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yard before returning to the house. Simone could clearly see the stranger now. His face, half hidden by a bushy beard and moustache, seemed leathery and worn. His nose bent to one side before hooking down like an eagle’s beak, and his eyes were deep set and pale. Simone thought him the ugliest man she’d ever seen. Even uglier than Flat Nose, a man in Uniontown whose nose, it was rumored, had been cut off by the Indians some forty years earlier.
    The men began to dismount, and Simone, not wishing to be caught watching them, hurried to the fireplace to check on the stew. It appeared to be thickening nicely and already the biscuits were rising amidst the bubbling broth. She straightened up just as the door latch lifted, and with spoon still in hand, she waited to see what might happen next.
    Her father came in first, with the stranger close upon his heel. They both just stood and stared at her for a moment, almost as if they hadn’t expected her to be there. Then her father started to laugh and gave the stranger a hearty slap on the back.
    “Well, tell me, Davis. Did I lie? Ain’t she a beauty?”
    Simone felt nauseous as the man called Davis leered at her and licked his thick lower lip. “That she is. I’ll happily pay your price.”
    “What price?” Simone couldn’t help but ask.
    Louis Dumas ignored her and went about the room, gathering up first one article and then another while Davis counted out several gold coins.
    “What’s going on?” Simone asked, her voice tremoring. Placing the spoon on the mantel, she braved her father’s wrath and went to him. “What are you doing?”
    “I’m leaving.”
    “Leaving?” she asked, swallowing hard. “Where are we going?”
    “ We ain’t goin’ anywhere. I am goin’ to Colorado to seek a fortune and get me a new wife. You,” he said, stopping long enough to motion in Davis’s direction, “are staying with him.”
    Simone felt a chill descend upon her body and began to tremble. It was akin to reliving her mother’s desertion all over again. She had no lost love for her father, but at least he was familiar and she knew how to live with him. “What do you mean I’m staying with him? I don’t know this man.”
    Louis Dumas laughed and pushed his daughter in the direction of the stranger. “You’ll know him soon enough. He’s your new husband.”
    “Husband?” Simone stepped to the side and rounded the table where Davis still counted out coins. Terror seemed to rise from her stomach and choke her. She could scarcely breathe.
    Her father joined the man and nodded as he tested each coin to see if they were real. “Garvey Davis is his name. He’s buyin’ the place, the traps, and …” he paused to look at her, as if to ascertain whether she was listening, then added, “you.”
    “I don’t understand. I don’t want to marry this man. In fact, there isn’t a preacher around here for miles,” Simone protested. “Mother told me you needed a preacher to marry folks.”
    Dumas laughed. “It isn’t the way of the wilds, girl. Folks round here live as married. When the preacher gets around, they do it right—or not. Davis here is your husband now, and you’ll answer to him.” He finished checking the coins, then threw them into a pouch.
    “Good luck, Davis.”
    “To you as well,” the gravelly voice called back.
    “You can’t just leave me here,” Simone protested, unable to keep the fear from her voice. Her breath came in rapid, shallow draws. The last thing she wanted to do was allow him to see how afraid she really felt. Her father might be an oppressive beast of a man, but at least he was a beast she knew and halfway understood.
    “I can and I am,” Dumas replied. “He owns you now, same as this place. Do what he says, or it’s my bet you’ll get a worse beatin’ than anything I ever gave you.”
    And with that, Louis Dumas walked through the door and out of her life. Simone could scarcely believe what was happening. On one hand,