Only in My Arms by Jo Goodman

Lieutenant Matheson, overheard by Rivers and a sergeant, to split the company, was viewed as the strategy that led to the company's almost total demise. Then there was the matter of the gold.
    The four wagons the company guarded were not only loaded with foodstuffs for the future patrol. Each wagon bed had a false bottom that concealed gold ore ready for refining. The Army had an agreement with Holland Mines to provide armed escort to the Waterhouse Station on the Southern Pacific rail line. The plan had been worked out in some detail over the past few months, and Ryder McKay had been essential to its development and its follow-through. There were very few people who knew about the contents of the wagons; even the secondary officers of the escorting company didn't know what they were carrying. The loading had been done in secret, under Ryder's strict supervision, and only a few men—all murdered in the attack—were privy to the knowledge that they were escorting the mother lode.
    Now, with gold ore valued at over $100,000 in the hands of the Chiricahua Apache, Ryder McKay stood charged with treason.
    * * *
    New York City
    "I've made a decision," Jay Mac announced at breakfast. He had purposely delayed going to work so that he could speak to Moira and Mary Francis at once. Although neither of them looked up from their food, Jay Mac knew he had their full attention. "I've had quite enough of this silence." Not only weren't his wife and his daughter speaking to each other, neither was speaking to him. "Nothing good can come of it, so I want it to cease."
    "Very well," Mary said obediently. "Mama, will you please pass the salt?"
    Moira's reply was stiff but perfectly audible. "Of course, dear. Would you care for anything else?"
    Jay Mac was not amused, but he managed to keep his expression just this side of thunderous. He cleared his throat to signal his disapproval. "Suit yourselves, but it will be a long journey across the country if that's the best you can manage."
    "Journey?" Moira asked, her head coming up.
    "Across the country?" Mary asked simultaneously.
    Now that he had their attention, John MacKenzie Worth allowed himself to bask in it. It was very nearly impossible not to gloat. It would not be so difficult to get Moira and Mary to come to some understanding of their differences, he thought. His strategy was simple. He would give them both what they wanted, but together, and they would be forced to sort it out from there. The smile he turned in their direction was more than a little self-congratulatory. "I'm sending both of you to see Rennie," he said.
    "Sending us?" asked Moira. "What exactly does that mean?"
    "He's packing us off," Mary answered flatly. "Like baggage."
    Jay Mac ignored that. "I'm inviting both of you to take my private cars across the country. You can visit Michael in Denver, Maggie at the Double H, and then Rennie in whatever part of Arizona she's in at that point." He didn't add that he'd ship them both to China to see Skye if they hadn't come to terms by then.
    "You're not coming with us?" Moira asked.
    "I'll join you later, probably in Arizona. I'd like to see the land and the mine Rennie's talking about."
    Mary studied her father with more suspicion than affection. "And you'd like to see the mission."
    "Mission?" Moira interrupted before Jay Mac could answer. "This is the first I've heard of a mission." Her hopes were just being raised when Mary dashed them again.
    "It doesn't mean I'm not firm in my decision, Mama. I thought I might like to teach, and there are missions in the Southwest that could use teachers." She watched her mother's eyes widen, then look to Jay Mac for help. "It's no good, Mama," she said with gentle resolve. "Jay Mac already knows and he hasn't been able to talk me out of it."
    Moira's confusion showed clearly in her eyes. She placed her fork down as her appetite deserted her. If her daughter wanted to teach, then she could do it closer to home. If she wanted to do it at a