“I’m sure you can, but it has been rather dangerous around here for several years now and Iain is good at worrying. To be fair, I know why, I have all his children with me, Nuala, his son, and Ned. How did you learn to shoot so well?”
“My da had a rifle and I think he was just playing about when he handed it to me one day and pointed out a pinecone he wanted me to shoot. He showed me how to hold the gun, aim it, and fire it. Then I did. Hit the pinecone. He said I had the gift, that some people just can and others can practice all they want and can’t. For a while he took bets on what I could shoot and made a nice little pile of money.”
“You can make money off shooting?”
“Lots of men are more than ready to take a bet on what some little woman can or cannot shoot. They are so sure they can beat her.”
“I would like to be able to shoot but all I manage to do is accidentally kill some poor bird flying by. The minute I try to fire the rifle up, it goes and I get rained on by feathers.” As she waited for Abbie to stop laughing, she looked at the shawl Abbie was carrying Jeremiah in. “How do you tie those on and keep the babe safe inside?”
“I will show you when we get back to the house. It is surprisingly easy. I was taught by a pretty farmgirl down the road from us in Pennsylvania. She traded the knowledge and a pretty scarf for hints on how to shoot her gun as she was fed up with the teasing of her brothers when they went hunting.”
Abbie looked all around her as they drove. It was a nice piece of woodland but she did not trust tree coverage. It was a favorite place for the outlaws to hide and attack. She hoped the men were successful in their circular scouting party because she really was fed up with the attacks she had been under lately.
When Emily drew up in front of what had undoubtedly been a saloon, Abbie was shocked by how much had been destroyed. All the glass had been cleaned up off the walk in front of it but none of the smashed windows had been fixed.
“The store is the attached building. It has all its windows.” Emily got down and then lifted her basket. Abbie got a quick view of waving little arms before Emily covered them with a blanket.
Adjusting Jeremiah against her chest, Abbie followed. There were people outside the store and a decent amount of people inside. The store may have lagged in its selection but its prices were edging swiftly up into the highway robbery range. She suspected most general stores were the same. Just out of curiosity’s sake she would have to think of someone back East she could write to and ask.
While Ned and Nuala looked over the candy, she walked toward a small collection of children’s books and sighed. These would have been useful to her a month ago. Carefully going through the pile she decided she would have to give it some thought because once she collected Noah and Wags, storybooks were definitely going to be needed.
“You need some books?”
Looking at Emily, Abbie nodded. “Where I was staying they had very few and, unless you wanted to steal from some person’s house, you just had to make up a story for the children.”
“And you are thinking it might be a wise thing to get for young Noah when he joins you.”
“Exactly.” Abbie frowned. “Unless he is so angry with me he has tossed out the idea of living with me.”
*
“Do you think she will be mad at me for coming?”
“You have asked that a hundred times. No, I don’t believe so. If she really said you were to join her, then you will join her, just earlier than she had planned. So why not go back and wait?”
“No, I will give her that chance.”
Reid looked over his shoulder. “That is truly noble of you, son.”
“I know you are just being scratchy, but this is serious.”
“Scratchy?”
“Yup. You know, saying something just to poke at a people.” He made a strange noise and twisted his fingers.
“Do you mean rub it in?”
“That’s it! Abbie might be a little mad with me to start, but then she’ll be all happy to see me. I bet even the lieutenant will be.”
“If you believe it. I will like meeting this man traveling around with my sister.” Reid felt a nudge at his side and looked down to see a red curly head peering around his arm, big brown eyes narrowed as the boy tried to detect a lie or insult.
“You know you really shouldn’t have made me take you along with me.”
“Why? You’re going to find Abbie and I know where she was going and I want to see her, too.”
“Logic from a four-year-old. What is the world coming to?”
“I’m five.”
“So old.”
“It is my birthday today.”
“Happy birthday.” He pulled a stick of beef jerky out of his coat and handed it over his shoulder to the child. “Here you go. A treat.”
“It’s brown. Treats aren’t s’posed to be brown. ’Less it’s chocolate.”
“This one is brown.”
There was peace and quiet for a moment or two and Reid smiled. He suspected the boy was struggling to eat it but he paid no attention. He had little to do with children but he did not think they were supposed to talk so much. He had to wonder if he was being lied to, but the child had been so determined, following him for a long way with his bag and his puppy, that he had finally given up trying to make him go away. It did not help that he could not make himself desert the boy.
He thought of Abbie and smiled. She may not have promised she would take him in but he doubted she would send the child away either. She had a soft heart. He rather thought the two of them would make a great pair. He hoped she was still all right.
Thinking of her made him think of his parents but he forced the sadness that brought aside. There had been nothing he could have done about it except grieve, and he had done enough of that lately. All he had to worry about now was that he was not found by the Confederate Army, for they could well charge him with being a deserter. The fate of such men was not one he wished to meet.
*
Abbie looked around when they stepped back out onto the street. They had each bought a few small things and enough material to make something for the babies. The cloth was the most expensive, and she suspected it would be costly for quite a while. Matthew said they had yarn made from the wool so she might be able to get some of that to make something.
She stroked Jeremiah’s back as she walked, noticing that, although there were not many people, at least the town was not completely deserted. She did not think it would come back to what it appeared to have been though. There were some messages and grim notices hanging on a few of the houses. Notes to whatever relative might come by to tell them where the family was or a death notice, probably put up so the person searching would know there was no more point in doing so. She thought of the message she had left for her brother and hoped he would see it. He would at least find out that she still lived.