The Seeds of Change Page 5

  “I see.” Lilac nudged her sister. “I think I’ll take you up on the pallet offer, unless you want to sleep.”

  “No, you go ahead.”

  Sometime later, when they reached the little house by the lake, Holt and Jonah unhitched the oxen and let them loose in the fenced pasture to graze. “We’ll let them drink at the trough after they cool down,” Mr. Holt explained.

  Lark met her sisters at the door. “Bring a pallet in, and you three can sleep in the bed.”

  “We could sleep outside. It’s such a beautiful morning.” Del hugged her older sister. The sky in the east turned pearly gray, etched with pink clouds.

  “We’re going to be sleeping outside plenty. Enjoy a bed while you can.”

  A while later, Forsythia woke to the sounds of someone starting a fire in the round-bellied stove. She lay and watched Lark, now dressed in her new persona as Clark, blowing on the tiny flame started by a flint. Her sister’s beautiful dark hair was shorn shorter than many men’s, and her faded, rolled-sleeve shirt and pants hitched up with a belt above worn boots completed the picture. Her boots would be doing a lot of walking in the days and weeks ahead.

  Forsythia sat up and stretched. “Is there an outhouse here?”

  “Good morning to you too.” Lark smiled at her. “Out behind the house.” She pointed to a door on the back wall.

  Forsythia left her shoes by the bed and headed outside. The dew on the grass soothed her feet and soaked the hem of her dress. Something else to be thankful for. They would not see outhouses along the trail.

  “We’d better appreciate a hot breakfast,” Lark said, dishing up the bacon and scrambled eggs while Lilac poured coffee into metal cups. “Thank you for this cozy house, Mr. Holt. I can see why your wife loved to come here. Trees for shade, water to wade in. Such riches.”

  “We thought often about moving here, but you can’t leave a farm for any length of time. You all get on the road, and I’ll clean up here and shut the house down again.”

  “Oxen are hitched up and ready to roll,” Jonah said, coming through the door. He joined them at the table. “I’m sure going to miss all of your cooking. Did you talk to Anders about moving the wedding date sooner?” He looked at Forsythia.

  “I did, and he said they are seriously considering it. I wish they could have had the wedding before we left, but that couldn’t happen.”

  Anders and Josephine had grown up together but only recently decided that their friendship was a good basis for marriage, perhaps because of Anders’s near brush with death. If Josephine had had her way, they’d have been married the day Lark brought him home over six months ago. Anders had refused until he knew he could manage the store again and make a life for his future family.

  With everyone ready and the wagon loaded, Lark stepped up beside the oxen and lifted her whip, pointing it down the road. “Lord, as you blessed the Israelites with the crossing of the Red Sea, so we ask that you bless us as we head west into our new life. We thank you in advance. Amen.”

  She flicked the whip, and the oxen began to move.

  Jonah rode near Lark, who walked beside the off ox. He kept his voice low. “I know you’re glad to be leaving and see this as an adventure, but please be careful. I mean, I know you are always careful, but . . .”

  Lark gave him a look from under the brim of her slouch hat.

  “I know, I know. Who am I to talk? But I never thought . . .”

  “Ja.”

  “You sound like Pa, but . . . but I . . . Sorry sounds like such a mealy word.”

  “And what would Pa tell you?” She walked with her gaze straight ahead.

  “To think of others before myself.” He paused and snorted. “Actually, he’d tell me to think before I do anything. I can hear him saying, ‘You got to think and ask God for guidance.’ I’m sure Jesus didn’t want me in the saloon.”

  “Nor me either. I fell in the same trap you did, and look what it has cost us.” She shook her head, regret lacing her chest. “Lord, protect us.”

  “I better get on back. Write soon so we know how you’re faring.”

  “Now you sound like Anders.”

  “Guess that’s not such a bad thing.” Jonah pulled his horse back toward Mr. Holt. “You ready to head back?”

  “Anytime you are.”

  They said their good-byes, and the girls watched them go. Tears dripped down Lilac’s cheeks as she perched atop Starbright. “What if we never see them again?”

  “Then we’ll live with that.” Lark, ever practical, motioned Lilac to bring the horse alongside her. “Keep your eyes out for something we can have for supper. Rabbit, squirrel, quail, doves. Get out the shotgun and make sure it’s loaded with small shot. We’ll set snares every night, as there are rabbits all around here. Remember that time I brought in a deer and Pa was nearly flummoxed? He wasn’t sure he wanted his daughters to be so proficient with firearms. But if I hadn’t been, I never could have brought Anders back.”

  “Did you have to use your gun?”

  “I did. Ran off a pair of ruffians who thought my horse and wagon should belong to them. I shot one in the leg and the other in his shooting hand. He was right upset about that, but they both hightailed it away. It took my heart a while to settle back down where it belonged. Other times I stopped at a house or farm and was welcomed right into the family. I never could have made it without the loving and caring people along the way. I was able to buy a bag of oats in one town, but so many were barely hanging on themselves. They’d gotten real handy at hiding the supplies they had to keep the raiders and soldiers from stealing them blind.”

  “Forsythia gave up. She said we’d never see either you or Anders this side of heaven.”

  “It took a lot longer than I figured it would, but when I left home, I had no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that God told me to go and He would get me there and back. Perhaps some evening around a campfire on this trip, I’ll tell you more about what I saw and experienced. One thing for sure, I knew the hand of God was around me.”

  “Do you feel that now?”

  “Not so much, but then, we aren’t in any danger yet. But I do feel certain this is His will for us.”

  “I’m glad somebody does,” Lilac muttered into her chest.

  Lark patted her younger sister’s knee. “It’s going to be hard, but it’ll come out good. You’ll see. Think of this as an adventure. You know, you could write lots of stories from this trip.”

  “I thought of that. Did I tell you I brought Pa’s last two journals along?”

  Lark rolled her lips together to keep from laughing. Leave it to Lilac. “Good for you. Found a hiding place for them, did you?”

  “In the trunk with all our clothes and some of the bedding. I brought two of Ma’s paintings too.”

  “And paints and brushes? Canvases?”

  “They don’t take up much room. Not like the piano.” Lilac patted the mare’s neck. “I know how heartbroken Forsythia was to leave the piano, and I cried right along with her.”

  “But Del has the guitar?”

  “She hung it in a sling from the roof hoops. Anders helped her, muttering all the time. And we have the fiddle.”

  Lark thought of the harmonica she kept in her satchel. Pa had taught her and Del, while Mrs. Saunders had been Forsythia’s piano teacher for years. They’d been born into their love of music and art of all kinds. And their mother’s garden was known even beyond their town as a place of peace and beauty.

  “And we’re leaving it all behind.” As usual, Lilac seemed able to read Lark’s mind.

  “Not all of it. We have seeds, the rosebush starts, and diagrams of the garden. Sythia told me about Del’s idea—when we find our new home, we’ll name it Leah’s Garden, in honor of her. Someday when the railroad comes near to wherever we are, we’ll have Anders and Jonah send us more starts and bulbs, irises and lilies.”

  “More fruit trees too.”

  “And nuts.”

  �
�What are you two talking about up there?” Forsythia called from the wagon seat. “Does someone else want to ride up here and keep watch? I’ll walk and guide the oxen for a while.”

  “I will,” Del answered.

  When the wagon stopped, Forsythia clambered down. “Can we get a drink?” She stretched, bending over to pull some tension from her back. “I hope we can stop by a creek or river or something tonight.”

  “The water keg is full.” Lark headed for the barrel strapped to the side of the wagon and dipped into it so they all could drink.

  “Anders mapped out towns and such for us,” Forsythia said. “We might be able to purchase some fresh fruits and vegetables that way.”

  Lark hung the water dipper back on the hook by the barrel. She then showed Forsythia the basics of guiding the oxen with a few simple commands of the whip. It was amazing how different driving oxen was from driving horses.

  When they stopped for dinner, Del handed around ham sandwiches and cookies they had packed from home. Though the bread was nearly as dry as crackers, they ate it anyway, knowing these were probably their last sandwiches for months.

  When they started off again, Lilac mounted Starbright, Del took over driving, and Lark and Forsythia walked beside the oxen. They drove through one small town, with people waving at them and two young boys walking with them for a time.

  “How far you going?” asked one.

  “California,” Lark answered, just in case that gambler lived up to his threats to come find her to get his money back. In all the throes of getting going, she’d nearly forgotten why they left.

  “Pa says that’s a long, long way away.”

  “Yep.”

  “On the other side of the world,” added the other one.

  “’Bout so.”

  “Good luck, mister.” The two waved and dropped back.

  Lilac rode up beside Lark. “Did you change your mind? I thought we were going to Independence, Missouri, then on to Nebraska.”

  “That we are, but if someone tries to find us, I don’t want to leave a trail.”

  “Oh, like the gambler.”

  “We don’t know if that man will live up to his threats, but we aren’t taking chances. I want to get far away from Linksburg as quickly as possible.”

  Late in the afternoon, Lark rode ahead and found a creek for them to camp by, riding off the road a short way to find a good camping place shielded from view.

  “There’s a perfect place others have used,” she told her sisters. “It even has a fire ring.”

  “Good thing.” Forsythia pushed her sunbonnet back off her head to feel the breeze now that the sun was going down. “I’m beat.”

  And to think this was only day one. Lark studied her sisters. We’ll take some hardening up, that’s for sure.

  6

  What a lovely spot.

  Lark and Del unhitched the oxen and, after lowering the wagon tongue to the ground, led them forward to lift the yokes from their necks. The animals shook their heads and then their whole bodies.

  “Can we wade in that creek?” Lilac closed her eyes and spun in a circle. “After watering the animals, of course.”

  “You all go ahead. I’ll water and hobble the animals.” Lark waved them off. “Just don’t take long. We need to find wood.” Just for tonight, she told herself. This life is new to all of them. She’d had the search for Anders to help prepare her for this. “Come on, Sadie, let’s get a drink.”

  Sadie, Sam . . . they needed to think of names for the other two oxen. Soda and Sarge? Lark chuckled. She led the animals to the creek and let them drink their fill. When they raised their heads, water dripping from their jaws, she herded them back up by the wagon and set about hobbling them, then did the same for Starbright. Something about the peace of the falling dusk and the song of the creek made her pause and draw in a deep breath. Inhaling the animal smells along with that of the trees and grass, she tucked the sights and smells away in her heart.

  She started a fire with flint and stone from the tin and some dried leaves and kindling she found, then grabbed the metal coffeepot and headed up-creek where the water would be pure. Dipping the coffeepot into the burbling water, she shook her head at seeing her younger sisters still knee-deep in the creek’s flow.

  “We need firewood,” she called. Trying to make her voice stern didn’t quite work. She envied them, but someone had to be in charge and make sure supper happened. After all, she’d walked farther than any of the others.

  Lilac soon came hurrying into their campsite with an armload of firewood.

  Lark nodded her thanks. “We need to remember to put some wood in the wagon in case we hit a rainstorm.”

  “Which will happen sooner than we planned.” Lilac pointed to the west, where black thunderheads were chasing away the sun.

  Lark blew out her disgust. They were prepared for rain with slickers hanging from one of the hoops, but she would prefer to be near a barn or someplace to shelter. Lightning forked the burgeoning blackness. She dumped out part of the coffee water so it would boil more quickly, then threw in a couple of handfuls of ground coffee. The others hustled back with more wood.

  “Break it up and stack it in and under the wagon,” Lark instructed. “What did you plan for supper, Del?”

  “I was planning to make biscuits and fry the beans with bits of bacon.”

  “Better get the beans in the frying pan, quick. We can eat in the wagon.”

  Thunder rumbled in the distance. The animals continued to graze, ignoring the drops that spattered as the wind kicked up. Forsythia handed out the slickers, shivering all the while.

  The mare threw up her head, wind catching her mane. Lark snapped a rope to her halter. “Just to be safe, girl.” Patting Starbright’s neck and watching the sheet of rain draw nearer, she blew out a breath. Please, Lord, protect us from this storm. She drew the mare into the shelter of the trees, but the oxen kept right on grazing.

  The others had retreated to the wagon, carrying the steaming coffeepot and sizzling frying pan. Lark leaned against Starbright’s warm shoulder, and the mare went back to grazing the sparse grass around their feet. The storm hit like an upturned bucket of water. Thunder roared closer and closer as lightning stabbed the sky.

  When the thunder crashed right over them, Starbright jerked her head up against the lead. Lark murmured to gentle her down, all the while locking her hand in the rope right under the mare’s jaw.

  “Look at that, heading on east.” She puffed out a sigh of relief. The torrent soaked everything around them but didn’t hover over them. Within a couple of minutes, the rain went from drenching to dancing and then to dripping. “Okay, girl, go join the oxen.” She unsnapped the lead rope and stopped to look at the fire pit. There would be no trying to restart the fire.

  “Come and eat, Lark,” Del called. “The coffee is still hot too.”

  “You don’t have to ask me twice.” She joined the others crammed in the rear of the wagon.

  “Fried beans are really good when you’re as hungry as I was.” Lilac handed her big sister one of the metal plates Anders had supplied.

  “Where are we going to sleep?” Forsythia asked after a jaw-popping yawn.

  “Two can sleep in here, and I’ll spread the oilcloth on the ground under the wagon for the third,” Lark said. “We’ll be taking turns keeping watch, three each night. Who wants to go first? I’ll take the third until daylight.”

  “I can go first. Will we start a fire to fix breakfast?” Forsythia asked.

  “I think not. Everything will still be wet. We’ll eat what we have.”

  When Del woke Lark for the third watch, the moon was flying so bright that even the grass etched shadows.

  Lark stretched and pointed to the bedroll. “I kept it warm for you. Isn’t this glorious? Kind of like a benediction after the storm.”

  “Thanks to the moon, I could keep track of our grazers. They kept wandering despite the hobbles. But they just laid down a few minu
tes ago. Guess they finally got full.” She tucked her boots under the foot of the bedroll and slid in between the blankets.

  Lark rubbed her hip where there must have been a rock hiding in the grass. Sleeping on the ground was going to take some getting used to. She poured herself a cup of cold coffee, and her mind leapt to the road ahead, all the unknowns. Had they brought enough supplies? Would the money she’d won stretch far enough to set up a whole new life? Had they even left early enough in the season to join a wagon train? During the storm, she had questioned the wisdom of leaving home like this.

  “Lord, you know I’ve prayed about this, and I so hope I was listening for your answers. We could still turn around and go home if you think that’s best. I don’t want to be out of your will. Thank you for never leaving us alone.”

  With the moonlight so bright, the stars were dim. Her father had loved the stars, taught her the major constellations and how to navigate by them, little dreaming she would ever need that knowledge.

  When dawn cracked the eastern skyline, she roused the others, no closer to being sure of God’s will. Everything had happened so fast—and all because of her actions. As light colored the sky so they could see more clearly, she rounded up the animals while her sisters dressed. Del helped her yoke the oxen.

  The sun just glimmered on the horizon when they bowed their heads for Forsythia to pray for God’s blessing on each of them, the animals, and the long day ahead.

  “And thank you, Lord, that you moved the rain on quickly so we needn’t be concerned about muddy roads. Please bless our travels today, and thank you for your protection and guidance hour by hour, day by day. We rejoice and praise your holy name.”

  They all said the closing “amen,” and Lark checked on Forsythia up on the wagon seat, Del on the horse, and Lilac walking with her.

  “All ready?” She hupped the oxen, flicking the slender whip at the same time.

  “This sure was a nice place to camp,” Lilac said, looking back. “In spite of the rain. Do you think we’ll find another wagon to travel with soon?”