Page 11 of Forsaken Mountain Man
You shouldn’t keep secrets from me, sprite.
No matter how long she’d been in the mountains with me or not, I still couldn’t drop the name she’d earned on her first day here that seemed both yesterday and so long ago.
Without a word I shoved my chair back, emptied my coffee mug, dregs and all down my throat and strode for my bedroom. I had a duffle bag from my military days stowed somewhere. That would do for a few weeks’ clothing and whatever else she would need.
Hell, Cora had been wearing my clothes with few alterations for the past months. Maybe when we came back she could bring some of her own things with her, set up what she wanted for the baby properly.
The plan spurred me on. I headed down the hallway until the silence in the living area brought me to a halt.
Kyle coughed, and Cora giggled.
“What are you doing?” she called.
I poked my head back out the hallway. “If you’re keen on working Christmas each season, then we need to pack.”
“We?” She stared at me, open mouthed.
I nodded, my throat already itchy from its long speech of thirteen words. “Yep, we. Going down the mountains. To Red Hart. And White Cap. All of us.” I waved my finger in the air to include our unnamed mountain baby and Kyle, though I cast the trader a hard eye.
He just smiled and drank from my mug at my table while my girl giggled and grabbed her portfolio, already planning which of my carvings she’d take into town.
Guess I’d have a decent income to look after my new family each year if this was the plan from now on anyway. And if she wanted to do this each Christmas… Well, hell.
At least the trader might stay away a little more and I could get some quiet time with my girl once we came back home together.
All of us.
