Chapter 48
Henrietta turned back to the desk.
“We can discuss our marriage after we still possess a house in which to discuss it.”
“Henrietta.”
She paused.
His voice was quiet.
“I did marry you for the money.”
She looked over her shoulder.
He did not soften the words.
Did not decorate them.
“I knew nothing about you except what your father wrote and what the agreement said. I needed five thousand dollars. You were attached to it.”
Henrietta felt something inside her go still.
Calvin swallowed.
“I won’t lie now because I’m ashamed of then.”
“That is probably wise.”
“But I know you now.”
She could not answer.
He looked toward the table.
“I know you count twice when you’re worried. I know you pretend your joints hurt less if somebody is watching. I know you hate weak coffee but drink it anyway if there’s work left. I know you put the larger pieces of meat on my plate when you think I’m not looking.”
Henrietta’s eyes burned.
She picked up a receipt merely to have something in her hands.
Calvin’s voice dropped.
“And I know you came into a blizzard after a man who did not deserve you.”
She looked at him.
Neither moved.
The wind groaned along the eaves.
Then a smell touched the air.
Henrietta frowned.
Calvin noticed.
“What?”
She inhaled.
Wood smoke.
Not from the stove.
The stove smoke was iron, ash, and pine pitch.
This was sharper.
Hotter.
Mixed with something oily.
Henrietta turned toward the kitchen.
Nothing.
Then toward the window.
At first she saw only blowing snow and the dark shape of the barn.
Then an orange reflection moved across the glass.
Her heart stopped.
“No.”
Calvin pushed himself up. “What?”
Henrietta was already at the window.
Beyond the cabin, forty yards across the yard, flame licked along the edge of the ranch office roof.
For one suspended second, the fire looked small.
Then a window burst outward.
Orange light filled the snow.
Calvin swore.
Henrietta seized her cane and ran for the door.
“Henrietta!”
She tore away the bar.
Cold struck her face.
The ranch office roared as another section caught, flames climbing the timber wall with impossible speed.
Calvin shouted behind her. “Don’t go in there!”
She stumbled into the yard.
Snow dragged at her skirt.
Her damaged knees screamed beneath the sudden pace.
Smoke rolled low across the ground, black against white.