“We’ll go on now,” he said gently. “I’ll come back later with your father.”
They rode in silence up the long hill. At the top of it he drew rein and smiled at his bride.
“You’ll not let that spoil the day, will you, June? He had it coming, you know. Houck had gone bad. If it hadn’t been the Utes, it would have been the law a little later.”
“Yes, but—” She tried to answer his smile, not very successfully. “It’s rather—awful, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “Let’s walk over to the cabin, dear.”
She swung down, into his arms. There she found comfort that dissipated the cloud from her mind. When she ran into the house to throw her arms around Pete Tolliver’s neck, she was again radiant.
“Guess! Guess what!” she ordered her father.
Pete looked at his daughter and at the bashful, smiling boy.
“I reckon I done guessed, honeybug,” he answered, stroking her rebellious hair.
“You’re to come and live with us. Isn’t he, Bob?”