Page 76 of The Prospector's Only Prospect
Chapter Nineteen
Virgil tried telling himself that a new mattress was a hell of a birthday present, but since everyone in the house got one, it didn’t really count.
“You gave me my sister’s portrait,” Marigold said when he brought it up. “That was very thoughtful.”
It had been an emotional bribe. A grovel. They both knew that. Virgil wanted to give her something that made her smile the way she did when she opened the tin box her sister had sent her. There were three colored bookplates showing poisonous and edible mushrooms, a book of home remedies with illustrated descriptions of medicinal plants, and sheets of cheesecloth wrapped around packets of seeds. So many seeds.
“I can’t imagine how she collected such a variety. Asked for donations at church, perhaps.”
There were more than two dozen folded envelopes, each neatly labeled. She handled them with great care so they didn’t spill. They ran the gamut from lavender and thyme to onions, beets, and peas to violets and foxglove. There were even a few strawberry runners and some gnarled roots with wilted raspberry leaves clinging to them.
“I need to find a sheltered place to plant those where they might survive the winter.” She looked to the window. A sharp wind was buffeting the glass behind the curtain she’d hung.
“There’s a hot pool up on the plateau. Ground stays warmer there. I could plant them and fetch them in the spring,” he suggested.
“Levi told me about that.” Her expression brightened with curiosity. “You wouldn’t mind walking all that way?”
“I’ll ride,” he said drily. “But no. It won’t take any time at all.” After a moment of hesitation, he asked, “Do you want to come with me?”
“With the children?”
He winced. “That’s a full day’s outing, best left for when there’s not so much work waiting. I can be up and back in an hour if I go alone.”
“That’s probably best, then,” she said with a faltering nod. He heard her disappointment, though.
Ah, screw it.
When he arrived at the office the next morning, he said to Emmett, “Levi can’t help you today. I’m leaving the children for a few hours while I take Marigold to the hot pool.”
All the men paused what they were doing to give him looks of speculation, suspicion, and affront.
“I’ll turn my back,” he growled. “It’s a birthday treat.”
“I wish she had told us about that.” Ira squared the promissory notes he’d been recording and set them under a quartz rock they used as a paperweight. “I can sit with the little ones if you want to finish that gate with Levi,” he said to Emmett.
“I promised I’d show him how to make a peg-board puzzle,” Emmett said. “Maybe we could make it for her. Let’s both go and keep them amused, help them make some gifts for her.”
“Stoney and I will operate the rock crush by ourselves, then?” Owen griped.
“I’ll make her a bread oven,” Stoney said, drying the face he’d just washed. “Then she can make us bread without walking so far.”
“You’re going to do that today, are you?” Virgil asked with a skeptically cocked brow.
“I can start. I’ll find a good site, measure it out, calculate how many bricks it will need.” Stoney nodded with satisfaction.
“Then you’ll come help me at the rock crush?” Owen asked.
“You’ll be here minding the vault,” Stoney said.
“I hate being here by myself.” Owen scowled with annoyance. “I’d rather play with the children.”
“Then speak up sooner next time,” Ira suggested. “Sweep and wash the windows, since there’s nothing else that needs doing around here.”
“Fuck that,” Owen said without heat.
Virgil left them bickering while he saddled one of the horses.
Ira and Emmett walked up to the cabin with him. Neither said a word, but he could feel their smug sense of having won a sure-thing bet.
