"Well, Sampson?" she asked.

"Will it suit?" Ryder turned the mirror so it contained both their reflections.

"Admirably. I look like thousands of other easterners." She cocked one eyebrow.

"Hardly." Slipping an arm through his and laying her head on his shoulder, Mary said, "I'd still notice you in a crowd." He smiled at that.

"Are you trying to seduce me, Delilah?"

"Just want to see if you have any strength left."

Ryder put down the mirror, lifted Mary off her feet, carried her to the narrow bed, and tickled her helpless. Laughter marked their lovemaking this time and Mary embraced the sheer joy of it.

Still smiling, albeit a little weakly now, Mary lay back.

"Have you thought about children?" she asked. Ryder stopped punching the pillow under his head, no longer caring if it conformed to a comfortable shape. He sat up and studied her face. Was that smile just a little smug? he wondered.

A bit secretive?

"Are you-" He stopped. It wasn't possible. At least not that she would know. She had had her flow just after they left Tucson. It had been the source of some embarrassment to her and a disappointment to him. The truth be known, he had thought about children.

"I want children," he said quietly. Mary lifted her hand and touched his forearm, stroking it lightly. She heard the faint echo of grief in his words.

"Tell me about your daughter," she said.

"What was her name?" He told her the Apache word.

"It means One-Who-Smiles. It was her baby name. The Apache are given a name at birth and take another when they are older.

It's part of the passage from child to adult." Ryder looked away from Mary, his gaze becoming more distant with the rush of memories.

"Her little face was as round as the moon, and her eyes were dark, like her mother's. Her hair was every bit as black as mine and softer than cornsilk. It seemed she was born smiling.

That smile was contagious, like laughter, and the old women in the tribe always remarked on it. She was interested in everything around her, curious to the point of being in trouble several times a day. She was the child who would go too close to the fire, or climb too high, or wade too deep. She had to touch a cactus spine to be certain it was as sharp as she was warned. Everyone indulged her, though. I think it was her smile. She won us all over."

When Ryder glanced at Mary again he saw there were tears in her eyes.

He touched the corner of her eye with the pad of his thumb.

"Dear, dear Mary," he said softly.

"Yes, I want to have a child.

You've made room in my heart for one again." He held out his arms and made room for her there. There were telegrams waiting for them in Pittsburgh. The porter slipped them under the door of their private car soon after their arrival. All of them were addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan, but Mary suspected that from the volume of messages, Rennie and Jarret had told the rest of the family what she was up to.

Mary found a letter opener in the desk and sliced the first telegram open. She sat on the edge of the desk to read.

"Well?" Ryder asked. He was stretched out comfortably on the bed, reading a Wilkie Collins mystery, but when Mary remained silent for so long, curiosity drew him away.

"Is it Rennie?" She shook her head.

"This one is from Mama," she said slowly. She read it aloud. "

"You must love him. I pray you know I understand."

"Mary looked up. There was a soft smile lifting the corners of her mouth.

"I think this means she's come to terms with my decision." Ryder closed the book and set it aside.

"It sounds as if she's come to terms with her own decision," he said.

When she looked at him oddly, he explained.

"I only know what you've told me, but it seems that your mother was not so certain of the choices she made. She hid it from herself, so it's no surprise that she was successful in hiding it from everyone she loved.

Well, perhaps not everyone. You, more than the others, seemed to suspect that her long affair with your father had deeply personal ramifications. She did find solace in the fact that you had made your vows with God."

"And when I told her I was leaving the sisters..." He nodded, reading the expression on her face, knowing what was in her thoughts.

"It opened the Pandora's box of uncertainties. Moira had to revisit her decision all over again."

He pointed to the telegram.

"I think she's telling you that if she were to do it over, her choice would be exactly the same." Mary read the telegram again, then folded it slowly.

"I think you're right," she said.

"In fact, I'm quite sure of it." As pleasurable as it was to bask in the glow of Mary's satisfaction, Ryder's attention turned to the other telegrams.

"I doubt your father's message will be so welcoming." Mary plucked another telegram at random and sliced it open.

"This is from Maggie. She wishes us success and hopes you are doing well. She's even given me the name of three medicines to try if your leg is not completely healed." Mary shook her head, amused.

"It seems Rennie couldn't wait to fill them all in on the details. It may as well have been her who found us in the cavern as Jarret. And I'm certain my sister embellished that business at that mining camp.

Maggie asks if it's true that I stood toe to toe with Geronimo." Ryder laughed.

"What else do you have there?" Mary opened another.

"From Ethan and Michael," she said. ""WIRE US IF YOU NEED HELP."

She grinned.

"Ethan's a federal marshal. That could help us."

"It can't hurt."

"And don't forget that Michael's a reporter.

She knows how to get a story published. That could mean a lot when it comes time to publicly clear your name."

"You have quite a few family connections."