Zach shook his head, biting back a sharp retort. Of course she didn’t know. No fault of hers, either, really.
“Papa’s dead. He’s been dead nearly a year now. And Mamma never goes a day without weeping over you. That’s why I promised her I’d find you and bring you home if I could.”
Her lips trembled slightly. “I should say I’m sorry, about Papa, but I can’t be, and I will not lie—even if perhaps he was right.”
She looked up at him an instant, but then quickly dropped her gaze.
For a moment, hope and longing flared in her eyes, then died leaving them flat and dull once more.
“No, I cannot shame Mamma this way, coming home with a baby and no husband.”
“No one need know you haven’t been married. They’d readily believe your man had been killed, out here in the Wild West. You could claim t
