Danger on the Oregon Trail

Chapter 3

Beth woke with a start as Michael knocked against the side of the wagon bed. "Time to get up, Beth." He said gently.

"I'm up," she said, hurrying to put her boots on in the cramped space. She climbed down and found him crouching next to the coals, poking at them with a stick. "Did you get any sleep last night."

"Some." He shrugged.

"You're not going to do that every night, are you?" she asked. "Stay up all night and then drive all day."

"Depends on how safe it is."

"You need to sleep."

"I'm fine."

"Is it Cynthia Warren?" she asked.

"What?"

"If you won't tell me who it was you wanted to marry, I'm going to try to guess."

"You'll never guess."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

"Do you promise to tell me if I do?"

"I promise. But you'll still never guess."

"So it's not Cynthia?"

"No." he tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "And I can't believe you would even consider her."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't wish Cynthia Warren on someone I didn't like."

"Well, what's wrong with her?" she asked as she helped him pack up the few items they had gotten out the night before. "She's pretty. And I'm sure her father would be set against it for sure."

"Yes, nearly as much as I would."

"Fine. I'll think about it some more and guess again later."

"Just make sure you put a little more thought into it than you did that time." He walked away and muttered something about Cynthia that she didn't quite catch.

A few minutes later, he returned. "It looks like Mr. Harris is moving out."

With a hand on her waist, he helped her up onto the seat before climbing up beside her. "It looks like we'll be following the river for awhile."

"Is that good?" she asked.

"I suppose it'll make it easy to keep the water barrel full."

They saw Mr. Harris riding towards them and Michael reached for the reins. "I have a feeling that Mr. Harris is the type that, if we weren't already moving, he'd probably just leave us behind."

"He wouldn't, would he?" she asked.

"Well, he signed that contract same as you and I did, but there's just something about him I don't like. Contract or no contract, I'm not turning my back on him for nothing."

"Mr. Rogan." Mr. Harris said, giving him a curt nod. "Mrs. Rogan."

Michael didn't like the look in the man's eyes as he looked her up and down. "Mr. Harris," he said shortly.

"Glad you made it this morning," he chuckled, winking at her before riding back towards the front.

"Did you see that?" she asked.

"Yeah, I saw it." Michael growled. "I told you I didn't like him."

"He's got some nerve talking to a married woman like that!"

"He doesn't believe we're truly married," Michael said. "Remember, he questioned me about it yesterday."

"So what do we do about it?"