The Hen House by Sharon Sala

Author:Sharon Sala
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2013-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

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Letty kept the fire going all night, dragging limbs, dried brush, and anything she could find that would burn. The higher the flames, the easier it became for her to breathe without wanting to scream. Her hair was singed at the ends, and her eyes were raw and red-rimmed from the heat and burning ash. Her hands and arms were so bruised and scratched, they looked like she’d fought a bear and won, but she was impervious to pain. No matter how many times Robert Lee tried to coax her to rest, she refused to stop. He finally gave up the fight and followed the creek to where she’d tied her horse and walked it back to George Mellin’s camp.

T-Bone shadowed every step Letty took, from going into the trees after more firewood, to standing watch at the fire as it burned.

When Robert Lee came back with her horse, Letty staggered to the saddlebags and dragged out the food that Alice had packed for her. She pulled a piece of jerky from the pack and handed it to Robert Lee, then dropped to her knees and began feeding the last of the cold flapjacks to T-Bone.

Robert Lee was dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to make of this woman. She was in shock, so weary she could hardly put one foot in front of the other, and yet she was still taking care of those around her.

“Letty… ma’am… please. I sure wish you would eat somethin’, too.”

“No food,” she said shortly, and handed T-Bone another piece of flapjack.

“You could at least rest a bit.”

“I can’t rest. The fire will go out.”

“No. I promise I won’t let it.”

Letty dropped the last of the flapjack in front of T-Bone and then stood up, wiping her shaky hands on the legs of her pants as she turned toward the fire. If a person hadn’t known there was a body was in there, it would have been impossible to tell. But Letty knew it, and in her mind, she still saw him, sitting there breathing when her Eulis was dead.

“He’s still there,” she said, and wiped a hand across her brow.

Robert Lee frowned. Letty sounded like a woman out of her mind. He knew grief could do a thing like that. What he didn’t know was if she’d come out of this with her sanity intact.

He took her by the arms, and gently gave her a shake.

“Letty… Letty… look at me.”

Her eyes were burning, and she’d inhaled wood smoke for so long that she felt lightheaded. Having to focus on Robert Lee was more difficult than he could imagine.

“What?”

He cupped her face with his hands, gently rubbing his thumbs along the edge of her jaw.

“The man is dead. You know he’s dead… don’t you?”

Letty looked at him as if he’d lost his mind and pushed his hands away.

“Hell yes, he’s dead, Robert Lee. I oughta know. I put a hole right through the middle of his forehead before I set him on fire.”

The hair crawled on the back of Robert Lee’s neck.

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