Abby felt high, as though she were riding on a cloud. High as the eagles that soared above Bannack City. She shook with fatigue, but the imminent danger was over. Scooter would not be hanged. He was very much alive—tired, exhausted, drawn out, but still functioning. The area around the half-built gallows had gone quiet. The sudden quiet was more noticeable than the previous noise had been. The blue boys and the gray boys were starting to disperse. The party was over.
Hat in his hands, Isaac approached. “Abby, can I talk to you? In private?”
Abby looked at Scooter, who nodded with understanding. She jumped down from the scaffold and followed Isaac closer to the fire.
“Abby, this is all my fault,” he said. He still couldn’t look her in the eye.
Abby watched him struggle and felt like her heart might break for him. Everything had worked out all right. He really had no reason to tell her the truth, yet she saw the guilt burning in his eyes—the shame of it hunched his back.
“The truth came out, Isaac. Cad confessed where he got his information.”
Isaac stared at the fire for a moment. “I will never forgive myself,” he said. “I can’t believe I put Scooter’s life in danger that way.”
“I imagine there was no other way to save Yahnai,” she said. “Cad would have killed him if he’d felt like it.”
“That’s true,” Isaac said. “I’m glad you didn’t see how bad it was, Abby. When he showed Yahnai to me—”
“Thank you, Isaac.” She didn’t want to imagine the particulars. “Thank you for saving my boy. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you for being exactly what I needed after Evan died.”
Isaac looked at her and smiled, the firelight reflecting in his wet eyes. “I have something of yours,” he said, reaching into his pocket.
“My gold coin,” she said, taking it from him. Somehow it meant even more to her now.
“Promise me you’ll marry him in the Endowment House?” Isaac asked.
Abby smiled. “I promise.”
Isaac turned and walked quietly away, alone. Not far down the road, he began to whistle. It comforted Abby in a way she couldn’t quantify.
She returned to Scooter, who was talking to Yahnai.
“Is the old man all right?” Scooter asked.
“Yes,” Abby said. “I think he’ll be fine.”
“Well, Yahnai and I have been talking, and we think it’s best if we become a family.”
Abby felt butterflies fill her stomach. “You do?” she asked Yahnai.
“Yes.” He smiled.
“Well, I agree.”
Scooter took her by the hand. “And he taught me a wonderful word.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“Suuntsaa’.”