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Dicutta watched me closely for a couple of long minutes, the fire crackling between us, before he finished up his pipe then slowly got to his feet, making his way over to Jake to check on him.
I was about to inquire how he was when Dicutta silently waved me over.
Avery helped me to my feet, and I went to Jake’s side, already feeling stronger thanks to the venison and pine nuts.
I stood beside Dicutta, finding out that I was nearly a foot taller than the old man. We peered down at Jake who was slowly moving his mouth back and forth, eyes fluttering and brows pressed together. Dicutta took my hand and placed it on Jake’s heart.
“This is where you belong,” he said. I felt the heat of Jake’s skin and the steady beat of his heart underneath my palm. “He is your tribe.” I looked down at Dicutta. His eyes twinkled. He walked away, leaving me and Jake alone. I could see him motioning to Avery to give us space.
I kept my hand to Jake’s heart, the steady pulse bringing me more peace. With my father gone and my heritage mixed, I never felt like I belonged anywhere. Now I knew—I belonged with Jake. We were a tribe of two, but a tribe all the same. Two broken people looking for their place in the world and finding each other. Dicutta could see that. It was time I saw it too.
Jake’s head rolled to the right and his mouth opened. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but I was thrilled he was in some form of consciousness.
I leaned down and whispered in his ear while pressing lightly on his heart, “Jake, it’s Eve. Can you hear me?”
He mumbled something.
“Jake? Do you know where you are?”
“Pine nuts,” he murmured.
“What?”
He turned his lips toward my ear. “You smell like pine nuts. Pine Nut.”
I pulled back and saw him gri
A huge smile stretched across my face. “You’re going to be okay. You collapsed but these nice Paiutes took care of you. Avery is alive too!”
“Well I’ll be…” he remarked. He took his hand, and with some effort placed it on top of mine. His heartbeat tickled my fingertips. He stared up at me, his eyes searching mine, filled with something I couldn’t describe but felt all the same. “I wasn’t ready to leave you.”
“And I wasn’t ready to leave you.”
He managed a sly grin. “I imagine it would be hard to leave me after that time in the cave.”
I gasped, trying not to laugh, and smacked him lightly across his taut stomach. With burning cheeks, I looked over my shoulder to see if Avery or Dicutta had noticed but they were busy talking to the others on the far side of the cabin and preparing some food.
I looked back at him, shaking my head. “Jake McGraw, you are incorrigible.” I quickly gave him a kiss on the forehead.
He coughed with a wince then said, “If being incorrigible is what it takes to get you to kiss me, you may have a problem on your hands.”
I let out a small laugh and reached for his hand. I squeezed it and looked deeply into his eyes, hoping I could tell him how I felt without saying it.
From the soft nod he gave in return, I knew he understood me.
Chapter Fifteen
“You won’t believe your eyes, Eve. I’m serious,” Avery said as he yanked at my arm, pulling me out of the cabin and into the golden sunshine.
“All right, all right,” I told him with a smile, picking up on his strange enthusiasm. It was the third day of us staying in the cabin with Dicutta and the Paiutes. Jake was almost good as new but Dicutta wanted him and I to rest up for another day. We had a long walk ahead of us to get down to River Bend and we needed the extra care and nourishment to feel better.
I had just been having a bowl of broth with Jake and Dicutta when Avery burst into the cabin, telling me he had something to show me. I exchanged an inquisitive glance with Jake but got up and followed Avery.
“What is it?” I asked. It was late afternoon and we were finally having a bout of good weather after two days of drizzle and mist.
“Wi
“What did—” I began. I trailed off as soon as I smelled her.
Sadie!
She whi
I suppose she was on her way back home when she found the other horses, and then together Wi
The next day, the three of us set out to find our way back home. I gave Jake Sadie, despite his insistence that I shouldn’t pander to him, and rode Ali instead. Dicutta and his men gave a heartfelt goodbye, and I promised him to keep myself safe during the journey. I also wanted to promise that I’d see him again, but the truth was I knew I wouldn’t. If the three of us got back to River Bend, there was no way I would stick around the town, let alone head back into the Sierra Nevadas. Though I hadn’t discussed it further with Jake, I knew that my life belonged with him, and our lives would be led somewhere far away from this land.
The thought of starting my life over was exciting. As we rode away from the Paiute camp and found the wagon ruts heading east, I wanted more than anything to talk to Jake in private. Though I knew we weren’t out of the woods yet—so to speak—we hadn’t had a real, moment of time together since we were alone in the cave. Everything after that special moment was a race against time, a battle against death.
But with Avery riding in front of us, it just didn’t feel right. Avery quite rightly knew there was something between Jake and I now. Even though we weren’t too physically affectionate with each other in the company of others, that didn’t stop us from trying to say everything with our eyes and body language.
It also didn’t stop Avery from addressing it midway through the day.
He cleared his throat and said over his shoulder, “So I take it you two are courting now, is that correct?”
Jake turned around in his saddle to look at me, waiting for my response. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of his ruggedly handsome face. My goodness, I was lucky to have such a man when I used to not know what a man was. Jake had been such a surprise.
He smiled right back, white teeth against his dark beard, and said, “I reckon you’re correct, Avery. I hope you don’t have a problem with that.”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t trust you, Mr. McGraw, but I do trust Eve. Anyone she desires, she is fit to have.”
I changed the subject. “And Avery, with that question in mind, will you be courting Rose as soon as we get home?”
He shot me a smile over his shoulder. “Your uncle will fire me over it, but yes, I will be. Doesn’t matter since we still have those gold bars in Ali’s pack. I’ll buy Rose and me a new life.”
Just as me and Jake will, I thought. And my mother, of course, if she wishes to come with us. I started imagining the greener pastures ahead, the books I could read, the schools I could go to. A life with the bravest Texan the world has ever known. These thoughts kept me going during that long ride until the trees turned to grass and the grass turned to desert, and there was the civilization of River Bend before us.
I wanted to cry. As much as that place had been my prison, it had also been my home, and after everything I’d gone through, it shimmered in front of me like Mecca.