Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
G race Hampton’s heart pounded against her ribs. Was it really a good idea to travel with a man she'd just met? Leave her own wagon and team behind, putting her and Ruby at his mercy?
If he was as trustworthy as he seemed, she would be much better off not having to worry about handling the team. And he was Father’s employee.
But she would need the wagon and horses to start her new life once she spoke with her father. Maybe what the man needed to carry could be packed in her rig.
He didn’t return right away, so she used the time to dress Ruby. “I’m sorry I kept you in the blanket so long, sweet one.” She pulled on the babe’s long-sleeved undergarment and her flannel gown before swaddling her again in the blanket—this time far more securely than before.
All their belongings were still packed, so she should be ready for whatever they decided to do when he brought his wagon.
Her only other choice would be to follow his wagon with her own rig, driving and caring for Ruby as best she could. That meant Ruby would have to lie in her basket most of the time. Then she’d have to stop the wagon to feed her. The trip would take longer than the day he’d said.
And now that the weather had turned cold, she needed to find her father as quickly as possible, get enough money to live on for a little while, and find a safe place for them to settle.
She worked to still her whirling thoughts. Whatever it took to reach her father, she had to do it quickly. Even if that included riding with this stranger for a day.
Besides, she wasn't completely defenseless. In addition to the revolver she had tucked in the hidden pocket of her skirt, she also had the rifle. She wouldn't hesitate to pull either weapon if she needed to protect herself and Ruby.
The crunching of wagon wheels across the ground sounded behind her, and she turned to see two horses pulling a wagon into view. One of the animals had the same coloring as one of the horses that pulled Oren’s wagon—brown with black main and tail.
This wasn’t her old delivery driver, though, but the man she’d met earlier driving the team. He halted them when his wagon was alongside hers. A number of crates filled part of his wagon bed, but there looked to be enough room in her rig to hold them.
She forced confidence into her tone. “I won’t be coming back this direction, so I need to take my wagon and team. Will your supplies fit in my wagon?”
He set his brake and eyed her load, then his. “Looks like it might.” He jumped to the ground, then started hauling the boxes from his bed and positioned them in her wagon. Thankfully, she’d kept her load to a minimum.
She’d debated over what to bring, ending up packing most of their clothes and blankets and food, as well as a few books. She’d not known whether she should bring furniture or not. It seemed like each house would have its own, so carrying hers would be a waste. But then, she’d never purchased a new house, nor rented a room, so she hadn’t been sure. Mama’s rocker was the one piece that felt like it belonged more to Grace than to their house.
She settled Ruby in her basket and untied the goat from behind her wagon. “Come on, Camelot. The grass is just as good over here.” The nanny had begun eating the moment they stopped and complained with a maa as Grace tugged her away from the underbrush so she could tie the rope to the man’s wagon.
All the while, she kept an eye on the man.
He moved efficiently, no sign of strain as he hefted his crates into her wagon and moved her belongings around. Belongings that had taken every bit of her strength to push up into the bed. It was hard to gauge his character from his actions, but he seemed focused and purposeful. Efficient, not sparing a glance her way as he arranged the items to fit.
Everything fit neatly, just as he'd said, with his cargo taking up only a portion of the wagon bed. He’d tucked her belongings around the outer edges. He held her mother’s rocking chair in his arms as he studied the load.
Then he leaned over the side and placed it on the ground. "We'll need to leave the chair here. I can put it in your father’s room, so you can come back for it or work out a way with him to get it." He spoke casually, already jumping down to carry the chair to his wagon.
“No.” The word flew out before she could temper it. She inhaled a breath to steady herself. "I can't leave the chair behind. Just put it on top of the boxes."
He shook his head. "Nothing can go on top of these crates. They're too fragile."
Frustration welled in her chest. Why was he being so difficult? "You need to figure something else out then, because I'm not leaving my mother's rocking chair. I need it for the baby."
The man frowned. "You can get it when you come back this way."
"I'm not planning to come back." Grace fought to keep her voice steady, though it trembled with emotion. "That rocking chair is one of the few things of my mother's I have left. I'd sooner drive my own wagon than leave it behind."
For a long moment, he simply stared at her, his expression unreadable. Then, with a sigh, he carried the chair back to her wagon. After studying a few seconds, he tied it to the back of the bench, positioned above the bed so it rested on none of the crates.
Relief flooded through Grace. Perhaps he wasn't as heartless as he seemed. When he finished, he drove his team away to park the wagon and pasture the horses.
Ruby had started her hungry cry, the sign she wouldn’t be held off from food much longer.
“All right then.” Grace picked up the wicker basket by its two woven handles, making faces at the babe as she carried her to the front of their wagon. “I have a feeding bottle ready for you. I know you’re hungry.”
Ruby’s cries eased into a shuddering sob as she studied Grace’s face, those wide blue eyes so desperate. “You’re so pitiful when you’re hungry.”
She placed the basket on the bench and hauled herself up, positioning it between her and where the man would sit. The babe would be a nice buffer.
By the time he returned, she had the babe cradled in her arms, the feeding bottle's rubber nipple between her rosebud lips. Ruby drank hungrily, her eyes closed and jaw working as she suckled.
The man didn’t speak, just strode around to his side of the wagon and stepped up to the seat. He gave Ruby a sideways look as he settled, taking up the reins. Then he focused ahead, released the brake, and shook the reins. “Walk on.”
The wagon lurched into motion, and she braced her feet against the buckboard, gripping Ruby tightly as they started off.
As the wagon rolled along the rutted ground, she sneaked glances at the man beside her. He kept his gaze fixed forward, his hands steady. The silence stretched between them, broken only by the creaking of the wagon, the click of the horses’ hooves on rocks, and the occasional snuffle from Ruby as she drank.
Finally, Grace cleared her throat. "I don't believe I caught your name."
"Sampson. Sampson Coulter, ma'am." He looked at her briefly before returning his attention to the road.
"Well, Mr. Coulter, I appreciate you giving us a ride." She shifted Ruby in her arms to reposition the bottle.
"No trouble." His tone was polite but distant. “And you are…?”
“Grace Hampton.”
He shot her a look, brows lowered. “Hampton is your…married name?”
A question she should have expected, and he must have realized exactly what he was asking, for he jerked his focus back to the horses. “Never mind. It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Hampton.”
With Hampton being her father’s name, he was no doubt thinking she must have lied about something.
Best she set him straight. And consider changing her name if she planned to raise Ruby as her own. Or…maybe that wouldn’t be necessary, for soon she wouldn’t be around people who knew her father.
She sat a little straighter. “ Miss Hampton. I’m not married. Ruby isn’t my daughter by birth, but she was given to me to raise.” She motioned to the feeding bottle. “Thus the reason we travel with a goat and this feeder.”
Mr. Coulter eyed her once more, then his gaze dipped down to Ruby. “Someone gave you their child? Forever?”
His tone made a smile tug at her cheeks, though the situation held no humor. “I…well, yes. I think so.”
His focus returned to her face, his brows lifting. “You think so?”
Heat flared through her, and she fought to keep from stammering. “Yes. I mean… yes .” Now she couldn’t keep her flush down. She huffed out a breath. “She was left on my doorstep. I came outside one afternoon and there lay this basket, with Ruby inside, and a box of blankets and diapers. Even this bottle and the goat.”
She sent Mr. Coulter a glare. “So yes, I’m assuming they meant for me to raise her as my own. No one’s been back for her, so she and I are carrying on like this will be forever.”
She glanced down at the cherubic face that had immediately latched hold of her heart. After two weeks and everything they’d been through together, she couldn’t imagine having to turn the babe back over to someone else. And if the someone was who she thought it was, she didn’t anticipate being asked to give Ruby back.
Mr. Coulter still stared at her, and now his jaw had dropped open a little, just enough to reveal the shadows of his lower teeth.
She fought a giggle. This big strapping man had been thoroughly stunned speechless. Well, that made two of them.
At last, he found his voice. "Some stranger just abandoned their child with you? And you never found out who?"
She shrugged, looking down at Ruby's peaceful face. "I have my suspicions. But I never saw him again."
"Did you not try to find them? Make them take responsibility?" His voice rose with indignation.
"I understood why they did it." Grace kept her tone soft, though her heart clenched. "They needed help. And I'm glad to give it. Ruby will have the best care I can provide." And all the love she could ever want.
He shook his head, turning back to the road. "Ain't right, leaving a babe like that. Anything could've happened to her."
Grace lifted her chin. "But it didn't. And she has me now."
Mr. Coulter turned quiet again, but not very long this time. “So that’s why you’re looking for your father.”
Something in his tone made her bristle. “I need to move closer to town where I can have…access to things. I only wanted to let him know I’d be leaving.” That wasn’t quite true. She needed money, something she and Mama had never had to worry over. But they’d also never needed to leave the little house in the valley.
He snorted, a sound that unsettled something in her middle.
She waited for him to explain, but he remained silent. Should she ask what that meant? Maybe she didn’t want to know.
And really, did she need his opinion? He knew nothing of her and her life, nor did he need to.
She settled back on the bench and tipped the bottle higher so Ruby could get the last of the milk. All she had to do now was care for her sweet daughter and count the hours until she reached the next step in their new life.