"We'll go one day and come back the next. She can stay with Sergeant Driscoll's wife overnight."
"Have you asked her?"
"She said she'd like to go."
"You'll have to ask her mother."
"I know. She said I'd have to have your permission and her mother's."
Joe hesitated, then thought of Emma's wisdom. She would know exactly what to do, and Joe said,
"It's all right with me if it is with her mother."
"Thanks again, Joe."
They left the logs beside those already at the new building site, and Ellis wandered toward the main post where he lived with Snedeker. Joe stabled the mules and fed them hay and grain; animals that work hard should eat well. He filled his lungs with the crisp air and turned toward the quarters Snedeker had given him and his family. Joe frowned as he did so.
Laramie, staffed by soldiers and with the best freighters at its command, was still strictly utilitarian. Though their quarters at Laramie had been comfortable, they had not afforded what Joe was beginning to think of as the luxuries they'd had in Missouri. Snedeker's necessarily offered less than Laramie. The cabin was wind- and weather-tight, but it was crude. Built as quarters for men, it had a large kitchen served by a fireplace and a larger bunk room with ten bunks and a bigger fireplace.