“It is a bit long but much quicker than riding all the way there or going by wagon. On the last leg, we will rent a wagon and ride it up into the hills.”
As Belle looked around at the other passengers, a question stuck in her mind. They were heading to Geordie’s home, to his family. Did that mean he wanted her to stay there with him, or was he just bringing her for a visit? They really should have cleared such things up before they left.
Now was not a good time to have such a talk, not in a car full of people and two small children close by. She had come because Morgan had seemed rather determined that they would all go together. Abel had demanded that he come, although she was not sure if it was to make sure he stayed with her or because he wanted to see where Robbie lived. The more she thought on it, the more she realized even her aunt had been of a like mind, helping her to pack and rushing her out the door.
“Was Mr. Hobbs headed back to Boston?” she asked Geordie as she began to wonder why her aunt had so heartily assisted in what was beginning to look like a conspiracy.
“I dinnae ken. Forgot to ask him, but I would think so.”
“Why? He has no job back there at the moment.”
“He doesnae? He must. Lawyers always have work.”
“He said his only job right now was to make sure Morgan was settled. He saw to that. Auntie mentioned he was going to help her keep her house and told me he had been part of a law firm, and Morgan was his first job now that he was on his own. That carriage he loves so much was given to him when the firm shut down.”
“So you are worried about him staying there alone with your aunt?”
“No, just wondering if it was why she shoved me out the door.”
He chuckled. “She didnae shove ye out the door, just stopped ye from dawdling.”
“I was not dawdling, I was merely making certain we had everything we needed for this trip.”
When he just mumbled a sound of agreement, she glared at him, only to find him asleep. Belle shook her head, then settled herself more comfortably in her seat and closed her eyes.
* * *
It was growing dark by the time the train stopped. They all got off so that Geordie and James could get tickets for the next leg of the trip. Belle did not like standing there in what seemed like a huge crowd to her. And the air itself felt dirty. Hanging on tightly to Morgan and Abel, she waited tensely for the men to return. When they finally did, she breathed a big sigh of relief and followed Geordie back onto the train. It was not until they were seated and the train started on its way that she realized she had seen nothing of the town they had stopped in. She hoped she could regain enough courage to look around more the next time they stopped.
* * *
Sleepy and struggling to remain steady on her feet, Belle let Geordie lead her off the train. Three days on trains had wrung her out. They all went to a rooming house and soon had the children tucked in bed in the room she and Geordie would share. Knowing she needed to eat, she went to get a meal with James, Robbie, and Geordie after they had securely locked the children in the room and paid a housemaid to keep a watch on them. It was the last thing she could recall until she felt herself set down in the back of a wagon. She knew she ought to ask what was going on, but she fell asleep again. The thought of how she should learn more about why she was in a wagon when she had been on a train brought her back to wakefulness quickly. She was abruptly awake and alarmed.
Even as she sat up so fast her head spun, Belle saw Morgan and Abel staring at her with openmouthed surprise. She pressed her hand to her forehead until the dizziness faded, then looked at Geordie, who was sitting on the seat next to Robbie while James drove. “Did I finish my dinner?” she asked.
Geordie laughed as did the other two men, and that annoyed her. “Aye, ye did. Ye didnae fall facedown into your food. I am nay quite sure what happened. Took us a while to guess that ye had gone to sleep. It was the not waking up that worried us.”
“You didn’t wake up when he brought you into the bedroom, either. You just rolled over and went to sleep, or back to sleep,” said Abel and then he giggled. “If I hadn’t been able to see you breathing I would have thought you had died.”
He then hopped out of the wagon when James stopped in front of a stable. She let Geordie help her down and found her legs still a little wobbly. She really needed to find out why she had gone out like that, as it appeared to have taken a lot out of her.
“It was frightening, funny, and inexplicable all at once. One man on the train was a doctor and he said it was either a very deep exhaustion or you were having trouble with what was coming out of the smokestacks. That is why we have been riding in a wagon, which we have been driving to the next stop but we’ll now try again.”
Morgan nodded. “He felt that, since you couldn’t leave the train yet, you should be kept away from the windows and taken a distance away from the train whenever it was stopped. Geordie was happy when we reached that last town and he could rent a wagon.”
“Maybe you aren’t one who can ride a train,” said Abel.
“But I have to be able.”
“Why?”
“Because Geordie and I need to go back and forth from his house to my house, from the hills to the shore.”
“And we will,” said Geordie. He helped her onto the train and started looking for seats. “Either by train or by wagon or by horse. I did notice, Belle, that if ye are at the clear end of the train and there is a goodly amount of circulating air, ye are fine. I will admit that when I was headed east on the train I started to feel as though a piece of rock was caught in my throat.”
“Lozenges,” said a woman and held out a small wrapped thing for him to take. “I take them a lot when on one of these contraptions. Next time you get that feeling, try one. Be sure to save the wrapper so you know what to buy if you want more.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He frowned a little when the woman scurried across the aisle to sit next to Belle, then he quickly bit back a smile when Abel sat on Belle’s lap with his arms crossed over his chest.
