“What happened to Katie’s hand?” she asked.
“The same fire that cost Finbarr his sight cost Katie her fingers. The town doesn’t talk about it in tremendous detail, but it was, from all I’ve learned, entirely terrible. Emma’s little friend was killed.”
The poor girl. Little wonder she worried for people’s well-being.
“How are you getting on with Joseph?” Maura asked.
As always, even a mention of Mr. Archer set a little flutter of nerves tickling inside. “I don’t spend much time with him. He’s a little intimidating.”
“Joseph?” Ryan sat beside Maura, eying Eliza with surprise.
“He doesn’t smile much. I’ve never heard him laugh. And he’s clearly quite wealthy.” The last bit made her more nervous than anything else. “I haven’t the best history with well-to-do people.”
“Joseph’s a unique sort of rich man,” Maura said. “Good to the soles of his feet. And what seems to you as over-seriousness is really just a quiet nature and preference for privacy.”
“Hehasalways been kind to me. I keep waiting for him to erupt over something or another. But he hasn’t so far.”
“Are you pleased with your situation, then?” Maura kept asking that. Perhaps Eliza hadn’t kept her discontent entirely hidden.
“Housekeeping wouldn’t be my first choice, but I don’t entirely dislike it. And the room they have for us at their house is nicer than the Tower by anyone’s estimation.”
“I am certain a garbage heap would be nicer than the Tower.”
Ryan set his hand on Maura’s. The look on his face was one of concern. Maura shifted her hand enough to thread her fingers through his.
“You’re here now, love,” he said. “You’ll not ever have to go back there.”
“Thank the heavens,” Maura said. “That journey isn’t one I’d wish on anyone more than once.”
“Is there a reason there aren’t any inns along the stage line?” Eliza asked.
“The stage has only run this way for about a year now,” Ryan said. “There’s not been much call for one.”
“It’d help, though,” Maura said. “Breaking the journey sleeping on the ground isn’t the least pleasant for anyone.”
This area of Wyoming Territory needed an inn. The very thing she dreamed of. She knew how to run an inn but hadn’t the least idea how to get one built. She’d repaired any number of things at the family inn. They’d often built tables and simple chairs for the large public room, and she’d helped with that. She’d repaired and even made a few small pieces of furniture for her flat at the Widows’ Tower. In all her life, she’d never undertaken anything as complex as building an entire inn.
But—her heart leapt in her chest—she knew someone who had.
