“But we could stay here and wait for him, right? He could come home when he was finished?”
The love he bore Mitch shone from his innocent gaze. Perrie’s chest tightened. “Davey, you and I aren’t really the right people to stay here through a whole winter when all it does is snow. Besides, once we get settled, you can have a yard and meet some friends and even watch cartoons again. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
He shook his head. “Mitch was right. TV’s not such a big deal.”
This was not the time for his stubborn streak to rear its head. “Davey, we can’t stay here. We have to pack and leave while we still have enough sun to make it to the car.”
“You mean today? We have to leave today?” He looked horrified.
“Yes, sweetheart. Now up and at ’em. You get dressed, and I’ll fix us something to eat.”
“What about Mitch? I need to talk to him.” The pouting lower lip had made way for a sense of urgency on his face.
“We’ll write Mitch once we get to our new town, and maybe he’ll come to visit.” Perhaps it could happen that way, though not anytime soon.
“We can’t just leave without saying goodbye.”
“David Lee Matheson, don’t argue with me.” Why did this have to be so hard? But she couldn’t explain, not to a five-year-old.
He looked so forlorn, so unsettled. The air whooshed from her chest. Dropping to a crouch, she held his shoulders. “Davey, Mitch has been very good to you—to both of us. There are grown-up reasons why this is the best thing to do for Mitch, and I have to ask you to trust me on this. We have to leave today, and I need you to help me. I know you care about Mitch. I care about him, too, and that’s why we have to go. He is too kind to us to tell us to leave, but he’s not used to living with other people. We came up here to live with Grandpa Cy, but Grandpa’s gone. This is Mitch’s cabin now.”
“He would let us stay. I know he would.”
Not after last night, she thought. Not after what I did.
“Sweetie, he likes living alone. It’s what he’s used to. And he needs freedom to travel and not worry about us. I know it’s hard to leave Mitch, but sometimes you have to do the hard things for the sake of someone you care about. If you care about him—”
“I love Mitch!” Davey interjected, blue eyes filling with tears.
She nodded, drawing him close. “I know you do. So we have to do the right thing and leave now, so he can go on with his life.”
He burst into broken sobs against her neck. Perrie rubbed his back, fighting back her own despair. They had to do this. There was little she could do to repay Mitch’s kindness, but she could do this for him.
Steeling herself, she pulled Davey out in front of her. “If ever there was a time to be grown-up, Davey, this is it. Now please help me.” But rebellion still stirred within the heartbreak in his eyes. She made one more effort. “We’ll leave Mitch a note, one from you in which you can tell me what to say and I’ll write it—”
“I can write my own name and his, too.” Davey’s jaw jutted. They were far from through with this, she could tell.
“Fine. Then you write those, and tell me what you want written in the middle. We’ll leave the notes, and when we’re settled, we’ll let him know where we are.” It wasn’t quite a lie. Perhaps her letter to the reporter would bear fruit, and Simon would be caught one day soon. Then she would get back her life. And maybe contact Mitch.
But looking at Davey, she could tell that this was one of the times when her will would just have to prevail. She rose. “Please dress warmly in the clothes I’ve set out. I’ll fix us something to eat.” Then she left the room, knowing she hadn’t crossed the last hurdle.
But more sure than ever that this was the right thing to do. Davey would only get more attached if they stayed.
Mitch entered the general store, mentally assembling the list of supplies he would need to take to them, unease a hard knot in his gut at the thought of leaving them there through the winter.
But he would leave. After last night, one of them had to go. Cy might have given him the cabin, but it had only been because Perrie had vanished from Cy’s life. Mitch was convinced that something had kept her from being there for her grandfather. The old man would have wanted her to have the only thing he’d had to hand down.
Perrie knew how to handle herself up there. Her strength was almost fully returned. He would make sure there was a winter’s supply of wood and plenty of supplies. He would ask Hank Pearson at the ranger station to check in on them often.