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Summer kept them moving, barely let them stall as they
    came to his bedroom door. Thrusting it open, she marched
    into the room and didn't stop until she stood beside his bed.
    "Yes, Mr. Quinter, we're married."
    "Where's my mother?" he asked so calmly she squinted to
    make sure it was him who'd spoken.
    He lifted one brow in question.
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    Guardian Bride
    by Lauri Robinson
    "She must have gone back out to the wheat field. The
    harvest is almost complete, but they need every hand they
    can get out there to make sure they finish up before the
    storm that's threatening bursts."
    His gaze went to the window.
    Summer walked across the room and held the curtain
    fringed with eyelet away from the glass so he could see
    through the panes. "It's in the air," she insisted. "You can feel
    it."
    "Who's thrashing the wheat?"
    "Your mother, your brothers, Kid and Bug, and several of
    Kid's ranch hands." She let the material fall back into place
    and turned to face the bed. "How are you doing? The doctor
    left laudanum. I've been giving you a little every time you
    stirred. Would you like some now?"
    "No," he said, and as if it were an afterthought added,
    "thank you." He glanced toward the window again. "Who's
    running my thrashing machine?"
    "Bug. He said he helped you build it, and that he's used it
    before."
    "He did and he has. How's the yield?"
    "Kid says it's the highest you've ever had," she answered.
    Kid had been over to see Snake several times since the
    shooting, almost daily, and so had his wife Jessie. It was Kid
    who'd said it was time to get the field harvested, and Jessie
    brought a noon meal out to the workers every day. "He also
    says there's not another field around that needs to be
    harvested yet. You must have early seed."
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    Guardian Bride
    by Lauri Robinson
    Snake's face made a tiny frown and then he nodded. "It's
    a winter wheat hybrid I've been working on."
    "It looks good," she admitted. "It's sure to bring a good
    price at the mill."
    His gaze roamed up and down her frame before it settled
    on her face. "How do you know so much about wheat?"
    She shrugged and moved back toward the door. "July did
    some farming. We lived out by Cimarron. In the river valley,
    had good water out there."
    He nodded. "When was that?"
    "Over ten years ago. The grasshopper plague wiped us
    out."
    "You...you had to have been just a little girl then."
    "Eleven. But you don't forget something like that. Those
    little bugs didn't leave a strip of green anywhere." She bit her
    lip, not wanting to say more, not wanting to remember that
    was also where and when Jonas died.
    "Did you move to Dodge then?"
    "No, not right away. We went to the eastern part of the
    state for a few years, and then came back to Dodge. Had only
    been there a month when the smallpox outbreak hit. August
    was just a baby, September only three. September got it
    first, then July and Ma caught it. Ma didn't survive."
    "So you've been raising August and September since you
    were fourteen?" he asked.
    She took a moment to ponder at how quickly he'd done
    the math to figure out her age. "Of course I have. They're my
    brother and sister."
    "In Dodge?"
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    Guardian Bride
    by Lauri Robinson
    "For the most part. July moved us a couple of times, but
    we always ended up back in Dodge somehow or another."
    She moved to the doorway, not wanting to answer any more
    questions. "I'm going to get you something to eat and drink.
    You have to be starving."
    "No, don—" he stopped and shook his head. "I'm really not
    hungry."
    "You will be once you start eating." Summer left the room,
    wondering why she'd told him so much about herself. She
    wasn't one to talk, let alone share her life story with others.
    Perhaps it was because they were married and she felt she
    should. Her feet stumbled. Luckily a chair was close enough
    to grab.
    He hadn't said anything more about their marriage.
    Quickly, as if her feet had grown wings she flew to the ice box
    and pulled out the soup she'd made