Winn began to pull away from the fence, but Gentry stopped him with, “The wild magic. I’ve seen it around here. Even just yesterday.”
He relaxed back into the wooden railing. “Oh? Not too frightening, I hope.”
She shook her head. “Mostly little blob monsters, shaped like lazy raindrops.” She paused. “I think they want my necklace. It’s the only gold around here.”
“They want your attention.”
She nodded. “I noticed. One of them got a little nibble,” she traced the pad of her thumb down the chain, “and it listened to me for a moment. Just a moment, but it did what I wanted and—”
His fingers touched her wrist, and his voice, soft but firm, broke her words with her name. “Gentry, please never do that again.”
She blinked. “What? Why?”
His hand withdrew, and his light eyebrows scrunched together. “I am thrilled you see it—really, I am. It’s nice to have someone to relate that world to. But wild magic is wild for a reason.”
“But your seagulls—”
“The gulls are different,” he continued. “Gulls, the earth, physical creatures that are magically awake . . . they’re tame. They’re,” he paused, mulling over his words, “capable of independent thought. Wild magic is made of spirits. They’re different from us. Give them a fraction of mental singularity, and they devour it. Steal it from you. Too much, and you won’t have a mind left to think for yourself.”
Gentry studied Winn’s eyes for a moment, processing the information, remembering the blankness of thought she’d had out by the stable. “I didn’t know.”
Winn rubbed his eyes. “Hardly your fault. Mine, really. They really are harmless. They stay away from cities generally because all the people and thoughts are confusing to them, I suppose. Out here is a little different.”
“Perhaps I just think very interesting things,” Gentry quipped.
Winn smiled. “Perhaps you do.”
He lingered for a moment, leaning against the fence, before a sigh passed his lips. “I suppose it would be decent of me to bid you adieu, hm?”
“You don’t have to—”
He gasped, cutting her off. “Gentry Abrams, what would the neighbors think? You shan’t coax me into your den of sin.”
The flush geysered to her face. She released the fence. “That’s not what I meant at all!”
Winn grinned.
She laughed and punched his arm. “You rogue. Your mother would switch your hide.”
“I imagine she would.”
Gentry took a deep breath and let it all out at once. “You’ll be safe out there, wherever you’re going, right?” She wondered how many more disasters Winn saw than she did, since he seemed to seek them out. Since he could actually do something to stop them, unlike herself.
“I won’t go gallivanting in the mines, if that’s what you mean.”
She smiled. “You’d best say goodbye to Pearl and Rooster.”
“I already have.” He tilted his head. “I always save the best for last.”
He scooped up her hand and placed a feather-light kiss on the back of it. The moment he released it, the seagulls leapt off the roof. They seemed to multiply as more birds swept out from behind the house or seemingly out of thin air, adding to their numbers.
“Until we meet again,” Winn said, and the gulls swept him into the air and over the mountains. Once more, Gentry watched him go until the night swallowed the flock.
She leaned against the fence, rubbing a thumb over the back of her kissed hand. The skin prickled where his lips had been in a most comfortable way.
All good things must come to an end, Gentry thought as she trekked back to her house from the mercantile, lifting her skirt to keep the hem clean. Still no word from Pa. Gentry was almost not surprised. After her chat with Winn, she’d had the thought to write to a way station or some such on the road to California, to ask if a Butch Abrams had passed through. Mr. Olson had helped her find a good address to send the inquiry to. She hated to pay the postage, but a sound mind was worth a couple of pennies.
When she got home, her back hot from the midday sun, she saw Pearl out in the yard atop Bounder, chatting with Hoss. Gentry hurried her pace. When Hoss saw her, he removed his hat. His beard was shorter, she noticed, and cleanly trimmed about his jaw.
“Rooster’s all right, isn’t he?” Gentry asked, but Pearl’s expression was level, so already she had begun to dismiss the idea.
“Glad to tell you he’s right as rain,” Hoss answered. “Might be my best worker.”
Gentry smiled. She’d have to pass the compliment to her brother over supper.
Hoss replaced his hat. “I’m heading to Salt Lake to look at some cows this weekend, and I need a hand or two to come with me. Rooster is an obvious choice, but then I thought, well, my wagon’s a wide one. Wouldn’t be right if I didn’t offer you and Pearl a ride as well, if you’d like to visit town again.”
Gentry straightened. “This weekend?”
“I know your last trip wasn’t pleasant, but you’d be in good company.” He fidgeted with his hat, almost taking it off again, then pressed it down snug, nearly to his brow. “Rooster said you had family up north.”
Only Caleb, but Hannah was practically family as well. “We do, in American Fork.”
Pearl looped Bounder’s reins around her hand. “Oh please, Gentry, let’s go. It’s so dull here.”
Gentry gaped. “Just yesterday our wall . . .” She stopped, not wanting to explain a collapsed wall and its remarkable repair in case Rooster hadn’t passed on the story. Instead, she said, “A quake like that, and you think it’s dull?”
Pearl shrugged. “Duller than American Fork.”
A small voice buried in Gentry’s mind said, Yes, let’s go! It’ll be grand, and we’ll bring the chess set and teach Hannah how to play. She never has, and I’m sure she’d be quite good at it, but the voice that had become a jumbled mix of her ma, her pa, and an eldest sister said, “We can’t all go. Someone has to tend Bounder.”
“I can go.” Pearl cast a pleading expression at Hoss.
Hoss didn’t notice; his dark eyes focused on Gentry. “I could send one of my hands over. It’s no problem. Really, I’d like you to come.”
Gentry blinked, looking at Hoss anew. His voice sounded younger just then. For a moment she tried to imagine him without the beard and the years of sunbaked skin. Then she noticed his eyes, earnest and deep. Something about them made her think of Winn, and she felt her ears burn beneath her bonnet, though she wasn’t sure if it was for thought of Winn or at the knowing she refused to recognize, not now.
“Well.” She took a step back. “I suppose I can’t argue with that. You’re very kind to offer.”
Pearl grinned and took Bounder’s reins, trotting her in a tight circle of celebration.
Hoss grinned. “I’ll plan for you, then. Leaving Friday morning. Should reach American Fork before sunset.”
Gentry nodded, and Hoss headed back to the road, walking at first, then jogging.
“We’re going to see Hannah and Caleb!” Pearl clapped her hands together.
“Yes.” Gentry pulled her gaze away from Hoss and the uncomfortable digging at the center of her chest. “I’d best write her a letter. Bad timing. I just got back from the mercantile.”
“Don’t be so sour.”
Gentry put a hand on her hip. “I have to be, when you’re too sweet.”
Pearl pulled on the reins, halting the mare. “That’s what Ma used to say.”
Gentry’s hand slid off her hip. I do sound like her, don’t I? When did that happen? Gentry tried to recall at what moment she morphed from child to adult. When had she started grasping at straws, trying to be a parent?
Instead, she said, “If Rose were here, I’d race you and put you in your place.”
Pearl stuck out her tongue. “Bounder is faster, and you know it.”
“Rose has better endurance,” she countered. That was why Pa to
ok her with him.
Pa. She hoped her letter would come back with good news. She didn’t know what they’d do if it didn’t.
The trip to American Fork with Hoss was far more pleasant than it had been when Gentry and Pearl had done it. There were no geysers or sulfur pools eating the road, for starters. No quakes, and very few spirits, though no one else saw them, even when Gentry pointed right at one fluttering near the Wasatch Mountains and asked Pearl if she saw anything. She noticed none of the blob-like creatures that had fed on her necklace and her thoughts, and none of the magic seemed interested in her. They arrived in American Fork in good time.
Rooster slid off the wagon seat, where he had ridden beside Hoss, and helped Pearl, then Gentry, to the ground. He grabbed their bags and slung them over his shoulder, carrying them in. Gentry knew he wanted to see Caleb before heading into Salt Lake City. Caleb was Rooster’s only brother, after all.
“Are you sure you won’t stop in?” Gentry asked Hoss, coming around to the driver’s side of the wagon. “You can’t get too much farther tonight, and I’m sure they’d put you up if we asked. They’re very nice.”
“Sweet of you to offer, Gentry,” he replied, “but there’s an inn a few miles from here I intend to stay at. Tradition. A friend of mine runs it. We came out here together, from Mississippi.”
Gentry nodded. “I suppose I can’t argue with that. Do watch after Rooster for me.”
She smiled and turned to leave, but Hoss said, “Gentry,” with such a weight to it she couldn’t take the first step away from the wagon. She turned back to him, wrapping the string of her bonnet around her finger until the knot came loose.
He didn’t look at her, but rather down the road. He licked his lips, glanced toward the Hinkle residence, then settled his gaze on his hands. “If you needed . . . what I mean is . . . well, I could take care of you too.”
Gentry’s stomach tightened, as though a string had fastened to her navel and looped around her highest rib, pulling taut. Her mouth went dry. She didn’t need to ask what he meant.
She tried to think of something to say as the silence between them grew the way nothing in the Utah Territory should grow. She tried to swallow and failed.
Rooster came out of the house.
Hoss cleared his throat and met her eyes. “Something to think about, if you would.”
She managed a shallow nod, and Hoss turned his attention to Rooster, saying something about making good time. Gentry used the diversion to escape, walking so quickly she practically ran around the back of the wagon. Her chest flushed as she hurried to the house, the heat of it burning up her neck and into her face and ears. She opened the door to Hannah, Pearl, and Hannah’s baby, Rachel, stretched out on the floor. Caleb showed Pearl his collection of painted blocks.
“Gentry!” Hannah stood and hurried to her with her arms stretched wide. She embraced Gentry for a moment before pulling back. “Goodness, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a phantom.”
“I just need some water,” she said. “No, please, I’ll get it myself.” She offered a smile—at least, she hoped it looked like a smile—and went into the kitchen, filling a cup from a pitcher on the table. She drank it in a few gulps, and the liquid turned to iron in her stomach.
She pulled out one of the chairs around the kitchen table and sat.
She shouldn’t be surprised. She knew Hoss liked her, but not . . . enough to make an offer. Not that he had, not really. Had he?
She set the cup down and rubbed her eyes. Hoss Howland. The idea had crossed her mind before, but he was . . . Hoss Howland. Her father’s friend. Her brother’s employer. A man twice her age.
I could take care of you too. And he could, couldn’t he? Hoss Howland with his big house and big farm, doing well enough to ride to Salt Lake City and buy cows. Milk, eggs, meat, vegetables. On the table every day, or so Gentry imagined. Shirts and slacks without patches in them. Hired help. He certainly could take care of Gentry. And Rooster. And Pearl. Pa might even come home, and Gentry wouldn’t need to worry so much about the mines anymore.
She pressed her fingertips into her eyes, and in the ensuing spots she saw Winn. She lowered her hands and tried to blink them away, but the golden colors held the shape of his face, his tousled hair, his warm eyes.
I always save the best for last.
“Well, isn’t this a bother,” she whispered, laying her hands on the table, staring down into her empty cup. Since when had she become so likable? She was sour, just as Pearl had said. Sour and bossy and a knot of worry.
Her stomach rumbled in familiar discomfort.
He’s just a flirt, Gentry, she told herself. Who says he’s any more interested in you than he is in Pearl? It’s just good fun. What benefit could a magic man who flies with birds get from charming a dull desert woman?
She understood Hoss. Hoss was already in his forties, never married, and didn’t have a lot of options. Winn had the world at his fingertips. All it cost was an earring.
“Gentry?” Pearl called from the front room.
“Coming.” She filled her cup again and drank the cool water slowly this time. She noticed a crack in the kitchen window and wondered if the earthquake had grazed American Fork too.
When Gentry came into the front room, Hannah said, “Caleb, do you want to show Pearl your books? In your room?”
Caleb nodded but held still.
Pearl looked at Hannah, then at Gentry, before standing and offering her hand to their little brother. “Come on, Cay. Let’s go see your books.”
Caleb’s tan hand grasped Pearl’s ring finger, and he allowed her to lead him down the hallway.
Hannah picked up Rachel and crossed the room to the sofa. She sat and patted the cushion next to her.
Pulling off her bonnet, Gentry sat down.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing, just a long ride,” Gentry said.
“Gentry Sue Abrams, don’t you dare lie to me. I’m a Saint; I can tell.” She smiled. “Come now,” she added, softer, “you don’t have a mother to confide in, and I’m sure Pearl is too young to hear your worries. Let me help you. If nothing else, it feels good to let things out, doesn’t it?” She paused. “Is it about the quake? Did it hit home?”
Gentry shook her head and leaned back against the couch, staring at the ceiling. “I think Hoss Howland wants to marry me.”
“That’s great! He’s the farmer who dropped you off, isn’t he? I didn’t get a chance to talk to him.”
Gentry nodded.
“Ah,” Hannah said.
“He’s a lot older than me.”
“Willard is sixteen years my senior,” she replied.
Still a smaller age gap than me and Hoss, she thought. She shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t think much about it, after we moved out west. There aren’t a lot of people around here.”
“Not in Dry Creek, I suppose.” Hannah had never been to the town, only heard of it from the Abrams. “There are lots of nice young men around here.”
“Lots of Mormon men.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, really.”
Hannah quirked a brow. Rachel fussed, so Hannah adjusted her hold and pulled her collar down so the babe could breastfeed. Eyes still on the babe, she said, “Is there someone else?”
Gentry sighed. “Maybe.”
Hannah grinned. “There are more men about than you let on.”
“Winn doesn’t live in Dry Creek, just passes through. On . . . business.”
“Oh? He’s a businessman?”
“Not exactly.” If not for magic, he might be as poor as I am.
The smile faded. Hannah looked at Gentry until Gentry met her gaze. “Unrequited?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Then don’t be so down about it.”
“It’s not just that. I’m not a sappy school girl.” Gentry leaned against the backrest. “But we still haven’t heard from Pa. He hasn’t
sent us any wages, and Rooster’s pay only goes so far. I wish there was more Pearl and I could do.”
“Taking care of the house and the lot is doing something.”
“It doesn’t make us money,” Gentry countered. “I need to buy feed for Bounder if we’re going to keep her, and I can’t imagine selling her. She came with us from Virginia.”
Hannah reached her free hand over and clasped Gentry’s. “It will be all right. You’ll hear from your father, I’m sure of it. He’s a good man.”
Is he? Gentry thought, then berated herself. Of course he was.
“We’re doing just fine,” Hannah said. “And I have a couple dresses I can’t fit into anymore, not since Rachel. I’ll send them home with you, and some bread and potatoes.”
“Hannah, we don’t need—”
“I’ve plenty to spare.”
“No. It’s fine.”
“Gentry Sue Abrams,” Hannah said, and Gentry winced at the second use of her full name. At her ma’s name within her own, Sue Abrams. “You need to humble yourself.”
Gentry scoffed. “You say that like I’m prideful. I don’t have anything to take pride in.”
“You are prideful!” Hannah spoke a little too loudly. She must have heard it too, for she flushed rather prettily. Lowering her voice, she continued, “Everyone has hard times. I’ve had hard times, Carolyn has had hard times. Your folks have had hard times.”
Gentry thought of Caleb.
“But the reason God put more than one person on the earth is so we’d help each other.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
“And I am going to help you because He has given me the means to do so. You hear me? Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t do just the same, if not more, were our positions switched.”
Gentry shook her head and looked upward, blinking to prevent tears.
Hannah squeezed Gentry’s hand.
“Thank you,” Gentry whispered.
Hannah didn’t mention their conversation the next day, for which Gentry was grateful. All carried on as normal. Pearl and Gentry fit right in with the Hinkle household, and Hannah and Carolyn filled their bellies with food and their ears with conversation and local gossip. Gentry had only gotten a glimpse of Willard Hinkle, as he was still back and forth to Salt Lake City, trying to deal with territorial business licenses and the like for his potential printing company.
Veins of Gold Page 10
