Chapter Three

The sound of their wagons wheels making one round after another was, for the most part, the only sound Mary Vandervort could hear as her husband drove the wagon along the dirt road. They had left their home in Holland, Michigan and traveled along for close to two and a half months without any too many problems. They had finally reached the territory of Utah. With any luck, they'd be on the land which they were buying within the month. Tired, Mary rested her head against her husband's upper arm and let her mind wander back through time.

Mary was standing on her father's porch when she saw them, a couple driving a wagon with the biggest man Mary had ever seen riding on a horse alongside the couple's wagon. As the wagon pulled to a stop, her father came out of the house and, upon taking one look at their visitor, practically flew down the steps and cried out, "KLAAS! CHRISTINA! It's about time the two of you came back!"

While the Vandervorts and her father, Mary Wagoner, was watching Hoss as he dismounted his horse; her father had just invited the Vandervorts to stay and eat a bit of lunch with them. She didn't realize she'd been staring at the man, until he tipped his hat and smiled from ear to ear. "Howdy, ma'am,"

Mary wrapped her arms around her husband's arm and smiled as she held on tight. When she did that, Frederick glanced down at his wife. "Is everythin' okay?" He didn't like the idea that there might be something bothering his wife. He would rather deal with broken wagon wheels and leaky canvas, which he'd done more than once since they'd started their journey, than to watch his wife worry or suffer in anyway…something he had seen happen a few times in the five years they'd been married.

"Don't worry about me, Fredrick." Mary smiled and told him where her mind had been. That brought a smile to his face as he recalled the same day, and the ones following it. They'd been filled with long walks, picnics and a lot of talks. His mind stopped on the day they'd first kissed, the day they'd had a heart to heart talk about his amnesia.

"It doesn't matter, Fredrick." Mary stood next to Fredrick and looked at the pond her father had built upon their land. "I mean, I know you'd like to know and, I admit, so would I. It's just that," she turned to face him and started running her hands up the front of him, "I don't care what your name is or what your past is. It's you I care about."

By the time she was finished, she was standing on her toes and he was bending over so they could give each other their first kiss. Fredrick was sure that, since he was six feet four inches and she was a mere five feet two inches, anyone watching would have busted a gut laughing at the site of the two of them trying to kiss. He didn't care though. After a few seconds, he simply wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up off her feet. They were like that for a few more minutes as the kiss between them deepened. Only when Mary pulled away did he put her back down on her feet.

Fredrick was brought out of his thoughts when Mary, who had somewhat started to fall asleep, woke up as the wagon hit a bump causing a wheel to come off. Her husband muttered something inaudible under his breath, got down from the wagon and then helped her down. While he walked over to inspect the damage she recalled the day he asked her to marry him. She had just finished hanging up some clothes on the clothesline when she saw Fredrick, who had been working with both Klaas and her father, ride up and dismount.

The more the two of them got to know each other, the more Fredrick seemed to find his way to the Wagoner home after his work day was through. The fact that Mary had given him an open invitation to dine with her and her widowed father anytime he wanted, and Mr. Wagoner had backed her up on it, had given the ones prone to gossiping something to talk about. However, when he started stopping by the Wagoner home more and more, especially around supper time…and staying until almost dark… was giving those inclined to gossip extra fuel for the fire.

"Hello, Fredrick." Mary smiled and laid the basket she'd just picked up back on the ground. "It's good to see you. How was your day?"

Fredrick's only answer was to wrap his huge arms around her medium sized waist, lift her onto a small crate that stood next to the clothesline, and pull her to him. As he kissed her, Mary slid her arms around his neck and returned the kisses. "Papa will grab his shotgun if he comes out and finds us like this." Mary pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. While she wasn't surprised by the love she saw in his eyes, she was caught off guard by the words that came out of his mouth.

"I wish he would." Frederick brushed her bangs away from her forehead and ran his fingers down the side of her face. "It would save me the trouble of askin' him for his blessin' when we get married. That is," he said softly, "Iff'n ya'll have me."

"You…you want to marry me?" Mary's eyes started dancing and her smile spread wide.

"Yeah, I do." Fredrick grinned from ear to ear. "I love ya more than I can say. Iff'n ya'll have me, I'll do my best to do right by you."

Mary looked around her as Fredrick worked to fix the wheel the best he could. Five years ago she thought she and her husband would be parents by now and that Fredrick would still be working with Klaas and her father. Instead, they were childless, Klaas, his wife and her father had all passed away…and she and Fredrick were heading back to a part of the United States he should remember, but didn't. Mary was sure of that for, in spite of the fact that Christina Vandervort had said that maybe Frederick had only been visiting the west, the dialect in his voice told Mary different. She couldn't help but wonder what life would hold for them now.