Part 4
“To leave,” Evelyn said. “Give her that chance.”
Beth told her when to expect the next update. She said the washed scarf would be returned as soon as they had finished with it, then ended the call without congratulating her.
Dana set the phone on the tray and adjusted the water cup.
“I thought you’d argue.”
“I did. Quietly.”
Dana gave a brief smile. Hugh would have appreciated that answer. Evelyn smiled back, and neither tried to keep it going.
She spent another night in the hospital. The next afternoon Beth appeared in the doorway carrying a clear bag.
The red scarf lay inside, clean and still slightly damp. Part of the fringe had been cut away, along with a short section of wool.
“We had to cut it free without pulling against the leg,” Beth said. “The strip for transport is sealed at the center. She ate after we removed the rest.”
Evelyn laid the bag on her lap. Through the plastic she found the uneven place where Dana had joined a second length of yarn.
“You had that with you?” Dana asked.
“I take it when it’s cold.”
“I thought it was put away. In Owen’s chest.”
Beth quietly moved toward the door. Evelyn rested her palm on the bag.
The scarf had begun during the winter Owen’s leukemia returned. Dana had counted stitches in waiting rooms, sometimes unraveling the same section twice because she couldn’t remember where she’d stopped. On the night he died, the unfinished piece was folded under her coat.
Months afterward, she had completed it and brought it to Evelyn. There had been no card. Evelyn hadn’t asked what to say in return.
“It was in his chest,” Evelyn said. “After your father died, I started wearing it.”
Dana touched the plastic over one of the wider rows.
“I didn’t think you moved anything.”
“Not much.”
“His boots are still at the door.”
“They can stay a while.”
Dana drew her hand back. Her mouth tightened, but she didn’t begin the familiar discussion about what a while meant.
Three days after Evelyn came home, somebody knocked while Dana was in the kitchen. She had spent the afternoon securing rugs and fitting a rail in the shower, carefully avoiding the word necessary.
Evelyn opened the solid door. Wade stood beyond the latched screen.
The storm-damaged branches along the lane had been cut and stacked. She had wondered who had done it. Now he held out her walking stick, its cracked lower section enclosed in a steel sleeve.
“Try that before you put all your weight on it,” he said. “Should be sound.”
She looked at the weld. “Hugh would have had something to say about the finish.”
“He generally did.”
Wade glanced toward the upper meadow. Without his usual ease on her porch, he looked strangely unprepared for the place.
“The warden has all four traps,” he said. “I gave a statement. Agreed to let them hold my rifles while the investigation’s open.”
Evelyn left the screen latched.
“What were you thinking?”
“Five lambs in six weeks.”
“All wolves?”
“Two confirmed. Wasn’t enough left of the others.”
“So three you don’t know.”
His shoulders stiffened.
“I called for help, Evie. Put up the flashing lights. Brought the flock in until they were tearing the fences apart. They tell you to apply for compensation, then you wait. Meanwhile there’s feed to buy.”
She knew the figures were more than an argument to him. His daughter and grandson relied on that ranch. She had seen him carry chilled lambs into the house and spend nights beside a struggling ewe.
“You came through my fence to do it.”
“They were using the creek. I figured one caught there might—”
“She’s five months old.”
“I didn’t know the young ones were coming that far down.”
“But you meant to catch a wolf.”
Wade looked at the cane. Water from the melting snow on its steel sleeve dripped onto the porch.
“Yes.”
Evelyn unlatched the screen far enough to take it. The repaired end made it heavier.
“When they ask about permission, I’m not giving you any after the fact.”
“I didn’t expect you to.”
She closed the screen again.
Wade had plowed her lane after Hugh’s funeral. He had crawled under the kitchen to fix a broken pipe in bitter weather. He had come into the storm for her when she needed him. She could thank him for those things without changing her statement.
He rubbed a hand over his beard.
“Dana upset you, so you left that messenger off.”
“I hadn’t switched it on.”
“Still sounds foolish.”
Evelyn lifted her chin.
Wade went on before she could speak. “Hugh would’ve called either of us a damn fool for going up there alone. Then he’d have come after us.”
“That doesn’t answer for your traps.”
“No. I’m answering for those.” His jaw tightened. “You still have to answer for going.”
Behind Evelyn, a cup touched the kitchen counter. Dana had gone quiet.
Evelyn found a reply and rejected it before saying it aloud.
Wade stepped back from the screen.
“They’ve mentioned the meadow. If they bring her back, they may want the flock out. That’s yours to decide.”
“You have decisions, too.”
“Already made a bad one.” He pulled his collar higher. “Here I am.”
He left without asking to come in or asking her to forgive him. Evelyn kept her hand on the cane until his truck had passed the gate.
Dana came to stand beside her.
“About going up alone,” she said. “Was he wrong?”
On the kitchen table sat the box containing Hugh’s satellite messenger. Evelyn had moved it there after getting home and had done nothing else with it.
“No.” She turned toward the box. “Find somebody to set that up. Tomorrow…”
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