Page 22 of The Prospector's Only Prospect
“Your papa? Of course he does.” Marigold didn’t ask who Albert was. She had a suspicion. She left Harley bashing animals at the bench and went across to perch on the bed beside Nettie. She patted the girl’s leg. “I think your father is trying very hard to make a good home for you.” She thought of his saying how he had nearly starved in California the first winter after sending his pittance of gold to Clara. “He wouldn’t have kept you here with him if he didn’t care about you.”
“You really think so?” Her voice was forlorn, her mouth trembling at the corners.
“I do.” She hoped so. Fervently. “And I know I’m not your mother or Leyohna, but I want you and I to become friends because…” Her emotions were catching up to her. Her chest and throat grew tight. She had to blink a sting from her eyes. “Because I already miss my sister. When I decided to come here, I was feeling very disheartened and unlucky. I thought doing something that wasmydecision would make me feel as though I had control over my life. I thought doing something courageous would mean Iamcourageous, but…”
I’m scared.
She had landed herself in a remote, untamed wilderness with a remote, untamed man. She was facing more responsibility and fewer resources or protections than ever. The trapped sob in her throat stung so sharply, Marigold sniffed and wiped at the tear that started to trickle down her cheek.
A similar misery was welling in Nettie’s eyes. Her chin crinkled and her lips quivered.
Marigold gathered her up. It was instinctual and incredibly comforting to hold Nettie’s wiry little body and feel her small arms cling around her as they both snuffled with self-pity.
She knew she should be saying, “It will be all right,” but in this moment, she really wasn’t sure. She refused to start her relationship with this darling girl by lying to her. She hugged her instead, fighting to stifle her own sobs, sniffing back her tears, silently begging for a sign that she had done the right thing in coming here.
A loud fart echoed inside a metal tub.
Startled, she and Nettie pulled apart.
Harley sat on a board set across a squat chamber pot. Presumably it had a hole in it because he said, “Poop.” His grin faded as he strained.
“Oh, Harley!” Nettie fell back on the covers, arms splayed helplessly.
“Hedoesuse the pot.” Marigold’s dejection flipped to hysterical amusement at the farcicality of it all. She grasped tickling handfuls of Nettie’s tummy, saying, “That noise was the best thing I’ve heard all week.”
Nettie released squeals of laughter.
Chapter Seven
Four hours later, Virgil approached the cabin with caution, not sure what to expect.
It was still standing, but something told him it was empty.
Damn. Nettie was likely still upset with him for Leyohna’s impending departure. The baby had his stubborn moments, and Levi had been roundly peeved when Virgil had told him the bed he was making would have to go to Marigold.
Levi had marched home with his shit in a knot. He may or may not have paid Virgil any mind when Virgil had called out that the boy should fetch water for Marigold when he got here.
God knew Marigold had to be ready to string Virgil up, now she’d had time to fully appreciate how rough they lived. Maybe he should have tried harder to talk one of the other Ute women into staying through the winter. They were all determined to head south with their families, though. Sharing this valley with his crew for a summer was about as far as their trust in white folk went.
No, Marigold was his only feasible choice, but Virgil wouldn’t have been the least surprised to hear she had started walking back to Denver on her newly shod feet.
Huh. Promisingly, the fire was snapping and flickering beneath the stew pot hanging over it. A full bucket of water was tucked near the embers to warm. Voices were coming from the shadows near the stack of logs.
Virgil found Marigold with Harley on her hip. Levi had assembled the pieces for the bed on the grass to show Marigold how it would come together.
“And the ropes pull it up flat against the wall every morning?” Marigold asked.
“So it’s out of the way, yeah.”
“Thatisa practical piece of engineering.”
“Pa!” Levi leaped to his feet. “Marigold said she’ll sleep with Nettie and Harley so I can have my own bed.”
“Oh?” He glanced at Marigold.
“Nettie said she doesn’t mind. Harley promised not to wet the blankets.” That made the older kids snicker.
“Marigold says she can show me how to make a doll from the oat sack when it’s empty.” Nettie took two quick steps toward him in her excitement. “If you say I can have it.”
