A Fractured Land (Working Title)

Part 5

"She coming?" the dispatch asked, gruffly, as Walter and I heaved a large bag of supplies into the wagon, following two hand-woven blankets and three pillows. I'd asked for three, as Leah had always enjoyed grappling with something while she slept. I preferred that I didn't wake up to find that I was the item her subconscious had chosen to strangle in the night. I'm assuming that Walter's wife, Rose, had similar unconscious behavior at night, because he obliged without asking a single question.

"Should be." I responded, "There's a boy."

"Leah! Egan!" Walter called, "It's only a week, not like he's going off to fight in a war before you get back."

The door to the shop opened and the two exited, hand in hand. Leah had her free arm gripping his bicep. They both wore ear-to-ear grins.

"I'll be back before you know it." My sister said as she boarded the wagon.

"Not soon enough." Egan replied, dreamily.

"Good lord." I muttered.

"You're lucky," Walter leaned into the cart to speak to me under his breath, "you're not forced to see this once a week."

"She's down here once a week?" I exclaimed.

"Sometimes more." Leah turned to me and winked.

"Who are you?" I asked her.

"Rest of the train's waiting for us at the edge of town. Gotta get a move on." The dispatch told us.

Egan had been standing next to the cart, and took a step back. "One week."

"One week." Leah breathed, clinging to the wooden brim of the cart as if it were a life raft.

Walter joined Egan standing next to the cart as the dispatch took the reigns, preparing to snap them. Immediately before, Egan took two abrupt strides toward the cart and jumped up to Leah, holding his body weight up on the side of the wagon with his legs dangling downward.

And he kissed her.

And she kissed him back.

Leah really kissed him back.

"Don't overdo it." I mumbled.

"Oh, let them be," Walter joshed me, "seems that they've got to store up for a week's loss."

The two parted with an audible snick, which elicited giggles from each as they held the face of the other in their hands. Egan took Leah's hand and kissed it, quickly, before leaping from the cart back into the street.

The dispatch snapped the reigns and the cart lurched forward, sending Leah and I careening toward the edge. I grabbed the railing to steady myself, before catching Egan and Leah sharing one last, meaningful look.

Very meaningful look.

I knew what that look meant.

"Uh, oh." I said to myself.

"I love you!" Egan called as we traveled further down the street.

"I love you, too!" Leah replied.

I sighed, and slumped against the side of the cart, burdened with the sudden realization that my sister would come out of this situation in one of two ways. One could be very good, and the other would be very bad.

After several minutes of watching Egan as we rode away, the cart rounded a corner and my sister took a seat across from me, with a grin on her face that reminded me of the time she'd found a ladybug on father's coat after he came in from a long day on the farm. That must have been ten years ago, but the smile was identical.