Backwards to Oregon (The Oregon Series #1) by Jae

Author:Jae [Jae]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, Historical, lesbian, Fiction, Western, Butch-Femme, Adult, Disguised as a Man
ISBN: 9783955330279
Google: jfW-uQAACAAJ
Amazon: 1934889318
Goodreads: 6944799
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Published: 2013-04-06T23:00:00+00:00

Parting of the Ways,

July 14th, 1851

“Do you see it?” Luke asked.

Nora shielded her face with her hand, but other than endless, sagebrush-covered plain, there wasn’t much to see. “Um, see what?”

“Parting of the Ways.” Luke pointed to where the trail in front of them divided. Wagon ruts continued to the left and to the right.

“I say we stay on the main route and take the road to Fort Bridger,” Tom Buchanan said, pointing to the left fork. He was low on supplies, and his youngest child was sick again, so Nora couldn’t blame him for wanting to choose the safe route that had enough water and made a visit to Fort Bridger possible.

“Do what you want, but I’m gonna take the Sublette Cutoff,” Bill Larson said, already steering his mules to the right. “It’ll save us over fifty miles.”

Nora stared at the road to the right. Fifty miles? That would shorten their journey by two or three days—and given her exhaustion, that seemed almost like an eternity to her.

“Yeah, but it’ll mean traveling through a desert area,” Jacob Garfield said. “Fifty miles with no water, very little grass, but plenty of rough road and alkaline dust.”

The emigrants argued back and forth, but no unanimous vote could be reached. Nora looked at Luke, but as usual, her husband didn’t voice his opinion. He just stood there, eyeing both trails with a furrowed brow.

Finally, the captain sighed. “Seems like we have to split up. I’ll take the shortcut. Those of you who don’t want to take the risk go with Tom to Fort Bridger.”

Splitting up? Nora bit her lip. Won’t that weaken our defense if we encounter Indians or thieves? At the same time, hope began to blossom deep inside her. Brody Cowen, the adventurer, would probably take the risky shortcut. If Luke decided to detour to Fort Bridger, as she thought he would, Cowen would be out of her life for good.

Luke stepped closer to her. “What do you think?” he asked, pointing first at the left, then at the right trail.

Nora blinked. Luke knew more about the road ahead than any other emigrant, and he was asking her, a former prostitute who had never been west of Independence before? Most other men hadn’t bothered to ask their wives’ opinions. “I’m not sure. We’ve got enough supplies, so a detour to the fort isn’t a necessity, but fifty miles through the desert ...”

“I think we should risk it,” Luke said, his lips a grim line.

“Really?” In the past, Luke had avoided putting her or Amy at risk, and now he decided against the safe route?

“Yeah. Two or three days could mean the difference between you giving birth in the middle of a snowstorm in the Cascade Mountains or safely in a doctor’s cabin in Oregon City.” Luke directed a glance down at Nora’s belly, then up into her eyes.

Nora pressed her palms against her belly. So Luke’s decision is based on our welfare. I should have known.

The other emigrants gathered in two groups at both sides of the fork.

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