Page 10 of Caroline’s Compass

Nathaniel looked at Eleanor. Eleanor looked at Caroline.

Caroline waited for the correction. Eleanor would improve the order, add the missing concern, or ask the question Caroline should have anticipated.

Eleanor said, “South.”

Nathaniel nodded. “South it is.”

The drivers returned to their wagons.

Caroline remained beside the road. “You did not ask about water.”

Eleanor adjusted her reins. “Did you find water?”

“A shallow run beyond the rise.”

“Then I did not need to ask.”

“You usually do.”

Eleanor studied her. “You are leading the Whitaker wagons now. I cannot give you authority and then take it back every time you use it.”

Caroline looked toward Nathaniel. “Did marriage make you reasonable?”

“No,” he said. “I have been trying for weeks.”

Eleanor glared at him, but her mouth softened.

Caroline climbed onto the driver's bench. Thomas rode beside the front wheel as the company turned south.

“You were right,” he said.

“I know.”

“You accepted that praise quickly.”

“I have practiced.”

Before the first wagon committed to the southern trace, Caroline walked the opening hundred yards again. She pressed a stick into the wheel ruts, checked the cottonwood bearing, and studied where standing water thinned along the grass roots. Thomas followed without correcting her.

“You may say something,” she told him.

“I am waiting to learn what you see.”

She explained the firmer soil and the slight rise beyond it. When she finished, he asked what would make her change the recommendation. Caroline named deeper mud beyond the rise, a sharper grade, or fresh wagon damage. He nodded as though her answer mattered as much as his own survey.

The south trace held. Wheels pressed into damp earth without sinking. At the rise, Caroline checked the compass again. Thomas did not guide her hand this time.

The bearing was correct.

She felt the truth of it before he spoke.

For the first time since leaving Independence, Caroline chose the road and watched twelve wagons follow.

*****

AT THE NEXT BREAK, Caroline attempted to teach Lucy how to record supply use. The lesson began with eight candles and ended with nine because Lucy found one beneath a blanket.

“The total improved,” Lucy said.