He frowned. “But I thought you said snow could be falling in a few weeks.”
It could. But that would mean she didn’t have to take a chance that he would find the meadow before spring. “Ah, well. There’s always next year.”
The kitchen door banged as Danny ran out. He dashed through the dining room and to her side.
“Is it true?” he asked, glancing from Kate to Will and back. “We’re going to Fairy Falls?”
She looked from one hopeful face to another.
Why not? something urged inside. What do you have to lose?
Kate sighed. “I guess so. We’ll leave tomorrow, right after Lieutenant Prescott makes his morning sweep.”
Will gave her the smile that warmed her heart, then turned to Danny. “In the meantime, let’s break out that ball and bat and see if they’re up to your arm.”
Danny’s eyes brightened.
The next morning dawned gray and thick. Despite her happy memory of Will and Danny behind the inn, tossing the ball and practicing with the bat, Kate felt a foreboding as heavy as the clouds. It didn’t help that Sarah and Ida had left on Elijah’s stage out of the park. Only Ida had looked tearful as she waved goodbye. Kate would have more work with them gone, and she had to keep Will away from the terrain she’d sworn to protect. Yet it seemed wrong, as if she shouldn’t be hiding things from him.
Danny had no concerns. He chattered all the way through breakfast.
“Perhaps we should make the acquaintance of these Fairy Falls as well,” Mrs. Pettijohn declared as she dug into a second helping of biscuits and gravy.
“It sounds lovely,” her sister agreed, forking up a dainty mouthful. “But perhaps a bit too far of a jaunt. Besides, we wouldn’t want to leave Mr. Jones without company.” She fluttered her silver lashes at the frontiersman.
Mr. Jones shoved back his chair. “I’m more interested in seeing the famous animals of Yellowstone. Do you have any idea where to find antelope? Elk? Buffalo?”
“I do not,” Mrs. Pettijohn informed him.
Kate wasn’t about to answer.
He shrugged. “Then I’m going fishing.” He stalked out of the room.
Mrs. Pettijohn turned to Kate. “We shall borrow your pony cart and young fellow Caleb, and go out the bridle path to see the geysers to the east of us.”
Miss Pringle clapped her hands. “Excellent notion! The guidebook says one is pink.”
Kate made sure to warn them and Caleb of the potential dangers before sending them off. She and Danny were out on the porch, Danny jumping from one step to another, when Will rode in. As Kate set aside the broom she’d been using, her son froze on the middle stair.
“Where’s Private Smith?” he asked as Will reined in. “I like him. He’s funny.”
“Private Smith will be patrolling both morning and afternoon,” Will told him, dismounting. “I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with me.”
Danny glanced at Kate. “Can I ride with Lieutenant Prescott?”
“No one’s riding,” Kate said. “We’re walking.”
Will held out the reins. “But you could ride my horse to the barn for me.”
Danny’s eyes widened. “Can I, Ma?”
His legs would never reach the stirrup cups, but the cavalry horse seemed well trained, and it was only a little distance. “All right,” Kate said. “We’ll wait for you.”
Will lifted him up into the saddle and watched as his horse walked toward the outbuilding. “When did he become so fond of Smith?”
When did I become so fond of you?
Kate made herself answer his question. “Ever since we spent the night at Norris, apparently. Private Smith was kind to Danny.”
“I wish I knew why.” He turned to Kate. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Anyone with any sense could grow fond of Danny. It’s just that Smith tends to keep to himself. I’m not even sure Smith is his real name.”
Kate frowned. “Doesn’t the Army generally know who they recruit?”
“No,” he admitted. “He showed up at Fort Colville one day. Only Captain Harris seems to know his particulars. Being in the cavalry in Indian Territory isn’t the most sought-after position. We take debtors, criminals.”
Kate stiffened. “You let a criminal near Danny?”
“Not willingly,” he assured her. “And I don’t know that Smith is one.”
“Are there other cavalrymen I should worry about?” she asked.
He hesitated, and her heart sank. She could not imagine the clever Private Franklin or the big-boned Private Lercher as criminals. She couldn’t imagine any of them as criminals!
Then he shook his head. “No. All my men are handpicked, even Smith. Most I’d trust with my life. I took Smith because I wanted to give him a chance to prove himself. Every man deserves that.”
Normally, she would agree, but not when it came to influencing her son. Danny tended to mimic anyone he found interesting. She didn’t like thinking what he might pick up from a criminal. But Danny was running back from the barn, and she didn’t want to discuss the matter in front of him.
Still, she couldn’t help thinking. She had welcomed these men to the park, to her kitchen. They’d be staying all winter. Did they pose a greater danger than to her reputation?
Will followed Kate onto a narrow trail directly west of the hotel.
“You can also reach the falls around the hillside to the south on the circuit road,” she said as they walked through the field toward the Firehole River. “But this is the best route from the inn and the main geyser area.”
It was a pretty place, low grass waving in tufts against a bone-white soil. A weathered footbridge with a handrail on one side allowed them to cross the rushing waters of the river. Once they reached the other side, Danny took the lead, humming to himself. He glanced back over his shoulder. “Can we show him the big spring too, Ma?”
“Bigger than what’s by the hotel?” Will asked.
Danny turned to walk backward
