“Are they okay? Is the team okay? I need to see if they’re all right!” she cried, her voice a painful rasp.
“Hey, hey, shhh, they’re okay. Just a little shook up, nothin’ more.” His deep voice rumbled in his chest. His heart was beating nearly as fast as hers.
Kate pulled back abruptly, scanning him for injuries. “Are you okay? Please tell me you’re not hurt!”
“I’m fine, Kate. Shhh. We’re all okay, thanks to you.”
“I barely made it!” Her voice sounded frantic to her own ears. Why couldn’t she stop crying?
“But you did make it! Kate, look at me,” he said earnestly, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Kate, that was the most amazin’ piece of drivin’ I’ve ever seen! You were incredible!”
She pressed her hands to her eyes. “I was so scared!”
“I wouldn’t have known, the way you handled it.”
Kate looked up at him. His face was streaked with sweat and dirt, and dust caked his beard. But his eyes were sincere. Her heart calmed some of its frantic pace. “Couldn’t have done it without you,” she said with a hiccupping sob.
“Happy to help,” he said with a wink. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we?”
She nodded, smiling tremulously through her tears. He still held her shoulders, his strong hands anchoring her, bringing her out of her fear. She brushed at the damp spot on his shoulder where her tears had mixed with the dust to form a muddy stain. “I’ve gone and made a mess.”
“Nothin’ a little scrubbin’ can’t fix,” he said with a soft laugh, releasing her shoulders.
Ma came up to them, placing a comforting hand on Kate’s back. “Are you all right, Katherine?”
“Yeah,” she sniffed, the feel of Jacob’s hands lingering in her imagination. She looked down. “But I should probably sit down for a spell.”
Jacob gathered his weary horse and mounted. “You hang tight here. I’ll go find your pa and let him know you’re all right.”
“Thank you, Mr. Munroe,” Ma said. “You were sent from the Lord to help us.”
“I don’t take much stock in all that, ma’am, but”—he nodded to Kate in appreciation—“I do know it takes a heck of a lot of skill and a whole lot of gumption for your daughter to do what she just did. You should be right proud.”
Kate’s chest swelled at the praise, and Ma put an arm around Kate and gave her a squeeze. “How very right you are.”
Kate smiled at Jacob as he tipped his hat and left, then she took a few shaky steps away from the wagon and plopped on the ground in a heap. It took hours for her hands to stop shaking.
Chapter 13
“Blast!”Katesuckedatthe bead of blood blossoming on her fingertip. “I can’t stand mendin’. Don’t know why Ma gave me this job on top of everythin’ else.”
“Maybe she thought you needed the practice,” Maria said with a wry grin, her own mending perched comfortably on her growing belly.
“It’s like she’s punishin’ me. ‘Oh, you saved us from bein’ trampled by a stampedin’ herd of buffalo? Here’s your least favorite task to reward you.’ As if sewin’ is gonna somehow reform me.”
Scowling, she went back to reattaching a button to one of Ian’s shirts, trying not to get blood everywhere, her movements even more awkward now without the use of one of her fingers. She shrugged her shoulders, trying to ease the pain in her neck. Her whole body was sore from yesterday’s frantic stampede. Thank the Lord no one in their train was seriously hurt, just one overturned wagon and some scrapes and bruises. The stock had been behind enough that Pa and her brothers had kept them from even approaching the stampede.
How does Ian keep his shirts so clean? She shifted the shirt on her lap, tilting it to catch the first rays of the morning sun. It was going to be a warm day. She just needed to finish the mending, then she could head to the fort with Danny. Now that was a chore she actually wanted to do. The minutes seemed to drag through mud.
“Mornin’, ladies.”
Kate looked up in welcome relief. “Good mornin’, Andrew.”
“You must be enjoyin’ this rest after such an excitin’ day yesterday.” He twirled his hat in his hands, squinting out at the morning sunlight.
“Well, if you can call a tedious and frustratin’ task restful, then yes, I guess I am.”
“Mendin’ shirts?”
