Chapter 7
“No. I don’t. You’ve made sure of that.”
“I mean you are not part of this.”
“He walked onto my land, called my wife by a name she hid from me, and told me to hand her over. That makes me part of it.”
“I am not asking you to die for me.”
“Good.”
I worked the rifle lever.
“Because I wasn’t planning to.”
For the first time that night, something almost alive returned to her eyes.
Not amusement.
Maybe surprise.
Vane waited.
Snow tapped against the windows.
The stove popped.
My cabin, which had felt small but safe every night for eight years, suddenly seemed to contain a thousand weak points.
One front door.
One back window over the sink.
Two side windows.
A stone chimney.
No cellar.
No second exit except a narrow hatch beneath the woodpile that I had once used to crawl under the cabin and repair floor supports.
I doubted Vane knew about that.
“Is he alone?” I asked.
Cora listened.
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t useful.”
“He prefers other men to do his dirty work.”
There.
Another clue.
“What sort of man is he?”
She looked at me.
“The sort who believes wanting something makes it his.”
I glanced at her hidden revolver.
“And he wants you.”
“He believes I belong to him.”
Something ugly tightened inside my chest.
“Do you?”
Her eyes sharpened.
“No.”
“Then that settles the important part.”
She stared at me long enough that I became uncomfortable.
Outside, Vane raised his voice.
“Mr. Mercer, I paid for a horse in town this afternoon and spoke to the stage driver who brought your bride west. I know you are injured. I know you live alone. I know there is no law within twenty miles tonight.”
I looked at Cora.
“He talks too much.”
“He likes hearing himself.”
“I’ve met men like that.”
Vane continued.
“You have no reason to make her problem yours.”
I leaned the Winchester against my shoulder.
Then I shouted toward the door.
“She’s my wife.”
Silence followed.
Cora’s head turned toward me.
I did not look at her.
I was still angry.
Still uncertain.
Still aware that my marriage might have been built on a lie.
But it was my lie now.
And no man walked onto my land to claim another human being like livestock.
Vane laughed.
“Your wife?”
“Yes.”
“Did she tell you she used a false name?”