Cindy Holby by Angel’s End

was a door behind him, shelter and heat. He could stand it for a few minutes.
    Dodger stood beside him, waiting patiently, in the way that dogs do. Cade rubbed the top of his head. He loved dogs, had always wanted one. The Cheyenne camp they lived in had several and the orphanage his father left him at was a working farm with dogs. Unfortunately his way of life wouldn’t work for a dog. It certainly hadn’t worked for his horse. Dang he hated losing that horse.
    How would his life have turned out if the Middletons hadn’t shown up at the orphanage? He’d only had a few years left when they arrived. He was smart and had already finished his schooling. He would have found some sort of job close by, on one of the local ranches, so he could stick around until Brody aged out. They would have had the entire world before them. They could have started their own place with the money he’d earned. Found some nice girls. Gotten married. Started families. Things would have turned out better.
    He couldn’t tell how big the town was from the back of her house. Dang, it was cold, but he needed to get the lay of the land. He had to leave, as soon as he got his strength back.
    Behind Leah’s house the land faded and dipped; most likely there was a stream back there. On the other side was a copse of evergreens that trailed up into a mountain. From what he could see they were pretty deep in the mountains. Snow-covered peaks glistened in the moonlight in every direction. That would make for hard, slow traveling. He best make sure he had plenty of supplies before he took off. And a gun.
    “Let’s go get warm.” Cade turned, expecting Dodger to follow. Instead the dog walked out from under the porch eave and stared at a point to the left of the shed. Cade looked out into the darkness. Dodger took a step and growled. The fur behind his neck stood straight up and he lowered his head.
    “What is it?” Cade bent to get on Dodger’s line of sight. He saw a shadow dart behind the shed. Coyote, or possibly a wolf. Nothing to be done about the animal now.
    “Come on boy, let’s go inside.” Dodger looked at Cade, then back at the shed. “Come,” Cade said more firmly. Dodger cocked his head, paused for a moment and then with a wag of his tail he followed Cade.
    Coming inside made Cade realize how cold he was. He rubbed his arms briskly. His feet were absolutely numb. It felt as if he stood on the stubs of his shinbones with nothing beneath. He went into the kitchen, knelt before the stove and placed a couple of sticks inside, leaving the door open so the heat touched his skin. A lamp sat on the shelf, turned down low, in case someone had to come into the kitchen during the night. Was that a common occurrence, or just the result of his being here? The room was neat. The stove against the inside wall so the stone chimney would heat the room behind it. A cabinet with a sink and a window above, with shelves on either side on the outside wall. A table pushed against the front wall beneath the window with three mismatched chairs around it. A rag rug in the middle.Curtains pulled against the cold at both windows. An old blanket tucked into the corner by the stove for the dog. All very homey and cozy.
    Cade’s feet began to thaw and they burned with a pain so intense that he had to stand to flex them. Moving was the only thing that would help so he hobbled around, crossing from the kitchen into the parlor while trying desperately not to make any noise from the pain. Luckily Cade had a lot of experience at walking silently. The cold seemed to intensify everything and his wound felt as if someone had just poked a red-hot lance through his gut.
    Dodger padded into the hall and watched him with bright and curious eyes. The wind stopped its incessant howling for a moment and the sound of a clock ticking filled his ears.
    “Doors,” Cade said quietly to Dodger. “What this house needs is some doors.” The house was solidly built and laid out well,