to the commanding officer, but with your name under it. Colonel Bradley read it, then gave it to me.” Joe kissed her cheek. “Your former husband, in a drunken stupor, tipped over a lamp and set fire to your house.”
“Good God,” she whispered.
“Frederick Hopkins died in the blaze, according to your uncle. He wrote that there were bottles all over the house. Hopkins was a drunkard and dangerous, just as you tried to tell everyone at the trial. As for Tommy, there was no sign of him. None at all. He simply disappeared. I’m sure he’s alive, but no one knows where he is.”
She cried into his chest, partly from relief and partly from sorrow at Frederick’s wasted life. Joe’s hands were warm inside her shirtwaist now, loosening her corset strings more, and then just massaging her bare back.
“That’s all your uncle knows. The local constables searched and found nothing. If Tommy were dead, they would have found his body, the same as they found Frederick’s. They didn’t.”
“Where is he?” she asked when she could speak.
She knew Joe couldn’t answer that question. He pulled her even closer. “Tell me, is your son resourceful?”
She thought a moment. “I rather think he is,” she said. “After all, he and I lived for years in the same house with Frederick and his mercurial moods. Tommy knows how to lie low.” She burrowed her head into Joe’s chest. “But he’s barely twelve!”
“And resourceful,” he reminded her. “All I ask you to do is hang on a little longer. Al’s on duty tonight, and tomorrow we’re going to get a raft of frostbite cases from Fort Fetterman as the men return. You won’t see me for days. Stay with me tonight, Suzie. I’ll hang on with you.”
Chapter Seventeen
Joe helped her into one of his nightshirts in such a matter-of-fact way that she couldn’t feel embarrassed. Worn out with worry, she was asleep before he even joined her.
Susanna woke up once in the middle of the night. She had thrown one leg over the post surgeon. She tried to slide away, but he pulled her back, kissing her neck.
“I’m not ready for any more than a kiss,” she whispered.
“Good thing,” he replied, surprisingly alert for the middle of the night. “Neither am I.” He sighed and pulled her close again. “I did not want to sleep alone, either. I’ve been a long time without a woman, Suzie, but it doesn’t follow that I’d ever do anything to you against your will. I couldn’t.”
“Frederick never minded, especially when he was drunk,” she said in a small voice. “What could I do? I was his wife and that was my duty.”
“Suzie, I’m sorry for that,” Joe answered, his voice equally soft. “I don’t care if the marriage ceremony says ‘obey.’ No wife should be forced against her will. It’s not something I could ever do, and I suspect most men feel the same way. Frederick was an aberration.”
She nodded, and returned to sleep in his arms. When reveille roused her, Joe was sitting in the chair he had vacated last night, observing her.
“You are such a pretty woman.”
“Best seen in low light,” she teased.
“Any light. I confess I never was partial to blondes until …”
“You saw me? How romantic.” Keep it light, Susanna, she told herself.
He looked handsome in a nightshirt; maybe it was the stripes. She watched him sitting so close to her now, and held back from touching his leg, even though she found herself moved by the capable solidity of him. She took a chance then, and rested her head against his leg. His hand seemed to go automatically to her hair, his fingers twining her curls.
“There’s no time, as usual, but I was sitting here, debating whether to tell you a thought I have,” he said finally. “It might get your hopes up, but remember, it’s only a supposition.”
“As long as it doesn’t break my heart,” she said.
“Your heart’s been broken enough,” he told her. “Mine, too.” He looked at his hand. “I wore my wedding ring a long time. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I used to hope I would turn a corner, and there M’liss would be.” He shook his head. “Barmy, eh? I’ll tell you how she died. Sit up, Suzie. It’s probably better.”
She did as he said. He put his arm around her. “I think you know what happened to her. After a day of seeing her suffer in horrific pain—my God, this was the woman I loved!—I