Journey of Honor A love story Read Online Free Page B

marriage had been as painless as the asking had been. Once he was over the first initial shock of realizing she was the girl he’d seen, being with her had turned out to be surprisingly comfortable. Although she had the regal presence of royalty, she had a warm and sweet personality that put him right at ease and made friendship come incredibly easy.
    She didn’t act like she was terribly familiar with any of this life, but she had a quirky sense of humor that let her laugh at herself and made those around her laugh with her. Already, his men were eating out of her hand and Mose appeared to think she was a cute little sister or something. Crossing the wilderness like this was always a huge undertaking, but this trip was looking more like a huge adventure by the minute.
    When Giselle had looked up the boardwalk there in St. Joseph and seen the handsome young man with the long legs and gentle eyes, she had had no idea that she would be married to him within the next fifteen hours. They had come an unbelievably long way in less than a day, but she was incredibly grateful. For the first time in months, she felt safe. She’d known she would be safe with him the moment she’d realized that they would be traveling together, and his brother Mose and even the rest of the men that were beside him were a huge comfort.
    Traveling with them was one thing. Now that she was actually married to him, her relief was almost overwhelming. She knew to the center of her heart that there was no way he would let Filson near her. The very second that she had seen them together she knew that. His utter disdain for the sneaky and mean Missourian had been obvious. Even though their marriage was in name only, she knew he would protect her, and although she was in a terrible fix, somehow, she knew now that everything would be okay.
    Riding along on the wagon seat beside her grandfather, she wondered if she should have told Trace before she had let him marry her that she was two and a half months with child as a result of being attacked by Mormon hating mobbers near St. Louis. Henry Filson had been the ring leader of the group. He’d hounded her for months, both before and after the attack, and seeing him there in St. Joseph last night had been the most discouraging thing imaginable. She’d so hoped that she had seen the last of him when they’d finally left the St. Louis area for good.
    Before leaving for the West with the first wagon train of Mormons fleeing the persecution of Missouri and Illinois, Brigham Young had asked her grandfather to do his best to try and obtain payment for the properties that the Saints had to walk away from there. Giselle’s grandmother Petja had never actually joined the Church, and she had continued to attend other churches in the area. Josiah had accompanied her every week. Because of this, even though Josiah had been baptized a Mormon, some of the folks who would have nothing to do with the other Mormons had been willing to do business with Josiah.
    For more than eighteen months Josiah had worked to receive payment for the homes and farms. Ultimately he decided he’d done all that was possible and taken his wife and granddaughter and finally headed for that illusive Zion in the West. The money he was carrying for Brigham Young and the Saints was concealed in a hidden compartment in the bottom of the wagon, and only he and Petja and Giselle knew anything about it.
    Now, married to an obviously capable and respected man, she actually believed that she might be free of Henry Filson. Free except for the child she carried inside her.
    For a time after the attack, she had struggled to come to terms with the fact of becoming pregnant from such a horrible experience and horrible men, but she had finally made her peace with the idea. The part of her that was fair-minded to the core had eventually gotten past the ugliness of it all and focused on the fact that this child was simply an innocent victim like herself. She had