Venom Read Free Page A

asked, “Are you all right?”
    Evelyn couldn’t talk. She was coughing and hacking, trying to dislodge the piece. Her stomach contracted and she nearly vomited. She tasted bitter bile, and coughed some more, and the grisly tidbit shot out of her mouth and into her hand. “Lord,” she breathed, afraid she would be sick.
    The headless body was thrashing about. In a fit of anger, Nate placed his boot on it and mashed it into the dirt. The body ruptured, spewing its insides. He kicked it away in disgust.
    “Thanks, Pa,” Evelyn said.
    “I told you. Rattlers aren’t to be trusted.”
    Winona came around the corner wearing her apron, her rifle in hand. “Why did you shoot?” she anxiously asked.
    Nate nodded at the viper. “Our youngest nearly got herself bit.”
    Incredibly, the snake was still moving. Winona walked up to it and remarked, “Another rattlesnake? I saw a couple while you were away. And Blue Water Woman was saying how she’s seen more this year than in any year she can remember.”
    “Maybe we should have a hunt,” Nate suggested. If there were that many rattlers around, they needed to be thinned out. “Kill as many as we can so we don’t have to worry about stepping on one in the dark.”
    Evelyn was beginning to feel a little better. She uncurled and ran her sleeve over her mouth. “Can’t we leave them be? The only reason this one tried to bite me is because I was poking it.”
    “We’ll talk later,” Nate said. He caught Winona’s eye and motioned. She immediately understood.
    Gently taking Evelyn’s arm, Winona said, “Come inside, Daughter. We will heat water for your bath, and I will cook venison and wild asparagus for our supper.”
    Nate stripped his bay and the packhorse and put them in the corral with the others. He had been in the saddle most of the day and could stand to stretch his legs. On a whim he walked to the lake. Out on the water ducks and geese paddled placidly about. A fish leaped clear and dived. An eagle glided down and rose up again, flapping strongly, a fish in its talons.
    Nate strolled along the shore. It felt wonderful to be home. He’d missed the valley, missed the serenity. He didn’t fool himself, though. In the shadowed ranks of the thick forest prowled bears and mountain lions and wolves. Hostiles could pay them a visit at any time. Then there was Nature herself, as temperamental a mistress as ever unleashed a tempest.
    Peace in the wilderness was the exception, not thenorm, a condition to be savored as someone might savor a fine wine or brandy.
    Nate was a master at savoring. The hardships he’d endured over the years had taught him the value of stopping to smell the roses now and then, a lesson some people never learned. They became so caught up in life that they forgot it was meant to be lived.
    “Say there, mister. Don’t I know you from somewhere?”
    Nate was so deep in thought, he hadn’t realized he was no longer alone. He looked up and smiled. “Zach!”
    “Me,” his son said. “I saw riders and figured it must be you. You were gone an awful long time.” Not quite as tall or as broad as Nate, Zach was swarthy enough to pass for a full-blooded Indian. His eyes, though, betrayed his white half; they were a piercing green.
    They hugged. Nate had never been averse to showing that he cared for his loved ones. Some men were. Some hardly ever hugged their wives and children, and thought the little they did was more than enough.
    “I’ve missed you, Pa,” Zach said warmly, clapping his father on the back. “I wish I could have gone with you.”
    “You know you couldn’t. Not with your wife in the family way.” Nate studied him. “What have you been up to while I was gone?”
    “Not much. I had a scrape with the Indians in the next valley. And a Blood warrior stole Louisa, but I got her back. Other than that, things have been quiet.”
    “You don’t say.” Nate hid his alarm. Unlike Shakespeare, who exaggerated everything, Zach tended