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absentmindedly. It seemed a long time since she’d traipsed into St. Joseph with such a clear vision of what lay ahead. It hurt to face the stark truth that both her brothers had abandoned their plan—at the first opportunity. Without so much as talking to her about it. Without considering her feelings.
Without including her.
Apparently, neither Emmet nor Frank shared her vision of the future, after all.

Chapter 4

    The crowd in the back lot had dispersed and Annie had calmed down before one of her brothers came looking for her.
You’ve always known they’d go their own way at some point. It’s just happening sooner than you expected
. There was always a ray of light if a body looked hard enough. She would find it—although it might take a while. In the meantime she wasn’t going to pretend to be happy about the way things were turning out.
    At the first sound of someone climbing the ladder, the cat bolted. Annie sat with her hands folded in her lap. Waiting. The top of a head appeared.
Auburn hair.
Of course. Frank would be the one to talk to her first. Being twins, she and Frank had always been closer to one another than to Emmet. But that wasn’t going to matter today. If Frank expected her to make this easy, he was going to be disappointed.
    Instead of sitting down beside her, Frank leaned against the haymow doorframe, staring down into the back lot for a while. Saying nothing. Annie curled her arms about her knees and tucked her chin. Waiting. Staring off toward the opposite end of the loft.
    Finally, Frank took a deep breath and said quietly, “Two hundred dollars a month, Annie. With both Emmet and me riding for the Pony, we’ll be able to give you the home you want.”
    She didn’t look at him. “Unless you break your neck on some midnight run aboard a half-wild horse. Or get shot by road agents. Or run over by stampeding buffalo. Or scalped by Indians.”
    Frank snorted. “We both just rode the worst they had to offer, and we broke him. Outlaw’s no threat to anyone anymore. Shoot, I might even ask the Pony to let me ride him on my part of the trail. One thing that horse has is grit.”
    Annie shrugged. She could feel him looking at her, but she refused to look back.
    “As to road agents, the Pony only carries mail—no money. There’s nothing valuable to rob. And there’s no Indians scalping people where we’re going.”
    Where we’re going. Not “where we might go.” Where we’re going.
That made her look at him. Frowning. “You’ve already agreed to it?”
    He came to sit beside her. “The station’s called Clearwater. Luther told us all about it. It started out as a trading post. Now it’s also a regular stop for the Overland Stage. It sounds like a good place. Better than our old farm, for sure. Almost a village, spring through fall. There’s a store inside the station, a big barn, and several corrals.
Two
wells with cold, clear water. Emmet and I will both ride out of there. I’ll ride west and Emmet will bring the California mail back this way. A hundred miles each way and then back again, with Clearwater as home. Luther says there isn’t any serious Indian trouble to worry about. It’s less than a dozen miles to Fort Kearny, and they send out daily patrols.” He paused, obviously waiting for Annie to say something.
    All she could manage was, “It’s not what we talked about.”
    Frank reached over to chuck her under the chin. “But it could be
better
.”
    She shrugged. “I got the job at the Patee House. And rooms at Miss Stanton’s. Ira—he said I should call him Ira—put in a good word for us.”
    “He told us. You did good, Annie. Real good. But—Emmet says this is better. The answer to his prayers. I think he’s right.”
    “When have you ever cared about Emmet’s prayers?” She regretted the bitter tone, but she didn’t apologize for it.
    Frank nudged her shoulder. “Just because I don’t talk to God doesn’t mean I don’t think he’d listen to a good