Rivers of Gold by Tracie Peterson Page B

sad.”
    “Sad?” Adrik questioned.
    She nodded. “Yes. Sad about Miranda. He seems to have lost all hope and purpose.”
    “I wouldn’t be surprised if you aren’t right on that matter,” Adrik said, looking to Karen. “I can well imagine how I’d feel if I lost Karen.”
    Karen reached out to hold his hand. “I don’t even want to think of how things would be if you weren’t here. I worried about you the whole time you were gone. I’d pray and pray and then worry that I needed to pray some more.”
    “Well, we do have good news,” Jacob said, seeming to suddenly remember. “Tell ’em, Adrik.”
    Adrik looked at Karen. “Gump said he’d like to hire us on to work his claim. Even though there isn’t as much to do this time of the year, he’d like us to come just the same. Said he’d split whatever we found fifty-fifty. We aren’t going to get a better offer than that. His cabin is small, but it should be sufficient. We can add onto it when the weather warms up.” Adrik puffed out his chest as though quite pleased with himself. “I told him I’d come back here and pack everybody up and be there within the week.”
    Karen’s mouth dropped open. “What? Just like that?”
    “Just like what?” Adrik seemed genuinely surprised.
    “We can’t just up and leave. Grace just had the baby. She can’t possibly travel.”
    “We can arrange for her. She could stay here in town for a spell, and then we could come back and get her. Look, I borrowed Gump’s dogs and sled. I can’t keep him waiting longer than the week. It takes two days just to get to where his claim is on Hunker Creek.”
    “But I thought you went to check out another claim. Didn’t Gump suggest some friend of his might need help?”
    “Gump’s friend didn’t need the hands, but Gump did. We started talking on the trip out there, and Gump talked about how hard it is to work a claim by himself. He wants to give it one big go in the spring and then pack out by fall of next year. He figures if we help him with it, we might all come out on top. After all, most of the claims on Hunker Creek are netting good finds.”
    “But Adrik, we can’t … I mean …” Karen’s voice trailed off. She tried to think of how to tell him about her job. She looked to the others in the room. Leah and Grace seemed to understand, but Jacob just looked on, as if confused by the entire encounter.
    Grace nodded to Karen as if to bolster her courage. Karen looked to her husband and decided it was better to just get things out in the open. “I have a job. It pays good money. One hundred and fifty dollars a month, to be exact.”
    “That is a lot of money!” Jacob exclaimed. “What do you have to do for it?”
    Adrik took a step back and looked down at his wife. “Yes, what do you have to do?”
    Karen felt her cheeks grow hot, but whether from embarrassment at the suggestive tone of her husband or her own anger, she couldn’t tell. “Nothing that would shame either one of us. I have a job cooking. It’s a good job. I figured we could use the money what with the baby and all. Grace and the baby need four walls and a roof, not a tent.”
    “And that’s exactly what I propose to offer them,” Adrik replied.
    Karen looked around the room, frustrated to have an audience. That was the biggest problem with their living in a tent. There was never any place for real privacy, and outside was far too cold to take a stroll for something so menial as an argument.
    “Adrik, I took the job because I thought it might ease the burden for you and Jacob. The job isn’t hard, and I don’t mind doing it.”
    “Well, I do. I don’t want my wife supporting me,” Adrik said sternly. “I’m the one who took it on to see to your welfare and that of everyone else in this room. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think myself capable.”
    “And you are,” Karen replied, hoping to soothe his irritated spirit. “I just thought this would free you up to find what