"You may not thank me…you may be sorry."
"Will you stay with us?" She asked.
He didn't answer.
"Please stay…" She pleaded once more, staring into his somber face. "We could build another house."
"It is what you wish?"
"Yes." she answered breathlessly.
He nodded his eyes meeting hers.
She had the urge to throw her arms around him and kiss his cheek, but she wasn't sure she should, instead she merely smiled.
"I will stay on the cliff above…" He announced.
Her heart sank. She had hoped he would want to stay with her now, but obviously, he wanted things to be the same as they had been. She sighed heavily but said nothing.
"Until the house is ready, you will stay with me on the cliff." He told her.
Her heart swelled once more and she smiled. "All right." Her smile captured his heart again.
He glanced at Matthew. "Then we must begin work tomorrow. Today we rest."
Matthew nodded. "I'm sure glad of that."
Days went by, and the four of them lived happily on the cliff as they all worked to rebuild the house. Hawk spent most of his time chopping down lumber for the house and Matthew hauled wood and supplies to the spot they had planned to build. The horses he brought worked hard to pull the loads for them. Hawk had built a travois to haul the lumber back and forth.
The barn and lean-to were like sore thumbs sticking out among the rubble. What kept Eve here had nothing to do with buildings or land. What kept her here were the dead.
She knew it was hard to understand.
Three days later two white men came upon them. Hawk had been out chopping wood. When he spotted them, he hid from sight, but stayed close enough to hear what was going on.
"Hello there in the camp." One of the men hollered.
"Hello!" Eve responded in kind.
The men stared at the burnout cabin, then her. "What are you doin' woman?" One of the men asked. He was lean and hard looking, with a scruffy beard and a frown on his face.
"We're rebuilding…" She said with a smile. "Want a cup of coffee?"
"Shore. But…a woman and two kids can't do it." The other man laughed.
"We are doing it, sir." Eve corrected and handed them both a cup of coffee.
"You'd do yourself a service if you'd go into town and stay. This ain't no place for a woman with kids." The fatter more pleasant one said.
"What is it with men? My two children are buried here, and my husband and folks. I cannot leave them, sir." She told them.
"There's Comanche about here. It ain't safe." The thin one repeated.
"Who do you think burnt me out?" She gestured.
"Then if you know about them, why you stayin'?" The fat one asked.
"I cannot leave them…" She gestured toward the graves. "And I do not think they will return."