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At first Katherine started to resist his hand, but she felt an immediate warmth flow into her body. As though he were willing her the strength to go on. What a strange sensation holding hands could be. Was he giving her strength even now?
Joshua clanged things in the yard for a long while then she heard him come in. She heard him pour water into the washbasin and she gently put the scout's hand on his chest. A shaking finger ran loosely down his cheek before she darted away.
"Are you hungry?" Katherine asked as she cleaned up the mess from the afternoon and glanced at her brother. She threw the bloody rags into the fire.
"A little," Joshua answered dully. "How's the scout?"
"He's resting, but he's got a little fever."
Joshua flinched from the word too.
Katherine nodded, dully. "We'll eat, and then tend to him."
"I fed and watered the horses. Got one that's lame."
"One of ours?"
"No, it belonged to Mr. Bowlins. I wrapped it good and I'll check him again later." After a short silence he added, "I guess they are all ours now, now that Mr. Bowlins…"
Katherine nodded. "How many to the good?"
"Eleven." Joshua looked at her as she set the table and they sat down to eat.
"We'll need another."
"You expect me to go mustangin' while that heathen is here?" Joshua shouted banging his fork against the table.
"No Joshua," Katherine replied steadily. "I don't. We'll go together, when he leaves. And Josh... The man saved me; he deserves more respect than calling him a heathen. It isn't right to judge a man we don't know."
"What if he don't leave, what if he dies?" Joshua's eyes were big and full of questions, fears.
"He's not going to die." Katherine refused that idea.
"How do you know? You're no doctor. You couldn't save Ma and Pa, could you? You couldn't save Sally and Sarah, could you?"
"No, I couldn't." She choked on her own words. "I tried. I tried everything I knew. Nothing worked."
"Then how do you know so much about this?"
"I just do," Katherine said in the surprisingly same steady voice her mother used many times to calm the children. "Trust me Josh. Everything is going to be all right."
"It ain't natural to be so strong all the time, Katherine. Why don't you cry like most females? Why you gotta act so strong?" Josh stared at her long and hard.
Where the calm came from she didn't know. Nothing inside her felt calm anymore. Turmoil boiled inside her, festering like a mean sore. She was sure of nothing. But she knew she couldn't tell Joshua. She was still the oldest, the responsible one.
"I never chased Mustangs before," Joshua's voice smoothed and he looked excited for the first time as he spoke of it.
Katherine smiled, "neither have I."
Joshua frowned. "Then how we gonna get it done? We don't know anything about catchin' wild horses. Let's face it, we're gonna die, right here in this godforsaken desert. If the Comanche don't get us, the fever, the weather, or outlaws will. Or that dang Hawks will. Why our folks came to this country I'll never understand. Why he watches us everyday I don't know. I'm a stupid kid, cause I don't have answers for nothin'."
"You don't like it here?" Katherine couldn't stop the surprise from spilling from her voice. Not that there was much to like, but it was home, nonetheless.
"It's a hellhole," Joshua said then looked at her directly. His face looked full of hopelessness. "Well, it is."
"It's our home," She affirmed. "And I'll not have you talk that way."
A sudden quiet spread through the room, only the lonely whistling of the wind echoed. The wind seemed to pick up and all manner of sounds made clattering noises from outside. Katherine had never grown used to the howling of the wind. It gave off such a lonely sound.
