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away,” Mrs. Weingarten went on, “but a young, single woman
on a trail like this could find herself in danger.”
    Lynne’s mouth twitched with the urge to smirk.
She’d heard that argument before.
    “ Now, you don’t have protection,
like Miss Tremaine does,” Mrs. Weingarten said. Lynne sat
straighter. “But you should.”
    “ I’m not sure it’s possible to
hire an escort when we’re already two weeks out on the trail,”
Lynne said. She wasn’t sure why the older woman’s comments made her
feel itchy and self-conscious.
    Mrs. Weingarten shook her head. “Callie’s
circumstances are quite different. You are fortunate to have family
watching and waiting for you.” She turned to address Callie, who
sat drooping on the crate beside Lynne, wringing the handkerchief.
“Callie, I’m sorry to be blunt, but because you have no one left
traveling with you and no one waiting at the end, I think you
should consider marrying on the trail, immediately.”
    All three of the younger women looked up at
Mrs. Weingarten with varying degrees of surprise and
wonder.
    “ Marrying?” Callie asked. “Right
now?”
    Mrs. Weingarten sighed and nodded. “It seems
sudden and drastic, I know, but there are quite a few single men on
the trail who could provide you with protection while we journey
and a life when we reach our destination.”
    No one said a word to her explanation. Callie
stared at Mrs. Weingarten, her thoughts hidden behind her mask of
grief. Lynne had to step in.
    “ I can understand how it might
seem like a good idea,” she began, “but a woman doesn’t have to
have the help or protection of a man in order to make her
living.”
    Another short silence followed.
    “ Who would I choose?” Callie
asked, subdued.
    Lynne’s jaw went slack. “Are you actually
considering this?”
    Callie shrugged. “What choice do I have? I
don’t know anything about being a pioneer. This was Greg’s
dream.”
    Lynne closed her mouth and blinked. She told
herself that she shouldn’t be shocked, that different people made
different decisions. It was so far from the decision she would have
made, though, that she could hardly fathom it.
    “ Which single men among our
company do you think might make a suitable husband?” Mrs.
Weingarten asked.
    “ Not the miners,” Callie answered
right away.
    “ Agreed,” Lynne said.
    They looked up and down the line of wagons and
camps that had been set up for the night. There were easily over a
hundred people in their train, at least a third of them single men.
But more than half of those were miners on their way to strike it
rich or die trying.
    “ What about Reverend Joseph?” Mrs.
Weingarten asked.
    They all turned to where the young reverend
was sitting with the miners, probably preaching to them about their
sins of gambling and drinking, although a bottle sat by his
side.
    Callie shook her head. Lynne
agreed.
    “ Elton Finch?” Mrs. Weingarten
offered.
    They twisted the other way to a small camp
closer to the front of the train. Elton Finch was a tall, handsome
man who was on his way west with his brother’s family.
    “ Maybe,” Callie said.
    “ There’s always Dr. Meyers,” Mrs.
Weingarten said.
    Emma gasped, tensing like a sparrow about to
take flight.
    The barest hint of a smile touched Callie’s
lips. “I don’t think so.”
    Emma relaxed, letting out a breath and
lowering her head, cheeks bright with blush.
    “ How about that widower, John
Rye?”
    Lynne searched down the length of the wagon
train. She’d seen Mr. Rye once or twice. He was a quiet, ordinary
man who had kept to himself since Independence. She’d heard his
wife had died less than a year ago. He still dressed in black to
mourn her.
    “ Perhaps,” Callie said.
    Mrs. Weingarten nodded. “Of course, you could
try Cade Lawson.”
    His name was like a fist in her gut. “Cade?”
she asked.
    “ Why not? He’s young, he’s easy to
look at, and he doesn’t have a wife. At least not one that we