Jodi Thomas Read Free

she whispered as he held a hand up for Aunt Etta.
    Before Joanna could ask any questions, the door to the cabin flew open and three children dove toward the Captain. They were barefoot and dressed in overalls much in need of mending. Their faces were a mixture of mud, freckles, and mischief.
    Colt stumbled backward as he wrestled them in his arms. “Calm down!” he shouted, but there was no anger in his voice. “Settle down, I said. There’s someone I want you three heathens to meet.”
    Joanna smiled as he tried to stop all three children from wiggling, but he only had two hands. As soon as he turned loose of one, another jumped into action. Finally, he had all three standing in front of him. None of them came up to his belt buckle, but they all had his dark hair and eyes.
    “These,” Captain Barnett said proudly, “are my children. The twins, Drew and Terri, are five and Johnnie here is a year older.”
    Joanna knelt down to their level. “Hello.” She extended her hand. “I’m very happy to meet you boys.”
    “Boys!” Johnnie yelled. “We’re girls.”
    Joanna looked up at the captain, who seemed to be made of stone. He was looking at her, but there was no expression in his eyes. He needed her much more than she’d thought. But until this moment she hadn’t realized how much.

Chapter Two
    Colt carried the luggage through the door of his house. “The girls sleep upstairs in the loft.” He carefully maneuvered the bags so that they didn’t accidentally hit the children circling at his feet. “I can move my office next door. You and your aunt can bunk in that room.” He pointed to the first of two doors on the opposite side of the house.
    “Bunk?” Etta’s thin eyebrows raised all the way to her hairline. “Sounds like fun.”
    Joanna could see the gleam of adventure in her aunt’s eyes, excitement that hadn’t been there before. “That will be fine, Captain.” She glanced around at the room so void of furnishings it looked as if the house were unoccupied. Through an opening to the left she could see a kitchen area, as sparsely furnished as the rest.
    Sergeant Buckles shuffled into the room as he hitched up his breeches. “Need a detail to move the desk and books from your study, Cap’n?”
    Colt nodded, wondering how Sergeant Buckles always managed to guess a command five seconds before he thought of it. Aloud he said to the ladies, “Besides being the best driver on the post, Sergeant Buckles also cooks for me and the girls, as well as keeps these quarters in order.”
    Joanna wondered what could get out of order in a house so bare. No woman’s touch had ever brushed these rooms. Whatever happened to the captain’s wife, happened before he moved here. As she stepped toward him the large man moved quickly out of the room as if nervous to be so close to a woman.
    Within seconds he marched back through the room, his arms loaded down with supplies. He glanced at the captain. “Am I still the cook, Cap’n?” He didn’t sound too enthusiastic about his job.
    Before Colt could answer, Etta chimed in, “I can cook for you and the girls. There’s not much I can’t stir up. That way I’ll feel like I’m earning my keep around here.”
    For the first time in all the years Colt had known Buckles, he saw a look of true admiration in the sergeant’s eyes as he stared at her.
    And Etta seemed so excited, Colt couldn’t say no. He’d spent his life around men, but he guessed Etta wanted, like most people, to be valued. “I’d be mighty grateful, ma’am. I need the sergeant for duty.”
    Etta followed Buckles into the kitchen, pulling things from the supply box even before he set it down. “Come along, girls,” she ordered kindly. “I’ll tell you about the time I fought a grizzly bear single-handed while we put the supplies away.”
    Joanna giggled at her aunt and turned to face the captain. “Thank you,” she said simply. He didn’t pretend not to understand what she was talking