told him, meaning it with all her heart, because it was suddenly true. “My son is in a difficult position because his father is facing ruin.” She put out her hand to Nick. “The wheels of justice move slowly, my friend.”
Nick nodded and left.
“You’ll have to reassure him. He is my champion, isn’t he?”
“I’m another one, Susanna,” Joe replied. “Casual travel between forts is so unsafe right now, but when things loosen up, we’ll go to Cheyenne for a lawyer. Coffee?”
She took the cup from him, sipped and made a face. “You haven’t a clue what to do in your kitchen, or a hospital kitchen, or probably over a campfire.”
There was a long silence that Susanna knew better than to interrupt. She saw before her a man whose heart was as hesitant as her own, who years before had watched, powerless, as the dearest person in his life died a terrible death. You need time, she thought, as she set down the cup and rose.
“I’ll go back to Emily now. We’ll … we’ll worry about an attorney later.”
The look in his eyes told her he knew she wasn’t talking about attorneys. He nodded, then put his arms around her, holding her close until her arms went around him, too. They stood that way, her head against his chest, until he kissed the top of her untidy head and stepped away, professional again.
She hadn’t even removed her coat, so she waited while he put his on and doused the lamp. She followed him into the hall and waited while he walked into the ward and spoke to his night steward. Then, arm in arm, the two of them walked slowly, silently, down the hill. She noticed that his steps slowed as he passed his own quarters, almost as if he wanted to take her inside.
Not yet, Joe, not yet, she thought, relieved when his pace quickened again, because she did not want to tell him no.
The light in the Reeses’ parlor was still burning, so she asked him in. Emily just sat in her chair, knitting in her lap. She looked at the newspaper in Joe’s hand.
“Can we rectify a terrible wrong?” her cousin asked, surprising Susanna with her concern.
Joe looked her in the eye and shook his head. “I’ll circle those articles and leave the paper on the Dunklins’ stoop. I know from long experience that some are unable to give up a prejudice. We can try, but some minds won’t change. Good night to both of you lovely ladies.”
After the door closed, Emily and Susanna just looked at each other. Emily broke the silence first. “Cousin, my feet are cold every night and I know yours must be, too. What do you say we share my bed, like we used to when we were little?” Her voice faltered. “Until my darling returns.”
After a good cry with her cousin, Susanna had the warmest night’s sleep in recent memory. Cuddled close to Emily, she thought of Major Randolph in his solitary quarters and wished herself beside him.
Word of battle seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Garbled word filtered down, probably carried in some way known only to them, from Indian to Indian until it reached the Arikara scouts at Fort Laramie: big fight. Village burning. Horse herd captured. And that was all anyone knew.
To Joe’s surprise, he who thought he knew human nature, it was Emily Reese who gathered women at the hospital to roll bandages and scrape lint, preparing for the troops’ return. “Thank you for keeping us busy,” she told him one afternoon.
He wanted to visit Susanna, but she was busy all day with school, and then night school, and then reading twice a week to his patients. Organizing and policing the filthy grounds occupied him, and he chafed at his duties, where before he would have just accepted them.
As the tense days passed, he examined his heart, trying to make scientific sense of his emotions, because that was how he worked. Probably since that awful night in the aid station when he had turned from a dying man to save a living one, and sealed his future, he had allowed a callus to grow around his heart. He knew that was scientifically impossible. In his yearnings to turn to Susanna Hopkins now for comfort, he understood what he had done to himself. The callus was gone now and he ached inside, because he wanted to love that lady. He was in pain, where he had been numb.