trail, but there had been no shawls among the discards.

  “I don’t need one.” Penn laughed. “It’s hot enough to cook taters in a basket.” She added, “Besides, I only got me a dollar.”

  “It won’t always be this hot. You must have something warm to cover you for the mountains. William says the nights are very cold, and we may encounter snow before we reach California,” Caroline told her.

  “I can do without,” Penn said.

  “If it is the expense, there is money set aside. Besides, shawls are cheap here. I am told the sutler sends men out to rummage through the abandoned property in search of merchandise to sell.”

  “There’s others that needs—”

  “None so much as you. Besides, the others brought along warm clothing.” When Penn still hesitated, Caroline said, “Maggie will come, too.”

  Maggie found Mary and asked her to watch Clara. Although Clara still dressed as a boy, Maggie did not think it wise to be seen inside the fort with her.

  The store was a low building with a roof of poles, brush, and sod. Maggie was glad her skirt had been shortened and did not drag on the muddy floor as she and Penn searched the crowd, examining men’s faces in search of Asa.

  Penn stopped searching when she saw the array of goods. As if she were in a magical emporium, she looked in awe at the stock of bonnets and skirts, the scrub boards and washtubs and basins, the heavy china dishes and a set of teacups as thin and fragile as a moth’s wing. Maggie wondered if, in years to come, their owner would regret leaving the cups on the trail or trading them to the sutler for necessities. She thought of the teapot packed in her trunk, the one she had taken from the Madrid farm for Mary. She would give it to her friend when the time was right.

  A bolt of calico lay on the counter, and Maggie could not help but pinch the cloth between her fingers. It was cheap, but the red color was pretty.

  Penn saw the fabric and touched it, too. “The flowers, they look real,” she said.

  “You like red?” Caroline asked.

  “More than anything. It’s the color of sunset.” Penn turned to look at a collection of jewelry in a glass case. She stared at a ring with a ruby stone, bringing her face up to the glass.

  The sutler took it out and put it on his little finger, turning it back and forth to catch the light from one of the smoky lamps that lit the store. “It’s real,” he said.

  “Real glass?” Penn asked.

  The sutler snorted. “Real ruby.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad.” Penn looked disappointed. “I thought maybe it was real glass. I don’t know a ruby.”

  “A ruby’s better. Try it on.” He handed her the ring.

  Penn looked at Caroline for approval, and the older woman shrugged. Penn put the ring on her finger and held it to the lamp. “Someday I’m going to have me a real ruby ring.”

  “Only two dollars,” the sutler said.

  Penn gave her pretty laugh, the sound of bells tinkling. “You could ask a hundred dollars for all I care. I don’t have no money to spend for a ring. Fact is, I don’t have no money at all for nothing pretty.”

  “A dollar, then, on account of you like it.”

  Penn shook her head. “Like I said, I don’t have so much as a nickel to spend on it.”

  “Then why did you ask me to take it out?” The sutler, annoyed, put the ring back into the case.

  “I did not.”

  “We are looking for a shawl, a red shawl,” Caroline said quickly.

  “Ah, red. Everybody wants red. That will cost you.” His eyes lit up.

  “I do not want red,” Penn said suddenly. “Blue. Do you have a blue shawl? I favor blue. Red puts me in mind of a bloody pig.”

  “Blue is more expensive than red. It is rare, and all the women like it.”

  “Well, I would not want a red one.”

  “Show her the blue ones, then,” Maggie put in, frowning a little.

  “Anything but red.” Penn nudged Maggie with her elbow, and Maggie caught on, understanding then that Penn was a wily buyer. Maggie stepped aside.

  The sutler pulled out a shawl that was a deep navy blue, almost black. “A beauty,” he said.

  “Not so’s you’d notice,” Penn told him. “It ’pears more black than blue.”

  He unfolded a second shawl. “There, the color of the sky.”

  “On a cold day,” Penn told him.

  “I cannot be all day showing you shawls. Them’s the only blue ones I got. Now if you would favor red…”

  “Oh, choose a red one,” Maggie said, hiding a smile.

  “I guess I can wait for Fort Laramie. I hear they got shawls cheap there.”

  “Laramie ain’t so well stocked as here. Besides, it can get mighty cold at night ’tween here and there,” the sutler said.

  “I reckon I will just get cold, then.” Penn nodded at Maggie and turned to go.

  “Now just hold on. I would not want a little thing like you to get a chill. Might catch pneumonia. I could sell you a red one real cheap.”

  “I do not want red. I already said,” Penn protested.

  It was Caroline’s turn to step in. “Now, dear, we do not have money to burn. Maybe—”

  Penn stamped her foot so hard that Maggie jumped. “It ain’t going to be cheap enough for me.�
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  Caroline looked confused. She apparently did not understand Penn’s bargaining tactics.

  “Three dollars. You will never find a shawl in Laramie for twice that.”

  Penn only harrumphed. “That ain’t cheap.”

  The sutler took down a pile of red shawls and sorted through them, pulling out one that was worn and faded. “I could let you have this one for two dollars.”

  Caroline nudged Penn with her knee, because the price was far less than what she had told Penn she would pay.

  “I would not care to wear a shawl that was all tore up.” Penn searched through the pile, setting aside each shawl until she came to a red paisley that was almost new. It was finely woven, and the colors were bright. She flung it around her shoulders. The shawl brought out the red highlights in her pale hair. “That one might do—for a dollar and a half.”

  “Robbery!” the sutler said.

  “I do not like it that much anyway. Our trading’s done.” Penn started for the door.

  “Now wait up. I could let you have it for a dollar and seventy-five. I will lose money, but I hate to see a body go cold.”

  Penn put her hand over her face to hide a smile. “What do you think, Mrs. Swain?”

  Caroline looked as if she had expected to pay twice that much for a shawl, and one with only half the quality. “I do not want you to be cold either,” she said, taking out her purse and putting the money on the counter before the sutler changed his mind. She snatched up the shawl and hurried Penn out of the door.

  “Do you care for it at all?” Caroline asked when they were outside.

  Penn had taken the shawl from Caroline and put it over her shoulders and was running her hands over it. “Might be the prettiest shawl I ever saw. And red! Red is my favorite color. I never in my life thought I would own a red shawl as fine as this. It is a dream.”

  “For a moment, I was not sure,” Caroline said. “You bested that man, and he has been in the business a long time.”

  “From now on, Penn should do the purchasing for us. She will more than pay her way with what she will save us,” Maggie said.

  Penn grinned at her two friends, then grasped Caroline’s hands. “Thank you, Mrs. Swain. Nobody in my life ever bought nothing for me.”

  “That is what friends are for.”

  “I never had me a friend neither.”

  As Caroline put the coins into her purse, she suddenly took out a penny and handed it to Maggie. “I believe I saw sticks of candy back there. It would please me if you would purchase one for Clara.”

  While Penn and Caroline returned to the camp, Maggie went back inside the store. She waited while the sutler dealt with another customer, a large man in rough clothing. Maggie paid him little attention until she heard him say, “Give me that red ring there.”

  The sutler took it out of the case and set it on the counter. The man pocketed it and slammed down a dollar.

  “Hey, that costs two dollars.”

  The man ignored him and left the store. The sutler, shaking his head, pocketed the coin. Maggie stepped up and pointed at a peppermint stick. The sutler took one out of a jar and handed it to her. Maggie held out the penny, but he shook his head and told her to keep it, saying, “Why should I make a profit today?”

  * * *

  ONLY A FEW women remained in the camp when the three returned. “Where have they gone?” Maggie asked Mary.

  “Reverend Parnell took them to hear a harpsichord concert. A woman has agreed to play the instrument, which she has hauled all the way from Boston. It is said she plays poorly, and the instrument is out of tune, but it is a great diversion, and none have heard such music since leaving Chicago. Dora took Clara and Evaline with her, and a few of us stayed behind to watch the camp.”

  The three strained to hear the delicate sounds of the instrument, but it did not carry all the way back to the wagons. Still, they heard the squawk of the fiddles and the notes of a flute that accompanied it. Penn danced to the sound of the music, flinging her shawl over her shoulder, then waving it as she twirled. She grabbed Mary’s hands and swung her around until Mary, clumsy at dancing, nearly fell to the ground. When the violins finished, Penn held the shawl in front of her and bowed to the women watching her. She smiled, and Maggie thought for the first time that without bruises and the haunted look Penn had worn most of the way from St. Joseph, she was pretty. She and the others clapped.

  “More, more!” Winny called.

  “You dance like a fairy,” Maggie told Penn. “You should have a fine gown to go with the shawl.”

  “Red velvet with lace,” Sadie said. “You have the tiniest feet I ever saw.”

  “And the dirtiest.” Penn had stored her shoes in the wagon, and her feet were muddy from the damp earth.

  Penn was a happy, joyous creature just then, and all it had taken to restore her was a shawl. Well, a shawl and a wagon train of women who had made her one of them, Maggie thought.

  The music started up again, but Penn was finished with her dancing. She carefully folded the shawl into a triangle and wrapped it around herself so that the point was in the middle of her back and the black center was at her neck. She smiled again at the women, a little embarrassed now, but happy, as if she wanted to wrap them up in the shawl with her.

  Maggie pinched the thick fabric, admiring the swirls of red and yellow, the touches of green and blue, rust and orange. “I believe it comes from Scotland. If you had a red velvet gown, you would indeed be the prime attraction at any ball in the city. Someday, when we are in California, I shall make you such a dress, and you will wear it with long white gloves.”

  “And a tiara, a diamond one like my mistress had,” Winny put in. “Only it would look so much better on you, Penn. Mrs. Fletcher looked like a crow with a crown.”

  Maggie laughed, and Winny smiled at her, knowing Maggie had seen her mistress.

  “I hope you don’t care about me dancing. I love it so,” Penn said to Reverend Swain. He was the only man who had stayed behind with the women. “Dancing ain’t a sin, is it?”

  “Not when it brings joy to the Lord,” he replied and took Caroline’s hand. She smiled up at him, and he smiled back. Maggie had not seen him smile before and thought he looked less stern and doctrinaire.

  “Thank you,” Penn said. She made a clumsy curtsey and nearly slipped in the mud. Instead of being embarrassed, she laughed. Everything that afternoon seemed to make her laugh—and made Maggie laugh as well.

  “We are truly banded together now,” Caroline said. “We may bicker and disagree—and will continue to do so—but I believe we will go forward with a closeness other trains might envy.”

  As the others, all but Maggie, returned to their chores, Penn took off the shawl and carefully folded it. She would use it only in the coldest weather, she told Maggie. It would be a pity if such a fine garment was torn or dirtied. She looked up at the clouds and smiled when she saw a rainbow. She pointed it out to Maggie, who said it was as good an omen as she had ever seen.

  Penn looked out over the wagons, their covers like clouds that had come down to earth. That was when she saw him, walking slowly toward her, a dark figure against the white wagon covers. His large hands hung loose; his powerful arms swung at his sides. He was a big man, with blond hair that curled around his neck, hair that was bleached by the sun. His face was bronzed. Even from a distance, his eyes shone bright blue with a touch of warning as he smiled.

  “Asa,” she whispered, too frightened to move. She held the shawl against her chest as if it were a shield.

  Maggie gasped and swung around to stare at the man she had seen in the sutler’s store.

  Ten

  “You look awful pretty in that red blanket. Awful pretty,” Asa said, smiling again.

  He sounded charming, but Maggie knew how cruel he was, and she was not deceived. She took a step toward Penn as if to protect her, but stopped when Asa glared at her.

  “You ran away. You didn’t even tell me you was going
. You stole something from me. That wasn’t nice, on account of I was so good to you. But it’s all right. I found you. You can go on to California with me,” Asa told Penn.

  “I will not.”

  “Well, sure you will, woman. We been together two, three years. You belong to me. Besides, I come to get back what’s mine. You took it from me.” He reached for her arm, but Penn backed up until she was against the wagon.

  “No. I didn’t take nothing. You keep away from me, Asa.”

  “Aw, come on. You know you love me. I come on ahead of the others to find you. They wasn’t ready to leave yet, so I come by myself ’cause I know you want me.”

  “Not no more. You beat me.”

  Asa smiled again. “I’m real sorry for it, but it weren’t no more than a slap. Besides, it was your own fault. You made me do it. You was wrong making me mad, talking back the way you done. It ain’t a woman’s place to do that. But you’ll learn your lesson once you give back what you stole, and I’ll forgive you. I’ll treat you real good now. You remember how it was when we met up. You sure was happy then.”

  “You changed. You said you was going to kill me.”

  “I meant nothing by it. You know that.”

  “Where’s your brothers?” she asked.

  “Oh, they’s coming, both the other boys. Elias and me was waiting for Reed when I figured out you joined up with them spinsters.” He looked at her darkly. “You remember how I kept Reed from hurting you.”

  “You done no such a thing.” Penn shivered, and Maggie reached out a hand. “Reed’s the worst of you Harvey boys.” Penn turned to Maggie. “Reed put his thumbs on my eyes and said he’d gouge out my eyeballs if I didn’t do what he said. He forced me. I told Asa, and he beat me instead of Reed.”

  “I’ll do it again if I find him sniffing around you. You better not be sweet on him.”

  Maggie did not know what to do. Reverend Swain was gone, and the other women were back with the wagons. If she interfered, she would likely be struck down by Asa, which wouldn’t help Penn. She watched, wary.