Ten Thousand Charms by Allison Pittman Page B

greeting, only to realize that she was shielding her eyes and did not see him in the early morning glare. Feeling foolish, he dropped his hand and returned to his task.
    Just then, a lusty cry came from within the wagon.
    “Somebody's awake,” he said.
    “Sounds like Kate.” Gloria loaded the clean dishes into the cook box, and together they hoisted it to its place below the wagon's seat.
    “Can we get started? Or do you want to feed her first?”
    “It's late, isn't it? I can feed her in the wagon. Danny will be up soon, too.”
    Gloria grasped the wagon seat and began to climb up.
    “Let me help you,” John William said. He took her elbow and held her steady as she climbed over the wheel and settled herself on the wooden seat. Once settled, she turned, reached through the canvas opening at the front of the wagon, and plucked the impatient Kate, now fairly screaming, from the little wooden crate that served as her crib for this journey She began unbuttoning her blouse, and John William turned away, running his fingers over the harnesses. Satisfied, he walked one more circuit around the wagon, checking to be sure that the fire was out and all their belongings were gathered and secured.
    “Ready?” he asked, glancing up at Gloria.
    “Could you hand me my hat?” she said. “It's just in the back.”
    “Of course. Wouldn't want you to burn.”
    He walked to the back of the wagon and found the calico bonnet.
    “Here you are,” he said, holding it up to her.
    “Could you help me?” Gloria shrugged in gesture to the greedily nursing Kate. “My hands are full.”
    “So they are.”
    When he joined her on the seat, she bowed her head for himto put the bonnet on. He hadn't been this close to her since the day he asked her to join him on this journey The top of her head was just inches from his eyes, and he marveled for just a moment at the myriad colors that nestled against each other before blurring that vision with blue calico. Once the bonnet was settled on her head, Gloria lifted her face, and John William looked down the shadowy tunnel into her eyes.
    “Don't choke me.”
    “What?” Her question jarred him from his brief reverie.
    “When you tie it. Don't choke me.”
    “Don't tempt me,” he said. But as his fingers grazed the softness of her throat and cheek, he knew that choking her was not the temptation he would need to guard against.
    “That's good,” Gloria said. “That feels right.”
    “So the princess is ready to proceed?” Just then, Kate gave a happy little kick that thrust a foot outside of the blanket she was wrapped in. John William caught the tiny foot in his hand, brought it to his lips. “Excuse me. Are the princesses ready to proceed?”
    “We are, sir,” Gloria said. “Drive on.”
    John William hopped down, picked his own hat off the peg on the side of the wagon, and shoved it onto his head. He gave the horse a friendly slap on its flank and took the first steps of the thousands he would take that day.
    Lead me not into temptation.
    The words had never had such meaning before.
    Deliver me from evil
    But the glance over his shoulder yielded a vision that didn't seem evil. A woman, yes. But a woman demurely covered, face hidden, nourishing his child.
    Katherine's child.
    Katherine.
    John William had been awake for nearly two hours this day, and this was the first time her name entered his head. He found himself pushing away blond tangles to make way for a picture ofKatherine's dark features—plain, but beautiful in their own way.
    Lord, I rely on You for my strength. Give strength to my thoughts. Give strength to my heart. Give strength to my body.
    “Especially my body” he said aloud.
    “What was that?” Gloria asked from her wagon perch.
    “Just praying.”
    “Again?”
    “Always.”

hen the sun hit full noon, John William cooed a gentle “whoa” to the team and brought the wagon to a halt.
    “Time to rest,” he said, as he'd said every day at this time. The