Read Dorothy Garlock for Free Online Page B

in the early morning light.
    “I wonder why they didn’t send us out on the stage, Lottie. I doubt it would have cost as much as outfitting this train.”
    “‘Cause they kin sell the wagons ’n teams ’n the rest of the stuff when we get thar, and the profit will pay fer most of the trip.” She gave Tucker a contemptuous glance. She had filled her lower lip with powdered snuff, which was now trickling down the corner of her mouth.
    Tucker untied the strings of her stiff-brimmed sunbonnet and took it off. The breeze ruffled her hair. The sun was climbing higher over the horizon, promising a warm day as only a Texas day could be in the middle of April. She watched the rhythmical steps of the mules, each hoof kicking up a tiny puff of fine white dust. The miles stretched before them, endless and timeless.
    Laura’s hand found Tucker’s. “We’re on our way, Tucky. We’re on our way to California.”
    “We’re on our way. I pray to God we get there.”
    “Humph!” Lottie said, and spit over the side. “Ya got a better chance gettin’ thar with Lucas Steele ’n Buck Garrett than ya’d a had with anybody else.”
    “Do you know much about them, Lottie?”
    Tucker smiled her relief that Laura had asked and she didn’t have to.

    “Know of ’em? Both ain’t got no quit atall when it comes to fightin’. Both got enough gumption not to fight if ’n thar’s a better way. They can track ’n palaver ’n fight if’n they got to. Can’t ask no more of a man.”
    “They must be about perfect then.” Tucker said it under her breath, but Laura heard.
    “Tucker! Are you all right? You didn’t sleep good last night. I heard you turning and turning. I lay awake, too, and listened to the coyotes and the owls.”
    “I was too tired to sleep,” she answered absently. And had too much to think about, she added silently to herself.
    “Where are you from, Lottie?” Laura asked.
    “Indian Territory.”
    “Did you leave a family behind?”
    “Yup. In the ground.”
    “Are you going out to find a husband?”
    Lottie spat into the dust, shifted the heavy reins, and glared at Laura, her leathery face grim. Laura sat smiling, unaware she had found a raw spot with Lottie.
    “Ya ask a powerful lot of questions, missy. Ain’t none of yore business why I go, but I’ll tell ya and get it settled. I ain’t got nothin’, not a pot to piss in, I ain’t got nobody, not a human. I come to hate these prairies, ever’ inch of ’em—and they stretch a million miles. I got nothin’ to look forward to, and I got nothin’ to look back at.”
    Silence followed while Laura drew a deep quivering breath. “Lottie!” She put her hand on Lottie’s
arm. “You’re alone, like me and Tucker. But you’ve got us, now. And we’ve got you. We’ve got to look forward to something. We’ll look forward to California. Our searching hearts will find love and peace in California.”
    Tucker turned to stare at Laura. Her face was radiant with happiness, her lips smiling. What she said was beautiful.
    Lottie said, “Humph.” But it didn’t have the same force behind it that it usually had.
    Tucker put her arm around Laura and gave her a hug. Suddenly she was almost happy. The sky was bluer, the breeze cooler, the country more golden and beautiful. Things would work out. They were just bound to.
    Now that they were moving, she could even watch Lucas roaming up and down the line of wagons without feeling rattled. She felt detached from him this morning, as if it had been someone else he had held in his arms and kissed last night. She had spent half the night thinking about that kiss, such a new experience for her. He had bent forward before she could move, and his mouth had crushed down on hers demandingly, almost hurting her. She had put her hands on his chest to push him away, but she had not stood a chance against his strength. Her hands had flattened against him, feeling the warmth of his body under her palms, hearing the beat