“Oh, you made me an arm,” I say, and all the tension melts away.
“Yes, Miss McKeene,” he says, and then he’s falling to one knee and it’s like some kind of nightmare. Only if it were really a dream shamblers would be eating his face and honestly I’m kind of praying for the dead to appear as he begins to speak.
“Miss McKeene, I have admired you since the first day I beheld you, and you bravely shot an outlaw that had stumbled into our humble encampment.”
I do not mention it wasn’t really an outlaw, but a bad man all the same.
“Mr. Stevens—Thaddeus?” I say, and his expression brightens. “I’m going to stop you right there. Whatever you’re about to say next, well, we should pretend it was just you saying how you were so moved by my sad situation that you made me an arm and not any kind of romantic proposal.”
His expression falls but he remains on bended knee. “No?”
“No, sir. See, I’m clearing out tomorrow, back to murdering and the like, you know how it is, and I don’t really have any use for a husband.”
Recognition dawns on his face and he stands. “Ah. But you do have need of an arm.”
“Well, seeing as how you went to the effort and all, it seems like it would be a shame to put it aside to wait for someone else to lose an appendage.”
He smiles and helps me fit it on, showing me how it secures with the leather strap. There’s a kind of hook that moves on a tension wire, and when I flex my upper arm the hook opens and closes. The mechanism is terrifying.
I love it.
“Would it be possible to put a blade on the end, there?” I wonder aloud. “Just, you know, considering the possibilities.”
“You are an incredible woman, Jane McKeene,” Thaddeus says, and I laugh.
“I know. Now, let’s go dance.”
The sun is barely cresting the trees when I set out to leave the morning after Sue’s wedding. Robert is there with the babies to see me off, Edith in with my mother. I hadn’t been planning to tell her I was leaving, but at some point in the evening, after Sue and her fellow snuck off to try out the bed Carolina built for them, the wedding had turned into a farewell party.
Thaddeus Stevens is by far the world’s worst secret keeper.
Momma had been quite upset and left, but I just let her go. She’s taken to her bed again, but this time she’s going to have to find her way out all by herself. I won’t do it for her anymore.
I kiss the babies, and they laugh and show me their teeth. Robert looks tired, but he offers me a wan smile. “She understands, you know, even if it seems like she doesn’t. She asked me to give you this.” He hands me a letter written on my mother’s signature lavender-and-cream stationary. Somehow she managed to get this paper across the country but not Aunt Aggie.
I smile and tuck it into my front pocket. I won’t read it. I’m going to burn it the first chance I get. I think it’s probably better that way. For just once I’ll keep the soft warmth of fantasy over the cold edge of reality.
I’ve only gone a few paces down the road when somebody calls my name. I’ve already said all my good-byes and the sun is bright in my eyes so I can’t tell who it is. But as Daniel Redfern comes into view I smile.
“Well, howdy, stranger,” I say.
“I overheard you last night and thought maybe you’d like some company,” he says. “It’s dangerous to go alone.”
“I thought you didn’t like to get involved in things,” I say, reminding him of our conversation long ago when he was sheriff. He grimaces.
“Trying something new. People can change, you know.”
“So I hear.” I look back toward town one last time, hoping to see a different silhouette, but the road is empty. It’s better this way, anyhow. I can’t really ask Katherine to give up her life here to help me . . . what? Liberate any remaining Survivalist towns? Reclaim the Lost States? I don’t really even have a plan, just an inkling that I’m needed anywhere else but Haven, California.
Daniel and I start walking, in companionable silence, when a voice yells after me, “Jane McKeene, you stubborn muttonhead, you better not leave without me!”
I turn to see Katherine running toward us. She carries her rifle with one hand and holds her hat on her head with the other, and little puffs of dirt rise up behind her. Her knapsack crisscrosses her body, and I have never been happier to see her. She pants when she reaches us and I frown.
“Are you wearing a corset?”
“Jane, I am not going to discuss my undergarments in the company of men,” she says, looking at Daniel. She leans closer and says, “Yes, but it is very loose, please stop nagging me.”
A feeling, warm and bright and happy wells up in me and I have to fight to keep from crying. But I push it down, because there is something I must say.
“Kate, you have to stay.”
She pauses in fixing a loose piece of hair and stares at me. “What are you blathering on about, Jane?”
“I can’t ask you to come with us. Daniel and I, well, we’re immune to the dead. You ain’t. It’s too dangerous for you to go with us.”
“First of all, you have no idea whether I am immune. You do not know that Gideon Carr did not finally perfect that serum of his any more than I do. We can test it out the first time we find a pack of the dead and adjust our expectations from there. Second, I am your friend, Jane, your best friend, and I would be no kind of person if I did not go where my friend needed me most.” Katherine takes a deep breath and sniffs. “Besides, Haven is gloriously boring. And all the fashion is at least two seasons out of date. I have no desire to hide away from the world. In fact, I recommend we head to New Orleans first, by ship if possible. I miss the salt air.”
Daniel Redfern nods. “That’s not a bad idea if we’re planning on going after any of those remaining Survivalist towns. There’s one right near the mouth of the Mississippi River.”
“Excellent,” Katherine says, stowing her rifle in a back holster and clapping her hands. “Let us get to it, then.”
“Kate,” I say, as we turn our merry band toward the road. “I’m glad you’re here. But more than that, I’m glad you’re my friend. You saved my life when I couldn’t save myself.”
“Oh, honestly, Jane, stop being so silly,” Katherine says, adjusting her hat even though not a hair is out of place. She blinks a bit rapidly, but not a single tear falls. “Of course I am your friend. What a ridiculous statement. What else could I be? And let us not forget that you saved my life as well.”
Redfern clears his throat. “No one seems to be glad I’m here.”
Katherine gives him a sly look. “To be fair, we are still waiting to see whether you can be trusted. Your history leaves a little to be desired, sir.”
Daniel Redfern laughs, the first real laugh I’ve ever heard from him, and I am put out. I am much funnier than Katherine.
He shakes his head and adjusts his hat. I check my pack and weapons one last time, my new metal arm clacking in a strange and easy sort of way, while Katherine grumbles about ungrateful ninnies that continue to underestimate her. I swallow a smile, and for the first time in a long while feel more full of light than dark.