Bittner, Rosanne by Wildest Dreams

about five years while Will continued to lead wagon trains west—didn't get to see him much." She led Lettie toward the house. "We both finally got tired of being apart so much, and Will was always the type who hated too much civilization, so he chose to come up here to settle."
    The woman rattled on nonstop, and Lettie sensed she needed to talk. She wondered if it would be that way for her in a few years, hungering for company, aging ahead of her years. If her figuring was right, the woman couldn't be more than thirty years old. She looked fifty.
    "Luke and I had to come to town for more supplies," she explained as she walked inside the cabin. "Luke wants to get some tar paper for our cabin, and we need to stock up on more food."
    "Well, out here it's a must that you get to know your neighbors, even if they're eight or ten miles away. You never know when you'll need them," Henrietta answered rather wistfully. "Please, take off your wrap and sit down. And let me see your little son! Will told me the boy's father was killed back in Kansas. I'm so sorry. I'm glad you found a good man who can be a father to him."
    Lettie felt a flow of love for Luke at the words. In spite of the hardships and loneliness of the past three weeks, she couldn't be happier with the man she had chosen for a husband. The days were long and filled with backbreaking work that left them both exhausted at night, yet there had been few nights when they hadn't found the energy to explore the wonders of their passion. Luke was a good father to Nathan, always took time for the boy, even on the days when he worked so hard cutting and stacking wood and building fences for the animals that he could hardly walk straight when he came in at night.
    "Yes, Luke is a good man," she said. "I met him much the same way you met Will—on a wagon train west. My family was headed for Denver. I just couldn't bring myself to let Luke go on alone when we reached Julesberg. I had to make a decision, and I know it was the right one." She set Nathan down, and he toddled off to explore the cabin. "Luke wrote out a paper for me back at Fort Laramie, where we married. He put it in writing that he has legally adopted Nathan, giving him full rights to anything Luke owns. He even had it witnessed. He wanted it as legal as possible, considering there are no judges out here for such things. I told him it wasn't necessary to put it in writing, but he insisted, not just for me, but for Nathan's sake in future years. Nathan already looks to him like a father."
    "And what a fine-looking little boy! Look at that blond hair! Oh, you're so lucky, Mrs. Fontaine." Lettie felt sorry for her, realized she must be longing for the child she'd never had. Henrietta watched Nathan a moment, then took a deep breath, as though to shake off bad memories of her own. "I don't know why these men can't choose to settle in civilized places," she said then, as though to change the subject deliberately. "They have their big dreams of getting rich by claiming all this land for themselves, but the price many of them pay makes me wonder if it's worth it." She turned to take some cups down from where they hung under a shelf of dishes.
    The words worried Lettie, and this time it was she who changed the subject. "You have a wonderful home here," she spoke up, looking around the spacious main room. A huge stone fireplace graced one wall, and there were many shelves for pans and dishes built into another, as well as a counter-top for the dishpan and water buckets. Braided rugs were scattered on the clean, hardwood floor and curtains hung at the windows. Although the pine table and chairs in the center of the room were hand-made, they were very well built and varnished to a shine. She noticed a curtained doorway at the back wall, which she supposed led to a separate bedroom, something that would be a luxury for her right now. Lettie longed for just such a home.
    "Well, thank you, but it wasn't always this way." Henrietta