breathed out the words in an awe-filled tone, and her blue eyes rounded with unabashed curiosity. “How on earth did you get it here?”
“Let me see, now. Across an ocean.” He held up his hands and ticked off on his fingers the legs of the journey this valuable cargo had taken. “Around through the Gulf, up the Mississippi, then the Missouri River to Westport, Kansas. A freight company hauled it over the Santa Fe Trail to Pueblo. They were accompanied by replacement soldiers headed to New Mexico, courtesy of the Colonel’s old army friends, so they arrived without incident.” He paused to take a breath and to consider whether or not to tell her everything. She probably didn’t need to know that the freight drivers had unloaded the cargo at the fort and had taken off for the gold fields outside Denver. Their desertion had meant the Colonel had to send Nate to bring the china home. It also heightened his father’s already deep hatred of prospectors.
“And you met them in Pueblo.” Susanna grasped the important parts of the story, meaning he didn’t have to include the unpleasant side. “Well, Mr. Nate Northam, it remains to be seen whether your Colonel has that intimidating presence we spoke of last night, but I already like him for going to so much trouble to get his wife such a fine gift as this.” Her approving smile further melted Nate’s insides. “Tell me, how do you keep it from breaking?” She raised herself up on tiptoes and peered down into the wagon bed. “I see. The boxes are suspended on rope webbing.” She reached in and pressed down on the ropes, testing their flexibility. “That must keep them from bouncing around as the wagon goes over bumps.” She gave him another admiring glance. “Why, Mr. Northam, how extremely clever of you.”
Nate lifted his chin and returned a playful smirk. “Clever indeed, if I do say so myself.” Even the Colonel had been impressed by his invention. In truth, he’d given a nod and a grunt, the nearest thing to praise he ever dished out to Nate.
“No more compliments for you.” She waggled a finger at him and clucked like a scolding schoolmarm. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
“Ouch. Guess I’d better repent of my pride.” He shuddered comically. “We aren’t safely home yet, and I sure don’t want any destruction to fall on Mother’s china.”
Sobering, she touched his hand, sending a pleasant spark up his arm. “I believe God cares about these things, Nate, so I’ll be praying all goes well for the rest of your journey.”
That promise refocused his emotions, and he placed a hand over hers. “I’ll pray the same for you, Susanna. Seems to me you’ve already had enough things go wrong.”
Her eyes brightened with moisture, and his heart warmed. He was doing the right thing to help her and her father, of that he felt certain.
Within two hours, they met their first test of those prayers when they reached the banks of the Rio Grande. Alamosa lay just across the shallow but rapidly flowing river, causing a mixture of emotions in Nate’s chest. Soon he would have to say goodbye to Susanna and her father, but first they all had to get across the wide waters. Both would be challenges.
“I don’t know, boss.” Zack gripped the reins to keep the restless horses from bolting into the water or shying away from it. “Looks like we might need help.”
“Maybe.” Standing beside the prairie schooner, Nate surveyed the scene. “Let’s use all four horses to get this wagon across. Then we can bring them back across for mine.” He didn’t like the idea of leaving the china unguarded, even though the other wagon would be in view at all times. But they had no choice.
“Can I help with anything?” Susanna poked her head through the front opening of the schooner and peered over Zack’s shoulder at Nate. Her gaze dropped to the river, and her eyes widened. “Oh, my. That must be the Rio Grande River. Not quite the Mississippi, but no easy crossing, I’d guess.”
“No, ma’am. It’s a good forty feet across these days because of runoff from the mountains.” Nate hated to think of the punishing ride her father would have if they took the usual mode of getting to the other side. “How is Mr. Anders doing?”
She disappeared behind the canvas for a moment, then reappeared. “He says not to mind him, just do whatever you have to do.” Her usually smooth forehead was creased with concern.
“What do you think?” He could at least give her a chance to decide.
“Do whatever you must.” A steely look narrowed her eyes and tightened her jaw. “That’s what our wagon master said more than once on the trip out here.”
Her courage continued to impress him. Leaving her behind would be all the more difficult in a couple of hours. Maybe he could make it easier with more teasing. “By the way, it’s just Rio Grande.”
“I beg your pardon?” Her cute little grin appeared.
“You said Rio Grande River. That’s like saying Big River River.”
She laughed in her musical, ladylike way. “Spanish, of course.”
“Yep.” He could see her mood growing lighter. “And if you really want to get it right, it’s Rio Grande del Norte.” He used his best Spanish inflections, as Angela had taught him. “Great River of the North.”
Susanna put the back of one hand against her forehead in a dramatic pose. “Mercy, mercy. How can little ol’ me evah learn all of that?” Her sweet drawl oozed over him like warm honey.
“Poor little thing.” He clicked his tongue and shook his head. “I have no idea.”
Zack coughed softly, shaking Nate loose from his foolish teasing.
“All right. Let’s get this done.”
He drove his wagon into the shade of some cottonwoods, then unhitched the two horses and joined them to the team in front of the schooner. Like old friends glad to be together again, the horses nickered and tossed their heads as much as their harnesses permitted.
Nate considered carrying Mr. Anders across the water on foot, but it wouldn’t do for the old man to get wet, even in this hot weather. Instead, he instructed Susanna to cushion her father as best she could, then brace him for the crossing.
Taking the reins himself, with Zack beside him to help as needed, he circled the schooner around and away from the water to give the horses a running start. Then he slapped the reins and cried, “Hyah!”
His team didn’t let him down. They gamely leaped into their harnesses, built up speed and plunged into the water, their momentum more than matching the current as they angled downriver to conquer the forty-foot expanse. The water covered the wagon’s axles but did not breach the box. With a final lunge, the lead horses emerged from the river, then the second pair, at last pulling the wagon onto dry, solid ground. All four animals shook their manes and whinnied almost as if they’d enjoyed the bath.
But Nate had felt every rock and tree branch submerged under the water’s surface; he’d heard every clatter of the contents of the prairie schooner, along with a yip or two from Susanna and her father. Now to go back and get his wagon. The prospect made his chest tighten with trepidation.
He’d conveyed Mother’s china this far without mishap, but the Great River of the North might just put an end to that. He found it impossible to please the Colonel with his good, hard work, so there was no telling what his father would do if Nate let the china get damaged.
Susanna’s pulse finally slowed enough for her to step down from the prairie schooner. Before climbing out, she checked on Daddy, only to find he’d fared better on the crossing than she had because of the thick padding Nate had put in his bed. Shaking out her wobbly legs, she approached Nate and Zack, who were unhitching the horses so they could go back across for Nate’s wagon.
A sudden protectiveness for Mrs. Northam’s anniversary gift stirred within her. No matter that she’d never met the lady. If she’d