Read Online Where the Trail Ends: American Tapestries by Melanie Dobson - Free Book Online Page A

hands curled around her flintlock, and the other wove through Boaz’s fur.
    “I’ve been trying to talk sense into her for almost twenty years, but sometimes good sense seems to deflect off her.” Even with the resignation in Papa’s tone, she heard a thread of the Waldron pride. Papa may not always agree with her, but he never stopped her from standing up for what she thought was right. And this was clearly right.
    “Step away,” the captain ordered her, waving his pistol like the Blackfeet Indians had waved their bows during a confrontation back in Kansas.
    But even as she held his gaze, doubts bubbled up in her like the springs of soda they’d passed two days ago. What if the captain did turn their family away and force them to travel alone? What if he decided to make a spectacle of the Waldrons for their—for her —insubordination? Papa was only trying to protect them from harm, but Micah’s heart would break as well if these men killed Boaz. He’d already lost Mama. Losing Boaz now would crush him...and it would crush her too.
    Captain Loewe glanced down at her soaked dress with a bit of scorn as he repeated his command. “We need your dog, Miss Waldron.”
    “What are you going to do if the children get too loud at night?” She glanced back at her father. “What if Micah wakes up withnightmares, screaming in the darkness? Would you let this man kill him too?”
    The captain shook his head. “That’s ridiculous.”
    She turned back to the captain. “Boaz is a member of our family too.”
    He narrowed his eyes. “Do you know what rabies is?”
    She stiffened. “I’ve heard the stories.”
    “If a rabid coyote bites one of our dogs and then that dog turns on the rest of us...” The captain paused.
    “What does this have to do—”
    “There’s no cure for rabies.”
    She couldn’t bear to look toward where the men had shot the animals. “Have any of our dogs been bitten?”
    He pounded his hand into his fist. “This is the reason why women are not allowed to vote.”
    “Because they might make sense?”
    His eyes were still on her even as he threatened her father. “If you don’t force her to obey, Hiram, there will be consequences.”
    Papa didn’t respond. Nor did Samantha cower.
    The others might not stand up to this man, but she wouldn’t back down. Loewe might force their family to leave the train, but he couldn’t keep them from following close behind. And if they had to, the Waldron family could make it through the wilderness alone.
    The thought crossed her mind of a bird separated from its flock. A hawk’s choice prey.
    She shook her head, refusing to entertain the thought. Saving Boaz and the remaining dogs was the right thing to do, and her father knew it. So did the rest of the men who were watching the confrontation between her and the captain.
    “I’m taking your dog.” The captain’s words sounded more like a growl.
    She glanced at her father, and he gave her the slightest nod of his approval. He didn’t want them to kill Boaz either. “No, you’re not.”
    “What are you going to do?”
    She lifted her rifle. “I told you I knew how to use a gun.”
    “You’re going to shoot me?” His head bent back, laughter punctuating his words.
    “Not if you leave Boaz alone.”
    He eyed her for a second, as if gauging whether she was telling the truth. His eyes remained on her as he spoke. “Doyle, come here.”
    Her stomach turned as she watched Jack tread slowly toward her. She wished for the man who used to wink at her around the campfire when Papa was telling one of the many stories about Samantha’s antics as a child, the man who’d brought her flowers when he returned from scouting trips, the man who traded a buffalo hide for a loaf of sugar at Fort Laramie for her family.
    Jack was twenty-eight, two decades younger than the captain, but he was strong and smart. Surely he would stand up to this lunacy.
    She rolled her shoulders back, facing him, but Jack