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she’d just been given her wish. Her father would never again need to be a part of her life. On the other hand, the leering stranger he’d left in his place was a completely unacceptable and frightening alternative.

FOUR
    AFTER AN ETERNITY of heavy silence, Garvey Davis decided to get down to matters. “What you got cookin’ over there?” he asked, wiping his filthy sleeve across his mouth.
    Simone, still staring at the closed door, turned to face the man. “What?” she asked in confusion. It seemed so incomprehensible that the man was simply standing there, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had just taken place. Simone remembered times when her father had spoken of someone trading their daughter for a sack of flour. And once, he’d carried on long into the night about a man selling off his children to the highest bidder and all because they were worthless, ungrateful children. Simone had never believed the farfetched tales. Now, however, she had to admit that perhaps the stories held more truth than she’d given them credit for.
    Davis threw his saddle pack to the floor and pulled a filthy fur cap from his head. “I’m hungry, woman. I asked what you got to feed me.”
    “Stew,” Simone said simply, unable to think clearly. Surely this man didn’t think she’d just willingly remain behind to be his wife. He couldn’t be that ignorant, could he?
    “Dish me up some,” Garvey ordered.
    “I don’t think,” Simone began uncomfortably, “I understand this situation.”
    Davis shrugged out of his coat. “What’s to understand? I bought your pa’s land and house. He threw you in on the deal, seein’s how I needed a wife and all.” He sized her up and nodded approvingly. “Seems a right good deal.”
    Simone felt her heart racing inside her chest. She had tried so hard to be void of feelings and emotions for the better part of her life, but this matter couldn’t be dealt with in the same manner as the others. She not only felt rage and frustration with her father’s actions, but genuine fear. Fear that edged on panic.
    “You gonna stand there starin’ at me like that or are you gonna feed me?” Davis questioned, looking none too happy to have to repeat his request for food.
    Simone did as he asked. She needed time to think the matter through, and with Davis preoccupied with eating, maybe she could figure out what her options were. She couldn’t stay here—that much seemed clear. Davis expected a wife, and from her talks with Naniko, Simone knew basically what that would entail and found the whole idea completely unacceptable. She didn’t want intimacy with this man. He looked hideous with his barrel-like midsection and thick, stocky legs. He reminded Simone of the trolls in her childhood fairy tales. Evil, hideous creatures who preyed upon the weak. Well, he won’t prey upon me , Simone thought as she lifted the lid from the kettle.
    With her hand shaking so hard she could hardly grip the ladle, Simone filled a wooden bowl with the stew and biscuits, grabbed up a spoon, then put them both down on the table and went to retrieve the pot of coffee that could always be found sitting at the corner of the hearth. It would grow as thick as mud after a day of sitting on the coals, but her father never seemed to mind it that way. Simone could only hope that Davis felt the same way.
    They didn’t exchange another word until Davis took his seat at the table. He looked at the stew, then grabbed the spoon Simone had brought him and tasted it.
    “Ain’t half bad. Guess your pa didn’t lie when he said you could cook.”
    Simone stood beside the fireplace wondering what she should do or say. She found she could not quell the mixture of fear and anger that was building inside of her. She watched Davis pick up the bowl and begin to shovel in the food as though he’d been weeks without a good meal. Coherent thought evaded Simone, and she hadn’t even begun to formulate a plan when he grunted at her