Lone Pine Bride (The Brides of Lone Pine #1)(51)

“That sounds lovely,” Hannah said, looking at Seth briefly.

“Come on then. We’re all ready.”

“We’re coming, and thank you. You are all very helpful.”

“I am, not the boys.” Lucille giggled and ran ahead calling to her parents. They all made for Wilfred and Monica’s wagon and Hannah once again rode on the front with Seth.

“Could I hold the reins for a bit?” she asked.

“Yes, of course.”

She took them, shook them and the horses began to pull away. “I quite often sat up the front of our carriage,” she said. “Daddy said it’s unladylike but I like horses.”

“You’re a true professional,” Seth said.

“Does Seth employ someone for this sort of thing?”

“He has staff. I’m not sure. I don’t know him that well.”

Lazy oaf! He probably never does anything for himself. He dragged his mind off him, rather guilty at the thoughts that kept filling his mind, and when they arrived it was to a scene which was as bad as Lone and Middle Pine.

Most of the buildings in Camp Independence were made of adobe which, in the same way as elsewhere, had collapsed. The sentries had moved away from the buildings and pulled beds outside. A private and his wife had been injured but everyone else seemed alright.

But the surgeon’s house, guard house, mess hall, cook house, first sergeant’s house, storehouse, blacksmith’s shop and two laundress quarters were almost destroyed, they were told, all of which were built with adobe bricks. Other buildings which included the barracks, commissary, storehouse, Post hospital and remainder of the officers’ quarters received enough damage to be regarded as unsafe. They were going to use broken timbers to build temporary shelters for troops and laundresses, and for cooking and dining, they said, and canvas structures would be erected for the officers and their families.

Nearby Independence was also badly affected, they found, and people were in as much need as Wilfred and Monica. He could not take anything from them, he said, and they would manage. Maybe they could salvage something from the house if it was as flat as Seth and Hannah said.

The drive back was a quiet one and Hannah wished the children had not been with them. They should have realised the place would be badly affected and it wasn’t good for the young people to see such things. If only she could get something nice for them but what? There was nowhere to go to get anything. When they reached Wilfred and Monica’s farm she spoke to Seth.

“We have to salvage as much as we can,” she said. “And we need to get supplies from somewhere. Is there anywhere not too far away where we could buy things?”

“The nearest big place is San Francisco,” he said. “And it would take ages to get there, well, at least three days and probably more.”

“Then let’s see what we can get from the wreckage and I need my trunks because I’ve got quite a lot in them.”

“I could go and get the trunks,” he said. He paused and felt he wanted to kick himself. He didn’t want to go to Lower Pine. If he did he would have to face things he desperately wanted to avoid. “That is, if I can get through,” he continued.

“It could be dangerous.” Hannah said. “What if the road is unsafe? You can’t go the way we came.”

“I know another way which doesn’t go through Middle Pine. If I can’t get through I’ll come back.”

“Do you promise? You won’t try doing something unnecessarily brave?”

“I’ll be very careful.” He couldn’t resist kissing her upturned face and immediately felt guilty. But Wilfred and Monica thought they were married and they must keep up the pretence. “For Wilfred and Monica,” he said and turned abruptly. He went over to them, told them where he was going and was soon on his way.

They needed to help people who were made homeless, he thought while he travelled along the road in the wagon. They needed to raise money to provide shelter and food. If they set up some sort of disaster fund maybe Wilfred wouldn’t be so unwilling to receive help. Hannah said she had money and he didn’t want any of that so, if she was willing, she could contribute towards the fund. Then he could support her because that was what a man did.

Except that she wasn’t his wife. The thought which he tried so often to push away returned. His wife would be Rachel and fetching Hannah’s trunks gave him a good chance to find her. That was what he would do because he was being more than unfair to her. An hour later he rode into the village and made his way to the Reverend’s house.

But the couple weren’t there, the maid told him, because they were in the church, along with a few other villagers who were helping them prepare food for those who needed help in Lone and Middle Pine. But the trunks were here, she said, and he could take them.

He lifted them in turn and swung them into the wagon. Huge trunks, heavy and his expression was soft. Of course she would have lots of things because she came from a wealthy family, but that hadn’t made her pretentious at all. It hadn’t stopped her from mucking in with everything, even down to milking cows and she had learnt quickly how to do that.

He looked down the road to where the church stood. It was a big church and they were fortunate to have the Reverend and his wife because they were kind people. They loved God and showed His love to everyone around them. They pointed people to Jesus.