Chapter 3
There was no softness in my face.
I know that because I had trained softness out of it.
A woman alone on a claim learned quickly that pity could become another kind of hunger in people.
"I apologize for the boy," I said.
"Don't."
"He knew you were coming."
"So did I."
I did not know what that meant.
He looked past me toward the cabin.
"Mrs. Dunore, may I speak with you inside?"
I hesitated.
"I would be glad if the boy could stay with Clover."
Oscar stared at me.
I nodded once.
"Stay in the yard."
"Yes, Mama."
I stepped aside.
Adrien followed me into the cabin.
Our entire life could be understood in a glance.
A table scrubbed white at the grain.
Four mismatched chairs, though there were only two of us.
A black stove.
A shelf of tin cups.
Curtains I had patched twice.
Oscar's primer lying open on a stool near the window.
A framed photograph of my father that I had not been able to look at for months after Curtis disappeared.
There was no picture of Curtis.
I had put that away after the divorce.
I poured coffee because manners were free and because my hands needed something to do.
Adrien sat at the table with his hat on his knee.
He did not drink.
"I came to buy a cow," he said.
"I know."
"I no longer think I need one."
For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood him.
"You rode eleven miles."
"Yes."
"You agreed to forty dollars."
"Yes."
"And now you don't want her?"
"No."
Anger struck before relief had time to arrive.
I set the coffee pot down harder than necessary.
"If this is because of Oscar, he'll settle. Children do."
Adrien's eyebrows lifted slightly.
"Will he?"
My throat tightened.
"He will have to."
Adrien looked toward the window.
Outside, Oscar's voice drifted faintly into the cabin.
He was telling Clover something about a beetle he had found near the spring.
Adrien looked back at me.
"I run fourteen men, Mrs. Dunore."
"I've heard."
"Good men, most of them. But we haven't had proper milk since March. No butter. No cheese. My last cook could make biscuits. My new cook can burn water."
I almost smiled.
I stopped myself.
"I thought buying a milk cow would solve that."
"Clover would."
"No."
"She gives close to four gallons a day."