Luke stood waiting beside the carriage when she reached it. He took the baby and waited while Gloriana settled herself in the carriage, then handed Sally to her. He climbed up and squeezed in beside her, then took up the lines.

“I think it’s colder now than it was this morning. Is that even possible?”

“Of course, silly,” Gloriana said, putting aside her disgruntled feelings. “It often happens that way. Didn’t you see the skies? It’s going to snow again.”

“Then I’d best get you home and the horses to the livery.”

JT squirmed. “Gloriana said we’re having meat pies for lunch with gravy poured all over them. She got some pork from Mr. Griggs. He butchered one of his pigs.”

“That was very generous of him,” Luke declared.

“It was. I promised him an apple pie in return,” Gloriana said. “Folks do a lot of trading around here in the winter when supplies are harder to get.”

“Luke, what’s a doption?” JT asked out of the blue.

“What?” He sounded almost startled by the boy’s question.

“A doption. I heard the judge say that Sally is getting one. Is it a toy?”

Luke chuckled. “No.” He glanced at Gloriana. She wasn’t quick enough to hide her frown, but Luke didn’t seem to notice, or perhaps he didn’t care. “Adoption is a process that makes Sally legally mine. No one can take her away from me, and she will have my name and protection.”

“But she’s already a Carson. Why does she need adoption?”

Luke turned to Gloriana. “I’m sorry I’ve had no time to talk to you about this. I had a letter from my father. He intends for Sally to go to Philadelphia to live with him. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let him take her from you—hurt you that way.”

She hadn’t imagined that she had been a factor in his decision. It touched her deeply to think that Luke was worried about her being hurt in the matter.

“Look, we can discuss this over lunch,” he said as they reached the house. “I’ll get the horse settled and be right back.”

She nodded, still uncertain of what to say. She had always known that despite Sally Carson asking her to raise the baby, the child had no relationship to Gloriana. She was Luke’s niece, and that made her blood kin. Gloriana was just a friend who happened to be the only mother the child had known.

Luke helped her and the baby from the carriage, while JT leapt out—jumping into a pile of snow as if he could fly. He laughed with glee as he crashed into the mound. “Can we go sledding this afternoon?”

Luke raised a brow. “It sounds like fun. What do you think, Gloriana?”