The story so far: The wagon train carrying several families to Oregon has just been through a buffalo stampede. Nancy and her friend Mary Katherine are worried about their families.

Mary Katherine’s face registered alarm. “Mother and the baby? Are they?”

“I’ve seen them. They’re fine,” her father answered. Then he noticed the gash on Mary Katherine’s head. “What happened?”

“Our wagon turned over,” said Nancy. “Kat was hurt. Ma thinks she needs to have Doc take a look at it.”

“Maybe later,” he said. “He can’t right now. He’s with your pa, Nancy. Your pa’s horse fell during the stampede, and he was thrown. I was on my way to get your mother. She needs to come directly.”

Shock made Nancy’s mouth dry. “Why? Is Pa hurt?”

“I’m afraid so.” He laid his hand on Nancy’s shoulder. “Doc’s not sure he’s going to make it.”

“I have to see him.” Nancy’s voice cracked, “Please?”

“All right, go, ” Capt. Beechum answered. “He’s in Doc’s wagon. Kat, you go with her. I’ll be back shortly with your mother, Nancy.”

Finally Nancy spotted Doc’s wagon. Doc was in front of his wagon, stirring something in a pot over a small fire.

“Doc,” she said, “Capt. Beechum said Pa was hurt

” She couldn’t finish.

Doc jerked his head up with a startled expression, as if he hadn’t noticed the girls’ approach. “Yes, I…uhhh…was making a poultice for him.”

Nancy’s heart leaped in hope. Perhaps Capt. Beechum had been wrong about how badly Pa was hurt. “You mean Pa’s going to get better?”

Doc looked at her with sympathy. “The poultice should ease his pain, Nancy. Past that, I’m afraid there’s not much I can do for him.”

Through the door of the wagon came a groan.

“Pa!” Nancy cried out. Doc grabbed the sleeve of her dress and held her back.

“Nancy, I don’t think

” he began.

“Please let me see me him!”

Doc looked anguished for a moment, then turned loose his hold.

Nancy clambered up the wagon’s few stairs and pulled the door open. As her vision adjusted from the bright sunlight to the semidarkness inside, something about the wagon’s interior felt…wrong.

Then her eyes fell on Pa, lying on Doc’s bed, covered from the chin down with a bloodstained blanket. All Nancy could see of him was his face, horribly bruised and so swollen that his eyes were tiny black slits. His breath came in wheezes. Nancy blinked to control the tears pressing at her eyes.

She knelt beside him and laid a hand on his arm. “Hey, Pa, it’s me, Nancy,” she said in a thin voice.

“Sis.” Pa had called Nancy “Sis” ever since the twins were born. He moved his hand out from under the blanket

Nancy tried not to flinch when she saw it was covered with blood

and curled a finger around hers. “Got to tell you something,” he said as if the effort to speak was nearly too much for him. “Oregon… don’t appear…” He grimaced in pain. “Not going to make it…after all.”

Waves of nausea swept over Nancy. Pa thought he was going to die!

“You will get to Oregon, Pa,” she said fiercely, her voice husky with emotion. “You’re going to get better. We’re going to have a fine farm there, just like you and Ma been dreamin’ of. You’ll see.”

He struggled on as if he hadn’t even heard her, his voice little more than a whisper. “Need your help… to get your ma and the new baby there…and the boys. Promise me, Sis, you’ll be strong, and brave…and you’ll get your ma to Oregon.”

His words swam around her, flooding her with panic. Face a thousand miles of wilderness… without Pa? How could she ever promise such a thing? But how could she not? She choked down her fear and spoke in a whispery croak. “I’ll do my best, Pa.”

He squeezed her finger in acknowledgment and rasped, “Doc will see to you and your ma

all of you

when a man’s hand is needed.” Then he closed his eyes. The rattle of his breathing went on, shallow and labored, as if he was fighting for every breath. Talking to her had exhausted him, and she knew she should leave.

Blinking to hold back her tears, Nancy slowly descended the wagon’s steps. Ma was coming, weaving through the debris, holding her skirts as she hurried toward Doc’s wagon. She met Nancy’s eyes, pulled her close in a rough embrace, then climbed the steps and went inside the wagon with Pa.

Nancy felt Doc’s and Mary Katherine’s anxious gaze upon her, though it barely registered on her consciousness. From inside the wagon came the murmur of Ma’s and Pa’s voices. All Nancy’s life, she’d been comforted by that sound as she dropped off to sleep. Now, was she hearing it for the last time?

Pain rose inside her so sharp she thought she couldn’t bear it. She felt more alone than she ever had in her life.

“I’ll do my best, Pa,” she breathed. Then she let the tears come.

Printed with permission from Hot Topics Hot Serials.