Lenoir

Spilling the Beans

The men had chosen no real leader for their expedition, instead they voted in a council. In Independence, Missouri they had voted on their direction. Some of the men wanted to cross the Missouri River and continue on to St. Joseph. Some favored heading west to cross the Little Blue River and Kansas River, sometimes called the Topeka. These won out.

Clarence reassured Lenoir that they had enough provisions to head west now, and St. Joseph was rumored to be a rough and sometimes dangerous frontier town anyway, best to be avoided.

But rough was the road that eventually lead them along the Little Blue River towards Fort Kearny, in Nebraska. They stopped for more provisions in a community that would become known as Dobytown about 10 years later, on acount of all the adobe buildings scattered about. Dobytown would only last as long as the Fort, then become one of many ghost towns along the trail.

Lenoir was cleaning up after the breakfast cooking while Clarence haggled over supplies when she felt nausea. Instinctively she put a hand on her stomach and she tried to tell herself it was something she had ate. The berries might not have been what she thought they were. The nausea got worse in coming mornings. She wondered if she should tell her husband. It was usually the worst when she started cooking breakfast.

One morning while following the Platte River west the smell of the dough she was kneeding caused her to gag, and she promptly leaned from the wagon and threw up. This got the attention of Clarence. He was understandably concerned. People died every day on the trail from a wide variety of ailments and accidents and otherwise.

They did not slow, but he began to interrogate her about her symptoms.

"Do you have a fever, rash, dizziness? How is your appetite?" He queried.

She tired of this quickly and murmured, "I think I'm pregnant. "

He almost tripped over a root. Too busy suddenly having visions of his new family tree to watch his footing. He caught himself and grinned, patting the ox next to him as if absently patting himself on the back.

"That is good, dear." He nodded and kept walking.

"You aren't angry with me?" She worried that this would upset him and deter him from his plans, but it played into them nicely.

His chuckle was hearty, "Of course not. I am proud of you and pleased. You will be an excellent mother."

"God willing. Thank you." A little sick still, Lenoir walked beside him.

He reached out and held her hand for a couple minutes before the ruts of the road made him let go for stability.

"Watch your step." He warned her. Now with extra reason to be concerned.

She stepped lightly, with the dexterity of a mountain goat, as they continued. It would be months before the weight of her pregnancy would start to throw her off balance. She was charmed by his concerned tone, however.

He watched her when he could glance from the road and adjusted to the feeling of fatherhood. He felt like he was on the right track. But also felt a new pressure to provide that was stressful yet motivating.

Ideally, Clarence wanted to have at least five hard working sons to help him build and run his Oregon operations and maybe a couple daughters to dote on him. Lenoir was young, potentially she could have a lot of children. His already boggled mind tried to run the math and figured that she could have at least a dozen in her bearing years, and maybe more if they found she had the tendency to have twins or triplets. Wouldn't that be something he marveled.

Brutus snorted and and seemed to tell him, "Hey, watch the road." So he scratched the big boy and quietly thanked God for his life and prayed that he keep the baby safe.