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Rusty was amazed at Cooper’s audacity, but the old man didn’t seem to take offense at the blunt question. He merely cackled and spat a stringy wad of tobacco juice into the fireplace.
“It was easier to disappear than to go to court and prove my innocence,” he said evasively. “Reuben’s mother was dead. He and I just up and left. Took nothing with us but what money we had and the clothes on our backs.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Ten years. We drifted for a while, then gradually migrated here. We liked it. We stayed.” He shrugged. “We’ve never felt the urge to go back.”
He concluded his story. Rusty had finished eating, but the Gawrylows seemed content to continue staring at Cooper and her.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Cooper said after an awkward silence, “I’d like to check my wife’s injury.”
Those two words, my wife’s, seemed to come easily to his lips, but they jangled with falsehood in Rusty’s ears. She wondered if the Gawrylows were convinced that they were a couple.
Quinn carried their plates to the sink where he pumped water over them. “Reuben, do your chores.”
The young man seemed inclined to argue, but his father shot him a baleful, challenging glance. He shuffled toward the door, pulling on his coat and cap as he went. Quinn went out onto the porch and began stacking firewood against the wall of the cabin.
Rusty leaned close to Cooper where he knelt in front of her. “What do you think?”
“About what?”
“About them,” she replied with asperity.
He raised his head. His eyes were hard. “Would you rather take them off and give Reuben an eyeful of those nothing-to-them panties you wear?”
She opened her mouth, but discovered that she had no proper comeback, so she fell silent while he unwrapped her bandages and checked her stitched wound. It seemed to have suffered no ill effects as a result of her hike. But it was sore again. Lying to him about it was useless since she was grimacing by the time he finished rewrapping it.
“Hurt?”
“A little, yes,” she admitted.
“Stay off it for the rest of the day. Either sit here or lie on the pallet I’m about to make.”
“Pallet? What about the beds?” She glanced across the room to where two beds stood against adjacent walls. “Don’t you think they’ll offer me one?”
He laughed. “I’m sure Reuben would love for you to join him in his. But unless you want lice, I’d advise you to stay out of it.”
She jerked her leg back. Cooper just couldn’t be nice, could he? They were comrades because they had to be, but they were not—no, definitely not—friends.
Chapter Five
It seemed to take forever for bedtime to arrive. Early in the evening they shared another meal with the Gawrylows. Their discussion about the extensive hike to the Mackenzie River carried over long after they were finished eating.
“There’s no path to follow. It’s rugged terrain, so it’s a full day’s walk,” Quinn told them.
“We’ll leave as soon as it’s light enough.” Cooper hadn’t let Rusty out of his sight. He’d kept an eagle eye on her all afternoon. Now, as she sat in the straight-backed chair, he sat beside her on the floor, a proprietary arm draped over her thigh. “We won’t need to pack much. I don’t plan to take everything—only what’s absolutely necessary.”
Quinn asked, “What about the woman?”
Rusty felt Cooper’s biceps contract against her leg. “What about her?”
“She’ll slow us down.”
“I’ll stay here with her, Pa,” Reuben offered gallantly.
“No.” Cooper’s response was as sharp as a jab made with a hat pin. “She goes. I don’t care how slow we have to travel.”
“It’s all the same to us,” Quinn said with his characteristic shrug, “but I thought you were in a hurry to contact your friends and family. They must be worried about you.”
