Read Journey of Honor A love story for Free Online

He just couldn’t imagine actually being able to sleep with such a beautiful girl this close to him. Still, he had no idea how to tell her that. “No, you’re right. You’d be better here than anywhere else. And I don’t mind if you do. Do you have everything you need?”
    She started taking her hair out of the braid that wound around her head. “Yes, I think I am fine, thank you. Good night.” She shook out her hair, knelt to pray, and then took off the robe she was wearing over her nightgown and climbed under the covers. Turning on her stomach, she sighed and then said in a tired voice, “Thank you, Trace. For everything. It has been a long day.”
    Trace put both hands under his head and looked up at the black bottom of the wagon above him in the dark. Under the next wagon over he heard Mose begin to chuckle and then stifle it with a cough. Oh brother! How was he ever going to live this down? Or sleep? Her lying there beside him was about the most unbelievable turn of events of all. His whole life had been turned upside down in one day.
    But then married people did sleep beside each other. Even though this wasn’t really a normal marriage, maybe this arrangement wasn’t all that strange. He sighed and tried to figure out what he would have been thinking about if she hadn’t shown up here. His brain wasn’t even functioning and he couldn’t think very well. A few minutes later, he was amazed to realize that she was asleep already.
    Apparently this wasn’t that big of a deal to her. She didn’t appear at all uptight about it. Either that or she hadn’t slept much the night before. She hadn’t appeared tired at dinner, but then he’d never seen her at a dinner before to know what she looked like tired.
    With thought after thought tumbling around in his mind, at length the strenuous day took its toll and he drifted off. Only once in the night when she turned in her sleep and her head was close enough to him that he could smell flowers, did he wake up and realize again that a beautiful girl slept next to him. This time, he was tired enough to simply think it was kind of nice before he went back to sleep.
    Waking in the cool darkness before the sun came up, he lay there for a minute wondering about the dream he had had… that she was sleeping next to him… and then she moved in her sleep and he sat up so fast that he whacked his head on the wagon bottom above. In a rush it came back to him, and he looked in wonder over at her there in the dark. Jehosaphat! It was real. He hadn’t dreamed last night.
    She was beautiful asleep. Both the regal bearing and the sweet sense of humor were gone and there was only the raw beauty and simple vulnerability that emanated from her. Some innate sense that was a remnant of the primitive male within him made a need to take care of and protect her rise in him like hunger or thirst would. It was a basic, primal instinct that was as vital as the need for air. He looked at her for another moment and then got up. He had to get busy or he was never going to make it all the way across this land with her. Already, she was mixing up his head.
    He went through his morning’s tasks in record time, and when he came back with a pair of mules twenty minutes later, he was surprised to see that her bed was gone and there was no sign that she had ever been there to muddle his brain like she had. He turned to find her bending over the fire stirring something in a pot, her hair neatly braided around her head again and dressed and ready for the day.
    Not only was she ready to go, but his breakfast was too. On approaching her at the fire, she handed him a bowl of corn mush and a plate of eggs and bacon, and said, “We haf already ask a blessing over it.” He’d noticed the cage of chickens that was strapped to the back of their wagon, but he’d never had an egg while out on the trail. The tall glass of milk that she offered was the final treat. He dug into his breakfast with relish. Maybe