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tails gave Jeremy a moment to think about what he needed to change to make this come out differently than the last announcement given to his wife. He wiped at his nose with the handkerchief Mazy had embroidered with the letter /, stuffed it back under the rim of his hat, and cleared his throat.
    “Am I to be surprised?” Mazy asked.
    “I'm speaking about it beforehand. Tyrell Jenkins wants to go west,” Jeremy announced
    “Another man with a wild idea.”
    “Hathaway's fearful his daughter'll run off after him when he leaves,” Jeremy said “She's threatened that—”
    “And probably will if Adoras words prove true.”
    “Quite.” He plunged ahead. “With your arm so bad and you so sore and still healing, we could use someone to drive your mother's wagon. And a blacksmiths skills would be of value.”
    Pig yawned in the road far in front of them, stopped and sat to scratch.
    “We'd just need to take the girl along, too,” Mazy said.
    “Quite,” Jeremy said. For someone so young and untested, Mazy could surprise him with her quick conclusions. She could see what other people yearned for, when she wanted to. He couldn't believe she hadn't sensed his need to leave, to try new vistas.
    “You're proposing that we mother hen that one?” Elizabeth asked. “Wouldn't be a spree.”
    “She could be a help to you, Maze, especially with your arm as it is,” Jeremy said. “Hath's willing to pay for her passage, which would help us secure Tyrells wage for driving. But it would mean having another around, not exactly your porridge.”
    “Maybe we should wait until I'm healed before we leave. We could do it ourselves then. Alone.”
    “No,” Jeremy said. “This is the perfect time. Good grazing, before big herds come through. We'll be well over the mountains before any threat of early winter. No, April's the best time to leave so we're there by October. Tyrells strong arms and skills are a gift, if we decide to take it.”
    “The true gift is that you're actually asking me,” Mazy said “Before you've committed. Or have you?”
    “I haven't”
    A robin chirped in an oak as they rode past a mound of grass shaped like a bird. “Old Indian burial spot, Mother,” Mazy said, pointing. “There're several back in the trees.”
    “I told Hathaway I'd have to talk it over with you,” Jeremy persisted.
    “That must have taken some tongue biting on your part,” Mazy said.
    “Hath said he knew it was like herding cats getting a woman to go down the trail you want.”
    “Oh, did he?”
    “Never wanted this to be torture for you, Maze.” He reached, lifted her hand and cupped his over it as he held the reins, felt the pull of the leather against her palm, the coolness of her fingers. “Wanted it to be our journey together. Just didn't know how to…to bring it up, withoutyou getting all agitated. And then you've been so off your feed, as your mothercl say.”
    “Would I?” Elizabeth said.
    “That confirmed I made the right choice in waiting, just doing it all on my own.”
    Mazy started to pull away. He held her hand firm.
    “All I want is some say in my own life,” Mazy said.
    “Its what I want too. It is, Maze. To decide things together. When we can ” He was never sure how much to tell her or when.
    “I still don't understand why we have to go at all, why you need such a change.”
    “Life is just that All it is, and adjusting to it”
    The mule twisted his head to bite at a fly. “Adora doesn't know of Hathaway's plan, does she?” Mazy said
    Jeremy settled back into the saddle. “Hathaway 11 have his own price to pay tonight when he tells her what he offered me…us. Once she turns seventeen, he's willing for the marriage, but until then, we'd be asked to be her family, treat her as our own.”
    “She's not that much younger than you,” Elizabeth said.
    “Might be a friend for you, Maze,” Jeremy said. “Doesn't seem you have many.”
    “With good reason when I have to leave them behind,