Nothing gold can stay (8 page)

Yes, a diamond to give.

He quickened his step over a fallen log and ducked beneath a low-hanging branch. A ptarmigan exploded out of the brush, catching him by surprise. He unshouldered his shotgun. Ptarmigan was good eating. Elaine baked them in a butter-wine sauce that turned brown in the oven, crisping the skin of the birds and marinating the flesh with a flavor that was at once sweet and sour. When they had it, Elaine would mix in a little evaporated milk to turn it into a cream sauce, and serve it over flat noodles.

Elaine. Elaine the fair, Elaine the lovable, Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat. His lady, his love, his queen. Children together, teenagers together, married the day after high school graduation. There had never been anyone else for him or for her.

They didnt need anyone else, he told her when she had come back from the doctor with the news that they could never have children of their own. They had each other, and their cabin in the wilderness. They ran their trapline in the winter, planted their garden in the summer, lived life the way it ought to be lived, day by day, year by year, seeing the seasons in and out together.

In winter the wolves might howl, but they had stout log walls and a thick door between them and the hungry pack. The temperatures might drop to forty below zero, but they had six cords of wood stacked in a pile beneath its own shelter, and thick parkas and mukluks Elaine had made from furs gathered from their own trapline. They had a cache filled with moose and caribou and ptarmigan and goose and salmon and berries, a root cellar beneath the house filled with carrots and potatoes, and a pantry filled with canned goods, so theyd never go hungry.

In summer, they had fourteen hours of daylight and never wasted a moment of it, working all day, loving all night. He closed his eyes for a moment to revel in the deep delight the thought brought him. Elaine, gazing up at him with serious brown eyes, dark hair falling back from her smooth skin, mouth open a little to catch her breath, her hands resting lightly on his shoulders, her heels digging into the base of his spine, reaching for the sun, the moon and the stars. He gave them all to her, and she gave them back again.

He had promises to keep, and miles to go before he slept. He abandoned the too-heavy jade by the side of the creek, adjusting the lighter pack on his shoulders as he headed south by ways known only to the wild things of forest and stream. What other treasures would he find to lay at her feet?

Elaine, my Elaine. Im coming home, my lady, my love, my queen. How will you reward me this time, my own, my lady, my love?

FIVE

Nenevok Creek, September 1

Mark couldnt understand why she was so angry. In seven years of marriage, he hadnt known she could get this angry. Hed never known silence could be so loud, either; this one was thunderous, reverberating off the steep sides of the three peaks and tumbling down the mountainsides until it filled the valley down to the very surface of the creek.

One moment she had been in his arms, and the next he was on his ass, his chest still smarting from the foot she had used to push him away. The silence began as she made him corned beef sandwiches with mustard and lettuce, just how he liked them, on bread out of the Dutch oven the night before. Nothing interfered with Marks appetite, so he wolfed them down with the macaroni salad and the large dill pickle Rebecca produced to go with them. Hed made the effort, holding up his end by carrying his plate to the wash tin on the counter, but when he tried to pull her into his arms again, she had slipped free, sat down and used the bead tray to block any further attempt at embraces.

In seven years of marriage, he had never once been incapable of seducing her into seeing things his way.

Now, clad once again in hip waders, he bent over the creek to wash dirt out of a pan in pursuit of that elusive gleam of color. An eagle cried overhead, and he raised his head to look, shading his eyes against the sun. A rustle of brush warned that some wild thing was nearby, how sharp of teeth or long of claw he had no idea. He ignored it, as he always did. “Come on, honey, hed said to Rebecca, “well leave them alone, theyll leave us alone. Theres nothing to be afraid of.

Pity about that bear charging them the first week. It had only been a fake charge, the sow had skidded to a halt fifty feet away, bellowed out a roar of defiance and then turned abruptly on the space of a dime and lit out for the hills like she had been shot from a catapult. They had come to no harm, but the experience had unsettled Rebecca. Well, that and the moose eating all the broccoli and cauliflower out of the garden and then approaching the cabin to nibble at the bark of the logs. “Theyre eating the house! shed said when he had come home that evening.

He had laughed and loved her out of her fear. God, she was beautiful, his wife. He couldnt see her even in jeans and T-shirt without wanting to rip them off and wallow in her, inhaling her, burying himself in her.

Hed never been quite sure how he had managed to win her. Looking like she did, Rebecca had had men lining up three deep wherever she went. He had beat them all to the gate, by god.

He tilted the pan and let the rest of the water drain out. There were a few specks of color, nothing more. He rinsed out the pan and looked upstream. There was an outcropping of large rocks at the first bend that he had been slowly, steadily zeroing in on. If he hadnt run out of summer he would have discovered the big one, the pocket where the heavier gold had settled as it was being washed downstream. No mere dust there, he was sure, but nuggets the size of peanuts, nuggets by the pound, never mind the ounce. One more summer and he would hit pay dirt. Why couldnt she understand that?

Bewilderment was giving way to resentment. She was his wife. She had promised before God and man to love, honor and obey him. He hadnt insisted on the traditional words; she had. In his turn, he had promised to provide for her, to endow her with all his worldly goods. His worldly goods were about to increase in a big way. Under the next rock or around the next bend, the gold beckoned him on, promising wealth and riches beyond his wildest imaginings and, evidently, her comprehension.

Gold. Number 79 on the periodic table. Hed panned his first gold at the Alaska State Fair two years before. He hadnt wanted to go, but Rebecca had beaded some artsy-craftsy thing into a small brass ring and entered into one of the competitions, and shed dragged him along for the judging. He had wandered off and discovered a long trough with water circulating through it. The water was very dirty.

“Like to try your hand?

He looked up and saw a man twice his age, half his weight and a foot shorter than he was peering at him through Coke-bottle lenses. “At what?

The man had handed him a battered gold pan that looked as if it had come across the Chilkoot Pass in 1899, and that was when hed first realized hed stopped in front of the Alaska Mining Association booth.

Hed filled the pan with dirt and water and swirled it around. The man showed him how to tilt it so the water ran out and the dirt settled in a half-moon at the bottom. He dipped more water and dirt, swirled out more water and dirt, wetting his sleeves to the elbow, soaking the front of his shirt and jeans, repeating the motion again and again until there, in a few grains of sand, there it was, a single tiny perfect flake of gold, gleaming up at him, beaming up at him.

Hed looked up and the man had grinned at him. “Nothing like it, is there?

No, he thought now, looking down at the pan in his hands. Nothing.

Fine. He set his jaw. Theyd never had a bump in the marriage before, but all marriages had them. Theyd ride it out. Anchorage wasnt much of a proving ground, all the modern luxuries, the modern conveniences. Out here, a man was tested.

A woman, too.

His resentment began to fade. Hell, it wasnt her fault shed never hauled water from the creek, or chopped wood for a fire to keep her warm. It would take time for her to get used to the life, that was all. Maybe he had enough time before the hard frost set in to dig a new hole, move the outhouse closer to the cabin. Thatd probably make a big difference.

He looked at the rock upstream, a shard of quartz sparkling at him with a come-hither look in its eye. The sun was well behind one of the mountains by now, and getting to it earlier every day. Not enough daylight left to fetch the pry bar. For a moment he was sorry he hadnt taken on someone to help, someone who might know more about mining than he did, but he dismissed the thought almost at once. At least that was one thing he didnt have to worry about out here, no men to vie for Rebeccas attention. Out here, he had her all to himself. Days hunting gold, nights sleeping with Rebecca. Although they never got all that much sleep. Last night, for example. He shrugged his shoulders, and the marks still stung.

Why couldnt it be enough for her, too?

He put away his equipment in the shed and hung the hip waders to dry. The smell of salmon frying and rice boiling greeted him as he opened the door. He brightened. Good. She must be over her mad. Hed known it wouldnt take long.

He pulled the door closed behind him, and without turning around from the counter, she said, “I dont care what you do, Mark, but Im flying out of here with Wyanet Chouinard on Monday. She flipped the salmon steaks onto a plate and put it on the table. “Suppers ready. Sit down and eat.

He sat automatically. “But, Rebecca

She brought the rice, the soy sauce and the salad, already dressed. “No, Mark, she said, and whatever he had been going to say was stopped dead by the firm decision in her voice. “I have done everything youve asked me to. I quit my job when I didnt want to, I turned over our home to a house sitter I didnt know, I left behind my friends

“I sold it, he said, looking at his plate.

“and family andwhat?

“I sold the house.

Silence. He looked up to see her fork suspended in midair, her blue eyes staring at him unblinking. “Before we left in May, I sold the house.

More silence. Compelled to fill it, he said, “I sold it to Jeff Kline. He always liked it, and you know hell take good care of it. You dont have to worry about our stuff, I paid a mover to pack it up and put it into storage. Well have it shipped out here after I add on a couple of rooms to the cabin.

He looked up and her eyes were fixed on his face but she was looking more through him than at him. “Rebecca? He took her hand. She let it lie in his, limp, lifeless, unresponsive.

“How could you sell it? she said finally.

He misunderstood. “It was in my name. It was my house before we were married. We never did get it changed over.

“No, she said, her voice coming more strongly. “How
could
you?

He couldnt quite meet her eyes, couldnt quite face that wounded look. “Just give it a chance, Rebecca, okay? Well be together and thats all that really matters, isnt it? He took a deep breath and made the supreme sacrifice. “And maybe we can have that kid youre always bugging me about. Great place to raise kids, isnt it? No drugs on the street corner, no crazy people shooting up the high schools, no television to monitor. You could teach him, home-school him, you know, and I could teach him everything else. Youll like it, Rebecca, youll

She stood up, pulling her hand free.

“Rebecca? Honey?

Her eyes darted around the room, looking at the thin mattress of the cot theyd slept on for the last three months, the corners of the room filling with darkness five minutes earlier this evening than the evening before, the stained and torn linoleum covering the floor, the battered counter that served as kitchen, laundry and bathroom, the rough, peeling surfaces of the uninsulated logs.

There was a look on her face that he didnt like. “Rebecca, I know it hasnt come as easily to you as it has to me, but

She pushed back her chair and walked around him to the door. She flung it wide, and he heard the splash of the neighborhood grizzly as he went into the creek for supper.

Rebecca stood on the doorstep for a long time, but she never stepped outside.

Kagati Lake, September 1

An hour later they had the body bagged and in the plane, and the rolls of film out of the camera and carefully labeled. The prints Prince had lifted were in an envelope, also labeled. The family was gathered around the kitchen table, a fire in the fireplace shared by both kitchen and living room, and all the lanterns in the house lit. Leonard had insisted on cooking everyone a meal, fried salmon steaks, salad from the garden out back and boiled potatoes, also from the garden out back. Simple food, well cooked, it tasted of dust in Liams mouth and he knew from Wys expression that she felt the same. Prince cleaned her plate and asked for seconds.

“Who could have done this? Leonard said for what had to be the ninth or tenth time.

“We dont know yet, sir, Liam replied. “It looks as if your wife was getting ready to open the post office for the day. What time might that have been?

“She was always early, one of the daughters-in-law volunteered. “She was always at the counter by nine oclock, catching up on the books, ordering stamps, stuff like that.

“What time do you normally get here? Liam said to Wy.

Wy pushed away her plate, still full. “Depends which way I fly the route. Sometimes I start here and work south, sometimes I start at Mable Mountain and work north. Today I started at Mable Mountain.

“Anybody know which way youre flying on any given day?

She shook her head.

“Who else lives in Kagati Lake?

Leonard answered. “Not that many. This area is just a collection of homesteads, but not the normal kind of homesteads, you know, buying land from the state, proving up with a cabin in seven years and then its yours. A bunch of gold miners came through around the turn of the century, on their way to the Yukon, and some of them stopped off to do a little panning. They found color, so they staked claims. Some stayed, like my great-grandfather.