Sourdough Creek Page 21

  Sam untied the leather straps holding the deer to Blu and slipped it off over her rump. She gave one last hump of her back and, with plate-sized eyes, sashayed to the side, snorting her protest at having to carry such frightening cargo. After laying his kill out nearby, removing the bags of food and loosening Blu’s cinch, Sam started toward Cassie to see what he could find out.

  “Cassie?”

  She looked around. In the dusky light he couldn’t see her expression. Scrambling off the big rock, she fairly flew into his embrace.

  “What is it?”

  She wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her face against his chest. “I’m so glad you’re back, Sam.”

  This was a huge change for Cassie. He wondered what was behind it. “What happened?”

  “Uncle Arvid tried to come out on his own. He fell. When I was trying to help him back, he tripped again. He’s really hurt. I’ve ruined his life, Sam, forever. He’s going to be a cripple now, and he hates me for it. I can’t blame him in the least.”

  Sam took her face in both of his hands and looked into her eyes. “He doesn’t hate you, Cassie. That’s silly. You’re his niece. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that accidents happen? And besides, if I remember correctly, he was much better this morning and I’m sure if he had a set-back it’ll just take a day or two longer before he’s better. It’ll teach him not to go venturing out on his own anymore.”

  She pulled from his arms and turned back to the river. “No. It’s really bad.” Her voice was small. Hurt.

  “I believe you. But I think you’ll feel better when you get out of those dirty clothes from this morning, and get something hot into your belly. Come with me right now.”

  Sam took hold of her hand, almost smiling when she didn’t resist, and started up the path to the camp. They came to where Blu was tied and the new provisions sat nearby on the ground, still the focus of the horse’s attention.

  “Look at what jumped out and bit my bullet?”

  “Why, he’s only a yearling.” She knelt by the deer and ran her hand down its long neck. “You did well. Thank you.”

  Her words sounded hollow. Whatever dad-blasted Arvid had said to her had cut her to the quick.

  “I have another surprise, too,” he said. “Close your eyes and open your hand.”

  “Sam…”

  “Just do it.”

  She did. She stood in the near dark with her eyes closed and palm upturned. He was tempted to take the opportunity to kiss her, but knew she’d be fuming mad if he did. And he was too tired to fight.

  “Keep ’em closed,” Sam warned. “This might take me a second. No peeking.” He went to the bags and dug through the first one as fast as he could. Unsuccessful there, he opened the second. He heard Cassie shift her weight from one foot to the other.

  “Don’t be impatient. You’re gonna like this.” He fished two candies from the small bag, tied it again and put it back.

  “Sam?”

  “Here.” At the same time he placed one sourball in her hand he slipped another between her lips. Her eyes popped open.

  “What?” Surprised, she opened her mouth wider; then, getting a taste, she closed it, and started savoring the treat. “Mmmm. Oh, that’s good. What is it?” A little laugh slipped out. “It makes me feel like puckering up.”

  He laughed too, happy that this was making her feel a little better. “It’s a sourball.”

  “Where on earth did you find sourballs out here in the wilderness?”

  “I came across a disgruntled miner who was packing up and going home. He sold me his provisions for next to nothin’. A bag of candy was among my spoils.”

  Blu snorted loudly and pawed the ground, making Cassie and Sam laugh again. “Poor horse has been traumatized by having to carry the dead deer on her back. Horses don’t like the scent of death. I need to get her out to graze and the deer strung up and bled out. Will you be all right on your own for a while longer?”

  “Of course. Now that you’re here I—”

  He gaped at her, surprised at what she’d almost said. “Yes?”

  “…feel so much better. I do. I’d be a liar to deny it. I’m going to get you a lantern to work by. After that I’ll take care of your horse. If you don’t mind bacon and biscuits again I can have that ready pretty quickly.”

  “That sounds good, Cass. Don’t worry, everything is going to be fine, and that includes Uncle Arvid.” Sam couldn’t believe he’d just called that stinkin’, slimy snake uncle, but he’d do it for Cassie.

  She smiled. “I’ll be right back with a lamp.”

  “I’m going to make a fast trip over to my camp before I start the butchering, and haul the rest of my things over to this side of the river. That might take a few minutes.”

  He might be seeing things in the evening light, but he thought he saw her eyes light with pleasure.

  “Can I help you?”

  “You sure can. By fixing me somethin’ hot to plug this hole smoldering in my gut.”

  Sam circled the hind hoof of the deer with his lariat and looped the rope over a sturdy branch. Hand over hand, he pulled until the carcass, hung nose down, just inches from the ground. He tied the rope off on the tree trunk. To ward off nocturnal hunters that might smell the kill, he roughened up the earth beneath the buck to make it accepting of the blood and fluids that would come from the incision he was about to make.

  By now it was dark, but the lamp Cassie brought over to him cast just enough light to enable him to see what he was doing. She was busy over by the campfire, mixing her biscuits and frying the bacon. The smell was tauntingly aromatic, distracting him all the way over where he was working.

  Sam wondered about Arvid. What the heck was the man doing in that tent? No one could sleep hour after hour, even if they were hurt. Sam wiped his hands on a cloth Cassie had supplied, done with the deer until morning, when he’d skin and butcher it. It was time to get washed up for dinner and check on that uncle of Cassie’s—whether he wanted to or not.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Cassie was just taking the frying pan off the fire when Sam walked out of the fringes of darkness and into camp. His hair was damp and he was dressed in clean clothes. He looked extremely handsome, with a little smile and twinkle in his eyes. To think this had been her husband—for a few minutes—at least. Cassie breathed a tiny sigh, telling herself to get her head out of the clouds and back to work. A towel was slung over his shoulder. The two white bags he’d gotten from the other miner were in his arms.

  “You bathed,” she said softly, standing up.

  “Didn’t want to come to supper covered in blood.” He put the bags down on the makeshift table and held out his hands to her as if he were a youngster, turning them over for her to inspect. “I’ll say, though, that river is dang cold. Pretty near froze my—” He stopped and gave her a funny look. “Well, I think you get my meaning.”

  “Perfectly, cowboy.” She glanced at him mischievously. “How did you manage?”

  “I’m just tough, I guess.” He crossed his arms and ran his hands up and down his sides, to warm himself. “Supper done?”

  “Almost. Do you want to go and see if Uncle Arvid is able to join us? I know it’s late, but he must be hungry.” She felt bad about asking Sam to do it, but after the accident earlier today she dreaded seeing her uncle. How was she going to get through the month?

  “Reckon so.”

  When Sam walked off she dished up three plates of the same bacon and biscuits they’d had this morning and poured three cups of coffee.

  Within moments, Sam was back. “He’s hungry but said he wants to eat in his tent. You have his plate ready? I’ll take it to him.”

  “Yes,” she said, handing him Arvid’s dinner and cup. “Is he feeling any better? Will he be able to eat this on his own?” She forced the questions out past her apprehension. Even if he hated her forever, she needed to see that he was well cared for.

  Sam held plate and cup. “He looks pretty
good, besides needing some attention to his, er, toiletries. Said he’ll be able to eat on his own.”

  “If he’d let me I could warm some water and help him shave and clean up after he’s finished.”

  “I’ll ask him.”

  Cassie watched Sam leave. What on earth would she do without his help?

  Without him, her conscience corrected. Yes, he was the thing she would miss most when the competition for the claim was over and they parted ways.

  Sam ambled back into camp and went straight to where his plate sat on the troublemaking log. “Looks great.”

  “It’s the exact same thing you ate this morning.”

  “Food is food. Besides, I thought it was good then, too.”

  Cassie hid her smile behind her coffee cup. You’d think he was eating a chocolate truffle by the look of pleasure on his face. “What did Uncle say?” She hoped he was ready to make up and forgive her.

  “He said maybe in the mornin’ he’d feel like getting cleaned up. But not tonight. Said he was tired now, and that as soon as he’d eaten he was going to sleep. I sure don’t know how one person can sleep so much, but then, I’m not the one with a hurt back.”

  Another strip of bacon disappeared into Sam’s mouth and he continued chewing vigorously.

  Cassie broke off a piece of her biscuit and put it in her mouth. It was dry, and without much flavor. She sipped her coffee and swallowed. “What’s our plan?”

  Sam wiped his mouth with his palm and took a sip from his cup. “Well, in the morning, I’ll skin and butcher the deer and smoke most of the meat. I’ll keep back a few steaks for the next two days or so, but not much more. Then, after some breakfast, we’ll pan for gold a few hours before breaking for the noontime meal. After that, I’ll take the carcass out into the woods and bury it so it won’t attract any unwanted visitors. Then mine some more, then supper.”

  He looked over at her. “That pretty much covers it. Sound good?”

  She nodded.

  Sam stood, placed his plate in the dishpan, and drained his coffee cup. He opened one of the bags, rummaging around. A smile creased his face as he pulled out a jug of something and poured a small amount into his cup. “Would you like a little?” He took a sip. “It’s mighty good.”

  “What is it?”

  “Apple brandy.”

  She just looked at him, trying to decide. “I’ve never tasted it before.”

  “Don’t have to if you don’t want,” he said.

  Cassie handed him her now empty cup, and Sam poured in a little splash. She brought it up to her nose, taking a whiff. It smelled spicy and warm. Her mouth watered, prompting her to try it. “It does taste like apples. It’s good.”

  “Anyone still out there?” Arvid yelled from his tent. “Or have you run off and left me here to die? These dishes need picking up. And I need to use the facilities.”

  Cassie set her cup down, intending to go to his aid.

  “I’ll go,” Sam said slowly. Cassie watched as a slight tic moved his strong jaw. “He’s too heavy for you to help, Cassie. I don’t mind—much.”

  Cassie settled in. A week came and went with the same routine. Uncle Arvid’s unwillingness to even try to get up weighed unfavorably on her troubled heart.

  Sam had helped her at every turn. Thank goodness his knowledge of camping far exceeded hers. He cared for the horses as well as hunted and kept watch. Cassie searched out a secluded spot on the river to bathe. A quick splash in, suds up, three dips for a rinse and out again in the moonlight. Even though it was breathtakingly cold, it was one of her favorite things to do each evening after chores were done.

  The gold they’d found was minimal, but enough to buoy their spirits. The competition was close. Cassie could never really bring herself to talk about what would happen at the end of the month. Who would stay and who would leave. These days with Sam were proving to be wonderful, and she knew him now on a much deeper level. Every day it got a little harder to conjure up the blinding hurt she’d felt the night they’d married—and then had her heart ripped in two.

  She remembered the day Arvid let her and Sam help him out into the sunshine to sit for a couple of hours where he could soak up the warmth. Cassie took the opportunity to pull out his rumpled bedding and let it air in the sunshine, too. Keeping him clean had been the most perplexing problem, but she washed his clothes and helped him shave as often as he’d let her.

  “I was thinking we should make a sluice box,” Sam said, his legs stretched out and back against a log. Supper dishes were washed and put away. The night sounds closed in around them. “It’s a good way to get through a lot more earth without breaking our backs so much, like we’ve been doing. What do you think?”

  “How would that work? With the competition, I mean? Would we each need our own?”

  “I don’t think we’d have enough wood for two from the broken down shack I found upstream, so we’d have to share. Switch off.” He ran his hand over his whiskered face, swatted at a mosquito that had landed on his arm and looked at her.

  “Cass?”

  She looked up, surprised.

  “Did you hear what I said? What’re you thinking about?”

  “Josephine. Just wondering how she is. What she’s doing. If she’s well and happy…”

  Without warning, Cassie’s voice caught. She looked away from Sam’s face, up through the trees to the full strawberry moon that hung amid the enormous white clouds. Twinkling stars added to the beauty and mystery of the heavens. Golden rays beamed down, softly lighting their campsite.

  “And if she misses you as much as you miss her?” he finished for her. “There’s no doubt. I’d lay money she’s keeping track until you ride back into Rosenthal, ticking off the days of the month somewhere on Grace’s good dining room wall with a piece of charcoal.” He laughed and Cassie did, too. “Or somewhere else she isn’t supposed to be. I’m sure of it.”

  “She is special, isn’t she, Sam?”

  “Very. Just like her sister.”

  “Sam,” Cassie responded, getting a glimpse of his smiling eyes in the soft light of the moon. He was feigning a look of innocence that made her face heat up. Without warning, her thoughts flew back to their kiss in Grace’s home. His proposal. Their wedding—or sham wedding—or whatever it was. She found her thoughts straying often in that direction these days. His nearness and the remembered sensation of his lips on hers, a feeling that had been unbearably good, made the thoughts persist. Her gazed dropped to his tempting mouth and she wondered if he ever thought about those times, too.

  “What?”

  Cassie didn’t answer.

  He shrugged. Stretching out his legs, he crossed them at the ankle. He laced his fingers together behind his head, trying to get comfortable on the hard ground with his back against the fireside log. “Josephine told me once about your ma and pa. How kind and loving they were. It was good to hear, Cassie. I’m pleased your family was like that. It’s not always so, you know. Times can be difficult when people are strapped. They do and say things they don’t mean sometimes. And it’s the youngest ones that suffer the most.”

  “Yes,” she said, her stomach knotting up like a neglected ball of yarn. An owl they’d grown used to hearing every night hooted from somewhere up on the ridge, bringing a feeling of normalcy, soothing her nerves. “I know what you mean.” She didn’t like to think of the years she’d shielded her sister from the truth.

  “Until then, I’d wondered some about it. Because of Arvid. Brothers are usually cut from the same cloth. But that doesn’t seem to be the case at all with your father. I’m glad.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  “Come on.” Sam stood and extended his hand to Cassie. “Let’s take a walk. It’s not often we get such a beautiful night. Besides, I’d like to stretch my legs before going to sleep on that blanket I call a bed. I think Arvid is sneaking out and putting rocks under it when I’m not looking. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be thankful to sleep on a real mat
tress again, when the time comes.”

  Cassie hesitated only a moment before putting her hand in his. He thought he’d get a reaction to his remark about her uncle, but she didn’t take the bait. He pulled her up from where she sat on the log and started walking out into the meadow.

  “Why so quiet?” he asked.

  “Nothing, really,” she said.

  “Come on. I know something’s bothering you. Out with it.”

  Cassie shrugged.

  The horses grazing in the moonlight raised their heads and looked at them as they slowly approached. It was Split Ear’s turn to be tied to the oak tree next to camp, and he was none too pleased about it. His nicker sounded a bit sad at being deserted now even by the humans. Blu and Meadowlark started walking their way.

  Sam brushed his thumb back and forth across the top of Cassie’s warm hand. “They look pretty, don’t they?”

  “They do. I wonder what happened to the stallion. Did he give up so easily?”

  Sam chuckled. “He’s just biding his time, letting us get good and comfortable. Then, when we’re least expecting it, he’ll swoop in and make his move.”

  She looked up at him, the light back in her eyes. “You think?” She edged closer to his side and hugged his arm. “You almost make him sound like he was a human.”

  Sam wiggled his eyebrows up and down, getting her to giggle. “Are we really that much different? I’m just biding my time to swoo—”

  “Sam! Be serious!”

  “I don’t want to be serious. I don’t want to think about the claim, or what’s going to happen next. I don’t want to think about when one of us leaves, and the other stays. I only want to enjoy your company this evening. And, that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

  They were in the middle of the meadow now with the horses gathered around them, looking for whatever treat they might have in their pockets. Arvid’s horse was the only one to hang back, watching them suspiciously. Sam let go of Cassie’s hand and ran it down Blu’s neck, stopping at her withers. He scratched the area firmly, causing a puff of white hairs to flutter down. The mare stretched her neck out as far as she could, her upper lip extended in pleasure.