Chapter 9

"Seb, we need to talk," Kat said.

He lowered his forkful of mashed potatoes. She'd had her hands full luring him in to eat the noon meal.

After a month of married life, the first two weeks getting a cabin built and a laboratory put up and ready to work in—at which point Seb had vanished into it and rarely came out—she'd begun to realize life with an inventor, at least with this inventor, was going to be a lonely one. Or rather, if she didn't want to be lonely, she had to find friends and interests beyond just wanting for Seb to come in from his inventing work.

She watched close to see if his gaze wandered through the walls, out to his laboratory. If he didn't listen to her, she might just clobber him with one of the legs of the grouse she'd hunted, shot, cut up and fried.

Her tone must've been dire because he was paying attention.

"What is it?" He didn't even take the bite of mashed potatoes but instead set it back on his plate.

"Remember Beth saying there are laws now to protect women from being tossed into insane asylums by their husbands or others?"

"Like your uncle Patrick did to you? And Ginny's husband did to her?"

"Yes. Well, my first reaction was fear that I'd somehow end up locked away again. But now, with a husband to protect me and a home to shelter me, and after spending some time thinking and praying about it, I've decided not to start a fight with Uncle Patrick. I'm going to educate myself instead."

"How do you plan to do that?" Seb looked as if he'd lost his appetite.

Kat could hardly blame him. "Well, Cheyenne is the territorial capital. I don't know when the legislative session runs, but surely there's someone in town who is knowledgeable about the law. Beth said the laws are different in each state. Maybe Wyoming, with its laws allowing women the right to vote, has laws on such things as asylums."

"Are there insane asylums in Wyoming?"

Shaking her head, Kat said, "I don't know, but I'm going to find out." She made a fist without really realizing it until she tapped it firmly on the table. "I'll start by asking around to see if there's a lawyer in town who can be trusted to side with women in matters of the law."

Seb reached his hand across the table and took her fist. She relaxed her hand and smiled at him.

He said, "I won't let them take you back to the asylum."

"I won't let them take me back either."

"When you find a lawyer you're willing to talk to, let me know. I'll go with you."

"Thank you. But I won't draw you away from your work unless it's necessary."

"Don't you worry about that, Kat. What matters most is making sure you're safe. I'd love to see you set free from the fear your uncle churns up inside of you."

"And, Seb, I know we've been busy getting settled and you getting to work, but we haven't gone to church since we moved to Cheyenne and we've been here a month. We didn't have a church near us in Hidden Canyon, and maybe when winter comes, we won't be able to attend, but I want us to go together this week."

Seb nodded. "What day is it?"

"It's Wednesday. I think I'll ride into town this afternoon and ask a few questions. I'm not going to tell anyone why I want a lawyer, but I might take the first step."

"Do you want me to come along?"

Kat knew this was him being generous because he didn't want to be away from his laboratory even for the time it took to eat a meal. "I'll go alone this time," she said.

"Can you check to see if I've gotten a letter? I wrote to Marcus to tell him what I was working on. I'm hoping he'll have some ideas. We always worked well together. Even after I moved back to Independence and he stayed in St. Louis, we often corresponded."

"You're so secretive about your inventions, I'm surprised you're telling Marcus about them."

"I can trust him. Check for a letter from my lawyers, too. They might've written."

Kat felt that niggle of fear she always felt when they let their names and locations get out into the world. But if she was going to face up to her uncle, then she'd need to get over that. "I'll check," she told him.

Sebastian let go of her hand, and they both went back to their eating. Kat thought the food tasted a little better now that she'd salted it with courage.