He straightened up, smiling in that maddening way of his that throws so many years off his shoulders and turns him into the red and white-painted warrior who kept me alive on a long retreat. “Of course I am, Smiley. I’ll charge him a small fortune for one of our horses, you know, enough to keep James at Corvallis for at least four semesters. Or why not Harvard? Uncle Phil has connections.”

When I stopped laughing, I told him I had used up all the paper – except this page you are reading – and promised to get more when I went into Cove today for the mail. Arm in arm, we went out to the porch. “I told Tom we’d take a look at the fences this morning up around Barton’s line. See you later, Her Smile.”

He hasn’t called me that in a long while, Smiley usually sufficing. He kissed me and I went back inside, thinking about dinner and maybe a pie. I watched him from the window over the sink. I still love to watch him, and he knows it.

He stopped halfway between the house and the barn, put his hands on his hips and watched the sky lighten. He raised his hands to the sun and sang a morning song. Her Smile put her hand to her heart when Tom came out of the barn and sang along.

It’s not a song for women to sing, but I had my own, one I hadn’t thought of in years. “’Yes we’ll rally ‘round the flag boys, rally once again,’” I sang softly, “’Shouting the battle cry of freedom.’”

I thought of Blue Mountain Woman rallying to save my life, my mother rallying to keep us afloat in The Hot Place, and my sister Eugenie rallying me with her endless love in misspelled letters. I wished them with me as I sang, “’The Union forever, hurrah boys, hurrah.’”

It was enough. They were with me. They never left.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

My gratitude goes to Loren Yellow Bird, ranger, friend and colleague at Fort Union Trading Post NHS, for his help in making sure I got it right. Thanks also to Marian Webb and Julie Ward Southworth, for loaning me, respectively, accounts of the Nez Perce in Idaho, and the Big Hole Battle (August 8-9, 1877).

Book Awards

Book Awards

• Two RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America for Best Regency of the Year.

• Two Spur Awards from Western Writers of America for short fiction, and one Finalist Certificate, romance novel category.

• Three Whitney Awards, 2011, 2012, and 2014.

• Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times.

About the Author

About the Author