He remounted Valiente and turned to leave. Zeke followed him.

“What’d’ya think he’ll do?” Zeke asked.

“Only heaven knows,” Mac replied.

Back in town, Mac stopped at Myers Mercantile to ask about strangers in town. The clerk told him, “I seen a lot of new men in these parts. Can’t say if they’re just passin’ through or if they mean to stay. Your boy Will was talkin’ to a group of ’em earlier today.”

“Will was here?” Mac asked.

The man chuckled. “Seems his ma sent him to buy thread. And bribed him with a nickel’s worth of candy.” Then he turned serious. “But one of the men, name of Jacob Johnson, was askin’ about you afterward. You know him?”

Mac felt his blood leave his head and congeal in his stomach. “Not in Oregon. I met a Jacob Johnson once in Missouri. No way of knowing if it’s the same man.”

“Was he a friend?”

“No,” Mac said, remembering his only encounter with Johnson. “No, he wasn’t a friend.”

Mac stopped by the Post Office to get his mail—he had a letter from Portland and one from Eugene. He took them to his office, lit a cigar, and leaned back in his chair to read them.

Before he could concentrate, however, he had to shake off his fear at hearing of a Jacob Johnson in town—surely, it wasn’t the man he’d confronted in Missouri. Still, he would have to warn Jenny, and she would be upset.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to his mail. The letter from Portland dealt with a bank proposal he was considering. The National Banking Act had passed a year earlier, and men like Mac who had loaned money to their neighbors were considering whether to incorporate as a bank under the new law. William Ladd in Portland was the farthest along in his planning, and Mac should return to Portland to meet with Ladd again.

Ladd was also involved with men in Eugene who proposed to incorporate a company to build a road through central Oregon. He’d referred one of the road surveyors, Byron Pengra, to Mac. Pengra wanted Mac to invest in the road enterprise, and Mac should travel to Eugene to investigate that possibility.

The banking plans sounded more developed—Portland should be his first trip. The sooner the better. And he could talk to Ladd about the road project at the same time.

After Mac dashed off a letter to Ladd proposing they meet on the following Tuesday morning, he returned home.

“I have a trip to Portland planned. I’ll leave Monday and be back the next evening,” he told Jenny. “Will you and the children be all right without me?” He hated to leave her, particularly after what he’d heard in the store.

She smiled, seeming unconcerned. “Will’s been a tremendous help this week. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“Be careful,” Mac warned. “There’s a man in town named Jacob Johnson, who’s been asking about us.”

She gasped. “No.”

“I don’t know if it’s the man you knew in Missouri,” Mac said. “But watch out for him. And I’ll make sure Will stays nearby.”

Sunday evening, as Will sat reading in his room, Pa knocked on his door. “I need to go to Portland tomorrow,” Pa said.

Will sat up and grinned, thinking Pa wanted him to go along.

But Pa continued, “I need you to stay close to home and watch out for your mother.”

Will’s face fell—Pa only wanted Will to keep toting and fetching for Mama. “I can’t come with you?” he asked sullenly. He wasn’t allowed to visit Jonah these days, at least not alone. And he’d been humiliated on Saturday, buying thread for Mama. Those ex-soldiers watched him, and the storekeeper and his wife smirked at him. Jonah got paid a wage to farm, while Will ran errands in town like a schoolboy, even though he was done with school.

Pa shook his head. “Not this time. I need someone to watch things here. I heard a man in town was asking about us—a Jacob Johnson. You talked to him?”

Will shrugged. “Just for a minute. I didn’t recognize him.”

“I knew a Jacob Johnson in Missouri,” Pa said. “I can’t say it’s the same man. But if it is, we don’t want him anywhere near our house or family. If you see him nearby—or any other stranger, for that matter—you get the sheriff. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Pa.”

Chapter 12: While Mac Is Away

Jenny felt Mac’s absence when he left for Portland on Monday. She’d spent plenty of time without him—first while he was in California for two years, and even after he returned when he had business elsewhere in Oregon and California. She’d even been alone during earlier pregnancies.

But somehow this felt different. Maybe because William seemed so unsettled. Maybe because of the possibility that Jacob Johnson was nearby.

She shuddered, remembering the last time she’d seen Johnson. That was the day she met Mac. She should focus on the happy events that flowed from that day, not the terror.

Monday evening, Jenny sat in the parlor with Will, Maria, and Cal. She’d let Cal stay up later than usual but sent the younger children to bed. When Cal yawned, she told him, “Off with you, Caleb. To bed.”

“Aww, Mama,” he protested.

“Now,” she said more firmly.

“I’ll go up with you,” Maria said. “I’m tired, too.”

Jenny was glad for a chance to speak with Will. “Have you thought more about your father’s plans for you?” she asked.

He looked up. “You mean Harvard?” He shrugged. “I suppose I’ll go. There isn’t much else to do.” He didn’t sound very excited.

“If you could do anything you wanted, William, what would you do?”

“I don’t know. Maybe go to California.”

“California?” That surprised her. “Why?”

“Pa made a fortune there. Maybe I could, too.”

“We could help you get a start,” she said. “But wouldn’t you rather have an education first?” She remembered the days she’d spent with her father in his study. “Your namesake—my father—loved reading his philosophical treatises. He liked nothing better than to think and dream. You’re a lot like him.” She smiled at William, so like his grandfather.

“I enjoy studying,” Will said. “When I’m interested. But too much of school is doing what the teacher wants, not what I want.”

Jenny raised her eyebrows. “Much of life is doing what others want, not what you want.” She sighed. She hadn’t wanted to go West and dreaded the journey when it started. She only went because Mac insisted. “You’ll find that out as you grow. But knowing what you want, that’s important. Because otherwise, there’s no hope of getting it.” She almost waited too late to determine what she wanted—she let Mac go to California, not realizing he was what she wanted. She was grateful every day that he returned, and they had found their happiness.

Tuesday morning, Will and Maria sat in the parlor after the younger children went to school. “Mama says you don’t want to go to Harvard,” Maria said.