A nod. “I did.”

“So why did you ask her?”

“Because I was really asking something else. Miss Lorna is a smart woman, and I was pretty sure she would understand. She said, ‘Mr. Edmunds, here in the great state of California, we have laws, unlike in places like—like Arizona Territory.’ She answered what was in my head, not what I’d said out loud.”

Hanna stared at him, then at Mama. “You mean—she was telling you to go to Arizona?”

“Yes. She was giving us her blessing, even though she knew it was against the law. So we went to Arizona Territory. It took a little doing, but finally we found the right person to perform the ceremony.”

“What kind of person?”

“A justice of the peace.”

It sounded nice, the words “justice” and “peace” together like that. “A justice of the peace married you,” she repeated.

Papa rolled his eyes. “No sirree. I never married anyone but your mama.”

“Papa!” She couldn’t help laughing. And while it was too hard for Mama to laugh, her smile at that moment lit up every corner of Hanna’s world.

Hanna was certain that Papa knew what she was referring to—at least the part about Miss Lorna. “You didn’t break the law, but you sure went a long way to get round it,” she said. “Yourself and Mama both.”

“Don’t you speak against your mama.”

Hanna controlled the impulse to roll her eyes at how badly he was missing her point. “Papa, I’m not. How could I be? If you and Mama hadn’t done what you did, I wouldn’t have been born. The both of you, and Miss Lorna, too—you knew that the law was wrong, and you did what you had to do.”

“That was different.”

“How?”

“The law should stay out of a man’s personal business. As long as I wasn’t forcing your mama to marry me, it oughtn’t to be anyone’s business but hers and mine. And our families’.”

Bringing up her parents’ marriage hadn’t swayed Papa as Hanna had thought it would, and she couldn’t think of another way to convince him. “It’s like you’re saying that things are only unfair when they happen to you.”

And that succeeded in making him angry. “I’ve had enough of your impudence,” he snapped, and pushed his chair away from the table. “Tell me this: What’s Harris going to do?”

She lowered her gaze. “He said that Wichapiwin and her friends aren’t a threat to LaForge. He’s not going to report them to Yankton.”

“Sakes alive, Hanna! That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? So why in blazes are you pestering me over this?” He stood and stomped from the room.