recuperates.”
With some effort, he willed away his anxieties about the Colonel. Mother was hospitality itself, and she would more than make up for his father’s reaction. If worse came to worst, Nate could always take the Colonel aside and point out that Susanna was the one who insisted he take the china over the river by train. Otherwise, Nate would tell him, he wouldn’t have dared come home, because all the dishes would doubtless have been broken coming across the river’s rough bottom in the fast-flowing current. That should convince the Colonel she and her father deserved some help.
For Nate’s part, he was grateful for the Denver and Rio Grande engineer and conductor, who had been more than obliging. Once they’d learned the shipment was for the Colonel, they’d ordered their own men to give a hand. And once they’d learned it was imported china, the other men couldn’t have been more careful. Seemed every one of them understood a man wanting to do something nice for his mother. When all was said and done, Nate couldn’t have been more pleased, and it had only cost him ten dollars for the lot of them.
Nor could he say he was disappointed when the hotel manager turned Mr. Anders away. After all, Nate had wanted more time with Susanna. Now he had it. The Colonel might have ideas about him marrying Maisie Eberly, but he could never feel the attraction for his longtime friend that he already felt after only two days with Susanna.
* * *
As they resumed their journey, Susanna noticed how pleased Nate seemed. In spite of the brisk wind whipping up all kinds of dust, he’d left off his kerchief and kept smiling her way. It was plain as the nose on his handsome face that he didn’t mind his Good Samaritan role, and she kept thanking the Lord for his kindness.
She really shouldn’t be hanging out the back of the wagon, but she couldn’t help herself, even with all that dust threatening to choke her. Many weeks ago, she’d resigned herself to landscapes far different from the verdant fields and forests of Georgia. When they had viewed a large area of the San Luis Valley from the mountain pass, she had observed vast expanses of green and several broad lakes glistening in the sunlight. But the valley floor had some stretches of desertlike land, as well, and she wondered how anyone could expect to farm it successfully.
Thank the Lord that Daddy had chosen to be a prospector instead of a homesteader. He was far too old to till unbroken sod, and even his prospecting was more of a hobby than an occupation, at least in her mind. After all, they had enough money to live on. If they hit hard times, Edward would send more. Once Daddy was back on his feet, she’d let him have his fun searching for silver and gold for a little while. Let him find a silver nugget or two, and then she would persuade him to take her back home to Marietta.
Being in the company of a kind, compassionate, educated man like Nate reminded her of her yearning to find a good Southern gentleman to marry, someone with whom she could build a home and family in the hometown she loved so much, among the friends she’d known all her life. For now, however, she must set aside those longings and take care of Daddy. She whispered a prayer that the Lord would tell Mama she was keeping her promise.
At last the dust won out, and she pulled her head back inside the schooner and closed the flap. Daddy was bearing up quite well, although he still had moments of incoherence and slept fitfully when he did manage to sleep. She prayed there would be a doctor near Nate’s ranch who could help him.
By midafternoon, they had reached a small settlement of several houses, some buildings and a white clapboard church with a high steeple. Nate had said they would take time to stretch their legs and water the horses before going on, and now he hurried to help Susanna out of the wagon.
“Shall we get a bite to eat?” He waved a hand toward another white clapboard building, this one with a sign over the door that read Williams’s Café. “Those sandwiches didn’t last me very long, and it’s a few hours until supper at the ranch.”
A sudden nervous flutter in Susanna’s stomach extinguished her appetite. Supper at the ranch meant at last meeting that intimidating Union colonel. Would he still be fighting the war, as most Southerners were, if only with words? Habitual animosity filled her chest, but she wouldn’t let on to Nate.
“Maybe a piece of pie, if they have some.” She nodded her head toward the wagon. “I think it would be good for Daddy, too.” As Nate tipped his hat and started toward the building, she touched his arm.
His eyes widened with apparent surprise as he turned back. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Do you suppose there’s someplace where I could, um, well...?” She shook her brown skirt, and dust flew in every direction. “I would like to be a bit more presentable before I meet your mother.” And especially your father. Maybe he would take more kindly to them if they didn’t look so bedraggled.
“Now, don’t worry about that.” Nate grinned. “I’m sure she’ll understand that you’ve been on the road.” He glanced toward the building. “But I’ll see what I can do.”
Mrs. Williams, the café owner, could not have been more accommodating. It seemed that the Northam name held much more power in this unnamed settlement than it did in Alamosa. Miss Pam, as she asked to be called, had a permanent smile etched in the lines of her slender face. She appeared to be around fifty years old, and her warm brown eyes exuded maternal kindness as she invited Susanna into her own quarters at the back of the café.
“Charlie—he’s my husband—he’ll see what your pa needs.” Miss Pam set a pitcher of warm water on her mahogany washstand. “You go ahead and clean up. Is that your fresh dress?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Susanna held up the one dress the thieves had managed to overlook in their destruction. They’d stolen her favorite pink calico, so this green print would have to do.
“It’s a pretty one.” Miss Pam gave Susanna a critical look up and down, her gaze stopping at her hair. “Do you have a brush?”
“No, ma’am.” She tried hard not to sigh, but a little huff escaped her. Almost everything she depended upon to make herself look presentable was gone or ruined.
Miss Pam gave her a sympathetic smile. She reached into her bureau drawer and retrieved a boar-hair brush with a tortoiseshell back, holding it out to Susanna. “You take my spare one.”
“Oh, my.” Her heart warmed at this woman’s generosity. While Susanna could afford to buy her own if she found a mercantile nearby, it seemed best to accept the brush and pay Miss Pam back later. “Thank you.”
While she helped Susanna brush her hair and fasten the back buttons on her dress, Miss Pam chatted about the big anniversary party coming up in July. “Out here, we’re always looking for something to celebrate, but this one is going to be special. Colonel and Mrs. Northam have done so much for this community, bringing in a preacher and building a church, just generally taking care of everybody. The Colonel says he has a doctor arriving next month. Too bad he’s not already here for your pa, but Charlie’s pretty good at tending injuries, being a former mountain man. You know how they have to be self-sufficient living out in the mountains by themselves the way they do.”
Not giving Susanna a chance to comment, she went on to list various ways Nate’s parents had helped folks. Every word and tone suggested only respect and affection for the Northams, especially lauding the Colonel’s leadership, but that still did not diminish Susanna’s apprehensions about meeting the man.
In less than an hour, Susanna felt sufficiently refreshed, and Miss Pam’s husband had taken care of Daddy. Charlie offered his expert opinion that Daddy’s left leg was indeed broken, as were several of his ribs. He made a splint for the leg, wrapped torn sheets around Daddy’s ribs and gave him a dose of medicine to ease the pain. Nate told Susanna that while the community awaited the doctor’s arrival, Charlie was often called upon to help folks out.
After they had enjoyed some of Miss Pam’s delicious gooseberry pie with a splash of thick fresh cream over the top, they headed south. Unable to bear riding inside the schooner another minute, Susanna sat beside Zack on the driver’s bench watching the beautiful green landscape dotted with occasional