But Orson wasn't that kind of man. He just looked at the room at the stove, at the two cups on the table, at the pair of small boots near the door that weren't Gideon's, and then he left, pulling the door firmly shut behind him. Gideon stood at the window and watched him ride out until he was past the treeine. Then he turned around, and Toby was standing in the middle of the room, looking at him with those careful eyes."Was that man going to help?"Toby asked. Gideon considered several answers and chose the one that was true.
Yes. Toby nodded slowly like he was filing that away. Is my mama going to be okay? Gideon moved toward the wood box because it needed filling and because movement helped him think. Your mama's ankle needs time.
The rest of it, he stopped. Picked up a log. Your mama's tougher than she's had to be lately. She'll be all right. He could feel the boy watching him while he worked.
You live here by yourself? Toby asked. How come? Gideon set the log in the box because that's how it worked out. Toby was quiet for a moment in the way children are quiet when they're deciding whether to push further.
He decided to. Did you used to have a family? Gideon stopped moving. He stood with his back to the boy for a moment. That was probably a second too long.
Yes, he said. What happened to them? Toby Mara's voice came from the doorway to the back room. She had gotten herself upright on one foot, one hand against the doorframe, and she was looking at her son with the specific expression of a mother who has heard a question she wanted to intercept. Come help me sit down.
Toby went to her immediately. Gideon didn't turn around for another moment. When he did, Mara was settled on the bench near the stove, Toby beside her. And she was looking at Gideon with an expression that was not pity, but was some close neighbor of it. The look of someone who has just understood something they didn't know was there to understand.
I'm sorry, she said. Not for Toby's question. For the thing the question had pointed at. Gideon put another log in the stove. Don't be, he said.