Chapter Fourteen
REBECCA SET THE BASKETaside and surveyed the food she’d laid out on the quilt. Slices of chicken and bread with greens the children would likely turn up their noses at, pickled cucumbers she’d bought in town, and small wedges of cheese were all arrayed for a perfect picnic lunch. She’d even thought to make tea.
Sitting back on her knees, she watched as the children played around the edges of the thawing creek. With more days like today, it wouldn’t be long before it was running fully again.
“Don’t get in the water!” she reminded Roger as he tested it with his fingers. It remained ice cold after running down from the mountains.
“Should we call them over to eat?” Levi asked as he knelt at the edge of the quilt.
Rebecca thought a moment. “Let them play. They’ll come when they get hungry enough. It’s been so long since they’ve had a creek to enjoy.”
“Was there one nearby your home back in Kentucky?” Levi pinched a piece of cheese between his fingers, as if he were trying to grab it before Rebecca saw.
She laughed and handed him a plate. “There was. They were down there all the time, wading and trying to catch crawdads.” She smiled at the memories—and the joy they seemed to find at this new creek.
Levi handed her the plate he’d filled. Her heart warmed with the simple gesture. “Thank you,” she said as he began to add food to his own plate.
“I never gave much thought to children when I was younger,” he said, placing a healthy stack of pickled cucumbers next to a pile of cheese.
“Most young men don’t,” she replied. “Not until they’re married and have a baby on the way.” That had been the case for John. She would remember the startled surprise on his face when he found out they were expecting Gwynnie for the rest of her life. It was a precious memory now, and it made her smile.
“I suppose that’s how it is, if one marries young enough.”
Rebecca glanced up at him as she chewed, trying to decipher his meaning. There was only one conclusion she could draw. She waited, hoping he would confirm what she thought he meant. But instead, he took a large bite of chicken and said nothing.
Rebecca thought she might burst if she didn’t find out the answer. And so, gathering all of her courage and keeping her eyes on her plate, she asked, a note of hope in her voice, “Are you saying that you wish to have children?”
He coughed, and she looked up to see him red-faced, with a hand over his mouth. Alarmed, she set her plate down and began to move toward him, but Levi held up a hand, indicating that he was fine as he coughed some more.
Rebecca poured him a fresh glass of tea. He took a sip, and the coughing subsided.
“I’m sorry,” she said, wishing she could take back her prying words. “I didn’t intend to take you by surprise.”
“It’s all right.” He took another sip of tea. “I suppose I deserved that for not elaborating.”
Rebecca tried to suppress a smile. “I don’t think you deserved to choke on your lunch. But yes, I did wish to hear more.”
The way he looked at her then made her even more self-conscious of the personal question she’d asked. She grabbed a cucumber off her plate to distract herself and let her eyes wander to where Sarah and Roger were exploring the creekbank a little further down.
“I wouldn’t mind having children,” he said in a cautious manner, and Rebecca’s eyes darted back to him. “But seeing as how we already have five, I wasn’t certain how you felt about it.”
A hundred emotions fluttered through Rebecca, all at the same time. We. We already have five. He considered her children to be his. Her heart warmed at that, just as hope bloomed in her heart at the prospect that Levi wished to have more children—with her.
“Yes!” she squeaked, unable to contain her joy any longer.
He stared at her a moment, clearly trying to make sense of her outburst.
Rebecca set her plate down and pressed her hands against her knees, but she couldn’t keep the smile from bursting forth. “I mean, I always wanted to have a house full of children. It’s all I’ve ever dreamed of. Just ask Eleanor. I used to make her crazy with all the games I made up in which I was the mother and she was the eldest of fifteen children.”
“Fifteen?” Levi’s eyebrows rose, but he grinned, and she knew he was teasing her.
Rebecca shrugged playfully. “I suppose I could settle for fourteen.”
He burst out laughing as he reached for her hand. “If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have been so hesitant about asking.”
Rebecca smiled, reveling in the feel of his strong, warm hand wrapped around hers. She wanted to reach up and trace the rough beginnings of a beard along his jaw. She wanted him to draw her close and keep her tucked against him.
But there was nothing she wanted more in this world than to grow her family with this man.
“Mama! Levi!” Sarah’s shout drew her attention away from Levi.
Levi immediately dropped her hand and stood as Sarah and Roger ran toward them. Alarmed, Rebecca followed his lead.
“What happened?” Levi asked. He stood in place, clearly ready to fight off whatever danger that the children might have discovered.
“There was someone in the trees,” Roger said, out of breath as he stopped next to Sarah.
“Watching us,” Sarah added as she pressed a wayward strand of chestnut brown hair away from her face.
The others had gathered around them now, and Rebecca looked up to Levi. It had to have been an animal, she thought—until she caught the look on his face.
“Did you see him?” Levi asked sharply, one hand resting on the pistol at his side.
They both shook their heads. Rebecca reached for Sarah and Roger, who both took her hands and stood close to her.
“Wait here.” Levi took one step, then paused and turned around. He held out one of his pistols to Rebecca. “Just in case.”
She nodded, her heart in her throat, and took it from him. Roger puffed up his chest, and tried to look tough as Sarah kept her place pressed against Rebecca’s side. Emmy folded herself in between them, as Gwynnie held tightly to Johnnie’s hand.
“Is it a bad man?” Johnnie asked, his eyes wide as he watched Levi slowly approach the treeline near where Sarah and Roger had been playing.
“It’s probably just an animal,” Rebecca said, forcing belief into the words she spoke. “A large animal would sound like a person, wouldn’t it?”
Gwynnie nodded, but none of them said anything.
“It’s only an animal,” Rebecca repeated.
But what would Levi do if it wasn’t? She didn’t want to think about that. Instead, she held her breath as he moved into the trees and away from their view.
A few minutes passed, and the pistol nearly slipped from her sweating palm. Only an animal, she repeated silently.
Finally, he emerged, revolver at his side, and her heart began to slow. He was all right. He hadn’t needed to shoot at anyone—or anything.
“Whover it was, he’s gone now,” Levi said when he returned. “Why don’t we pack up this picnic and take it back to the house?”
Rebecca nodded, and Sarah and Gwynnie began placing everything back into the basket. She stepped off to the side, far enough away to speak to Levi in a low voice so that the children wouldn’t hear. “Are you certain it was a man?”
He hesitated.
“I’d rather you tell me. I don’t scare easily.”
Finally he nodded, his gaze drifting back down the trees. “It was a man on horseback. I could make out the tracks. There was no sign of him on the opposite side of the trees, so I imagine he kept to the trees and headed away from us as soon as the children went running.”
Rebecca swallowed the rise of fear in her throat. “Why would anyone spy on us like that?”
Levi was quiet a moment. “It could have been one of the miners from the encampment on the other side of the valley. Or simply a fellow looking for a place to water his horse.”
Neither one of those answered Rebecca’s question, and she suspected Levi didn’t know the answer either. She hoped it was someone simply traveling through—but why would he run off instead of coming out to introduce himself?
The unease sat in her stomach as they walked back to the farm with their picnic. Levi glanced behind them frequently, and Rebecca hurried the younger ones along.
The sooner they were safe at home, the better she would feel.