A Change of Plans

Chapter Three

"Rock a by baby, in the treetop, when the wind blows the cradle will rock....," She sang softly. "There now, it's not so bad. Mama's here."

Even from underneath the wagon, where he'd placed his bedroll for the night, the sound of the baby's cry was loud enough to wake Anson from a deep sleep and he covered his ears. It was like listening to someone scraping their nails across a chalk board to him. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the baby stopped crying at the soothing sound of her mother's voice, singing her a lullaby.

Babies were so fickle, he thought to himself. Upset one moment and completely at ease the next. Who in their right mind would purposely bring such a small, needy, completely dependent thing into the world. It just didn't make sense to him. With a yawn, he rolled over and fell back asleep, thankful that the ruckus above him had stopped.

Coffee. He smelled coffee.

Opening his eyes,Anson turned his head to see a pot of coffee on the fire. Past that,Olivia was kneeling next to the grave, holding her baby and placing a handful of flowers on top of the rocks. He got to his feet and tied up his bed roll, leaving it next to his saddle.

"There's breakfast in the skillet," she said, walking over and motioning to the Dutch oven that was keeping warm in the coals.

He ran his hands through his hair and stretched before checking the contents of the skillet. There were fried potatoes, bacon and eggs. "Where did you get eggs?" he asked, finishing what was on his plate.

"I bought them from a family the day before Colin got sick." She said. "But that was the last of them."

"You didn't have to waste them on me." He said.

"It wasn't a waste." She said, looking down at the baby to find that she was awake. "There you are," she cooed and Anson went to saddle his horse in an attempt the get out of earshot of the ridiculous noises she was making.

He returned a few minutes later to find her leading the horses to the front of the wagon and he helped her harness them.

"Well, I'd say that about does it," He said, double checking all the straps.

"Thank you Mr. Colter, for all your help. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"You're welcome." He nodded, climbing into the saddle. With a tip of his hat he was off.

Olivia nursed the baby before placing her in the basket. It fit just behind the seat so that she could keep an eye on her while they traveled. Once the baby was settled, she climbed up onto the seat and took the reins. "Giddup!" she said and the horses lunged forward. She looked back at the fresh grave one last time before setting her eyes on the horizon and driving on.

She drove until nearly nightfall, stopping every few hours to nurse and change the baby. Then she built a fire and warmed the stew from the night before.

Realizing she wasn't as hungry as she'd thought, Olivia set her half eaten plate of food down and picked up the baby. "I suppose I should think of a name for you." She said softly, settling the baby on her knees, looking up at her. "Your father would have liked to name you." She bent her knees, lifting them up so the baby was near her face as she sat leaning against one of the wagon wheels and spoke softly to her.

Suddenly she stopped and held her breath. She was sure she'd heard something and she quickly tucked the baby into the basket and stood up to reach for the rifle hidden under the wagon seat. As she peeked around the seat of the wagon, she suddenly relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.

"I thought you'd be miles ahead of me by now." She said.

"I was." Mr. Colter replied, dropping down from the saddle, "But it just didn't seem right leaving you out here all by yourself with a baby to look after."

"That's very kind of you, but I'm sure I could have managed."

"Maybe," He said, pulling the saddle off his horse and dropping it near the back of the wagon. "But I figured, you're going west, I'm going west. Might as well go west at the same time."

She noticed how he avoided saying 'together' but smiled anyway. "It's going to hold you up you know?" she said. "I have to stop every couple of hours to feed and change her. You'd get wherever it is you're going a lot faster if you weren't having to wait for me."

"I'm not in any hurry." He shrugged, pulling the bridle off the horse and clipping the tethering line to its halter. "Besides, there's safety in numbers."

"I haven't cleaned up from supper yet, if you're hungry." She offered. "It's just leftover stew."

"Thanks." He tethered his horse near her team before coming back for something to eat.

Even reheated, the stew tasted better than what he'd been eating traveling on his own. He figured that if they traveled together and she was willing to cook, he was more than willing to hunt along the way and offer protection to her and the baby, even though he didn't like babies. Or women.

"You got pretty far, having to stop so much and all."

"She's so little that she sleeps a lot still." Olivia nodded. "I imagine as she gets older it's going to get harder. She'll want to be awake and moving around."

"And people have those things on purpose?" he frowned.

"Yes, people have them on purpose." She smiled. "And some people have them completely by accident and still love them."

"I can't imagine purposely bringing a child into the world. It just seems irresponsible."

"How?"

"Because people have them and then can't take care of them. Most of them die being born or shortly after. Why ask for heartache if you don't have to?"

She looked at him for a long moment. "Because, it's worth it in the end."

He sighed. "You probably think I'm crazy," he said, "saying all this to you when you have a newborn."

"No, I don't think you're crazy." She said softly. "It just makes me sad to wonder what it was that made you feel that way." Then she stood up to wash the supper dishes.

By then it was getting late and Olivia went to the back of the wagon. "Goodnight, Mr. Colter." She said softly before climbing into the wagon with the baby.

"Goodnight Mrs.Addison." He replied.