Tom gave the boy a thoughtful look. Well, have to give kids credit for being smarter and more observant than you'd think. Especially when he'd spent the last month or so doing his best to train Skyler in just those qualities. “She might have,” he admitted. “Assuming she can't-that is, unless something happens.”
“Yeah, we've heard a little about that, too,” Skyler said, looking sad, and Tom's heart went out to the boy; there were reasons kids were better off not knowing some things. The world had enough hard truths to weight a person down, no reason to get started learning them too early. The kid continued hesitantly, not meeting his eye. “Is that also why you and Mom aren't talking to each other, and Lisa thinks you aren't going to get married anymore?”
Again, Tom jumped slightly, doing his best not to show his shock. What had the girl heard to make her think they were in the first place? Or had she just put two and two together?
More importantly, how the blazes was he supposed to answer this question? If anything, his relationship with Kristy was something she would want to talk to her son about; she'd be the one to know how to present things as gently as possible so he wouldn't take it too hard.
Should Tom even answer at all, or try to deflect?
Well, he had no intention of lying to Skyler. “We haven't really discussed marriage.” True enough . . . they'd just discussed something that might shoot their budding relationship in the head. Assuming it hadn't already.
“But you're thinking of it?” Skyler demanded. “It's what you want, at least? Same as Simon?”
Tom could've done without being compared to the convoy's reprobate leader. Also, he wasn't sure whether to be relieved the boy had switched topics from his argument with Kristy, or resigned that it had gone in this direction instead.
He bit back a sigh. “I do have feelings for your mom, yes,” he admitted. “I'd like to think I've been more respectful in my approach than Simon was.”
Skyler didn't respond. He didn't look mad, exactly, more like he was processing it, but Tom was afraid it was coming. No kid liked to hear that someone, even someone they liked, was auditioning for the role of new parent. Effectively taking the place of the one he'd lost, which must be an unbearable thought.
Tom gave him space to sort it out, leaving him to care for the horses and start to set up camp while he returned to the site of the caches for another bundle. It took an exhausting half hour to get everything loaded into the wagon, covered with their few other supplies and then with tarps to try to hide that the unassuming converted car chassis with its solid rubber tire wheels held a staggering fortune.
He was going to have to find them a less frequented route back to Emery to avoid potential bandits. No reason to make the day of some lucky scumbags.
By the time he finished, he was proud to see that the boy had got a fire going and food cooking, as well as setting up his own tent and dragging a half-rotted log over to sit on. Tom joined him, checking the horses, then the food, and finally getting out his kettle to get water boiling for herb tea. Then he settled on the other end of the log, and they both watched the flickering flames in silence for a minute or two.
It was a relaxed moment, at least until Skyler got back to their previous topic. “Trapper? If you and Mom keep fighting, are you going to eventually leave again?”
Tom glanced at him, biting back a sigh. “I'm not sure we ever started fighting.”
The kid gave him a disgusted look. “Even if there was no shouting or anything, you guys disagreed about something. Then you haven't really talked since, and you're avoiding each other. That's a fight.” He looked back at the fire, voice becoming tremulous. “Are you going to leave, like you did at Newpost?”
Well, Skyler had a right to be worried about that. After Kristy broke her promise and tried to force Tom into a suicidal rescue mission into the occupied trading post, he'd simply walked away. It was only hours later that the young woman's camp had been attacked, and she'd nearly been raped. Skyler had saved her before Tom could get there to help, killing one of Kristy's attackers and injuring the other so she could finish him off.
But even though things had turned out as good as could be hoped for, it had left the mother and son with psychological trauma they were still working through. Including, it seemed, a fear of abandonment in the boy.
Tom considered his words carefully before answering. “I hope I can work things out with your mom. But even if I can't, I still plan on starting a ranch with you guys, and the Hendricksons. So whatever happens between us, I intend to stick around.”
“Okay.” Skyler hesitated. “You being with Mom is weird, and I don't like the idea of you replacing Dad. At all. But . . . I guess I still kind of hope you can fix things.”
Me too, kid. Me too. But Tom merely leaned over to clap the boy on the shoulder, then stood to check the food and see if the water was boiling yet.
“Is your fight about what's going on with Aunt Vicky?” Skyler abruptly asked. Tom turned to look at him in surprise. “I know Mom's really worried about her and she spends most of her time helping her. She said she'd do anything for Aunt Vicky.”
Tell me something I don't know, Tom thought sourly. “I guess it is,” he admitted.
The boy stared into the fire as Tom began making tea, absently accepting the mug he offered him before settling back down on the log. Tom was half sure Skyler had let the subject drop when he abruptly spoke with forced casualness. “You know, my dad, um, used to tell Mom that he loved her and he'd do anything for her. So if you love Mom but you won't help Aunt Vicky, isn't that kind of like saying you wouldn't do anything for her?”
Tom blinked, then bit back a curse. Hard to argue that logic. “How'd you get so wise, kid?”
Skyler puffed out his chest. “I am ten, you know.”
Chapter Eight
Gestures
The doctor in East Provo had been sympathetic to Vicky's plight, and had reluctantly agreed to try terminating the pregnancy. But he'd warned her that he'd never done the procedure before, or even studied it, and her chances of success with him were only marginally better than if she tried it on her own.
That wasn't what any of them wanted to hear. Much as the couple wanted to rid themselves of this haunting reminder of their suffering in Newpost, Bob refused to even consider it if it risked his wife's safety, and Vicky wasn't thrilled about the idea either.
There was only one other moderately large community nearby, up in Highland, but the closest thing they had to a doctor didn't even do surgery. Still, they decided to try the place and hope for the best.
Or, that was, the Hendricksons would head up to Highland, while Kristy returned to her home near New Orem to meet up with Tom and Skyler. She'd argued that she didn't want them to have to drag the wagon around everywhere looking for them, and probably not finding them since it moved much slower than even them walking.
Although mainly, her reasoning had been that if the mountain man and her son had already dug up Miles's scavenged treasure, she didn't want them bringing that sort of incredible wealth through a bunch of settled areas just asking to be found out and robbed.
Vicky seemed a bit disappointed, and even more glum after the bad news from the doctor. But she also seemed relieved, and did her best to smile bravely. “Good,” she said, hugging Kristy tightly. “This'll give you a chance to talk to him without an audience. Work things out.”
Kristy fervently hoped that was true.
But before they could part ways, a commotion from farther down the street began gathering a crowd. It didn't seem to be trouble, so their curiosity got the best of them and they made their way over to see what it was all about.
It turned to be about a handful of men who were apparently going from settlement to settlement, gathering volunteers to travel to Grand Junction and from there, Texas, to fight an army of invaders flooding across the border.
One of the men spotted Kristy and her friends, and seeing that she and Bob were both armed he made a beeline for th
em. “What's going on?” Bob asked him.
“You haven't heard?” the man demanded. “Newpost is gone. Texas has been invaded by soldiers from South America who speak Portuguese and Spanish. Grand Junction is calling for anyone with a gun and some courage to come and help push back the invaders.”
Kristy wasn't sure whether to be amused or irked by this “news”. Tom's convoy, or in other words they, were probably the source of this man's information, which had likely been passed on up this way from Emery.
Bob, on the other hand, was just irked. “We've heard,” he said curtly, starting to push on past.
The man stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Then why don't you consider joining up? You've got a serious weapon on your back, and you look as if you can handle yourself.” He glanced at Kristy. “Both of you.”
They all tensed, particularly Vicky, who stepped closer to Kristy for comfort. She took her friend's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“No thanks,” Bob said, voice sharp. “Got my family to look after.”
“Then consider doing it for them.” The man paused ominously, then leaned closer and spoke in a lower voice. Although one they could all still hear clearly. “I heard these invaders are monsters, enslaving women and doing terrible things to them. Those sorts of people need to be stopped.”
Kristy's eyes darted to Vicky; her face had gone ashen and she was trembling slightly.
Bob saw his wife's distress as well and finally lost his temper entirely, shaking off the man's hand with enough violence to send him stumbling backward. “I know exactly what sort of monsters they are!” he snarled. “Go look for volunteers to fight soldiers with machine guns and trucks somewhere else.”
The man, surprised by this display of raw emotion, lifted his hands placatingly and started to walk back to his friends. Although as he did he muttered, “Coward,” under his breath.
Growling with fury, Bob started after him. Kristy couldn't blame him; he'd fought to protect his wife until their captors literally knocked him unconscious, he was no coward. Meanwhile, this idiot a few states over from Texas who was going on secondhand news thought he knew everything.
Kristy had always known her friend to be a patient and gentle man, but his time in Newpost seemed to have changed him. Perhaps nowhere near as much as it had Vicky, but he obviously blamed himself for being unable to protect her. Only now he was redirecting that pain and fury on random strangers with big mouths.
Vicky hurried forward to wrap her arms around her husband's waist. “That's not what we're here for,” she said firmly.
Bob hesitated, but allowed her to pull him back. Although he still had his fury to work over as they kept going down the street. “That guy,” he growled. “I'll give away my mule if he actually has the stones to go to Grand Junction. And he wants to talk to me?”
His wife kept pace with him, rubbing his arm soothingly. “Well you have to give him one thing, he was certainly good at synchronizing moving his lips to the orifice he was really talking out of.”
Kristy snorted, but Bob barely seemed to hear, continuing to rant under his breath as they walked along. She glanced back at Lisa, riding on Cant; thankfully the girl probably couldn't hear some of the more colorful language her father was using.
Just outside town they exchanged goodbye hugs and parted ways, Kristy back towards New Orem and beyond to her farm, and the Hendricksons northeast around the fallout zone to Highland. They agreed to meet up again at the overlook where they'd gotten their first view of Utah Valley a few days ago.
Kristy had to admit she was a little nervous about traveling for almost ten hours on her own. But she had the AK-47 she'd taken from the soldiers who'd attacked her outside Newpost; she'd already had to kill one of those soldiers with it, and Tom had given her more shooting lessons during the weeks on the road to Emery, in the mornings when she'd woken up early from bad dreams and couldn't get back to sleep.
She was confident she could defend herself if need be.
On top of that, this was Utah Valley, which was quiet and peaceful even after the recent turmoil of people being forced to flee their homes within the revised fallout zone boundary. The nearby communities all had their own lawmen, the roads were fairly frequently traveled, and she even recognized a few people she passed, at least by face if not by name. This had been her home for her entire life, even before the Ultimatum, and she'd never felt unsafe here.
Even so, after seeing what sort of things people were capable of at Newpost, she kept a hand on her rifle as she walked, and pushed herself hard to make the distance as quickly as possible. And she looked forward to finally seeing Tom and Skyler and feeling safer in their company.
In spite of her nervousness about the trip, she reached New Orem without anything worse than sore feet and tired legs. She stopped briefly there to rest and eat dinner at one of the town's two small hotels, splurging on steak and potatoes with her dwindling savings and hoping Miles's treasure was still there, wasn't irradiated, and Tom had dug it up without incident.
With any luck, once they had the ranch going she could enjoy food like this more often.
Refreshed from the meal, Kristy hurried the last couple hours along a far more familiar trail to her old cabin, confident she'd reach it well before dark. The prospect of going back to where she'd spent ten mostly happy years with Miles was bittersweet, but she was also looking forward to seeing her son, reassuring herself he was still safe and healthy.
And Tom, too; she'd missed him more than she'd expected, especially considering how they'd barely spoken for almost two weeks. In spite of her weariness, she found herself practically trotting along the final stretch of road, her pack and rifle jouncing around on her back.
To her vast relief, when she rounded the last bend she found the wagon pulled up in front of the familiar ramshackle cabin that Miles, Bob, and a few of their other neighbors had worked together to build so long ago. The vehicle looked full to bursting with tarp-covered bundles that had to be from the cache, and the mountain man and her son were busy arranging a few light pieces of wicker furniture on top to make the prized cargo seem more innocuous.
Seeing that evidence of their success sent a surge of elation through her, but also a stab of worry; if she'd been concerned about walking alone, how much more terrifying was it to travel with a wagon carrying such treasure?
But Kristy forgot her concern when her boys caught sight of her and immediately abandoned their work. Skyler dropped his end of a flaking table with a shout and bolted towards her, waving eagerly over his head with both arms. But what warmed Kristy as much as her son's joy was the look of obvious relief, even delight, on Tom's face; even after everything, he'd obviously still missed her and was happy to see her.
And she was just as happy to see him.
At least until she remembered their failure with the two doctors, and the likely failure her friends would find in Highland. The smile faded from her face, and seeing it the mountain man's expression also fell.
The problem hadn't been solved; if anything, she was even more certain she'd need to keep her promise and take the baby to spare Vicky that burden. Which meant the conversation between them still needed to happen.
Kristy crouched to throw her arms around Skyler, and for a while let him distract her with his excited description of digging up the treasure yesterday, and everything they'd found in the caches. She was almost annoyed when Tom shooed her son off to put more wood on the fire and start setting up his tent for the night.
“I was going to ask if you had any luck with the doctors, but your expression seemed like answer enough,” the mountain man said in a low voice once they were alone together beside the wagon.
She nodded, sighing. “We split up and they went to try their luck in Highland, but I'm not optimistic about the doctor there being a surgeon.”
He nodded grimly. “I'm sure it's a whole different ballgame without advanced medical equipment, anesthesiologists, and sterile environments. Even mo
st emergency room surgeons probably didn't get much training in surgery under less than optimal conditions. Unless they were battlefield trauma surgeons or something, I guess.”
That made sense. Although Kristy was uncomfortably aware that Tom was, for him at least, practically being a chatterbox. He was obviously working up the courage to address the gulf between them, and the cause of it. And she was glad he was, since she wasn't sure she could bring it up herself, even though it was her request that had started all this.
Which was why it surprised her when she found herself edging towards the fire. “Well, it's been a long day. I'm going to set up my tent.”
He sighed. “Kristy, come on. You can't get away from me fast enough, now?”
She hesitated; she supposed she wasn't really being fair. Especially since, well, she'd kind of missed him all this time, particularly during these last few days apart. Even if she was absolutely justified in being annoyed at his stubbornness, things had been going so well for them before their fight that it was agonizing to watch them drift away from each other until they almost felt like strangers again.
Even if it had been necessary, to help a friend.
So Kristy sighed as well, wishing they could just be sitting together watching the sunset as usual, instead of standing a painful distance apart about to have a conversation that probably wouldn't be any fun. “What is it, Tom?”
He settled back against the wagon with a weary groan. “Well first off, Skyler asked if we were getting married.”
She stiffened. “Where'd he get an idea like that?”
Tom shrugged. “Lisa told him. We haven't exactly been hiding our affection, and they're not stupid kids. Eventually, they'd start speculating.”
Kristy supposed that was true. It irked her that Skyler hadn't come to her about this, though. Or that she hadn't sat her son down before now to talk about her relationship with the mountain man and what it meant for their future, averting this potential issue. “And what did you tell him?”
Mountain Man (Book 2): Homecoming Page 13