Everything in her hated having to cooperate with him. She'd do what he wanted in order to save Wes, but as soon as he was well, she'd get away from Abe. "What is it you want from me?" she asked

belligerently.

Abe grunted but otherwise ignored her tone. "You don't have to do much to help out a member of your very own family. All I need you for is to do a little brain work. And maybe a little cookin'," he said under his breath.

Her head came up sharply. "So that's it, is it? You don't need me to help plan your robberies, all you want is someone to fetch and tote for you."

"Now Leah," he began, then stopped and gave her his rotten-toothed grin. "Sure, that's all we want. You come along and cook for us, do a little cleanin' and them other things women do. Ain't nothin' wrong in that, is there? There ain't nearly as many of us as all them kids Pa had."

Leah felt almost relieved. She'd hated the idea of having to plan robberies and although the running of the camp would be hard work, she'd rather do that than something directly bad.

Abe was watching her. "That makes you feel better, don't it?" he said as if talking to a kitten. "You just have to do a little cleanin', a little cookin', although these here boys eat a powerful lot."

"And what do I get in return?"

"You get to look after your rich husband." He looked down at his shoe. "Although maybe you better not tell Revis about him. Maybe it oughta be our secret," he said, ignoring the presence of the two young giants.

Leah glanced from Bud to Cal, but their faces were impassive. She wondered how intelligent the men were and wondered too if they realized how degrading Abe's treatment of them was. "Who is this Revis?"

"My partner!" Abe blurted with pride. "Him and me are in this together. We run the whole show."

"What happens when Wesley recovers?"

Abe grinned at her. "I'll tell Revis you run away, couldn't stand all the work. It's happened lots of times before. We sorta wear women out."

"You shot my husband to get a replacement cook?" She spat at him. "If cooks are so easy to come by and you have to rehire them so often, why did you have to

shoot someone?"

Abe looked puzzled for a moment then smiled happily. "I wanted my sister near me. I ain't seen you in a long time."

Leah grabbed a long piece of wood from the woodpile and started toward him.

"You hurt me, Leah, and you'll never find your way out of this forest," he half warned, half pleaded, covering his face with his arms.

She lowered the wood inches away from his head. "You dirty rotten blackmailer," she hissed before turning back toward the cabin and Wesley.

"You boys ain't no use at all," Abe said from behind her. "Wait till I tell Revis how you let somebody threaten me, nearly killed me she did. Revis'll have a few words to say to you two."

Leah took her time repacking her few belongings before leaving with her brother. She wished Wesley would wake up so she could tell him some story about where she was going, although she hadn't had a chance to come up with anything good yet. But he slept hard, his breathing deep and slow. There was a furrow of pain across his brow.

She sat beside him and touched his cheek. At this moment she couldn't seem to remember why she'd been so angry with him for the last few months. All she could remember was being a young girl and falling in love with him. Maybe it was Abe's presence that was reminding her of the nasty farm she'd grown up on. Thoughts of Wesley had kept her sane.

"You get through moonin' over him, you better come on. Revis'll want breakfast. He don't like the boys out of his sight for very long."

Quietly Leah leaned forward and kissed Wesley's sleep-softened lips. "I'll return as soon as I can," she promised him, then left the cabin.

Abe gave a squint toward the rising sun and said, "Let's get goin'." He was obviously beginning to get nervous.

The trail down the mountain was a maze through brambles and rocks. While they were fighting their way down, Leah tried to think. It would be to her advantage to find out all she could about this gang she was reluctantly joining.

"Where are Bud and Cal?" she asked, pushing a briar away from her face.

"They don't like walkin' with other people. They're too dumb to know people ought to stick together.

Even Revis can't make 'em understand."

"Is this Revis ever able to control them?"

Abe stopped and turned to face her. "If you're thinkin' of gettin' the boys on your side against me, you can stop it right now."

Leah tried not to let him see that this was just what she'd been planning.

"Revis and the boys is brothers," Abe said smugly before turning around. "Some families stick together," he added.

"You mean there's another one of these 'boys'? There are three of these giants?"

"Naw, Revis is just regular size and not stupid or nothin' like the boys. They ain't real, blood-related, but Revis's ma got Bud and Cal from somewheres when they was babies. They was raised right alongside of Revis and that means somethin' to 'em."

Leah made a face behind his back, sick of his hints that she was disloyal.

They walked in silence for a while.

"Do Bud and Cal talk?"

Abe snorted. "Only when you pester 'em. I figure they got such little brains they don't have much to say."

"You think the more people have to say the bigger brains they have?"

"Sometimes you're too clever, Leah. I ain't so good with words, but Revis is. You try your words on him.

And you be careful you don't start attackin' him with logs 'cause the boys protect Revis. I'd sure hate to see my own sister hurt."

"I'm sure you would," she said sarcastically.

"Ain't me got no family feelin's, it's you."

Leah didn't bother to make a reply.

In another few minutes they came into view of a little clearing with a ramshackle cabin, a woodpile, and a stream nearby. Leah stopped and looked down on the scene as an emaciated woman emerged from the back of the cabin and began loading her thin arms with logs.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"Verity," Abe answered. "She's our last, er, a* cook. She didn't hold up very long at all. It's them boys, always eatin' and eatin'," he added, his eyes slipping to the side.

Leah didn't question his story but kept her eyes on the woman as they went down the hillside. The

woman didn't even look up. In fact, she looked too tired to care who walked into the clearing.

"Fix up some grub," Abe commanded the woman, his voice deepening.

The woman Verity didn't move any faster as she trudged into the cabin.

Bud and Cal appeared in the clearing as if they'd never left.

After only a moment's hesitation, Leah followed Verity into the cabin, went straight to the woman, and

took the wood from her. "You sit down," she ordered gently. "I'll cook."

A flicker of surprise was Verity's only reaction before she went to a corner of the cabin and crouched on the floor.

"Not there!" Leah said, shocked. "Sit at the table."

Verity turned frightened eyes toward Leah and shook her head.

"Are you afraid of Abe?"

Verity shook her head.

"Bud or Cal?"

Again she shook her head.

"Revis," Leah whispered and saw the woman try to make herself smaller at the mention of the name. "I guess that answers that," Leah said, beginning to look into bags of supplies. "That would be the type of man Abe got himself into partners with," she murmured.

If there was one place Leah felt comfortable, it was in front of a cooking fire. All her life until she'd married Wes, she'd been involved with foodgrowing it, storing it, and cooking it. Now as she began to work, it was in the back of her mind that maybe a good meal would help get Bud and Cal on her side. She'd probably need any help she could get if this Revis was as brutal as Verity had indicated.

The supplies in the cabin were abundant, and after Leah found a woman's dress inside one of the sacks, she realized they were stolen. She refused to let her spirits fall. Bud and Cal had helped her with Wesley and she was going to repay them with a good meal, a very good meal.

"Can't you hurry up?" Abe demanded. "Revis might come back at any time."

"If you'd stay out of my way I could get done faster." She handed Verity a hard-boiled egg.

"She don't deserve nothin' to eat. In this group if you don't work you don't eat."

"Someone has worked her nearly to death. Now get out of here or I'll tell Bud and Cal you're interfering

with my cooking."

To her surprise and delight, Abe's face lost some color and he immediately left the cabin. "Well, well, it

looks like Abe is a little afraid of the boys." She looked toward Verity for confirmation, but the woman was greedily stuffing the egg into her mouth.

From start to finish it took an hour and a half to prepare a meal, the size of which astonished even Leah.

"Bud, Cal," she called out the back door.