Gold. Number 79 on the periodic table. Hed panned his first gold at the Alaska State Fair two years before. He hadnt wanted to go, but Rebecca had beaded some artsy-craftsy thing into a small brass ring and entered into one of the competitions, and shed dragged him along for the judging. He had wandered off and discovered a long trough with water circulating through it. The water was very dirty.

“Like to try your hand?

He looked up and saw a man twice his age, half his weight and a foot shorter than he was peering at him through Coke-bottle lenses. “At what?

The man had handed him a battered gold pan that looked as if it had come across the Chilkoot Pass in 1899, and that was when hed first realized hed stopped in front of the Alaska Mining Association booth.

Hed filled the pan with dirt and water and swirled it around. The man showed him how to tilt it so the water ran out and the dirt settled in a half-moon at the bottom. He dipped more water and dirt, swirled out more water and dirt, wetting his sleeves to the elbow, soaking the front of his shirt and jeans, repeating the motion again and again until there, in a few grains of sand, there it was, a single tiny perfect flake of gold, gleaming up at him, beaming up at him.

Hed looked up and the man had grinned at him. “Nothing like it, is there?

No, he thought now, looking down at the pan in his hands. Nothing.

Fine. He set his jaw. Theyd never had a bump in the marriage before, but all marriages had them. Theyd ride it out. Anchorage wasnt much of a proving ground, all the modern luxuries, the modern conveniences. Out here, a man was tested.

A woman, too.

His resentment began to fade. Hell, it wasnt her fault shed never hauled water from the creek, or chopped wood for a fire to keep her warm. It would take time for her to get used to the life, that was all. Maybe he had enough time before the hard frost set in to dig a new hole, move the outhouse closer to the cabin. Thatd probably make a big difference.

He looked at the rock upstream, a shard of quartz sparkling at him with a come-hither look in its eye. The sun was well behind one of the mountains by now, and getting to it earlier every day. Not enough daylight left to fetch the pry bar. For a moment he was sorry he hadnt taken on someone to help, someone who might know more about mining than he did, but he dismissed the thought almost at once. At least that was one thing he didnt have to worry about out here, no men to vie for Rebeccas attention. Out here, he had her all to himself. Days hunting gold, nights sleeping with Rebecca. Although they never got all that much sleep. Last night, for example. He shrugged his shoulders, and the marks still stung.