“You!” Abe gasped, stepping away from her. “You, a Simmons, married to a Stanford?” He began to smile. “Hear that, Bud? My very own little sister thinks someone like a Stanford married her.”
Bud gave no indication he heard Abe.
“I never knowed you was such a liar.” Abe began to laugh. “All the Simmons women are whores but they’re usually honest whores. Even Ma—Hey!”
He didn’t finish his sentence because Leah administered a ringing slap to his laughing face.
“You little—,” he began. “You want me to set Bud on you? He can tear bits like you apart with one hand. Bud!”
Bud didn’t move and neither did Leah as she stared straight up at him, hoping he wouldn’t see her trembling. Bud looked at her for a moment, then lifted his eyes to look into the forest’s darkness.
“Well,” Abe said, “maybe Bud’s not in the mood tonight.”
Leah released her pent-up breath. “Maybe he has a mother too and believes people should be slapped for saying bad things about their mothers.”
“Hell, Bud and Cal ain’t got mothers. Somebody carved ’em out of a mountain. Look, Leah, forget the pea brains. I got some business to talk to you about.”
“Who is Cal?”
“I told you to forget ’em! Now listen, I didn’t mean none of them things about you bein’ a whore. I mean, even if you are it don’t matter to me because all I want is your…your brain,” he said brightly. “You allus was the smartest one in the family. Ma used to say it was too bad you was born a Simmons. You followin’ me?”
“Only too well. I’m beginning to realize you want something from me.”
“See?” He grinned. One of his incisors was rotting away. “I knew you was smart. And look at you too. Pretty as a lady and you talk all refined.”
“You don’t need to waste your flattery. What do you want from me?”
“I want you to join us.”
“Us? Join you?” she asked in dread.
“You don’t have to act like you’re better ’n me. I got somethin’ good goin’ for me. I’m gonna be somebody.”
Leah stood still and waited for him to continue. It wouldn’t do to antagonize him further, especially not with the hulking man hovering over them.
“I want you to join Revis and me and the boys. We got a little deal goin’ whereas we help ourselves to the people travelin’ over the Wilderness Trail. I reckon you been travelin’ with ’em and you know their ways better ’n us and since you’re so smart you can plan things for us.”
“Plan?” Leah whispered, beginning to understand. She’d heard, of course, of a gang of robbers preying on the westward travelers, but they’d never molested the Stanford party. “You are one of the robbers? Thievery is how you’re planning to make something of yourself?”
“I ain’t always plannin’ to steal,” Abe said righteously. “I’m puttin’ the money away to buy me a little store—or I will put it away as soon as I pay off a few debts.”
“Gambling, no doubt,” she said. “And you think I would even consider becoming a part of your hideous den of thieves?”
“Don’t you go callin’ me names, you little whore. Ma and Pa know you’re hidin’ out with a Stanford?”
“For your information, both Ma and Pa are dead, and I told you before that I am married to Wesley Stanford.”
“Oh, yeah, and Bud here flies. Hey! How come if you’re married to Stanford you two was sleepin’ apart?”
Leah looked at her shoe. “It’s a long story,” she mumbled.
“Only one way a Stanford’d marry a Simmons. He got you pregnant, didn’t he? And only them Stanfords would think they’d have to marry a slut—” He broke off. “Look Leah, married or not, the man don’t want you. Anybody with any sense—even Bud here—would be able to see that. Why’s he keepin’ you in a woods, hidin’ away with you?”
Abe’s words were too close to how Leah actually felt. “I have to go. It’ll be daylight soon,” she whispered. “Wesley will miss me.”
“He ain’t gonna miss you. He’ll be glad to get rid of a Simmons whether she’s his wife or not. Come on with me now, Leah. Join us. We’ll make you rich.”
“Rich!” She spat. “Rich from stealing other people’s goods? Those people on that trail have worked all their lives for what they have and you think I’m going to help you take it away from them? You make me ill! Worse than ill! I wonder if scum like you has a right to live!”