guard duty. Roddy called in that big guard dog of his and he's going to
have the dog on the porch, once he sees the lieutenant and tells the dog
that the lieutenant is a friend. I was going to go to bed. It's been a
big day for me, Miss. Stuart. A real big day.'
Her eyes rolled and Tess laughed. Impulsively she gave Jane a big hug.
It was a mistake. Jane looked as if she was going to start crying all
over again.
'I'm just so happy that you're alive!' she said.
'Thanks. And I'm happy to be home. Come on, let's go They walked up the
stairs together. Jane hugged Tess quickly and fiercely again and headed
toward her own room. Wearily Tess pushed open the door to her bedroom
and walked in.
Lighting the lamp at her bedside, she shed her clothing and dressed in a
soft blue flannel nightgown. She sat in front of her dressing table and
picked up the silver-embossed brush that had belonged to her mother. It
was good to be home.
She pulled all the pins out of her hair--and then all the little pieces
of hay that had stuck into it--and began to brush it. It fell down her
shoulders, long and free. She brushed it mechanically for several
minutes, staring at her reflection and not seeing a thing.
Jane had been fight. It had been a big day.
But yon Heusen had been beaten back. Between Jamie and Jon, he had been
beaten back. She never had told Jamie that she was grateful. Truly
grateful.
He never seemed to give her a chance to say thank you. He was on her
side, but it seemed that she was always fighting him. At first, she had
been fighting him to make him believe her. Now she was certain he
believed her.
He had met yon Heusen. He couldn't have any doubt that yon Heusen had
been responsible for the attack on the wagon train.
And now. Maybe she wasn't fighting him. Maybe she was fighting herself.
First it had been that darned Eliza. Tess had managed to walk away from
Eliza with her dignity intact, but she had heard Jamie speaking to the
woman.
No one can make me marry anyone.
No one can make me marry anyone. So he wasn't the marrying kind.
She was. She wanted a man, a good man. She hadn't had much time to think
about it, what with the war and then everything that had happened since.
But when she thought for a moment, she knew. She didn't want to be a
spinster.
The paper was important to her, and she wasn't just copublisher and a
reporter anymore, she was the only publisher.
She had to keep it alive. But she wanted more, too. She wanted a
husband, one she really loved, and one who loved her. And she wanted
children, and she wanted to give them a world that wasn't forever
tainted with the memories of conflict and death.
And she wanted Jamie Slater. She wasn't at all sure how the two things
intertwined-- they didn't intertwine at all, she admitted. She sighed.
She had to get by the present for the moment. She had to survive yon
Heusen.
