His men should have been back by mid-morning at the latest. But here it was late afternoon and still no sign of them. Knox sat in a rocking chair on the front porch of his ranch house and stared to the east. He’d been sitting there for hours. When the screen door creaked he didn’t look over. He knew who it was. “No sign of them yet?” Esther asked. “If there was,” Knox said, “do you think I’d still be sitting here?” “I was only asking,” Esther said timidly. “Well, don’t.” Knox gestured at the other rocking chair. “Join me.” It wasn’t a request. It was a command. Esther folded her hands in her lap and perched as if she was ready to take flight if he lifted a hand to strike her. “I can understand you being upset.” “I doubt that you understand anything about me, woman,” Knox said. “I doubt you understand anything at all.”
