Prologue
Peaceable,Wyoming Territory December 1872
Tessa Roarke Alexander snuggled closer to her husband, David, and burrowed farther beneath the stack of thick quilts until only her face remained uncovered. She listened to the clock chiming on the chest of drawers and realized they had been married a whole eight hours.
"David?"
"Hmm?"
"I can't stop thinking about the wedding. And I can't help thinking it was a shame Liam Kincaid couldn't stay a bit longer after the ceremony."
"I don't recall anyone missing him very much after he left the reception." David leaned over and kissed her. Lee Kincaid was one of David's oldest and dearest friends—one of the first friends he had made after being recruited by Allan Pinkerton to work as a spy for General McClellan and the Union army. But as recently as three days ago, Lee Kincaid had publicly announced his intentions to marry Tessa, and although Tessa hadn't taken Lee's proposal seriously, David wasn't quite ready to forgive and forget… yet.
Tessa pulled her left hand from underneath the covers, making sure that the thin gold band that had joined the sapphire and diamond engagement ring she wore was still there. Tessa smiled to herself and said, "I think Mary did."
"Mary what?"
"Missed Liam." Only Tessa called Lee Kincaid by his Irish given name.
"My sister, Mary?" David laughed. "The same Mary who, three days ago, demanded that I break Lee's too-perfect nose?"
"The same. And I think Mary is really glad you didn't break Liam's nose," Tessa told him. "You should have seen how disappointed she seemed when I told her Liam had left for Baltimore on a mission for me. I could have sworn she was jealous, until I explained that I had hired him to locate the little girl who was supposed to be yours and Caroline Millen's." She paused for a moment and stared at her husband, suddenly not quite certain she had done the right thing in hiring Liam to try to find the child whose conception had ruined David's Washington career—the illegitimate granddaughter of the powerful Senator Warner Millen. "David, tell me the truth, did I do the right thing? If you don't want Lily Catherine to become part of our family, I'll tell Liam to forget about the search. I mean, you told me you'd had people looking for her, so I assumed that meant you wanted us to adopt her. Maybe I should have asked you first. Maybe I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and involved Liam in your private affairs. Maybe I should have—"
David stopped Tessa's flow of words with another kiss. "You did exactly the right thing," he told her. "I do want Lily Catherine to be a part of our family. It isn't right for Senator Millen to hide her. She's an innocent. Her mother made a mistake, but that doesn't mean that Lily Catherine and I have to continue to pay for it. I want to right this wrong, and I don't care what other people think. I don't care who fathered Lily Catherine, or why her mother chose to name me. I only care about finding her. Senator Millen doesn't want anyone to know about his granddaughter, and while he might have cared about his daughter, as far as he's concerned, the scandal died along with Caroline. But I know Lily Catherine exists. And I know that whatever her reason, Caroline Millen gave her child my family name— Alexander. I barely knew Caroline, and I certainly didn't love her. I couldn't let the senator force me into marrying his daughter just because he thought I had seduced her. I couldn't be the father of Caroline's child, and I refused to marry her and be her husband. But I can be a father to Lily Catherine now… I
want to be a father to her. And"—he smiled at Tessa—"I want you to be her mother. We want her, Tessa. Nobody else does. That's what important."
Tessa hugged her husband tightly. "Then, I'll pray Liam finds her soon."
"Me, too," David admitted.
"And I'll be sure to ask him for frequent reports."
"Lee won't always have anything to report," David warned. "You'll be disappointed."
"Maybe so," Tessa said. "But Mary won't be. Not as long as Liam stays in contact with us and the Trail T."
* * *
Chapter One
Trail T Ranch, Wyoming Territory April 1873
"Mary, Mrs. Russo is here for your fitting."
Mary Alexander turned from the simple fractions she was copying on the blackboard to find her mother, Sarah, standing at the back entrance to the small one-room schoolhouse. "I'll be there shortly. Let me finish this assignment and dismiss the children."
Sarah nodded, then turned and walked back down the path around Mary's cabin to the main house of the ranch.
The Trail T ranch had been purchased and the main house built by Mary's uncle, Benjamin Jordan, her cousin Reese's father, back in 1862. Reese, his wife, Faith, and their girls, Joy and Hope, lived in the main house now. Legally, Reese was the owner of the huge spread, having inherited the vast acreage and a fortune to operate it, from his father, but the Trail T was a family operation. Cabins around the main ranch housed Mary, her parents, Charlie & Sarah, and her younger brother Sam along with Mary and Reese's mutual grandparents, Duncan and Elizabeth Alexander. The Trail T was also home to Joe, a cousin by marriage, his children, Jimmy and Kate, and his second wife, Ruth, and her son, Daniel. Mary's older brother, David, lived with his bride of four months, Tessa, and their adopted son, nine-year-old Coalie, several miles away in the small railroad town of Peaceable, Wyoming, where David practiced law.
She finished copying the last fraction, then walked to the open door and watched as her mother made her way back to the big house. Mary would miss having family nearby all the time. She would miss sharing the happy, noisy communal family meals with her parents and grandparents, and Reese and Faith—miss the ranch talk and Reese's discussions of business. But she would miss teaching the children most of all.
Mary walked back into the classroom and faced her pupils—Joy, Jimmy, Kate, Daniel, and Coalie, who was spending the week at the ranch along with Tessa and David.
She lifted a wooden ruler from the top of her desk and gripped it tightly for strength. "Class," she addressed her students, "as all of you know, I'll be getting married Tuesday morning. This is my last day as your teacher."
The children groaned.
Kate raised her hand. "Aren't you coming back after you get married?"
"No," Mary answered. "I'll be living in Cheyenne. Faith will continue your lessons until the end of the term."
"Can't you come back to the ranch to teach us?" Kate's fifteen-year-old twin brother, Jimmy, asked. "We're not that far from Cheyenne."
"I'd like to," Mary admitted. "But my husband doesn't want me to continue my teaching."
"Why not?" nine-year-old Joy demanded. "Doesn't your husband want you to be happy?"
Out of the mouths of babes. Mary stared at Joy, marvelling at the little girl's perception. "Of course Mr. Cosgrove wants me to be happy, Joy. What makes you think he doesn't?"
Joy shrugged. "Reese says that we should encourage the people we care about to do the things they love so they'll be happy. And you always tell us how much you love teaching us. So I thought Mr. Cosgrove would want you to keep on doing what you love to do."