Page 136 of Eleanor’s Earrings

“Do not answer now,” he said. “I will ask again when fear is not speaking for either of us.”

“You believe I might say no?”

He opened his eyes. “I believe you deserve to say yes because you choose me, not because I fell from a horse.”

Eleanor bent and kissed him gently. “Then ask me later.”

“Is that encouraging?”

“Very.”

Nathaniel smiled and let her order him to sleep.

That evening Eleanor discovered that an injured wagon master was easier to manage when given a task.

She brought Nathaniel Father’s route pages, Thomas Reed’s newer notes, and Charlotte’s mileage record.

“You are assigning me work,” he said.

“I am preserving Martha’s sanity. She says if you try to inspect another wheel, she will sit on you.”

Nathaniel looked toward Martha, who was kneading biscuit dough.

“She would not.”

Martha did not look up. “I would.”

Nathaniel opened the route pages.

Eleanor sat beside him. “Thomas believes tomorrow’s ground is firmer to the south.”

“He is right.”

“You have not seen his map.”

“I saw the country before I fell.”

“Then why study the map?”

“Because I enjoy being right with documentation.”

Eleanor laughed. “You and Father would have been unbearable together.”

“Would he have liked me?”

“No.”

Nathaniel looked wounded.

“He disliked anyone who argued with him.”

“Then why would he dislike me?”

She stared at him.

Nathaniel smiled.

They compared distances for nearly an hour. Because his right shoulder remained strapped, Eleanor wrote the notes.