Journey of Honor A love story (3 page)
Finally, Trace said, “I’m going into town to talk to Jim and find out what our options are.” He turned to go get his horse where it was picketed. When he returned to the fire, both Mose and John had their horses as well and the three of them swung into their saddles and headed out at a trot. At the Sheriff’s office, they found Filson, still storming around, mad that they hadn’t dragged Giselle in and locked her up as he had demanded.
“You’re going to let her get off without even checking into this, aren’t you? I’m going to go over your head! I’ll go to the governor if I have to! You’re not going to get away with this just because she blinks those eyes and sways her hips a little. I demand that you treat her just like any other thief caught in the act!”
The Sheriff turned to the deputy again. “Walt, take his statement and find out if there is any other evidence, or witnesses. See if anyone else can remember seeing her in the hotel. Then get him outta here.” He turned to the others. “Come into my office a minute would you?”
Once inside with the door shut, he looked at the three of them and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure what this guy wants, but I think it has something to do with keeping her from going west. Hopefully,we’ll have something more bymorning.”
Trace asked him right out. “What are our options, Jim? If she doesn’t go, her grandparents won’t either and they’re a large part of our train. The army isn’t going to let us leave without at least twenty wagons, and her grandfather is paying us to help them. Without them, we’re stuck while our chance to make it past the mountains before the snow dwindles. What can we do to be able to take her? If we offer to put up a two hundred dollar bond he can keep if you prove it was her, would that work?”
Sadly, Jim shook his head. “I doubt it. He wants her, not his money. I have to at least make a show of following the law.”
“What if we left with provisions to bring her back if she’s proven guilty and you send a rider for her?”
The Sheriff thought about that for a minute. “No…I’d have to have a more concrete guarantee that I could show him to keep him from raising a ruckus clear to the state capital. She either has to stay until this is settled or you have to get Filson to give up trying to keep her here.”
Mose was thoughtful. “What does he want her for? What’s the reason that he doesn’t want her to go west?”
Trace gave a disgusted sound. “You and I both know what he wants from her, Mose. You could see it in his face. You could see it in her face. She’s apparently had dealings with him before. She was terrified of him.”
The Sheriff looked at Trace. “You really believe he thinks if she doesn’t leave, that she’ll agree to be with him?”
Trace shook his head. “Of course not. I don’t think he cares if she agrees or not. I think he thinks that he can do as he pleases. We knew him in St. Louis, and he thought he was untouchable. He’s got someone there with the law who lets him get away with running amok. And they’re Mormons. Remember? You can do anything to a Mormon in this state and get away with it. The Governor himself signed an order that they should all be killed.”
The Sheriff was appalled. “That’s disgusting!”
Trace shrugged. “You saw him. He’s disgusting. So what can we do to be able to take her?”
John joined in for the first time. “It sounds to me like what we need to do is to make her seem unattainable enough that Filson will let her go without a fuss.”
All three of them turned towards him and the Sheriff asked, “What have you got in mind, John? I’d have to guard her night and day to keep her safe if what you think is true, and I haven’t got that kind of man power. And the soonest we could hold a trial would be a few days at the least.”
They were all silent for a time and then Mose said, “What if she was married? Could you let her go if we personally guaranteed that we’d bring her back and pay if she really turns out guilty? We know darn well she’s not. If she was married and Filson didn’t think he could get away with harassing her anymore, wouldn’t that work?”
After thinking about it, the Sheriff nodded his head. “I think that would work. Have her bring her young man in early. We’ll have them get married before it ever gets light and you can be gone before Filson hauls his lazy butt out of bed in the morning. Barring any solid evidence showing up between now and then, it should get him off her back and mine.”
Mose said, “We’ll do. We’ll see you early.” He pushed John and Trace out the door before they could reveal the fact that none of them thought there was a betrothed anywhere near.
They walked their horses down the main street of the town in silence for several moments, and then finally John asked the obvious question, “So, who’s she going to marry?”
Trace gave a humorless laugh. “Forget that. Who’s going to approach her?”
“This was Mose’s idea. You marrying her, Mose?” John looked over at him in the dark.
Mose’s deep chuckle sounded in the awkward pause. “Me? I’m the only one who’s for sure not getting married. But think about it. She may love this idea. This might be the best thing that could happen to her if he’s been bothering her. If it was understood that it would just be annulled when we get them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, she might be thrilled that Trace is willing to give up bachelorhood for her.”
“Me? Why me? Mose Brown, I am
not
bracing her with this idea. She might love it and she might just be thoroughly insulted.”
John weighed in. “Mose is right, Trace. You’re the only one who I could support this idea with. There’s no one else I’d trust to do it other than Mose here, and mixed race marriage would be lethal in this state. You’re the man.”
Trace groaned. “So… What’s plan B?”
Mose asked. “How bad do you want to leave? And what’s the problem anyway? You told me you almost asked her to marry you on the spot the first time you saw her. Now’s your chance.”
“You’re not all that funny, Mose. We’re in a fix here. Be serious.”
In a sober tone Mose said, “I’m being plumb serious. I’ll approach her, but it will make you look like you’re afraid.”
Trace gave a small laugh in the dark. “I am afraid. Terrified! Both of her and of marriage.” After a moment he relented. “I’ll approach her. But you two owe me. You owe me fierce. I’m going to be spending the whole trip across thinking about what I want from you, so be ready, ’cause it’s going to be whoppin’.”
John sounded relieved. “Good. So do we ask tonight? Or wait until mornin’?”
“Tonight. I’m not waking them all up in the middle of the night to ask a woman I just met to marry me. Not only that, but they need to be able to be planning whether they’re staying or going. We owe them that.”
They rode the rest of the way in silence. As they approached the gathered wagons, Mose started humming a wedding march and then peeled off toward their own fire while Trace continued on toward the VanKomen’s. He didn’t know whether to be thoroughly worried or euphoric about this whole idea. He’d soon find out.
He pulled up and got off his horse and was just about to speak when he heard the sound of a cocking gun. The wagon flap moved and the barrel of a pistol appeared, followed by Giselle’s head. When she realized who it was, she dropped the muzzle of the gun and took a deep breath and then whispered with her accent, “Oh, Mr. Grayson, you frightened me. I thought you were Henry Filson. What are you doing?”
That’s exactly what he was asking himself just about now. “Uhm, you’re not going to believe this, but I’ve come to see if you would consent to marrying me.” He put up a hand. “It’s just to be able to get you away in the morning, and we’ll have it annulled when we get to your valley. It’s either that, or stay here and deal with Filson and a trial, and waste more time getting started west.”
She looked totally confused for a minute, and then said, “Just a moment.” Her head disappeared back inside the wagon cover and he could hear her whispering quietly to someone and then a bare foot and lower leg appeared through the flaps. He realized she was getting out.
He went forward to help her down and she turned to look at him with big eyes in the darkness. She was wearing a nightgown covered with a long robe and her hair was loose and hanging around her shoulders. She was even prettier than when she’d been all dolled up and he questioned again to himself what in the world he was doing while he waited there to see if she was going to laugh or cuss at him.
He was completely amazed when she looked up at him in wonder and asked in a soft, sweetly Dutch voice, “You’d do that for me? Truly?”
He didn’t know what to say to that. He’d never experienced anything in his life that would help him figure out what to do in this situation. Finally, he just said, “Uh, yes. I would. But honestly, it’s not being totally unselfish. Without you and your grandparents, we can’t leave either until we find someone else to take your place. The army won’t let trains of less than twenty wagons start out.”
He paused for a minute and then decided that being absolutely forthright was in both of their best interests. “I give you my word to be a gentleman. I wouldn’t expect anything other than your help in getting underway. You needn’t worry.”
She laughed a sweet laugh at him in the dark and said with her intriguing accent, “Worry? You have just taken a huge load of worry off of me! I don’t doubt that I can trust you. I knew that the moment I saw you on the hotel boardwalk. And I fully intend to help all the way across this great journey. I will be glad to. I am more grateful to you than I can say right now. I would love to marry you to get started in the morning. I would be thrilled!”
For a second, he thought she was going to come right up and hug him. Just when he felt relieved that she didn’t, she actually did. Then as quickly, she pulled back and looked up at him with a sober face. “Tell me what you need me to do.”
Still a bit shaken, he simply said, “Be ready to go into town a little before sunup. We’ll meet with the Sheriff, get married and be back and ready to leave at first light.”
All she did was look up at him with those wide eyes and say, “Okay.” With that, she turned around and climbed back into her wagon without a backward glance at him. He walked away in the moonlight in a stupor. He got clear back to his wagon before he remembered that he’d left his horse at the VanKomen’s, and he had to go back and get it. Gathering his reins, he was turning to go when she poked her head out again.
Feeling a little sheepish, he said, “Sorry. Forgot my horse.” After a thought, he turned back around and said, “Miss VanKomen, you can go to sleep and rest easy. My dog will be right here between our wagons and he’s an excellent watch dog. If any one was to approach, he’d let us know and we could handle it before anyone could get near your wagon. And all of my men will be alert for trouble too. You can sleep without worrying about Filson.”
She took a deep breath and smiled at him. “Thank you, Mr. Grayson. That will help me. Good night.”
The next morning, as he felt the sun climb the sky and shine warmly upon his back, Trace was still wondering what had happened. Walking his horse alongside the cavalcade of white-topped wagons strung out along the road after crossing the wide Missouri River, he realized that, although yesterday he had never even met her, today he was married to the beautiful girl from Holland who he had thought so striking on the boardwalk. Granted, it was a marriage in name only, but still, what a turn of events!
The funny thing about it was that, even as unusual as this whole situation had been, in actuality, it hadn’t been that earth-shaking of an occurrence. The actual marriage had been as painless as the asking had been. Once he was over the first initial shock of realizing she was the girl he’d seen, being with her had turned out to be surprisingly comfortable. Although she had the regal presence of royalty, she had a warm and sweet personality that put him right at ease and made friendship come incredibly easy.
She didn’t act like she was terribly familiar with any of this life, but she had a quirky sense of humor that let her laugh at herself and made those around her laugh with her. Already, his men were eating out of her hand and Mose appeared to think she was a cute little sister or something. Crossing the wilderness like this was always a huge undertaking, but this trip was looking more like a huge adventure by the minute.
When Giselle had looked up the boardwalk there in St. Joseph and seen the handsome young man with the long legs and gentle eyes, she had had no idea that she would be married to him within the next fifteen hours. They had come an unbelievably long way in less than a day, but she was incredibly grateful. For the first time in months, she felt safe. She’d known she would be safe with him the moment she’d realized that they would be traveling together, and his brother Mose and even the rest of the men that were beside him were a huge comfort.
Traveling with them was one thing. Now that she was actually married to him, her relief was almost overwhelming. She knew to the center of her heart that there was no way he would let Filson near her. The very second that she had seen them together she knew that. His utter disdain for the sneaky and mean Missourian had been obvious. Even though their marriage was in name only, she knew he would protect her, and although she was in a terrible fix, somehow, she knew now that everything would be okay.
Riding along on the wagon seat beside her grandfather, she wondered if she should have told Trace before she had let him marry her that she was two and a half months with child as a result of being attacked by Mormon hating mobbers near St. Louis. Henry Filson had been the ring leader of the group. He’d hounded her for months, both before and after the attack, and seeing him there in St. Joseph last night had been the most discouraging thing imaginable. She’d so hoped that she had seen the last of him when they’d finally left the St. Louis area for good.
Before leaving for the West with the first wagon train of Mormons fleeing the persecution of Missouri and Illinois, Brigham Young had asked her grandfather to do his best to try and obtain payment for the properties that the Saints had to walk away from there. Giselle’s grandmother Petja had never actually joined the Church, and she had continued to attend other churches in the area. Josiah had accompanied her every week. Because of this, even though Josiah had been baptized a Mormon, some of the folks who would have nothing to do with the other Mormons had been willing to do business with Josiah.