Minutes to Burn

Chapter 43

Cameron called out once as she neared the small house so as not to surprise the couple or find herself on the wrong end of a swinging ax. She gazed at the dark stretch of the forest in the distance, the ribbons of garua hanging in the air like bands of fabric.

Ramon met her at the door, his dark hands and dirty fingernails pro-nounced against the light bloque on which they rested. "Hello, gringa," he said. Cameron noticed for the first time the space between his front teeth, a gap from which he drew attention away with the sharp line of his mustache.

"Hola," Cameron said. She started to speak, but he stepped forward and embraced her. Awkwardly, she allowed herself to be hugged.

"You are good to have come and checked on us," he said.

"How is she?" Cameron asked.

Ramon stepped back, gesturing for Cameron to come inside.

Floreana was sitting in a wide wooden chair at the kitchen table, her legs spread and her stomach bulging out before her. She was dozing off, her head rolling forward before snapping back up. Cameron and Ramon watched her for a few moments, and Cameron felt her first smile in a long time rise to her lips. Floreana's eyes finally flashed open, catching a glimpse of the visitor, and then she was wide awake, scolding her husband.

"It's all right," Cameron said. "I'm just glad to see that everything's okay. How are you feeling?"

Floreana groaned, lacing her hands dramatically around her belly, as if carrying a load of laundry. She stood, arching forward to stretch her back. When she saw the expression on Cameron's face, her smile van-ished. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Cameron shook her head. "I'm sorry to alarm you." She looked down at her boots, her men's size-ten feet. "As if you don't have enough on your mind right now."

"What?" Ramon asked. His thumb twitched against the scar of his index finger.

"Well, that thing you talked about, whatever it was, it may have killed one of our men. I'm just concerned… I'm concerned if it comes near here that you… the baby…I don't know." Cameron's face was flushed, though she had no idea why. She fought to keep the softness of her emotions from seeping into her voice. "I would stay here myself to stand guard, but I can't. It would be breaking orders."

Ramon smiled at her affectionately, and Cameron realized how fool-ish she must sound to this kind, simple man-a woman offering to pro-tect his house.

"We'll be all right," Ramon said. "Though I thank you."

"For what?" Cameron asked.

Floreana stepped forward, resting her hands on Cameron's shoulders. "For your thoughts," she said. "For your kind eyes."

Cameron looked down. She twisted her boot on the dirt ground, leaving the imprint of a fan.

"You are not like most of the others, you know," Floreana said, tilting her head in the direction of the soldiers' base camp. "We have watched them, joking and planning and quarreling." She shook her head. "You are not like them."

The urge to respond defensively rose in Cameron's throat-just as quickly, it quelled. "Why?" She surprised herself. Her cheeks were burning and her eyes felt loose, as if they were slipping in their sockets.

Floreana raised a hand, laying it gently on Cameron's cheek. Cameron had not been touched like that by anyone except Justin since childhood. She felt suddenly young and naive, powerless. "You have so much to give," Floreana said.

Cameron raised a hand, gripping Floreana around the wrist and pulling her arm away. She smiled once, curtly. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm…not used to… " She studied the small fireplace, feeling Ramon's and Floreana's eyes on her.

She turned to leave, then stopped herself. Slowly, she raised her head, again meeting Floreana's eyes. She saw her own trembling hand pointing at Floreana's stomach. "May I?" she asked.

Floreana nodded. "Of course."

Cameron reached out and laid her hand across Floreana's full belly. Her knees felt weak, on the verge of buckling, so she sank down, planting them on the dirt floor. Floreana pulled the blunted edge of Cameron's hair off her cheek and drew her softly toward her stomach. Cameron turned her head, resting her ear flat against the globe of Flore-ana's belly.

She closed her eyes and listened.