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"You will call me Chase."
"Very well."
"Who shot me?" He rose up and flung the rag away.
"You speak English very well?" Katherine said, trying to steer his mind clear of who shot him. She did not know this man and he might blame her brother.
"Yes... I went to the missionary school when I was but 10." His glance went from her to Joshua.
"That'd be me, sir." Joshua swallowed hard and faced the man. "I shot you."
Chase looked the boy up and down then with a frown asked, "why?"
"I thought you—" The young man's face turned red and Chase nodded.
"You thought I was attacking your sister?" He nodded again. "Good."
"Good?" Joshua twisted his head in amazement. The man was agreeing with him. He hadn't expected that.
"Yes, you did right. I would have done the same. You acted as a man. That is good." He frowned again. "What is your name?"
"Joshua," he answered shrilly, but all the same obviously happy the man carried no grudge against him...
"It is too long, I will call you Josh."
"Okay..."
Joshua stood tall and proud, Chase would have smiled had he remembered how. But smiles were only for his youth. Smiles were for the times when he killed his first buck, times when he dreamed of making White Dove his bride. Those days were gone. White Dove was gone. There was no reason to smile now.
He looked at the two of them and realized suddenly they must feel the same.
"Did you kill the soldier?" Katherine asked in a choked voice.
His eyes found and met hers staring so long she almost blushed. "Yes."
He stared long and hard at her, and she saw no regret, only a strange honesty.
She was silent for a long moment. When she spoke her voice trembled. "I am sorry for that... But I guess you had a reason."
"He was not a good man..." Chase explained as they both watched him closely. "He beat an old Indian woman to death. So I killed him where he stood."
Katherine nodded slowly, "Well, I guess I can't judge you, we are responsible for those soldiers out there in the ground."
"They are dead, then, and buried?"
"Not properly, but they are buried." He looked at Josh. "The ground was too hard.
"It is of no consequence. We must leave here," Chase said again and started to get to his feet once more, but soft hands shoved him down.
"We?" She met his fierce gaze evenly. "No sir, you may leave when you are well, but Joshua and I will stay here. This is our home."
"This is a station, not a home." Chase corrected her. The woman had no logic. And she was stubborn too. He would have to learn how to deal with her. Annoyance crossed his face; there was not time for this.
"You are wrong," Katherine's voice changed to one that forced him to look upon her once more. "This is where we buried our family, it's our home."
She glanced at his wound and reached a hand to touch but he jerked away from her.
"It is a piece of dirt and you would die for it?" Chase had no understanding, his patience wearing thin.
