Her mind whirled with the implications. Wyatt had three brothers and a sister. Where would everyone stay? How would they feed and take care of additional people when they were already working long hours to get by the way it was?

Wyatt could do nothing less than offer them a home regardless of their insufficient quarters and provisions. If their situations were reversed, she’d do the same thing. Nevertheless, a boulder rolled into the pit of her stomach and lodged there. “Do you think Flynn will come?”

Wyatt’s shoulders sagged. “I don’t rightly know. But he says Brody’s itching to join the war effort as soon as he turns eighteen, and Dylan’s been talking about running away to join up too. I reckon Flynn’ll jump at the chance to bring them west and out of the conflict, even if he’d just as soon jerk a knot in my tail.”

If Greta could go back in time, she’d jump at the chance to avoid the war too and would have done anything to ensure that Thomas didn’t enlist. He’d wanted to get married right away, had asked her if they could wed before he left for training. But, as with the kiss, she’d hoped the prospect of marrying her would bring him home quicker.

She’d been a fool. She should have told Thomas she’d marry him if only he’d go west with her. From what she’d heard, Colorado Territory’s governor, William Gilpin, had formed several militia companies. But being so far away from the conflict, the infantry and cavalry regiments had only skirmished with Confederate Irregulars.

The fact was, most men in the mountains were too busy searching for precious minerals to think about the war. And neither the governor nor the United States War Department had pushed for the men of Colorado to enlist because the Union needed the gold and silver from the mines to help finance the war efforts.

Surely Fairplay would be a safe place for Wyatt’s brothers to get away from the death and destruction of the war. “Why wait until spring? They should come now.”

“I wish.” The letter in his hand was now crumpled but still showed a brief paragraph in neatly slanted cursive. “By the time I get word to Flynn, it will be too late in the year to travel.”

She nodded her understanding. But in her heart, the heaviness only sank deeper. As kind as Wyatt was and as generous as he’d been in providing for Astrid and her, he would need the space for his family. And after building an addition to the cabin, there still wouldn’t be enough room to go around.