came, Eulis had found a good campsite with plenty of water, and enough grass for the trail-weary mules.
Letty woke up to the scent of wood smoke and cooking meat and rolled out from beneath the wagon seat. Her wrist was aching something awful, she smelled worse than she hurt, and she needed to pee. But when she started to push herself up, her wrist gave way.
“Ow,” she cried.
Almost instantly, Eulis appeared, peering over the side of the wagon.
“You’re awake.”
“It appears so,” she said. “Can you help me out? I need to go.”
Eulis hauled her out without fuss and set her on her feet, then pointed toward the woods.
“There’s a little clearing behind those bushes. When you’re done, I saved you some rabbit.”
Letty nodded, then stopped and watched Eulis as he walked away. When he bent over and tossed another stick on the fire, goose-bumps rose on the backs of her arms. She didn’t know this man. She’d known the drunk and had been perfectly comfortable with him. But she didn’t know her boundaries with this one.
At that moment, he turned around and caught her staring.
“Letty? You all right?”
She flinched. “Yeah, sure,” she said. “Be right back.”
She stomped off into the woods, unaware that Eulis was now watching her. Finally, he sighed and looked away. When she came back, he was cutting up what was left of the rabbit for her to eat.
“Here,” he said. “Since you hurt your wrist, thought I better cut it up some for you.”
Letty didn’t bother to hide her surprise.
“How did you know it was hurt?” she asked.
“You told me,” he said.
“I did?”
He nodded.
She frowned. “What else did I tell you?”
He stared at her a bit and then grinned. “Don’t worry. I didn’t believe a word of it.”
She gasped.
He ignored that, too.
“Here. Sit down and eat. The rabbit needs salt, but what we had left dissolved in the storm.”
He handed her a tin plate and then poured her a cup of water.
Letty took the plate with her good hand, backed up to a rock and sat. Then she balanced the plate in her lap and began eating. After the first couple of bites, Letty realized how hungry she was, and soon finished off her share of the food.
“That was wonderful,” she said, and leaned back with a sigh.
“Yeah, it was good,” Eulis said, and then pointed into the darkness. “Thanks to the storm, there’s a pretty good run of water in that creek tonight. I reckon it’s safe enough to take a bath in, if you’re in a mind to take one.”
Letty groaned. “I would love one,” she said. “It will be wonderful to wash all over, again.”
Eulis squinted, and then looked away.
“I’ll walk you down. When you’re done, just holler and I’ll come back and get you.”
Letty set the plate aside and stood, still holding her wrist against her breast to keep from bumping it.
“Would you please get my blanket out of the wagon? I’m going to wash these stinking clothes, too.”
Eulis did as she asked, then cupped her elbow and walked her down to the creek. The water was running fast and high, and she could see foam on the current.
“It’s right cold,” he warned.
“After nearly dying of thirst, I will never complain about the temperature of water again.”
“Need any help?” he asked, pointing to her clothes.
“Maybe you could help me off with my shoes.”
“Lean on me,” he said, and bent down.
Letty grabbed onto his back, steadying herself as he untied first one shoe, then the other, and took them off her feet.
“Anything else?” he asked.
She shook her head.
He nodded, started to say something more, then shook his head and walked away.
“Call when you’re ready to come back,” he added.
“Yes, all right,” Letty said, and began untying her rope belt, then taking off the rest of her clothes.
She kicked the clothes to the edge of the creek so that she could rinse them out and stepped into the water.
Eulis had been right. It was, as her Daddy used to say, colder than a well-digger’s ass. Her toes instantly went into cramps and curled downward in spasms. She flinched once, then walked into the knee-high flow, found a half-submerged rock, and used it for a seat. With only one hand left to do her any good, she washed herself all over as best she could, then eased off the rock and all the way down into the water. It was almost up to her chin, but she didn’t care. She undid the piece of leather