AN: I'm excited to say that this story, "Oregon Trail" has been nominated in the "Best Historical Drama" category, in The Fandom Choice Awards! Yay!
Please visit my profile to find the link, where you, the fan, can vote!
There are some other great authors, whom I admire, that have also been nominated, in several other categories. I want you to vote for them too!
You can vote for your favorites, and maybe find some good stories you haven't read yet.
My wonderful FF friend, and pre-reader "GeezerWench" has been nominated too! She really helped a lot with this chapter. I know NOTHING about guns, but luckily she does, so I learned somethings while writing this chapter. Heck, maybe you'll learn something also!
I persuade you to head over to the "Fandom Choice Awards" after you read my chapter. (Link is in my profile)
*Using my vampire mind control powers*
Did it work?
Yee-Haw!
September 23, 1866
By the time Peter and Jasper had calmed down and returned to the campsite, the wagon had been packed, and the travelers resumed their journey westward.
The men had decided to shoot Garrett, the Yankee scoundrel, if he ever happened to cross their paths again. After discussing things down by the river, the brothers had come to the conclusion that hunting down Garrett, and leaving the women alone, wasn't the best idea after all.
Peter stayed in a foul mood until after lunch, recounting the previous evening's events over and over again, wishing that his wife had come to him, and confided in him the offer that Garrett had given her.
He was finally pulled from his brooding, when Charlotte had decided to give Bella her first shooting lesson. It excited Peter to watch his wife handle a gun, and the thought of his wife being the one to put a bullet in that fool Yankee brought a smile to his face.
Jasper had been angered by Garrett's actions as well, but the fact that Bella had agreed to marry him had made him so happy that nothing could smother the joy he felt inside. He'd had a whistle on his lips and a bounce in his step the entire morning.
Jasper watched a devious grin spread across Peter's lips. He was watching Charlotte and Bella intently, as they walked, carrying their guns a fair distance away from the wagon.
"Once Bella learns to shoot, you won't have a reason to sleep outside her tent." Peter teased his brother.
"I don't need a reason anymore. She's going to marry me."
"Just 'cause she's goin' to marry you, don't mean you're gettin' any before the weddin'. I'll see to that," Peter said with a smirk, before turning his head and spitting a thin stream of tobacco juice onto the prairie grass.
"I know that, dumbass. I'm not a letch like you. When I bed her, it'll be in a bed, not out in the shrubs like rabbits, like what you do to Charlotte."
Peter crossed his arms. "I'll have you know that Charlotte enjoys what we do, no matter the location. We like gettin' loud. That's why we run off. It's to protect your virgin ears."
"Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but I'm not a virgin, and I've heard your lovin' noises before, comin' from your tent. You're a loud kisser." Jasper winced.
"I'm not ashamed, and you're just jealous. Now, let's go help the ladies with those guns." Peter waggled his eyebrows and scurried away.
Charlotte had just finished showing Bella how to load her father's gun when the brothers caught up to them.
"We thought you ladies might need some help," Peter offered, smiling and bouncing up on his toes.
Charlotte rolled her eyes. "What do we need help with? We got the gun and ammunition right here. We don't need anything else, unless you wanna stand still so we can use you for target practice." Charlotte had her fill of Peter's foul mood that morning. She understood that he was angry, but she didn't like him taking it out on her, especially since she hadn't done anything.
"Don't be ill with me, honey. I'm not mad at ya anymore." Peter tried to wrap his arm around Charlotte's shoulder, but she shrugged him off.
"Now, don't be that way, sugar. We just come to help." Peter's face fell dejectedly. "What are ya'll using for targets, anyway?"
"We set up some rocks over yonder," Charlotte said, as she turned her back to her husband, and handed Bella the six-shooter.
Bella nervously licked her lips, as Charlotte explained the mechanics of the pistol that she held in her hands. Her thoughts strayed to the last time she had handled a gun, and the damage it had caused. Remembering the pained look on Jacob's face, and the blood that had flowed freely from the wound, made Bella a bit nauseous, but she was determined to learn how to shoot all the same.
When dealing with guns, knowledge was preferable to ignorance, and of course, Bella needed to be capable of protecting herself.
Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed Jasper's nearing proximity, until he became so close he was almost touching her.
Suddenly, Bella realized Jasper's intentions, as he ran one of his rough calloused hands down her forearm. He was standing behind her, hoping that she'd fall into him when she pulled the trigger, from the force of the recoil.
"Go on, honey, don't be afraid." He prodded her, and gave her arm a slight squeeze.
Bella shivered when she felt Jasper's soft breath against her neck. His other hand made its way down her other arm, creeping down and caressing her, as his fingers inched closer and closer to the trigger. "Just pull it nice and slow." His deep voice rumbled through his chest, rough and gravelly.
"Let me do it," she whispered. "I can do it."
A few moments later, Bella worked up the courage to fire the weapon. The sound echoed through the valley, as she fell back into Jasper's rock hard chest and waiting arms.
Peter whooped with laughter. "Now that you've shot that one, you need to learn to shoot a bigger gun. I'll go get the musket."
"Hold up," Jasper yelled. "What makes you think she needs a bigger gun? This one just about knocked her over."
"Well, she needs to spread her legs," Peter commented, spreading his hand wide.
Jasper furrowed his brow, and gave his brother a strange look.
"Her stance isn't wide enough." Peter pointed out, explaining. "Go ahead, Bella. Try again with your legs open."
With the next shot she took, she didn't fall.
Peter, feeling proud of himself, tipped his hat back and smiled. "That's better. You keep on tryin', and I'll go fetch my musket."
After Bella had a bit of practice with the pistol, it was obvious to Jasper, that she was a pretty good shot. He was amazed at how quickly she had learned.
It gave Bella a true sense of accomplishment, and her face beamed with pride. By the time Peter had returned with the musket, she was ready to give it a try.
"Handlin' a big gun feels a whole lot different than handlin' a little one," Peter warned. "It's got more power behind it. I bet you'll like a big gun better," he said with a wink.
Jasper wanted to smack Peter across the head with his musket. Maybe if he hit him hard enough, it would knock the dirty thoughts from his mind.
Peter just giggled at Jasper's annoyed countenance, while he had his fun, teaching Bella to load the musket.
First, Peter tore the cartridge open with his teeth, and spit out the paper. He looked to his brother and his eyebrows rose, as he removed the ram rod from beneath the barrel, and told Bella how to use it to tamp the ball down into the muzzle.
"You have to make sure you pack it down good and tight," Peter said, as he took Bella's hand in his own and worked the stick up and down a few times.
Bella's hands were already black with powder from shooting the pistol, but something about the way that Peter was touching her, made Jasper feel like she was being dirtied.
"If anybody should be helping her, it should be me," Jasper growled, as he snatched the musket away from Peter, and stowed the rod back in its hole.
Once the long gun filled Bella's hands, she worried that it might be too big for her to handle. "I'm not sure about this," Bella said eyeing the musket. "It's huge, maybe I should just stick to the pistol."
"Don't be intimidated by the size of the gun," Jasper said. "You just need to prop it on something to help you hold it steady."
"Bend down over that boulder over there," Peter advised with a grin.
Bella had no idea why Jasper's back stiffened at his brother's suggestion, so she shrugged it off and made her way over to the large boulder and kneeled behind it. She set the butt of the musket on the ground, and waited for Charlotte to set up some smaller rocks to use as targets and move out of the way.
Off to the side, Peter and Jasper were having some sort of quiet disagreement with each other, but soon enough, they caught up.
Jasper gave Peter a stern look before he got down on the ground behind Bella. He kept one knee on the ground as he leaned forward, his chest to her back, as he reached for the musket.
"First thing you want to take into account is your position," Jasper stated.
"Position looks pretty good from here," Peter yelled.
Ignoring his brother's inane comments, Jasper took a deep breath and situated the rear end of the musket against Bella's shoulder. "Right here, between your shoulder joint and collar bone there is a meaty spot. That's where you want to rest the stock. It's going to kick back, and that's where you want the force to hit."
With Jasper so close behind her, Bella was starting to feel faint, and her heart felt like it was trying to escape from her chest, it was beating so hard. Jasper gently pressed his thumb into the spot, below her shoulder and above her breast, where he wanted her to steady the gun.
Bella turned her head to look at him, and he was startlingly close. Their noses were practically touching. As her eyes fell to his lips, she wondered briefly when he'd kiss her again because she had enjoyed it so much before. Her eyes flicked up to his and she saw he was staring intently at her.
The two captivated young people were pulled from their trance by Peter loudly clearing his throat. "Tell her where to put her hands," Peter suggested. "Make sure she grabs a hold of the wood on the barrel."
Jasper wanted Bella to hold onto the wood more than anything—his wood—and it was becoming painfully difficult not to rub up against her, but it wasn't the time.
"Yeah, make sure you hold the wooden part, not the metal of the barrel—it gets hot when it's fired," Jasper managed to explain as he slid her hand down the smooth wood of the forestock. Then he placed her other hand over the trigger, and showed her how to look down the barrel, and line up the sight to aim correctly. He couldn't resist the urge to breathe in the scent of her hair.
Jasper eased the hammer back, and handed Bella a cap to place on top of the firing mechanism. "This cap sets off the explosion. You are going to hear two sounds—the click of the cap when the hammer strikes it, then the bang of the explosion," he warned.
Bella's hands were becoming sweaty. She hadn't realized there was so much to learn about shooting. It was becoming overwhelming.
"Don't forget to breathe." Charlotte smiled.
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. You should inhale, start to let the breath out, hold it, pull the trigger, and when the gun fires, release the breath," Jasper explained.
"It's so much to remember," Bella groaned.
"You're doing fine, honey. Go ahead." Jasper pressed his body against Bella's to steady her, and finally, she pulled the trigger.
The force knocked her back into him, and ever so briefly, her soft behind pressed into his turgid manhood.
The musket was definitely more powerful than the pistol, and Bella was proud that the force hadn't knocked her over. "Did I do alright?" she asked, as she wiped a few stray hairs from her face, and leaned forward, assessing her target.
Jasper eased away from her and tried to discretely adjust himself, while Peter howled with laughter.
Bella turned, wondering what on earth Peter thought was so funny. She pursed her lips and sighed. "I think that's enough practice for now. Shouldn't we be going?"
Jasper couldn't take his eyes off of her. She looked so cute. She had unknowingly smeared gun powder across her nose and cheek. "You did good. I suppose we should get going."
"I'm not so sure we should travel anymore today," Peter exclaimed, his eyes cast to the dark clouds rolling in from the west. "A storm is comin'. We should make camp now, and seek shelter. I have a feelin' it's gonna be a real heavy rain."
As usual, Peter's feeling proved to be correct. They had barely completed setting up their tents, when the rain began to pour from the sky. It was a drenching downpour, and they were all glad to be huddled inside of the tent instead of outside under the wagon.
A low, rumbling thunder rolled across the prairie as everyone was seated together, inside the large tent—the one that belonged to Peter and Charlotte.
The brothers, not having anything in particular to do, made conversation about the journey, while Bella and Charlotte busied themselves by sewing warm, winter coats. Fashioning them from the thick, furry buffalo hides Peter had purchased from the fur trader a few days back.
Jasper had wanted to speak to Bella about their impending marriage. He wanted to be sure she had understood that marrying him meant that she would be coming with his family to Oregon. He didn't want any wife of his working; especially as a nurse.
But their conversation would have to wait until they could find some time alone.
The storm had lasted well into the evening, and by the time it passed, it was too late to walk any further. The travelers would camp where they were for the night, and everyone hoped, weather permitting, they would be able to resume their journey in the morning.