She watched the distance between them.
Then whispered, “Not because you are grateful.”
“I am not.”
“Not because you are afraid I will leave.”
He gave a humorless smile.
“That one is harder.”
She almost smiled.
“Then wait until you know the difference.”
He lowered his hand.
Immediately.
Her expression changed.
Not disappointment.
Trust.
She whispered, “Thank you.”
The rancher nodded.
“For stopping?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“That should not be remarkable.”
“No.”
“But sometimes it is.”
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Then the woman looked toward the stove.
“Do you have food?”
The rancher blinked.
“What?”
“I threw rocks at armed men from your roof.”
“I am hungry.”
He stared.
Then laughed.
A real laugh.
The kind that had become unfamiliar after his wife died.
The woman smiled.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You laugh strangely.”
“I have been told.”
“By whom?”
He looked toward the photograph on the mantel.
“My wife.”
The Apache woman glanced toward it.
Then back.
“Perhaps she was right.”
“She usually believed so.”
The woman’s smile widened.
The rancher turned toward the stove.
“I have beans.”
Her expression fell.
“No.”
“Salt pork.”
“No.”
“Eggs.”
“Better.”
He looked over his shoulder.
“You are demanding for a fugitive.”
“I am not a fugitive.”
“According to that forged paper outside—”
She stared.
He corrected himself.
“Eggs.”
“Good.”
The night did not become romantic after that.
That was what made it important.
The rancher burned the first eggs.
The Apache woman complained.
He told her to cook them herself.
She did.
They ate.
The foreman returned from checking the eastern fence and spent ten minutes describing how ridiculous both of them looked from below while she stood on the roof with rocks.
The rancher threatened to fire him.
The foreman reminded him he had already been fired twice that month.
The Apache woman laughed.
The rancher pretended to be offended.
Then they unfolded the grievance and worked until nearly midnight.
Names.
Dates.
Locations of burned food stores.
Accounts from families pushed away from grazing areas.
Descriptions of threats.
The land speculator’s agents.
The corrupt local official.
Everything needed to be precise.
The Apache woman refused to exaggerate.