Dancing with the Devil

Chapter Ten

Ance built up a fire once they were done and used some branches and rope to hang up their clothes to dry. He tossed Penelope a sack of hardtack and jerked beef and she sighed. 

"Again? Can't we have something else?" 

"What the hell do you think I am? A café?" Ance grumbled. When Penelope merely fixed him with a pointed stare, Ance mumbled a few choice words under his breath and dug around in his sack until he found a can of beans. "I can heat these up, princess. Would that make you happy?" 

Penelope smiled brightly. "Very much so." 

Ance was chuckling even while he was muttering. He grabbed his large knife and began cutting off the lid of the can. "Ance?" Penelope spoke again. 

Ance raised a brow but didn't look at her as he found a rock, placed it on top of a few dancing flames and sat the can atop that to heat. "What is it, Penny?"

"Where are we going?" 

Ance shrugged. "I didn't have any particular place in mind. Why? There somewhere you're wanting to go?"

For a moment Ance feared she would say she wanted to go back to her mother. After spending a solid week laid up in the hotel crying over her wayward mother, Penelope had finally dried her tears and hadn't mentioned the woman again other than to say different things her mother would or wouldn't let her do. 

Ance knew one thing was for sure. He had been with Penelope for over a month now and he had no intention of giving the girl back to the bitch that birthed her or anyone else. Penelope was his now and he was going to care for her just the way she deserved to be cared for--the way all children deserved to be cared for. 

"I don't care where we go," Penelope admitted before tearing off a piece of jerky with her teeth. "But I'd sure like to have a real bed soon. This makes four nights on the ground!" Penelope held up four fingers as if to ensure Ance knew how many that was. 

Ance laughed. "You're complaining over four nights? Hell, Penny, I've gone four weeks, four months even, without a real bed." 

Penny glared. "I want a bed, Ance." 

Ance sighed and clicked his tongue as he leaned back against a tree and folded his hands behind his head. "Can you handle two more nights on the ground? We'll be in Grandy on the third morning and you can have a real bed to sleep in for a few nights." 

"Where do you live, Ance?" Penelope asked suddenly. 

Ance stared off into the growing darkness. "I don't have a particular place, Penny. My home is wherever I lay my head at night." 

"You mean you don't have a house?! Everybody has a house!" 

Ance shook his head. "Not everybody." 

"Then where will I live?" 

"Wherever I live." 

"So wherever we lay our heads at night?" 

Ance grinned. "That's right. Don't worry, Penny. I'll see you're taken care of and don't want for anything. I'll make an outlaw out of you yet." 

Penelope giggled and pointed to her brace which was still lying on the ground beside them. "I'm not mean enough to be an outlaw. Now help me get my brace on, I have to find a bush." 

Ance's laughter filled the evening as he did what she bid. "See, you're already starting to talk like a ruffian," he announced. "There's hope for you yet." 

***

Audrey hadn't slept. She couldn't sleep. When she slept she saw her daughter's face. Her beautiful Penelope. The daughter she was beginning to think she would never see again.