“What about the old man’s wife?Why doesn’t your brother just get rid of her too?”Tilly asked, entering into the spirit of things.“What?”she demanded of Jayce, whose disapproval was thick enough to scorch earth.“The old man must have money if he can afford a second wife.Get rid of the first wife, and since he’s old, he likely doesn’t have a whole lot of years left.Natural causescould take care of him.”She winked at Malika, making Malika like her even more.“Then Malika’s left with his money and enough years ahead of her to enjoy it.”
“Unless she’s caught and hangs for her crimes,” Jayce said darkly.
“We hanged Beau last year,” Linda informed Malika.“There was a church picnic and everything.It was fun.”
It did sound like fun.
“But Belle says we aren’t allowed to hang anyone, anymore,” Linda added sadly.She perked up.“That means you can’t be hanged.”
“There you have it,” Tilly said, as if the matter were settled.“Your brother’s not going to hang, either.A few more murders won’t make any difference to him, so marry the old man and let nature take its course.And remember—accidents happen, and nature can be cruel.”
Linda nodded.“Bears will eat you.”
Nature could indeed be very cruel.
But, while there were days when Malika could happily watch Adeel hang, and overall, she was indifferent to Eli Chamas’s fate, it was the fate of Eli’s first wife that concerned her.Malika had no desire to share a marriage with her, because she would always be the first wife, but neither did she wish her harm.She might be a perfectly lovely woman.She might be someone like Malika’s favorite sister, Aisha, or Jayce’s mother, Vanessa.
“The kinder option might be to not marry at all,” Malika said.“My brother is bound by honor to protect and provide for me.If he doesn’t return for me, then I will simply find a way to provide for myself.”
“That’s the spirit,” Tilly said.
“Didn’t you dishonor your brother already?”Jayce asked Malika, making a valiant attempt to stick to his role.“Isn’t that why you’re here?Because you got yourself ruined?”
Linda spoke up.“She doesn’t look ruined.She looks pretty.But not as pretty as Belle,” she added, for honesty’s sake and to keep everyone humble.
“Thank you, Linda.No one is as pretty as Belle.Except maybe for Jayce,” Malika said, because she could be honest too.
“You know what?You are as pretty as Belle,” Tilly said, staring thoughtfully at him.“I never noticed before.”
“Go ahead.Have your fun, ladies,” Jayce said.
He stalked off.
Linda touched Malika’s hand to draw her attention.“I was going to marry Jayce when I grow up, but now I’m going to be ruined like you, instead.”
“Please let me be there when you tell your dad,” Tilly said.“Let’s go.Berries await.”
Soon, the trees thinned and the dirt path opened into a pretty meadow partially ringed by low bushes.The bushes nearest the woods were heavy with small round berries of every shade of pink from light to dark purple blue.On the far side of the clearing, the meadow sloped downward, and grass shifted to gravel.Beyond the gravel, water flowed over rocks lining a shallow creek bed.
How very pretty.
Jayce, who arrived first, began a quick walk around the wooded perimeter of the meadow.
“He’s checking for bears,” Tilly explained when Malika asked why.
It turned out that bears liked berries too.
Jayce must have spotted something.He laid down his rifle, parted some bushes, then reached through with one arm.The bushes swallowed his head and upper body.He let out a hoarse shout.His whole body jerked, vibrated a few times, and he stumbled out of the bushes, swearing and shaking his hand.
Malika and her wide-eyed companions huddled together and watched as he leaned forward, head hanging, his hands on his thighs.
“Bear fence,” he rasped when he’d recovered his voice.He rubbed the left side of his chest with the heel of his palm.“Stay on this side of the bushes.”
“What’s a bear fence?”Malika whispered to Tilly.
Tilly didn’t take her nineteenth century role as seriously as Jayce, because she didn’t pretend not to know what Malika was talking about.“An electrified fence.It delivers a pulsed shock of electricity that’s supposed to scare a bear off.Adam must have set one here to see if it’s enough to drive them away from a food source.”
“They had bear fences in the 1800s?”
