"Oh." Anna looked toward the chuck wagon then back at Caroline. Caroline nodded.

Oliver picked up another potato. "You s'pose I should go rescue the captain? Tell him it's time to round us up?"

Before Anna or Caroline could respond, Garrett Cowlishaw took long strides toward them with Mrs. Kamden marching in step, her chin held high.

"Looks like they both been suckin' on lemons," Oliver whispered.

Anna giggled. They could always count on Oliver to come out with the truth, however blunt. Unlike Anna's mother, the youngest Rengler brother never made you guess what he was thinking.

Caroline stood, holding a half-peeled potato. Anna and Oliver also stood.

The captain removed his slouch hat. "Hello, folks. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to have a word with Mrs. Milburn."

Oliver shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "You want me and Miss Anna to leave?"

Caroline slipped her hand into Anna's. Apparently, she wasn't going anywhere.

"Am I in trouble, sir?" Oliver's eyes widened. He looked at Caroline, then back at Garrett. "You don't think we's ..." A blush rose from beneath his wispy beard. "We just been peelin' these taters. Miss Caroline ain't sweet on me, or nothin'."

Anna couldn't help but smile at Oliver's innocent assumption. Apparently not amused, Caroline gave Anna's hand a squeeze.

The captain cleared his throat. "Mrs. Milburn, your employer-"

"Mr. Kamden?" Caroline looked at the potato in her hand.

"No ma'am. It is Mrs. Davonna Kamden who has expressed concerns."

Caroline dropped the potato into the pan at her feet. "Concerns?"

"Yes." The captain still hadn't looked Caroline in the eye. "She has reported something missing from her belongings and feels you may have some information as to its disappearance."

"A locket, perhaps?"

"Yes. You know of its whereabouts?"

Caroline shook her head. "Only of Mrs. Kamden's accusation."

"Accusation?" Anna tightened her grip on Caroline's hand and squared her shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

"Mrs. Kamden has accused me of stealing her missing locket, and apparently, the captain has concerns about my honesty, as well."

Anna and Oliver both gasped in unison. Oliver started shaking his head.

"I never said ..." The captain looked at Davonna Kamden then to Caroline. "I am merely doing my job."

Anna drew in a deep breath and looked at Mrs. Kamden. "With all due respect, ma'am, you must have misplaced the locket."

Mrs. Kamden pinched her lips together as Anna had seen little Maisie do when Caroline scolded her.

"Then someone else is to blame," Anna said. "Caroline would never-"

Garrett Cowlishaw cleared his throat. "Mrs. Milburn. Surely you can understand my obligation to consider any and all possibilities."

Caroline arched her eyebrows. "Including the one that suggests I am a thief?"

"Yes ma'am. Facts, not personal opinions, are what I need in order to investigate."

Oliver's chest puffed out. "Investigate? Miss Caroline?"

Anna agreed with Oliver. This woman's accusations were preposterous.

Caroline rested her hand on Oliver's arm. "It's all right. You'll see. Mrs. Kamden is worried sick about her locket, and the captain is only doing his job."

Oliver scrubbed his whiskered cheek. "But-"

"It'll be all right." She met the captain's gaze, now unyielding. "I say we get to the facts."

"Agreed." Mr. Cowlishaw pulled his slouch hat taut. "Mrs. Kamden said she kept the locket in her belongings in the smaller wagon you share."

"That's correct. Along with three of her grandchildren, but all five of them go in and out of the wagon regularly."

Mrs. Kamden stiffened. "You're accusing those innocent children?"

"I'm only stating the facts. That's what the captain said he wanted. And the more facts, the better."

Mr. Cowlishaw drew in another deep breath. "Mrs. Milburn, had you ever seen Mrs. Kamden's locket?"

"I have. She's not worn it on the trip, but I did see the locket once when she took it out of the box to show it to me."

The older woman nodded. "That's a fact, Captain. So she knew where I kept it."

"That doesn't mean I took it. Others-"

"The children, you mean?"

"Yes, and your son and your daughter-in-law. They all knew you kept it in your jewelry case."

Anna felt like cheering. Not only was Caroline remaining as cool as a crock in a root cellar, she was keeping her wits about her in this ridiculous investigation.

The captain flapped his hat against his thigh. "I see."

Mrs. Kamden raised her chin. "You see what, Captain Cowlishaw?"

"Mrs. Kamden, I see that this very important matter will require more attention. Further inquiry." Garrett Cowlishaw returned the hat to his head. "Would you have me do that now, delaying our departure all the more, or might my investigation wait until we arrive at Independence?"

"Very well." Mrs. Kamden pressed her fingertips to her right temple as if to restrain an oncoming headache. "She is good with the children."

The captain nodded. "I'll escort you to your wagon then, and we'll be on our way." He cupped the elder woman's forearm and turned to leave.

Anna added her sigh to Caroline's. Yes, matters such as this went a long way to help Anna keep her concerns about her own mother in perspective. At least Mutter kept her insolence to herself. Mrs. Kamden had no such familiarity with discretion.

Poor Caroline.

Now the captain would be required to keep watch on her. And for all the wrong reasons.

Caroline knelt in front of her trunk and set the candle lantern on the floorboard beside her. She pulled the official stationery of the Department of War from an envelope, taking care not to hold the paper too close to the dancing flame. Pressing the folded letter to her chest, she sat back on her heels. The three youngest Kamden children were tucked in and sleep-breathing, Maisie's like the purr of a kitten. Caroline closed her eyes and quieted her spirit.

Thankfully, Rhoda had agreed to move her mother-in-law into the Conestoga until the good captain could reconcile Davonna Kamden's concern that Caroline was a thief.

Caroline blew out an unladylike sigh of relief. This was indeed one day she was glad to see come to a close. The poor woman couldn't actually believe Caroline would take her locket ... had taken it. Garrett Cowlishaw didn't believe it. She'd seen the vein jumping in his neck and heard the tension in his mandatory questioning.

She'd seen something else in his hazel eyes too. A look she recognized from days gone by. Days with Phillip. Was it possible there was some truth in Oliver's assumptions that the captain fancied her, despite her harsh treatment of him?

Caroline unfolded the sheet of paper Garrett had delivered to her on that cold day last November.

Department of War, Washington, District of Columbia Dear Mrs. Milburn, It is with deepest regret that I write you. Your beloved husband, Colonel Phillip Milburn, served our country well, earning the loyalties of his regiment and indeed the entire army.

Peril beset the good colonel in the Battle of Nashville, 16 December 1864, where the Union had suffered 387 killed, 2,562 wounded, and 112 missing. Colonel Milburn was instrumental in the taking of Shy's Hill, the source of much of the carnage. Though mortally wounded, he led his artillery unit to destroy the entrenchment and the cover it had provided the sharpshooters of the Confederacy. The Union ultimately prevailed in the battle, with no little thanks to the sacrifice made by your husband.

A brave patriot, your husband. He succumbed to his injuries the following day, 17 December 1864, and was buried with full military honors near Nashville.

A box of the colonel's personals will be forthcoming. You may expect it to arrive shortly.

With deepest sympathies,

Major Augustus Shnebley, United States Department of War

Once again, the finality of the letter washed over Caroline. She blinked hard against a ready wall of tears. Determined to cry no more for what was or could have been, she folded the letter and rose to her knees.

"Good-bye, Phillip." If it were safe to do so, she'd burn the letter in the candle flame. Instead, she returned the paper to the envelope and slid her past back into the trunk.

Caroline folded her hands and bowed her head. Following Mrs. Brantenberg's good teaching from the quilting circle, she asked God to take her scraps ... the mismatched remnants of Phillip's life and death. Saying good-bye to family in Saint Charles. The challenges of caring for the Kamden family. She also gave Him the puzzling piece of new fabric that was her attraction to Garrett Cowlishaw, an unlikely pattern at an unlikely time.

The sound of footfalls quickened Caroline's heartbeat. Who would be out this late? And so close to her wagon? She blew out her candle in a swift puff. Quiet and still, she watched two silhouettes grow on the oiled canvas.

Caroline felt around for any sort of weapon but only came up with a whittled gun tucked into Duff's boot.

No more steps. Silence.

"Caroline?"

"Rhoda?" She let herself breath again.

Caroline struck a match and relit the candle. The youngest Mrs. Kamden stood at the front of the wagon. When Caroline stuck her head out of the opening, she could see that Rhoda hadn't come alone.

"Mrs. Kamden? It's late." Caroline looked at one woman then the other. "Is something wrong?"

Rhoda faced her mother-in-law, her eyebrows arched. "Mither Kamden needed a word with you."

The elder Mrs. Kamden remained quiet, her hand pressed to her chest.

"Mither?" Rhoda's eyebrows angled upward.

Davonna Kamden moved her hand, revealing a shiny locket dangling from her neck.

"Your locket," Caroline said. "Yes, dear."

"You found it. Where?"

Davonna shifted her weight. "It's an amusing story, really." Good. "I could use a little amusement."

"Well, you see, I was knitting in the wagon when my yarn sack fell off my lap. Ian has real good hearing and asked what the jingling sound was. Yarn doesn't usually make much noise."

"It was the locket."

Davonna offered a brief nod, her lips pursed. "Ian found it on the floorboard, chain and all."

Caroline straightened. "I didn't put it in your knitting sack."

"Of course not, dear." Davonna rubbed the locket as if it were a good-luck charm. "I must have put it in there. I'm afraid all this roaming around is making me, well, a little absent-minded."

To say the least.

Rhoda sighed. "I, for one, am happy to have that mystery solved."

Caroline didn't feel as good about the mystery being solved as she would have expected. Now, the good captain would have no reason to make a deeper inquiry into her secret life as a locket thief. Tickled by her sarcastic thoughts, Caroline absently let out a laugh.

"You see, Rhoda," Davonna said, "I told you our Miss Caroline was a jovial sort and would find the whole affair befitting of a hearty laugh."

When Davonna and Rhoda joined in the laughter, Caroline let them assume her giggle concerned the locket. But her amusement quickly gave way to her concern for the elder Mrs. Kamden.

18.