Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [192]
Jack shrugged. ‘I don’t mind. If you hadn’t turned up I’d have been on my way somewhere else by now.’
‘You would?’
He laughed at her surprised look and stroked her cheek. ‘I didn’t come here for gold, only to get away from Dawson. Now you’re with me I could be happy anywhere.’
That was exactly how she felt too, but hearing Jack voice her feelings was wonderful.
‘What will we do then?’ she asked. ‘If we’re chucked off.’
‘Whatever you want,’ he said, taking her in his arms. ‘My dream has already come true.’
She cupped his face in her hands. ‘I love you, Jack Child,’ she said.
‘You do?’ He looked astonished.
‘Of course. A hundred per cent. But I expect you to make plans. If you don’t I’ll start pushing you around.’
‘There is no one I would rather be pushed by.’ He laughed.
‘Aren’t you forgetting something?’ She playfully bit the end of his nose.
‘What?’
‘Well, I said I loved you. Aren’t you supposed to respond to that?’
‘How?’ he said.
She knew he was teasing and boxed his ear. ‘Say it,’ she ordered him.
He caught hold of her round the waist and spun her around. ‘I love you, Miss Bossy Bolton. I have for five long years,’ he said, still spinning her.
He let go and she wobbled with dizziness. ‘That’s hardly a romantic way to tell a girl,’ she said indignantly.
‘I’m more of a practical sort of bloke.’ He grinned at her. ‘So I’m going to be really romantic now and suggest we get on with sluicing down here for Oz, and see what else we can find for him.’
They found five more small nuggets that afternoon. Jack put them into Oz’s tin. ‘They must be worth a few hundred dollars,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘There was a time when I might have pocketed them, but meeting you changed that in me.’
‘It did?’
‘Yup.’ He nodded. ‘You were so sparkly clean and honest, I didn’t think I’d have any chance with you unless I became that way too. I’ve got a lot to thank you for.’
Beth was very touched. ‘I was a fool not to have realized straight off how right you were for me.’
‘Hell, Beth, if we’d settled down and become ordinary folks back in New York it probably would have fallen apart in no time. Look at the adventures we’ve had together!’
She knew that was his way of saying that he didn’t feel bitter about her choosing Theo back then, and that made her love him even more.
Oz didn’t come back within a few days as he’d promised. Jack and Beth carried on sluicing, finding no gold amongst Jack’s dumps but more small nuggets in Oz’s, and they scooped a quantity of gold dust from the bottom of his sluice.
It was glorious weather in the main, though the mosquitoes were irritating, but as the days grew into one week and then two and still Oz didn’t return, Jack became worried about him. He had never known him leave his dogs with anyone for that long and they spent all day waiting on the river bank looking out for their master. But Jack didn’t dare leave the claim to go and look for him.
News from Dawson City travelled quickly, even out to the farthest creeks, for everyone passing by had something to tell. They had heard that the town was almost completely rebuilt since the fire, with sewerage, electricity, steam heat and telephones being put in. Since the ice broke up, thousands more people had arrived, the rich by sea, and the poor over the trails, and it was said that vast numbers of them were flat broke, tramping around looking for work. Men like Jack who were mining for the claim owners were becoming jittery that their wages would drop with the surplus of workers, and even those who owned the claims were worried that desperate men might try claim-jumping, or come out here to rob.
On 4 July, they heard the bangs and fizz of fireworks from Dawson, a reminder to Beth that it was a year since she’d got the news of Molly’s death. But still Oz didn’t return.
One afternoon in mid-July, Flash and Silver began howling, and finally Jack spotted Oz rowing his boat back up the creek.
They were overjoyed to see him, but as Oz clambered unsteadily ashore, stinking to high heaven, it was clear he had been drinking solidly for the