While trying to keep up with the conversation, Trapper attempted to understand what had happened between them in the storm. First, he’d seen her naked, or almost. He told himself that she shouldn’t be too upset. She was the one who took off her clothes.

When he was honest and told her she was beautiful, she got mad. Then she told him she’d never seen a naked man. How was that possible? She was a widow. Surely she’d noticed her husband walking by now and then.

Maybe he was shy and they only did it in the dark. But then the husband would have missed seeing her body so nicely rounded in all the right places.

To top off Trapper’s confusion, she seemed to think this whole thing was his fault. All he’d done was stand in the rain and look.

She’d told him to forget about what he saw, but that would take a shotgun blast to the head.

He decided he’d try forgetting one part of her at a time. Those round breasts, just right for his hands to hold. Her hips, so nicely curved. Her waist so tiny. He’d lifted her and never guessed how small it was. And, her legs with the thin material hiding nothing.

This wasn’t working, he decided. Maybe he should start with her toes. They were muddy. They’d be easy to forget. In fact, he didn’t even remember them now. Maybe this was working.

No. He hadn’t even looked down to her toes. There were too many other body parts.

Trapper tried to act normal, but that was impossible. Every time he looked in her direction, he pictured her nude. He thought of how the silk had bunched up between her breasts and how it indented at her belly button.

Maybe if she’d take off her clothes again, he’d think about her with clothes on, but he doubted she’d go along with the idea.

As it got darker, Number Five crawled up in his lap. She patted his chest and said, “Night, Tapper,” then went to sleep.

Trapper saw Number One and the oldest Miller boy walk over near the trees and stand so close to each other they were almost touching. He told himself he’d go stand between them if they got any closer.

How was it he felt so old one minute and so young the next? When he’d been the Miller boy’s age, he’d been riding through enemy territory with a midnight sky as his only companion. He hadn’t even tried to keep up with what day it was. He figured he had too few days left to worry about it.