“Trace it?”
She tilted her head to the left, squinting at him sideways. She placed soft fingers on his ribs. “Well, here’s Europe. Great Britain. Africa is over here.” She moved around to his back, her touch leaving a trail of tingling warmth. His heart started beating fast. “Then India. Asia.” Her hand paused just under his shoulder blade. “Australia.”
“Where are we?” Jacob asked softly.
Following a line down his back Kate said, “South America. North America. And somewhere in the middle of the wilderness, we are here.” Her fingers brushed lightly across his side. She looked up at him, her face inches from his. He could see the flecks of gold in her eyes. Her lips partedever so slightly. Time slowed. Jacob could feel the thud of each heartbeat as he stared into the depths of her dark eyes.
She ducked her head, hurriedly wound the bandage around his ribs, and left without a word, leaving cold emptiness in her place.
Jacob scrubbed a hand through his dark hair, trying not to think of how close he had come to kissing her.
“He must be cutting teeth again,” Maria said, bouncing a wailing Davie on her hip. There were dark circles under her eyes and a sheen of sweat on her brow. “Nothing I do seems to calm him down.”
“Let me help, Maria. I can clean up and you two can go straight to bed. You look exhausted, you both do.” Kate began gathering plates.
Maria pushed Davie into James’s weary arms. “Kate, you don’t have to do this.” Kate just plucked the pot of boiling water off the fire and went over to the wash bucket. Maria grabbed her good hand before she could plunge them both into the water. “Kate, stop!” She turned Kate gently until they were facing each other. “I was the one who wanted to take care ofyou.After what you went through—”
A memory of rough hands flashed through Kate’s mind. Fear constricted her throat. She closed her eyes and took a calming breath.Lord, give me strength. Then she looked into her friend’s compassionate eyes and put on a smile. “Helpin’ others is good for me, Maria. It keeps me busy, gives me somethin’ to focus my mind on. If it’s just me and my thoughts …” Kate trailed off.
“Of course,” Maria said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
After Kate had cleaned up and bundled Maria and Davie into bed, James walked her back to her camp and delivered her into her brothers’ care. Ian and Danny had made it their mission to stay by her side at all times, or to recruit others to do the same when that wasn’t possible.Andrew had fallen off the face of the earth, it seemed. She hadn’t seen him since Fort Kearney. But Ian sat with her as they drove the wagon, Danny accompanied her to the creek to fetch water, and they entrusted her into Jacob’s care when she was supposed to be caring for him. A lot of good he would do in his condition.
The next morning as the sun was graying the horizon, Proctor called out in his gruff voice to move out. Kate checked the tug chains a final time, her hand awkward and aching in its bandages, then hitched up her skirts and climbed the spokes of the wheel into the high wagon seat. She gathered the lines and was about to call the team forward when Jacob’s voice floated up to her from the other side of the wagon.
“Hang on there a minute, Kate!” Jacob’s head popped up over the edge of the wagon bed, his hat knocked askew and sweat on his forehead as he struggled up the side one-handed, the other arm clenched to his side. “I know I ain’t as sprightly as you in my present condition, but there’s no need to run me over for my tardiness.” He grunted, and with a final heave, hauled himself up onto the seat and gingerly settled beside her.
“I thought yesterday tired you out too much to come sit up here again,” Kate said with a smile.
“I might not be a whole man right now, but I ain’t an invalid,” he said, carefully readjusting his hat.
“Could’ve fooled me, the way you griped,” she teased.
He scowled. “I weren’t gripin’.”
“Sure you weren’t,” Kate said with a smirk. She flicked the lines and called the mules forward. The wagon jerked into motion and the right front wheel dropped into a deep rut, lurching Kate directly into Jacob’s solid shoulder. He hissed and clenched his side.
“Sorry!” she said quickly, flustered by his nearness.
“Ah, it’s nothin’,” he said with a wince.
“You sure?”
Jacob eyed her, a smile tugging at his lips. “’Course. And I ain’t gonna gripe no matter how much you saw on those lines.”
Kate huffed and looked ahead. “It’s those infernal prairie dogs and their holes. There’s so many, a body can’t help but hit them sometimes.”
He chuckled. “No need to get all worked up, I was just teasin’.”
Kate cut her eyes over at him. His blue eyes sparkled with mirth in the half-light of dawn. Kate couldn’t help the shy smile that tugged on her lips. Then Joe gave an annoyed bray, and she snapped her gaze forward again. She’d better concentrate, or she’d have a mule mutiny. She flexed her injured hand.
They rode in pleasant silence while they jostled into their place in the line of wagons and the sun slowly colored the horizon behind them. Kate watched in delight as the prairie around them began to glow in the lavender and rose and tangerine of an early summer sunrise. It was like the Lord was telling her everything was going to be all right, that there would always be beauty in this world even if it was full of hurt and pain. The sun broke over the edge of the earth and threw their shadows against the golden hills before them.
“Beautiful,” Kate breathed.
Jacob looked over at her. “Sure enough is,” he said softly.
Kate flushed slightly and gazed out at the countryside. “I hope that wherever we end up, our place has sunrises just like this.”
