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She dried her eyes and nodded. "Let me bandage your arm."
He found an old log and sat on it. She sat beside him. She lifted her skirt and tore some of her slip away to bandage him with. He watched her every move.
"That's the first time you called me by my name."
"Is it? Why'd you shoot him?"
"He was hurting you, and then I saw your arm bleeding. All because of me." She told him. "I never meant to put you in such danger! This is all my fault. I told you I would protect you too."
"You worried for me?" He smiled now.
She looked startled at his question. "You are the only witness. The only one that knows the truth of what happened. And I'm on the same path you are."
"Oh! So that's why you saved me?" his smile widened.
"What other reason could I have?" she looked straight into his eyes now, and a shy smile broke over her lips.
He sobered, "Yes," he whispered huskily. "What other reason could you have?"
He pulled her chin around so he could look her in the eyes. "You did right, to kill him then."
"Well thank you, and your welcome." She shot him a smirk. "Are we going on or resting."
"I think we should rest."
"I agree." She nodded. "I never killed anyone before. I didn't realize it would take so much out of you."
As Moon sat, she told him she saw some berries and wanted to pick them. "Fine, call out if you need me." He told her.
But the very fact that she would kill to protect him, made things harder for him. She was a strong woman, she'd never killed in her life, he'd bet on that. And he knew one thing for sure, she killed to protect him. This strengthened the bond that was quickly growing between them. He wanted to break the bond between them so she could be free, but everything that happened just brought them a little closer
to each other. At first, he'd fought the instant attraction he had for her. She was white and it would do no good. But as time went on, and the situation throwing them together, it became impossible to ignore her. In some ways it warmed his heart, in others it made him worry more for her now. She was beginning to mean something to him, and he had tried to protect his heart from her from the beginning. Each day that grew harder. It wasn't just her beauty, it was her heart that was quickly winning him. She was smart, she had a very loving heart although he suspected she intentionally tried to distance herself at times, and at other times she charged right into his life, and heart. Like the kisses they shared, she didn't back away from them, instead, she was a willing participant. He licked his lips in memory. He would never rid himself of the taste of her sweet lips.
She was a funny little lady, and he liked her. He liked her a lot.
His heart was heavy with that knowledge.
She foraged for berries and brought back a skirt full. She saw him sleeping and smiled. She laid the berries on the blanket. She looked at the body. She couldn't just leave him there. She needed to bury him. But what with, the dirt was hard and unrelenting. She saw Moon's knife, then she went to the man and looked him over, sure enough, he had a knife in his boot. She tore some of her slip and wrapped the two knives around a sturdy stick. When she was done, she grinned.
She began digging the man's grave.
It was a long process considering she had no decent shovel. She hadn't made much progress when Moon stirred awake. "What are you doing?" He asked when he saw the dirt flying.
"We gotta bury him." She insisted.
"Give me that," he insisted, she'd made a homemade shovel of sorts from two knives.
"You can't dig with that arm!" she insisted.
"Of course, I can." He told her taking the homemade shovel from her hands.
"You think very well for a woman," he remarked when he saw she'd made the shovel.
"As my father always told me, 'you have to make do'. He was not intelligent like a lawyer or doctor, but he knew how to do so many things to get by. I learned from that because out here, education doesn't seem to mean as much as know-how."
"You are right, a man can be educated in many ways." Moon smiled, "In that he was correct and wise. And, it is sad that a man like him, let whiskey make his future for him. He might have ended up being another Daniel Boone."
"I've read about him and his adventures. Do you think them all true?"
