Chapter 25

Abby was her normal playful self that afternoon. She is always a joy to be around. Millie and Lettie were not. Both of them talked to me and both seemed to go out of their way to touch me or smile at me, but they probably didn't speak five words to each other all afternoon.

When bedtime rolled around, we all went into the wagon. I picked up some blankets and a tarp and told them Abby and I were going to sleep under the wagon tonight.

"But..." Millie started to say, but I cut her off.

"I don't want to hear it. When the two of you get your differences worked out, I'll consider sleeping in the wagon again."

"I'm sleeping under the wagon with you then," Millie said.

"No, you're not. I'd prefer to sleep under our wagon, but If I have to go out and hide in the woods to get away from the two of you, then I will."

Abby was thrilled to be sleeping with her papa. I just wish I was half as happy as she was.

June 25, 1845

Sally was evidently the first one up the next morning and she saw Abby and me sleeping under the wagon. She came over and shook me awake.

"What's going on, Jase?" she asked.

"Millie and Lettie are fighting," I said. "Tess tells me that Millie was bossing everyone around yesterday and I guess Lettie said something to her about it. Now, they're hardly speaking."

"Oh, Jase," Sally said and then she squeezed the stuffings out of me.

I put my arms around her and hugged her back. "I know what's wrong with Millie," she said with a smirk.

"What would that be?"

"She's pregnant."

"What makes you say that?"

"I got that way with each of my kids. The first couple of weeks after I got pregnant, I was a pure bitch. When I was first pregnant with Bob, I was so bad Caleb threatened to leave me. After that, when I realized what was happening each time, I managed to control myself to the point Caleb didn't threaten to leave. He did threaten me with a spanking more than once though."

I hugged her and said, "I can't imagine you ever being a bitch, Sally."

"Well, I was," she laughed. "The bad part was, I knew I was being a bitch, but it was very difficult to stop being that way."

"Well, I wonder how my little bitch liked sleeping without me last night," I said as I walked over and peeked into the wagon. I motioned Sally to come over and look. Millie and Lettie were both fully clothed and you could have driven a team of horses between them.

"I'll talk to Millie later," Sally said.

"Right now I'm gonna grab something to eat and get out of here before they get up," I said.

Sally took me by the arm and led me over to their fire. She made me up a bacon sandwich. I thanked her and went out on scout.

I picked a campsite about eighteen miles from the last one. Ab was right, we made the Portneuf River today. There was plenty of water, grass and firewood at the site I picked. Normally, I would find where I thought we would want to camp for the night and then I'd rejoin the wagons. Today, I decided to wait at the site for the wagons to arrive.

Sally did have a conversation with Millie. Both of them told me about it later and the best I can piece out, this is how it went.

"I hear you've been acting like the boss lady," Sally said.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Jase told me."

"I knew he'd take her side in this."

"He's not taking anyone's side in this, Millie. Jase is in a bad position here. The two people he loves the most are fighting and he's in the middle."

"Obviously SHE has been telling him HER side of it."

"No, Jase said he hasn't talked to either one of you about it."

"Then it has to be Tess. I thought she was my friend."

"It really doesn't matter how Jase heard. He's ready to paddle both of you if you don't straighten up."

"He wouldn't dare. I don't know why everyone's against me on this."

"Millie, no one is against you. I do think you are acting weird. I also think I know why."

"And why would that be, Mom?"

"I think you're pregnant. You're acting just the way I did when I was pregnant with Bob."

Sally said Millie looked like someone had hit her in the face with a hammer. She just stood there for a minute, stunned, then she said, "But..."

"But nothing. Don't you even try to tell me the two of you haven't been practicing making babies. I've seen your wagon rocking and I've heard the sounds coming out of it. From the sound of things you enjoy the practicing quite well."

Millie had to grin. "Yeah, I do like the practicing. Do you think I might really be pregnant?"

"I'd bet my last copper on it, daughter of mine."

"But, I had a period about three weeks ago."

"How long have you been feeling like you're the only one who knows anything? How long have you been feeling that everyone is out to get you?"

"Uh... Just a few days."

"Then I'd say you caught just a few days ago. If you're like me, this'll last about two weeks. During that time, you have to be very careful about what you say and do so that you don't offend the people who you love and who love you."

"I think I owe someone an apology, Mom. Thanks for telling me about how you felt."

I had unsaddled Sin and was letting him graze when the wagons caught up to me. Millie and Lettie were riding up front with Ab and when they saw me they lit out like their horses tails were on fire. Their horses were at a full gallop and they came to a sliding stop and were running toward me faster than I thought possible.

All of a sudden I had two young women hugging me and kissing me. They each had an arm around me, and I was pleased to see their other arms were around each other.

"I'm sorry, Jase," Millie said. "Mom says the reason I'm acting this way is that I may be pregnant."

I kissed Millie thoroughly then said, "She told me the same thing. That's the only reason I didn't blister your pretty bottom."

Millie giggled. "You can't do that if I'm pregnant. I could get by with anything."

"Ah, but I could cut you off from making love. I think that'd hurt worse than a spanking."

Millie hit me on the chest, then gave me a fire starting kiss. "I don't think you could cut me off," she smirked.

I had to agree.

Mom asked Abby to sleep over in her wagon that night. Millie admitted later she had asked mom to take her. I made love to both women and then they made love to each other. I was in heaven.

June 26, 1845

The weather was good, the terrain was good, and no one had any breakdowns. In other words, it was a great day for travel. We made twenty miles and camped at Good Springs.

I was in a great mood. My wives were no longer fighting, and Millie might be pregnant. I knew the pregnancy might present some problems. We wouldn't be living in our permanent house as yet and since she wouldn't be due until March, she'd be spending most of the winter, pregnant and living in a temporary shelter.

We all talked about that as the women fixed supper. "We're going to be getting into the area where we're going to be living by the middle of September at the latest," I said. "Do you think there's a chance we could get up a one or two room log house before it got too cold to live in the wagons?"

"You know, I think we could," John said. "Ab says we can buy the boards for the roof. That'll help a lot. We have all of the oxen and mules we could possible need to drag in logs."

"Millie, Tess, and I can do all of the chinking and daubing," Lettie said.

"You know it takes a lot of time to split out the shingles for the roof. If we have the boards on, we could cover them with the canvas from the wagons for the first winter," John said.

"Depending on how much time we have, we might have to live on a dirt floor that first winter too," I said.

All of the women said that wouldn't be a problem either.

"We're going to need to find a source of clay for chinking and for building a chimney," I said. "That'll probably be one of the first things the women need to do when we decide on a place for the house. John and I will clear the land first, then start cutting trees and dragging them in."

"Millie, Lettie and I can lead an oxen," Tess said. "There's no reason we can't drag the trees to the place we're gonna build the house."

"We're gonna have to buy a log chain," I said.

"No. There's a pretty good sized one in our wagon," John said.

We talked on how we were going to build our new home until bed time. I knew there was going to be a lot of work involved, but just talking about it made me so excited I felt like I could do it all myself.

June 27, 1845

The wagons nooned today at Soda Springs and we ended up camping at Soda Pool, which is about seven miles further on. It was a fairly good day for traveling and we made seventeen miles.

For some reason it seemed like we had been making more miles the last few days. I suspect that is at least partly because we feel like since we've gone over the divide, we're on our way home.

Millie and Lettie had been keeping check on Beth Samuels. I got a daily report from them as to how she was feeling. After supper, I decided I wanted to see for myself. We went over to their camp and after saying hello to Al and Nellie, I talked to Beth for a few minutes.

"So, Al," I said after I rejoined the adults. "What are you guys planning to do when you get to Oregon?"

"Mostly, we're gonna be farming," he said. "Nellie and I both grew up on farms and it's a life we like. I'm hearing that seeds sprout before they've hardly hit the ground in that Willamette Valley. I'm young, but I'm smart enough to not believe everything I hear."

"From what Ab tells me it is a great place for farmers. He also says it's huge. He says the valley itself is about a third the size of the state of Rhode Island. You shouldn't have any problem with finding some good land to claim."

"I didn't realize it was that big. What are you guys planning to do?"

"We're going to be starting a ranch. Ranching and farming don't mix, so we're gonna be looking somewhere other than the Willamette Valley."

"I hear tell there's everything from desert to fertile farmland. Ranching takes more room than farming, so you'll need a bigger place."

We talked on for a while, but we didn't seem to have much in common with them. They seemed like nice people, but for some reason we just didn't seem to connect. Millie and Lettie said they felt the same way.

June 28, 1845

Abby woke me up by tickling my nose with a piece of string. Her giggling, when I grabbed her, woke Millie and Lettie up. We all had a group hug and cuddle, then the women got up to fix breakfast.

Lettie was especially loving for some reason this morning. It just seemed like she couldn't get close enough. I really hated to leave her when I went on scout.

We covered sixteen miles today and camped on the Portneuf River. We were really into mountainous country now and although we were making quite a few miles a day, it took a lot of scouting to find the best route through some of the areas.

Supper was nice and Lettie was still in loving mood. After we had eaten, I was bracketed by Millie and Lettie, then Abby came over and claimed my lap. She snuggled in with us for a few minutes then she asked, "Papa, does God really kill people with thunder and lightning?"

"Not that I know of, Honey. Thunder is just a big noise. It couldn't possibly kill anyone. I guess lightning could, but I've never heard of it happening to anyone."