That alone kept me from tears. Here I am, past forty-five, and the memory of that degradation is as fresh as yesterday. How strange. I have had so many lovely and joyful moments in my life that it still seems wrong to dwell on such a mean event, quickly over, in the greater scheme of things. But I do. Do other women?

Duncan set down the pages and shifted in his chair. “I wondered if you would write about that day.”

“I had to, didn’t I? I mean, it was part of the whole journey.”

He held my hand and kissed it. I snuggled closer to him. “When was the last time I told you I loved you?” He shifted me a bit and slid my hand against his inner thigh.

“Maybe when you rode away last week,” I said, and moved my hand higher.

“I love you, Smiley. You still want to hitch your team to my wagon?” He said that now and then, usually when things hadn’t gone as planned.

“You know I do, Duncan. I love you right back.”

He kissed me. It’s been a while since I’ve been kissed like that. I’m happy Thomas didn’t take it into his head to come downstairs for a late snack. I do believe his old parents would have embarrassed him.

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

I remember little about the next few days. My eye throbbed and my other eye drooped in sympathy, making vision difficult. Each day seemed to bring some new ache or pain. When I couldn’t stop my tears, Hawk insisted that I ride on the pony drag. When I was situated, he covered me entirely with a trade blanket, creating a safety nest where I could burrow down and shut out the world. How did he know to do that?

My throat hurt too much to swallow, which was just as well, because there was so little food. Hawk shot two prairie dogs with the wrangler’s rifle and showed them to me when the march slowed for a much-needed rest. It was not my imagination that The People were moving slower and slower, even the horses.

“Mother will cook them for you,” he said.

I opened my better eye as wide as I could with my fingers and nodded. That got me a half smile, which made me immediately suspicious. That particular smile usually meant he had something else on his mind.

He did. “She will cook them for you, but there are many children who will smell the cooking.”

He was right. Besides, I told myself that even small lumps of chien de prairie would be challenging. “Save me the broth, if you please.” I hadn’t forgotten all my manners.