“Now, I wanna say somethin’. I want you to know that I don’t blame you for anything goin’ through your head while Spook and Whitlaw had you. You hear me? None of it. That was a terrifying situation, and you had to deal with it however you could. I got no right to judge you on that or put my selfish needs ahead of you tryin’ to sort it all out. I’m sorry. I truly am.”
“Me, too, Jimmy.”
“You ain’t doin’ wrong by me goin’ out to talk to that horse. I reckon it’s a good thing you do that.”
“I love her so much. I think she likes me, too. Maybe she’s startin’ to love me.”
I laughed and kissed the top of his head. “How could she not?” I tipped his chin so’s he’d look me in the eye. You make people love you just by doin’ what you do. The kindness you shown me, and now the way you are with that horse? ’Course she’s gonna love you. She prob’ly loved you in that corral at Mr. Morris’s, like I loved you when I saw you scramblin’ for cash in Dawson City. I didn’t know it at the time, but you were mine from that very moment, e’en though I didn’t understand exactly how. Reckon you sorted me out right quick.”
Oscar laughed, the sound of it making my heart sing. “Yeah, I reckon I did. But that weren’t exactlylove.”
“G’on. I know that. But I think I started to fall for you e’en before you showed me your skills at gamahouching.”
Oscar’s face screwed up. “Atwhat?”
“Ain’t you heard that word? It’s what you did that morning…with your mouth.”
“Oh, Iknowwhat I did that morning with my mouth. Never knew t’was called that!”
“Well, you do, now.” I stepped back and took hold of his arms, giving him a quizzical look. “You ever get any schooling?”
“Not much. I reckon I wouldn’t have learnedthatword, even if I had gone to school.”
“No, I reckon that’s true.”
He cocked his head. “How do you know so many big words? Did those outlaws teach you?”
I rolled my eyes. “I suppose they did teach me the bad ones, but my ma was a teacher. She made sure I was educated. She wanted me to have a good life. Didn’t quite work out, though—till now, at least.”
Oscar nodded then smiled in a shy way, as if he was tryin’ not to feel proud. “You gotta good life right now?”
“Best life I’ve had so far, and that’s the honest truth. And it’s all because of you.”
Now his smile was big again, and he nodded, satisfied. “E’en though you’re still outside the law?”
“Well now,” I said, letting go of him and folding my arms o’er my chest. “I’ve decided to make my own decisions when it comes to that. Those laws that stop cruelty and evil? Yeah, I’ll obey those ones, now that I’m outta that fearful spot with the gang. But the laws and rules that get in the way of the good things, like love and pleasure that don’t seem to be harmin’ anyone? There shouldn’t be laws against those things, in my opinion.” I scratched at my chin. “Anyway, there ain’t no law can stop me from loving you, Oscar Yates.”
We gazed at each other for a long moment, caught up in where the conversation had led us. But he’d been wanting to go and see his horse before I’d waylaid him with my baseless insecurities.
“Now, go and look after that horse. I got things to do.”
Oscar smiled. “Maybe we can saddle up Dixie and Onyx and take a ride later? Just for fun?”
I thought about it. “Sure. I don’t see why not. Prob’ly a good idea to keep up our explorin’. The more familiar we are with the lay of the land, the better, I reckon.”
“I think so, too,” Oscar said. “And riding out with you reminds me of our travelin’ days, when I was so grateful you didn’t leave me behind.”
I cleared my throat, remembering the decision I’d made to bring him with me and where that had led. “You don’t have to worry about bein’ left behind no more.”
* * * *
Later, when the sun was high and the wind had died down, we put Poke in his stall, saddled up the horses and headed out. A large proportion of the trees surrounding our small homestead—pine, spruce, hemlock—kept their foliage through the colder months, but the loss of leaves from their deciduous neighbors made the forests seem sparer and the sightlines clearer. T’was easier to find your way, except in spots where the evergreens grew thick and plentiful.
The landscape was starkly beautiful and full of wildlife. I’d already hunted rabbits and foxes, coyotes and badgers. We had our fill of meat available to shore up our store-bought goods, at least for now. Eventually, some of them would go into hibernation and the pickings might be scarcer, but I doubted the land here was anywhere near picked clean of game, like some of the more populated areas.
Spokshute Mountain loomed in the distance. Named by the local people, it stood guard between the British Columbia mainland and the town, with our homestead and probably a few more nestled at its feet. One day, maybe in the summer, Oscar and I wanted to climb it. Maybe not all the way to the top, but we’d give it a try.
The horses seemed excited to be out, and Oscar and I picked up on that feeling of adventure. But I was also filled with an overriding sense of peace and calm. We’d made a risky journey to get here, and we’d never expected that things would work out the way they had. The shock of finding out that Oscar’s uncle had perished had been tempered by the fact that his broken-down homestead had been ours for the taking. I’d convinced Oscar that we could make it what we wanted, and now we were living that dream, cozy and warm in our tiny kitchen, with big plans to build a whole house come spring.
