Her cheeks were red from cold.
“You’re Clara?”
“Yes.”
“Samuel said you cook.”
“He exaggerates.”
Samuel snorted.
Anna smiled for the first time.
Thomas improved slowly.
The wound had abscessed.
Clara knew enough from years of kitchen injuries and caring for sick relatives to recognize danger.
She cleaned it.
Thomas screamed.
Clara did not apologize.
“If you want kindness, stop trying to die inconveniently.”
He stared at her.
Then laughed weakly.
That helped.
Over the next two weeks, the two households became one.
Samuel traveled between cabins daily.
Anna spent increasing time with Clara.
The hidden tunnel remained useful for passing small items when weather worsened, though Samuel forbade Anna from traveling it alone.
She ignored him twice.
Clara supported the rule.
That made compliance slightly better.
Anna loved the kitchen.
Not cooking initially.
Eating.
The first time Clara gave her fried cabbage with bacon, Anna ate so quickly she coughed.
Clara put a hand over the plate.
“Slow.”
The child froze.
Fear.
Clara immediately removed her hand.
“I’m not taking it.”
Anna stared.
“You can finish.”
“You can have more.”
“There is no need to fight the plate.”
The girl looked down.
Then ate more slowly.
Clara recognized hunger that lasted beyond a full stomach.
Samuel did too.
They never commented on how much she ate.
By February, Thomas could sit.
By March, roads opened enough for Samuel to reach town.
That forced the next question.
The warrant.
Thomas wanted to run.
Clara called him a fool.
“You cannot outrun law with one functioning leg and a nine-year-old.”
“I can go south.”
“In mud?”
“I’ve done worse.”
“That is not a qualification.”
Thomas looked toward Samuel.
“Does she always talk like this?”
“Yes.”
Clara ignored them.
“You stole food.”
“And a horse.”
“Where is the horse?”
“Returned.”
Samuel blinked.
“What?”
Thomas looked embarrassed.
“I stole it for three days.”
“Then returned it?”
“Yes.”
“With feed.”
Clara stared.
“You are the least efficient criminal I’ve met.”
Thomas almost smiled.
The eventual legal problem proved less terrible than feared.
The county warrant had expired after the merchant declined to pursue charges for food theft. The neighboring jurisdiction still had a complaint regarding the horse, but the owner, once contacted, confirmed the animal had been returned unharmed.
Thomas paid restitution through labor.
No jail.