He was untying a basket of books from a packsaddle. "They tend to improve with waiting," he agreed.

Elizabeth caught his sideways grin and responded with one of her own.

"Where you want these trunks, Miz Bonner?" Galileo asked.

"Just in the main room, please, until I have time to sort through things."

When the men had disappeared with the first load, Curiosity stepped back. "The bush was a sore trial, I see."

Elizabeth nodded, hoping that she would not have to tell all of it right now. "We survived."

"So you did." Curiosity climbed the three steps to the porch. "These chairs for admirin' or for settin' down?"

Once comfortably settled in the rockers while the men moved back and forth, the older woman leaned forward and put a hand over Elizabeth's where they were folded on her lap.

"You got news of your own?"

Elizabeth met the mild amber eyes steadily. "It seems I could not keep it a secret even if I wished to do so."

Curiosity let out a little rush of air that might have been a laugh. "Don't take much sense to figure that a newly married woman in her prime is liable to turn up in the family way. And you ain't the only one. Maybe you didn't notice that Many-Doves is already working on her first."

"Is she?" Elizabeth laughed, delighted.

"And then there's Kitty."

"Oh, yes." This mention of Kitty's condition brought Elizabeth round to thoughts of her brother. "I need to talk to you about that."

"We got time for trouble later," said Curiosity. "I ain't done looking at you yet. Your mama was one of those women who wear her condition on her face, and you take after her. How long since your courses?"

"A good nine weeks," Elizabeth said. "If I remember correctly."

"That's good." Curiosity squeezed her hand hard, and then sat back. "Ain't no need to color up and look away. The judge may settle right down when he hear a grandchild on the way, no matter what your brother got to say."

Elizabeth grimaced. "I expect Julian has quite a lot to say. But perhaps I should hear my father's message."

Curiosity smoothed out the material of her apron. "Pretty much what you think. You ain't welcome at his door, until you see the error of your headstrong ways and do what's called for."

"And what is that?"

"I expect he won't be satisfied unless you put your husband aside—not likely, is that, seein' what you got to show for your time in the bush. Todd will have to live without this mountain. Where is he anyway? Did y'all meet up with him?"

"Oh, yes," Elizabeth said. "We did. It's a long story."

"He headed back this way?"

"I assume so. Curiosity." Elizabeth leaned toward her. "My father's debts have been paid, and his taxes as well. All his financial problems should be resolved. Richard Todd might try to take me before a court of law for breach of promise but there is no claim he can make against my father, so please explain to me what this is all about. I simply do not understand."

"It's about his pride, child. You embarrassed the judge in front of the whole territory."

Elizabeth flushed. "Only because he left me no choice."

Curiosity had not lost the knack of a sharp look. "Am I criticizing you?"

"No." Elizabeth sat back. "I'm sorry, of course not. But I am nervous about .. . everything."

"Naturally," Curiosity raised a brow. "But you done good, child, and not just for yourself."

"I'm afraid that the villagers won't agree with you."

Curiosity laughed out loud, and then shook her head. "You still got some friends down there. But mostly you got folks worried. They want to know what plans your menfolk have got for this mountain, and some of them are mighty uneasy."

"Uneasy enough to burn crops?" Elizabeth asked.

Curiosity shrugged. "You scare one stupid man, he'll most likely run off. But a crowd of stupid men—there ain't nothing more dangerous, or meaner." One corner of her generous mouth turned downward. "It's our bad luck, you see, that Paradise got more than its fair share of men couldn't find their hindquarters with both hands."

Elizabeth stifled an uneasy laugh, but Curiosity was not smiling. She leaned toward Elizabeth. "I ain't telling you nothing your people don't know already, but you watch yourself, and that child, too. Stay clear of Kirby, and Dubonnet and Southern, most of all." She straightened, and the frown line between her brows was replaced with a genuine smile. "Now, there's Falling—Day."

On the porch of the other cabin Falling—Day's small, straight form had appeared with her daughter and granddaughter behind her, and Curiosity raised a hand in greeting.

"Let's us women have a look—see round this new home of yours," she said, rising. "And a little talk 'bout happier things."

* * *

There were three rooms, a great luxury in a village where most cabins had only one. The long main room had a hearth of flagstone at one end and a loft at the other where Hannah slept. Like the older cabin, there was a work and storage room as well as a bedroom. There were few pieces of furniture, some of it with the same sharp tang of newly cut wood as the cabin itself, while other things—the table and benches, the rifle rack above the door, the bookcase, the bedstead—showed signs of careful mending.