“What do you know about him?”

“I don’t think anyone knows much. He rode into town about six months ago. Of course, everybody’s heard of Jake Redman. Some say he’s killed more than twenty men in gunfights.”

“Killed?” Stunned, Sarah could only stare. “But why?”

“I don’t know if there always is a why. I did hear that some rancher up north hired him on. There’d been trouble… rustling, barn-burning.”

“Hired him on,” Sarah murmured. “To kill.”

“That’s what it comes down to, I suppose. I do know that plenty of people were nervous when he rode in and took a room at Maggie O’Rourke’s.” Liza broke off a corner of the slice of bread Sarah had served her. “But he didn’t seem to be looking for trouble. About two weeks later he found it, anyway.” A hired killer, Sarah thought, her stomach churning.

And she’d kissed him, kissed him in a way no lady kissed a man who wasn’t her husband. “What happened?” “Jim Carlson was in the Bird Cage. That’s one of the saloons in town.”

“Carlson?”

“Yes, he’s Samuel Carlson’s brother. You wouldn’t know it,” Liza continued, pursing her lips. “Jim’s nothing like Samuel. Full of spit, that one. Likes to brag and swagger and bully. Cheats at cards, but nobody had the nerve to call him on it. Until Jake.” Liza drank more tea and listened with half an ear to her brother’s war whoops in the yard. “The way I heard it, there were some words over the card table. Jim was drunk and a little careless with his dealing. Once Jake called him on it, some of the other men joined in. Word is, Jim drew. Everybody figured Jake would put a bullet in him there and then, but he just knocked him down.”

“He didn’t shoot him?” She felt a wave of relief.

Perhaps he wasn’t what people said he was.

“No. At least, the way I heard it, Jake just knocked him silly and gave Jim’s gun to the bartender. Somebody had already hightailed it for the sheriff. By the time he got there, Jake was standing at the bar having himself a drink and Jim was picking himself up off the floor. I think Barker was going to put Jim in a cell for the night until he sobered up. But when he took hold of him, Jim pulled the gun from the sheriffs holster. Instead of getting a bullet in the back, Jake put one in Jim Carlson, then turned around and finished his drink.”

Dead’s dead. “Did he kill him?”

“No, though there’s some in town wished he had. The Carlsons are pretty powerful around here, but there were enough witnesses, the sheriff included, to call it self-defense.”

“I see.” But she didn’t understand the kind of justice that had to be meted out with guns and bullets.

“I’m surprised Jake-Mr. Redman-hasn’t moved on.”

“He must like it around here. What about you?

Doesn’t it scare you to stay out here alone?”

Sarah thought of her first night shivering under the blanket and praying for morning. “A little.”

“After living back east.” Liza gave a sigh. To her, Philadelphia sounded as glamorous and foreign as Paris or London. “All the places you’ve seen, the pretty clothes you must have worn.”

Sarah struggled with a quick pang of homesickness.

“Have you ever been east?”

“No, but I’ve seen pictures.” Liza eyed Sarah’s trunks with longing. “The women wear beautiful clothes.”

“Would you like to see some of mine?”

Liza’s face lit up. “I’d love to.”

For the next twenty minutes Liza oohed and aahed over ruffles and lace. Her reaction caused Sarah to appreciate what she had always taken for granted. Crouched on the cabin floor, they discussed important matters such as ribbons and sashes and the proper tilt of a bonnet while Johnny was kept occupied with a hunk of bread and the puppy.

“Oh, look at this one.” Delighted, Liza rose, sweeping a dress in front of her. “I wish you had a looking glass.”

It was the white muslin with the rosebuds on the skirt. The dress she’d planned to wear for her first dinner with her father. He’d never see it now. She glanced at the trunks. Or any of the other lovely things he’d made certain she had in her life.

“What’s wrong?” With the dress still crushed against her, Liza stepped forward. “You look so sad.”

“I was thinking of my father, of how hard he worked for me.”

Liza’s fascination with the clothes was immediately outweighed by her sympathy. “He loved you. Often when he came in the store he’d talk about you, about what you’d written in one of your letters. I remember how he brought in this picture of you, a drawing in a little frame. He wanted everyone to see how pretty you were. He was so proud of you, Sarah.”

“I miss him.” With a shake of her head, Sarah blinked back tears. “It’s strange, all those years we were separated. Sometimes I could barely remember him. But since I’ve been here I seem to know him better, and miss him more.”

Gently Liza laid a hand on her shoulder. “My pa sure riles me sometimes, but I guess I’d about die if anything happened to him.”

“Well, at least I have this.” She looked around the small cabin. “I feel closer to him here. I like to think about him sitting at that table and writing to me.” After a long breath she managed to smile. “I’m glad I came.”

Liza held out a hand. “So am I.”

Rising, Sarah fluffed out the sleeves of the dress Liza was holding. “Now, let me be your looking glass. You’re taller and curvier than I…” With her lips pursed, she walked in a circle around Liza. “The neckline would flatter you, but I think I’d do away with some of the ruffles in the bodice. A nice pink would be your color. It would show off your hair and eyes.” “Can you imagine me wearing a dress like that?” Closing her eyes, Liza turned in slow circles. “It would have to be at a dance. I’d have my hair curled over my shoulder and wear a velvet ribbon around my throat. Will Metcalf’s eyes would fall right out.” “Who’s Will Metcalf?”

Liza opened her eyes and giggled. “Just a man.

He’s a deputy in town. He’d like to be my beau.” Mischief flashed across her face. “I might decide to let him.”

“Liza loves Will,” Johnny sang through the window. “You hush up, John Cody.” Rushing to the window, Liza leaned out. “If you don’t, I’ll tell Ma who broke Grandma’s china plate.”

“Liza loves Will,” he repeated, unconcerned, then raced off with the puppy.

“Nothing more irritating than little brothers,” she muttered. With a sigh of regret, she replaced the dress in the trunk.

Tapping a finger on her lips, Sarah came to a quick decision. She should have thought of it before, she reflected. Or perhaps it had been milling around in her mind all along. “Liza, would you like a dress like that…in pink, like that pretty muslin I saw in your store yesterday?”

“I guess I’d think I’d gone to heaven.”

“What if I made it for you?”

“Made it for me?” Wide-eyed, Liza looked at the trunk, then back at Sarah. “Could you?”

“I’m very handy with a needle.” Caught up in the idea, Sarah pushed through her trunks to find her measuring tape. “If you can get the material, I’ll make the dress. If you like it, you can tell the other women who come in your store.”

“Of course.” Obediently Liza lifted her arms so that Sarah could measure her. “I’ll tell everyone.” “Then some of those women might want new dresses, fashionable new dresses.” Looking up, she caught the gleam of understanding in Liza’s eyes. “You bet they would.”

“You get me that material and I’ll make you a dress that will have Will Metcalf standing on his head.”

Two hours later Sarah was pouring water over her vegetable garden. In the heat of the afternoon, with her back smarting from the chores and sun baking the dirt almost as fast as she could dampen it, she wondered if it was worth it. A garden out here would require little less than a miracle. And she would much prefer flowers.

You couldn’t eat flowers, she reminded herself, and poured the last of the water out. Now she would have to walk back to the stream and fill the pail again to have water for cooking and washing.