his arms, asleep in moments. Since he was asleep, she kissed the top of his head.
“You can’t be comfortable,” she murmured after a few minutes. She gently shook him awake and helped him to his feet.
He offered no objection when she steered him to his bed in the dining room and helped him out of his uniform jacket. She removed his shoes as he sat with his eyes closed. His suspenders came off next, but her nerve failed her then and she just gave him a push onto his back. He unbuttoned his own trousers, then turned on his side and extended his arm.
“Lie down a minute, Suzie,” he said, his words slurred. “There’s a coverlet somewhere.”
She found it and did as he said, cautiously resting her head on his arm. He pulled her close and sighed. He sounded so satisfied that tears came to her eyes.
“I’ve missed this,” he said quite clearly.
Susanna was content to lie beside him and enjoy his warmth. Reason told her that it was no different from the warmth Emily gave off, since they had been sharing her bed. His hand was firm against her stomach and the feeling was soothing, but with an edge she had not enjoyed in years.
When he was sound asleep, Susanna got up carefully and eased herself out of Joe’s slackened grasp, making sure he was covered. It was still dark, but she heard reveille. Joe stirred a little and muttered something, but slumbered on, to her relief. She knew Captain Hartsuff was back at the fort and available. Joe could sleep, if he would.
She went quietly out the back door again and into the Reeses’ quarters. No one stirred yet, so she tiptoed upstairs, avoiding the squeaking tread, and lay down on her cot. She felt unreasonably content, considering that nothing was resolved in her life, the fort was tense and waiting news from Powder River, and she had no idea how her son was faring. Before Susanna slept, she wondered if Maddie could share her guardian angel with a child in Pennsylvania, now that she had found a safe harbor.
Susanna didn’t expect to see Maddie in her classroom that morning, so took the opportunity to tell the other students her mother had died during the night. Little Eddie Hanrahan suggested they draw pictures for Maddie, so Susanna tossed out her lesson plans and they did just that. The commissary clerk dredged up a partly used ledger from 1864 and her students drew on the pages she tore out.
She hurried to the Rattigans’ quarters during mess call. Maeve and Maddie sat close together as they looked at the drawings.
“Please tell my friends I appreciate their sentiments,” Maddie said in that dignified way of hers.
“Major Randolph told me Claudine will be buried here tomorrow,” Maeve whispered when Maddie turned her attention back to the drawings. “We’ll go to that, and Maddie will be in school the day after.”
“The sporting ladies from Three Mile will probably be there, too,” Susanna warned.
“I expect they will be,” Maeve replied, unperturbed. “I guess we won’t be bothered by the ladies from Officers Row, will we?”
When school ended, Private Benedict ushered out his children and helped her with hers, telling Rooney O’Leary to wait for him this time. Puzzled, Susanna looked at him. He drew her aside.
“While you were having recitations, Major Randolph stopped in and asked me to escort Rooney today. The major needs you.”
“What … why?”
Private Benedict moved closer. “Admin has the butcher’s bill from Powder River. One of your boys’ fathers is on the list and the major wants you to go with him to the home. He said it was your choice, though.”
“I’ll go,” she said without hesitation, thinking of Joe’s dangerous nighttime ride to Three Mile, when he already knew Claudine was dead.
She was sitting in her portion of the commissary storehouse classroom when Joe came. Without a word, he sat beside her and took her hand, pressing it to his lips. He looked so tired, and she suspected he hadn’t slept much longer after she left.
“Tell me first—no bad news for Emily or Katie?”
“No, thank God. The captains are fine. Apparently General Crook even complimented James O’Leary on his coolness in battle.” His arm went around her then. “There are four dead and six wounded, but here’s the tough part—Colonel Reynolds withdrew and left two of the dead on the field. One of those was Corporal Hanrahan.”
Susanna leaned her head against Joe’s shoulder. “Eddie Hanrahan organized us to write