Crimson Palace by Maralee Lowder

role of employee, or even an adopted member of the family, she enjoyed being treated as an equal. From the very beginning she felt totally at ease with both of them. She still felt that they were an unlikely wedded pair, but their uniqueness only made them more likable to her.
    In the evenings, as the three sat companionably beside their fire, they discussed the lives they looked forward to in California. But when Alex spoke of working in the gold fields, Shinonn could scarcely imagine the small, urban man in such a setting.
    "Maybe we could go partners in a claim, Tim," Alex suggested. "Why, between the two of us. I fathom we could make our fortunes in a couple of months if we put our minds to it."
    "I can’t think of anyone I’d rather partner up with. Only, well, I haven’t exactly decided that I’m going to be prospecting. I haven’t really made up my mind just what I’m going to do when I get out west. Mostly, I just want to get there, you know what I mean?"
    She hadn’t fully admitted, even to herself, that the only gold she was looking for was the gilded glint in a certain gambler’s eyes.
    "Oh, he knows what you mean, all right," Sofie spoke up. "All that talk about prospecting - talk is all it is, honey. Face it, Alex, working a pick and shovel would just about kill you. From what I hear, there’s lots easier ways to make a living in the gold fields than scrabbling in the dirt."
    Alex glanced at Sofie, a strange expression in his eyes. It was almost as if his eyes were warning her not to say more than she should. The look was answered by Sofie’s understanding smile. She said no more.
    At Fort Bridger the wagoners replenished their supplies and traded their tired oxen for rested ones.
    Besides the much needed supplies, the best part of the fort to Shinonn’s way of thinking, was the owner, Jim Bridger.
    Bridger, an old mountain man, had built and stocked the fort himself. Although he was kept plenty busy maintaining his stock, he could usually be enticed into spending an evening sitting beside a campfire, entertaining his audiences with stories of his many adventures. His craggy, rough appearance added authenticity of his often wild tales.
    From Fort Bridger the train headed northwest, into Utah territory. Now the dessert terrain became their enemy, and they were in constant fear of further confrontations with Indians. No one had to be reminded of the constant need for speed; all were more than aware that they must reach the Sierra Nevadas before the first snow. But more than that, they were all anxious to put the dessert behind them.
    The vast solitude of the terrain drew Shinonn, Alex and Sofie even closer. They worked as a team, and at times even thought as a team. Often Shinonn found herself reaching for something to hand to Sofie before the woman asked for it. And the same was true for Alex and Shinonn. The unspoken understanding between the three became uncanny.
    She came really care about the Santinis, so much so that she began to experience a terrible guilt about how she was deceiving them. What would they think of her if they ever found out she was not who she pretended to be? Would they ever be able to forgive her?
    The need to clear her conscience, to tell the truth about her identity, grew to unbearable proportions. But still she held her tongue. They were weeks away from California and she needed the Santini’s protection and friendship too much to chance loosing them.

    ***
    It was early September when the Santini wagon pulled into Placerville, California. The gold rush town was a melee of makeshift buildings strewn along a twisting, turning road that had once been a pack-mule trail. The litter of thousands of miners lay scattered haphazardly along the road. Worn out boots lay alongside broken pots and pans. Empty oyster and sardine tins shared the dirt with discarded bottles.
    The widely scattered trash gave strong evidence that mining gold was all that mattered to these people.
    They cared