helped Daddy to a sitting position, Susanna gave a little laugh that sounded a bit too high and a bit too nervous in her own ears. “Actually, dearest, we are the company.”
As if he finally grasped the situation, Daddy’s eyes cleared. “Ah, yes, of course.” He nodded toward the Yankee couple.
Susanna briefly considered presenting Daddy to them, as would be proper, since they were the hosts, but something inside her refused to comply. After all, the prairie schooner was her and Daddy’s home. “Daddy, may I present Mrs. Northam and Colonel Northam?”
If he noticed her breach of etiquette, he didn’t indicate it. “How do, ma’am, sir?” He leaned into Susanna’s shoulder. “Edward Anders.”
“We’re pleased to meet you, Mr. Anders,” Mrs. Northam said. “You just rest a minute, and Nate will be back to help you inside.” She looked up at her husband and raised one eyebrow.
The Colonel cleared his throat and pursed his lips. His wife elbowed him in the ribs. “So you met up with horse thieves, did you, Anders?”
Daddy coughed out a wry laugh and grimaced. “Indeed we did. Took most of our belongings and supplies and did their best not to leave a witness.” He patted Susanna’s hand. “The good Lord protected my daughter, as she was off fetching water when they came.”
“Oh, my.” Mrs. Northam’s eyes reddened. “Praise the Lord.”
“That I do, ma’am. That I do.”
Slightly out of breath, Nate appeared once again beside his parents. “Angela was waiting by the door. She’ll have my room ready by the time we get there.”
“I don’t want to put you out, Nate,” Daddy said.
“Not at all, sir. I—” Mrs. Northam began.
“They won’t be here long,” the Colonel said. “I’m sure Anders is anxious to get on his way to the silver fields.” He waved Nate toward the wagon. “Get on in there and help him out.”
Instead of the instant obedience Susanna expected to see, Nate fisted his hands at his waist. “He’ll need to recuperate for quite a while before he goes anyplace. And they’ll need another team of horses.” His father started to respond, but Nate hurried on. “We need Mr. Anders to give us a good description of those horse thieves so we can put the word out to everybody. They’re a threat to the whole valley. If they get away with what they did, all sorts of criminals will think—”
“You think I don’t know that?” The Colonel silenced Nate with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Now, let’s get this done.”
Despite her outrage over the Colonel’s behavior, Susanna could not fail to be impressed by his and Nate’s strength as they lifted Daddy’s cot from the prairie schooner and carried it toward the house. Daddy was not a small man, so they set him down and summoned two men—she guessed they were called cowboys—to help carry the invalid up to the second floor of the house. Susanna didn’t have time to notice much as they entered and climbed the stairs, but what she did see impressed her with its beauty and grandeur, much like the mountains surrounding this high valley. While she wouldn’t call it a mansion, it certainly was an imposing domicile.
Within ten minutes, Daddy was resting in a charmingly masculine room, where guns and antlers decorated the walls, and pine furniture and woven rag rugs contributed to the rustic atmosphere. Above Nate’s handsome pine secretary, a glassed-in bookcase held several leather-bound books. Susanna didn’t take time to read the titles, but she longed to know what he read besides Dickens.
“And now for you, Miss Anders.” Mrs. Northam took Susanna’s arm and led her down the hallway to another bedroom very different from Nate’s. Frilly white curtains fluttered in the breeze wafting through the two windows. A pink-and-blue patchwork quilt covered the four-poster bed, and a blue velvet overstuffed chair sat nearby on a patch of carpet. The scent of roses filled the air, although none were in the