With that, he opened the cabin door and led us in. Donna was lying in her bed and slowly rolling her head back and forth, a few moans slipping out of her mouth. All the gold in the world couldn’t buy her another hand.

We went over to her as she was starting to stir, and I put the back of my hand to her forehead. She was burning up and clammy and her eyes were rolling back in her head. Avery brought out the small vial of opium and sprinkled a few drops in a metal jug of water, briefly shooting a wary glance at Tim who was stoking the fire. As he shook it around, Jake came back in the cabin, shutting the door behind him.

He paused near us and stared at Donna, taking his hat off his head and holding it to his chest. “How is she?”

I could only glare at him. “Why do you care?”

Avery shot me a look to be quiet and raised her head while he brought the jug to her lips. Most of the water dribbled out of her mouth, but some managed to go down.

“I may have brought you here under false pretenses,” Jake said, “but the offer still counts. Your tracking got us here, got us to what we needed. We’ll pay you handsomely.”

“But not in gold.”

“What’s fair is fair,” Tim said, the flames crackling dramatically behind him. “And the last thing we want is for a member of our team to die. Donna was hired just the same as you was. We don’t want anything to happen to any of you.”

“Is that why you just held guns to our heads?” Avery scowled, darting hateful eyes toward them as Donna appeared to drift off into a drug-induced sleep.

“I said things will be fine if the two of you behave and I mean it,” Tim said. “Tomorrow we’ll head back to River Bend, get out of here while we can. Get Donna the help she needs and you’ll both get paid.”

“What about Hank and Isaac?” I asked. Not that I cared a whit about Hank.

“They wouldn’t hang around for us, that’s for certain,” Tim said.

“And what about the…the men…those creatures out there? What about them?” I asked. “We can’t just go on our merry little way knowing what lives in the mountains.”

“Oh, I reckon you can tell anyone you damn well please. And with the money you’re making, you can move far away and pretend this whole thing never happened.”

I sighed and rubbed my hands against the apron of my dress. We all knew the money was Uncle Pat’s, and even with Avery taking my side, he would never believe what we saw. Once Avery and Rose left for the big city, I’d be all alone. I figured I’d never get another night’s sleep for the rest of my life as long as I knew what lived in the Sierra Nevadas, never be able to wash the image of Meek’s torn heart out of my head.

Dinner was a quick meal of roasted hawk, a tough and wiry meat that I couldn’t get down. It reminded me too much of what went on today. I just picked at the food and barely managed to drink a cup of weak tea before I excused myself to go out to the outhouse, taking a lantern and my heavy shawl with me.

“I’ll go with ya,” Jake said, easing his massive frame from the wooden bench.

I stopped by the door and narrowed my eyes at him. “You will not.” I didn’t want him anywhere near me.

“It’s for your own protection,” he said gruffly, putting his hand on the butt of his revolver.

“No, it’s not. It’s so I don’t take off with the gold.”

He jerked his head in Avery’s direction. “Wrong you are. I know you wouldn’t go anywhere without him.”

I exhaled sharply through my nose and then stormed off into the night. I hadn’t been to the latrine yet, so I didn’t even know where it was, but I was too proud to stop walking.

“If you take another step,” Jake warned, his voice drifting up from behind me, “you’ll walk right into the lake. And that ice ain’t gonna hold you no matter how trim your figure.”

I paused and looked down at my boots. The snow in front of me was colored differently, lit up by my lantern. He was right. The smell of frozen lake water, of ice and marsh, permeated my nostrils. I should have noticed, but I was so wrapped up in my head that I didn’t. I could scarcely think.

“The outhouse is out by the other cabin,” Jake said. “I’ll have to escort you there.”

“I don’t need your help,” I said, turning around and rushing past him.

All of a sudden he reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me close. I nearly dropped the lantern, the light swinging around us, casting shadows across his face.

“Eve,” he grunted, loosening his grip on my arm. “I’m sorry I lied.”

“I don’t care,” I said, my chin held high.

“But you do. You’re mad.”

“You make me mad.”

“Then you care.”

I wrestled my arm out of his grasp but stayed in place, not wanting to back down, just because he was a foot taller than me and twice as wide, just because there were still bloodstains on his face from earlier, just because he held a gun to Avery’s head.

And that was the tricky thing. He saved Donna and Avery’s life today. He wasn’t a bad man, despite how rude he sometimes was. And yet his lie spurred me deep inside. Maybe because I took his word as truth.

“I don’t know why I care,” I slowly admitted. “I think I’m just about losing my mind out here.”

“I ain’t going to hurt you, you know that,” he said. He licked his lips and looked back at the cabin. “I ain’t going to hurt Avery either. And I don’t think Tim will do anything, he’s just scared to lose everything since we’ve come so far.”

“But you have lost everything!” I cried out. “You’ve lost Meeks. You’ve lost the other two. You’ve lost your secrecy.”

He shook his head, his expression turning grim. “No. This is nothing. I’ve lost everything before.”

“Oh, is that so? What could you have possibly lost? A bet? A hand at poker?”

He dipped his chin and looked me square in the eye. The intensity of his gaze reached deep into me. “I lost my wife and I lost my child. They were killed while I was away fighting in Monterrey with the Rangers.”

I was not expecting that. I must have stared at him like a right idiot, trying to figure out what to say. The best I could do was a weak, “Sorry.” I sure felt foolish now, trying to trivialize it all. “What happened?”

A wash of fire came across his gaze. “Injuns. They came to steal our horses. My father-in-law and my wife and my little boy, they killed and scalped them. Left the bodies behind for me to find.”

I felt like my heart had been smashed with a hammer. I put my hand to my chest and looked away from his eyes; the small glimpses of hatred and sorrow in them were too much to bear. But pity was the last thing he wanted from me.

“That explains why you hate Indians so much,” I said, trying to keep my voice light. “Though I really don’t need to remind you that we—my people—we aren’t all the same. The ones who did this to you are savage people, not just savage Indians.”

He pursed his lips. “Let’s just say I have some trust issues then.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you’re a jackass.”

Jake broke into a wide grin. “A jackass, is that right? Well I reckon you’re correct. I suppose I was just born a jackass.”

The severity of the situation came back to me like the gust of chilled wind that made his hair dance. The monsters. The gold. And we were just out here talking like none of that was going on. I looked to my feet, suddenly conscious of how close we’d been standing. The snow glowed yellow in the light of the lantern.

“I guess lying goes with the territory of being a jackass,” I added.

I heard him scratch at his sideburns. He let out a long breath that froze into a cloud. “I guess that’s true as well. But I only lied because it was easier.”

I raised my brow. “At least that’s honest. You’re a jackass and a liar. What else do I need to know about you?”

“I’m a great kisser.”

I almost laughed, but before I could, his warm, rough hands were on my cheeks, cupping them gently, his lips pressed against mine. It was wrong and hard and wet, and though his mouth was only on mine for a second, just long enough to feel the softness of his lips underneath all that pressure, it succeeded in taking my breath away.