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  “Much obliged,” Will replied, “but I reckon I’ll make camp over near that wagon train.” Then something else occurred to him as he headed out the door. He paused and asked, “That wagon train, they comin’ or goin’?”

  “Goin’,” the sergeant replied. Both men assumed the question was whether the train was on its way to New Mexico, or coming back. “They’s mostly freighters haulin’ supplies for Santa Fe. There’s a few settlers that have been camped here for a week that are goin’ with ’em.” He watched while Will thought that over, then started out the door. “Sure you don’t wanna get some grub before the cooks throw it out?”

  “I reckon not, but thanks just the same.” He closed the door behind him.

  The sergeant stepped over by the window and watched him as he rode across the parade ground, his body moving gracefully in rhythm with the motion of his horse. As wild as any Indian out there on the plains, he thought. Probably couldn’t eat if he had to sit down at a table to do it.

  To the contrary, Will was anticipating having supper with a proper lady and her daughter. Crossing the parade ground toward the circle of wagons, he could see some folks gathered around Sarah’s. He wondered what she was going to decide—to go on to Santa Fe, or go back east? “It ain’t none of our business,” he said to Spades. “I reckon she’ll decide what’s best for her and the kid. Maybe there’s grandparents or some other family back east.” He told himself, although not really convincingly, that the sooner he could get rid of them, the better. Further thoughts on the matter were interrupted when Emma caught sight of the familiar figure on the horse.

  “Will!” she shouted when he was still a hundred yards’ distant, and immediately ran to meet him. Will could not hide the grin on his face at seeing the little girl running to greet him. He reached down, scooped her up as easily as lifting a sack of flour, and planted her on Spades’ neck right in front of the saddle. “There’s some folks talking to Mama about going to Santa Fe,” she informed him. “Have you ever been to Santa Fe, Will?”

  “Once,” he answered. “I didn’t care much for it. Too dry and dusty to suit me and Spades—nothin’ but snakes and lizards. I never went back.”

  “I think those people talking to Mama want us to go with them to Santa Fe,” she said, a hint of disapproval in her voice.

  “I reckon your mama will decide what’s best for you,” Will said. “Whatever it is, I know you’ll help her.”

  “I wish you’d go with us.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that,” he said. “I’ve got to go back to Camp Supply and scout for the army. Besides, you and your mama don’t need me taggin’ along.” He had to admit that the child’s open affection for him was a new experience, one he couldn’t decide whether he liked. Most of his life had been wild and sometimes violent. There had been no time nor occasion for the tender moments common to a life with wife and family. He found the thoughts disturbing, and was glad to end the conversation as he pulled his horse up before Sarah’s wagon.

  Will lifted Emma from Spades’ neck and lowered her gently to the ground while Sarah and the couple with her waited for him to dismount. “Will, this is Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin,” Sarah said, and stepped aside to give the two men room to shake hands.

  “Russell Baldwin,” he said, and extended his hand to Will. “Sarah told us about her hard luck and how you stepped up to help her.” Will responded with a self-conscience nod as he accepted Baldwin’s hand. Russell continued. “We’ve just been tellin’ Sarah that there’s two more families headin’ to New Mexico with these freighters. She’d be welcome to come along.”

  Sarah looked at Will as if beseeching his advice. “It is an opportunity to travel with friendly people, but I’m not sure what I’d do there without Edward,” she said. “He was planning to open a law office with a man we knew back in Westport, Missouri. What on earth could I do to support Emma and myself?” She paused to shake her head in despair when considering her options. “There’s not much more to look forward to if we go back to Westport—move in with my parents, I guess, but that would place a hardship on them. Edward’s mother and father have both passed on. I don’t know what to do.” She didn’t voice the thought that lay heavy on her mind, that the only possible way she could take care of Emma and herself was to get married again.

  Emma piped up at that point. “I don’t wanna go to Santa Fe. It’s too dry and dusty with nothing but snakes and lizards,” she announced, causing her mother to cast a startled look in her direction.

  “Baby, we’ve never been to Santa Fe,” Sarah responded patiently. “We don’t know what it’s like there.”

  “I know it’s dry and dusty,” Emma retorted emphatically, which prompted Will’s gaze to shift to avoid eye contact with Sarah, lest she suspect the source of her daughter’s opinion.

  When he glanced back at Sarah, it was to meet her direct gaze. “I’m sure it’s like most places,” he hastened to counsel Emma. “Got its good and bad things. Your mama will decide what’s best.”

  Baldwin nodded his understanding. “Well, the train’s pullin’ out in the mornin’, and like we said, we’d be glad to have you come with us. I’d be happy to give you a hand with any chores that are too much for you and the child.” He glanced at Will then, wondering if the rangy scout had any notions of going with Sarah.

  “That’s so generous of you to offer,” Sarah replied, “but I expect my prospects will be better back home in Westport.”

  It was settled, then. She said good-bye to the Bald-wins and wished them a safe journey. Then she got back to the business of making camp. He helped her get her cook fire set up, and after he took care of the horses, he went in search of more wood for the fire. “When these folks move out in the mornin’, we’ll move your camp closer to the river. There’s a better supply of wood there. I’ll go over and tell the soldier boys that you’re gonna camp here till a wagon train comes through headin’ toward Council Grove.”

  She paused to look directly at him. “Will, you know how much I appreciate all you’ve done for Emma and me. I know you’ve got to go about your own business now. You probably feel like you got a lot more than you asked for when you came to our rescue, so you don’t have to stay any longer and worry about us. We’ll be fine. We’ll stay right here near the post until a train heading east comes along.”

  “Well, you’re right,” he replied after some hesitation. A part of him was reluctant to say good-bye, for he realized that he really cared about their welfare. “I reckon I should get back to Camp Supply before I lose my job.” He forced a smile and a pat on the head for Emma. “But I need to go over to headquarters anyway before I leave, and I’ll tell ’em what happened to your husband, and what you’re plannin’ on doin’. I expect they’ll keep an eye on you and Emma till you can get lined up to go back east.”

  Emma came at once to take Will’s hand. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to—do you, Will?”

  He gave her hand a squeeze and smiled down at her. “I reckon I’d better go do what they’re payin’ me for,” he said. “Looks like the army’s gonna take care of you and your ma just fine. I’ll stay tonight and get started first thing in the mornin’, then you’re gonna be responsible to take care of your ma in case the army don’t do the job.” He looked up at Sarah and grinned. She smiled back, while thinking that Emma had pretty much expressed the feelings for both of them. She might have expressed her reluctance to see him go, but felt that it would be improper to do so and might give him the wrong impression. She could not explain her feelings toward him. In the few short days she had known him she had come to regard him as a protector, and part of her wished that he could stay with them. She paused to watch him as he pulled the saddle off his horse and carried it over to the base of a large cottonwood. She smiled as Emma and the horse followed along behind him. Both children and animals love him, she thought. Emma’s really going to miss him.

  As Will had anticipated, Sergeant- Major Michael Boyle was eager to help the n
ewly widowed woman and promised to see that she was safe during her wait for an eastbound train. He personally accompanied Will back to the wagon to express his condolences for her loss, and said he would alert the colonel of her plight as soon as he was back from the field. “In the meantime,” he said, “my wife will most likely want to come by to see that you’ve got everything you need.” He fashioned a wide grin for Emma’s benefit, then warned Sarah, “Edna’s likely to wanna adopt this little one, and maybe you, too.” When the visit was over, he informed Will that he had some routine dispatches for Camp Supply. “Nothin’ that’s so all-fired important that you have to wear your horse out to deliver, just whenever you’re ready to ride.”

  Supper that night was a lighthearted affair. Sarah boiled a pot of beans spiked with a chunk of side meat, pan biscuits, and coffee. Sarah had to scold Emma a couple of times to let Will eat his food when the rambunctious six-year-old wanted to sit in his lap. “It’s all right, Sarah,” he joked. “If she don’t behave herself, I’ll tie her up to that tree yonder.” The adults made a conscientious effort to keep the conversation light, although there were serious thoughts in the minds of both. Though their time together had been short and proper out of respect for her husband’s recent passing, neither could deny a certain awkwardness over Will’s intention to leave in the morning. He was not ready to admit it to himself, but he was going to miss the two of them. He tried to explain away his feelings as a natural respect for any kind and gentle woman, and nothing more than that. But he couldn’t help admiring the way she sort of tilted her head to one side when she laughed, and the way she always managed to keep herself neat and clean, no matter what the chore. But, he told himself, he had never spent much time around proper women before. Maybe they were all like Sarah. I better get the hell outta here, he thought, before I start thinking things I ought’n. “Come on, Whiskers,” he said, “let’s go feed Spades some of the army’s oats.”

  There was no need to repeat it, Emma was on her feet and running ahead of him. “Please, Will,” she begged, “can I ride him?”

  “I don’t know,” Will replied, frowning as if uncertain. “We’ll have to ask him.” He picked her up and held her beside the bay gelding’s head. “Ask him if you can ride.” Emma did as he said, asking in her most polite way. “Reach over and pet him on his face,” Will said. When she did, the horse gently tossed his head up and down. “There you go,” Will said. “He says yes.”

  Emma was delighted. “He said yes, Mama,” she called back to Sarah. Will looked back to grin at Sarah before placing Emma on Spades’ back. He never got around to telling either of them that Spades always tossed his head up and down when you tickled his face. With Emma perched on the horse’s back, holding on to its black mane, he led Spades to the back of the wagon, where he had stowed a sack of oats. She watched while the horse ate the oats, silent for only a few moments before broaching a new subject. “I need a horse,” she announced.

  “What for?” Will replied. “You’ve got a horse, two of ’em.”

  “They’re Mama’s horses,” she said. “They’re just the horses that pull the wagon. I want a horse of my own, a riding horse, like Spades.”

  Will smiled at her and shook his head. “You ain’t hardly big enough to take care of a horse yet.”

  “I will be,” she insisted. “I’ll be seven in November, and Mama says I’m growing like a weed. Can you get me a horse, Will? I could take care of it.”

  “Maybe when you grow a little more,” he said, reluctant to tell her it was out of the question.

  Her face lit up with a smile. “Promise?”

  Afraid he had said the wrong thing, he nevertheless nodded and answered. “Promise, but it’ll be a while yet.” He didn’t plan to say anything to Sarah about his promise, not sure she would approve, but he figured that he had been on a horse’s back by the time he was Emma’s age, and it hadn’t done him any harm. “We’ll just keep this a secret between you and me. All right?”

  “Looks like I’m about to lose my daughter,” Sarah teased when he rejoined her by the fire.

  Will laughed. “She’s a keeper all right, but I don’t know if I could keep up with her.” They finished up the pot of coffee before saying good night. Then Will retired to his blanket a few yards away from the wagon, and Sarah joined Emma, who was already in bed.

  It was still early when the wagon train got under way, and as they were pulling out, Russell Baldwin called out as he drove by, “Good luck to you, Mrs. Lawton. Sure you don’t wanna change your mind?”

  “Thank you,” Sarah replied. “Good luck to you as well. I guess I’ll wait here.” Smiling as she and Emma waved good-bye, she could not avoid a feeling of hopelessness as the wagons rolled out of the campground. Should she have gone with them? She wished she knew what was really best for her and Emma. Then she tried to reassure herself with the sensibility of returning to a place she knew, even though there was really no family there to welcome her. When the last wagon cleared the area, she turned to look at Will hitching up her team, with Emma’s dubious help, in preparation to move her camp closer to the river and the fort. I wish he wasn’t going, she told herself. The thought was confirmation of how alone she would be after this morning.

  Once Sarah’s wagon was relocated, Will looked around to see if there was anything else he could do to make them comfortable. When he decided that he had done all he could, he saddled Spades and prepared to leave. As he was saying good-bye, Edna Boyle, the sergeant- major’s wife, walked up to greet Sarah. “Good morning,” she called out cheerfully as she stepped carefully around fresh deposits left by the mules pulling the freighters’ wagons. A pleasant-looking woman with graying hair and a comfortable plump figure, she stepped forward and gave Sarah a motherly hug. “Michael told me we had two attractive young ladies visiting for a spell,” she gushed and cornered Emma for an embrace, causing the youngster to release Will’s hand. “And just in time for the Fourth of July ball,” Edna continued.

  Sarah responded gratefully for her welcome and replied that it was still a bit soon after her husband’s death to give any thought toward celebration. “I know, dear,” Edna Boyle went on. “And we’re all so sorry for the tragic loss of your husband. I guess you have to be an army wife to know that these senseless sorrows are going to befall many of us, and the best we can do is to accept what God gives us and go on from there. The Fourth of July dance isn’t until next Saturday. Maybe by then you’ll feel a little better.” She turned her attention to Emma then. “And you’re both invited. It’ll do you both good. You can meet some of the other ladies on the post.” Her nature was so infectious that Sarah could not help but smile. “In the meantime,” Edna continued, “I’ve come to see what you might need and how I can help.”

  During the entire welcoming by the sergeantmajor’s wife, Will stood silently watching, seemingly unnoticed by the enthusiastic army wife. With Sarah’s, and even Emma’s, attention sufficiently captured by Edna Boyle, he realized that this might be the best time for him to take his leave. He could not deny a feeling of regret for having to go before knowing they were safely on their way back east. At least this was how he preferred to explain the feeling. He was not presumptive to the point of admitting that he was just going to miss them. That’s just plain nonsense, he scolded himself. That woman’s on a level you can’t even see from where you’re standing. He turned then and put a foot in the stirrup. Spades started walking before he had thrown his other leg over and settled in the saddle. He had gone no farther than fifty yards when he heard Emma calling after him. Turning in the saddle, he saw the youngster waving, standing on her tiptoes in an effort to make him see her. He smiled and returned her wave, then continued on to post headquarters to pick up the dispatches. Sarah and Edna Boyle were still engrossed in conversation. Will did not notice the casual shift of Sarah’s gaze toward him as he rode away.

  Sergeant-Major Boyle walked out of the storeroom when he heard his company clerk giving the dispatches to Will. “
You goin’ back the way you came?” he asked. “Or are you takin’ the wagon road back to Camp Supply?”

  Will shrugged. “I figured to go pretty much the same way I came,” he replied. “It’s a little quicker than the wagon road.”

  “You’d best keep a sharp eye about you,” Boyle said. “A fellow that’s got a little place in the hills just this side of Bluff Creek came in this morning. He said his cow was run off last night along with some of his chickens and a full sack of oats. That doesn’t sound like much more than a few thieving Indians, but it’s mighty close to the fort. The captain’s sending out a patrol to look into it. You wanna ride with ’em?”

  “I reckon I could,” Will replied. “Who’s leadin’ the patrol?”

  “Lieutenant Bordeaux,” Boyle answered. “He’d probably be glad to have a scout with him. They’re saddling up right now. You can catch ’em at the stables.”

  “I’ll be on my way, then,” Will said, and took his leave of the sergeant-major. He had ridden with Harvey Bordeaux before, an officer everyone got along with. A lieutenant for over nine years, Bordeaux would probably never make captain. Good-natured and easy-going, almost frumpy in appearance, he looked out of place in his baggy officer’s coat and sash. This fact may have partially accounted for his lack of promotion, in combination with his noncompetitive, nonaggressive attitude. Like most everybody else, Will was fond of the man and counted him as a friend.

  “Will Cason,” Lieutenant Bordeaux called out as a greeting when he turned to see the rangy scout approaching. “Somebody told me they thought they saw you come in with a wagon last night. I thought maybe you were taking up homesteading.”