Days of Love and Blood

then both boys were feeling warm. I tucked them into bed and sat with them all night. I watched them get sick and die and I couldn’t do anything.”
    “But you did. You brought them home. You stayed with them.”
    Cooper abruptly left the kitchen and came back in with his bag. “Time to go,” he said as he strode by us without looking. “Gotta get back.”
    “Right,” said Gretchen. “ That’s my cue. Guess I’ll get him back. I feel like I should check on you later on.”
    “No, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine. I’m feeling much better already.”
    “If you’re sure.” I nodded. “Okay. Nice talking to you. Thanks for listening.”
    “Anytime.”
    I watched from the door as Gretchen pulled away in her army green jeep and wondered what made Cooper shut down again. He didn’t even say goodbye.
    Ronan was back in the living room with a new video blaring on the television. I bolted the doors and decided to take a nice long soak.

    Cooper didn’t just divide the groceries up; he stocked my pantry with a good amount of the food and supplies. He also brought Ronan’s clothes upstairs and left them folded on top of the bureau. He left the rest of the food in bags on the camper.
    “Ronan? Do you want to go over to the Fielding’s?” It was early evening and I was already feeling well enough for a short drive. “I want to go bring them this food.”
    “Yeah! I wanna go see Jeremy and Jonah!” I realized those must have been the names of Marianna’s two boys and I was happy to see him looking forward to something.
    “Great, let’s go then.”
    We climbed into the camper after locking up and I thought twice about a seat belt. I was too tender for that.
    “We’re only going to stay for an hour, okay?”
    “Two, please?”
    “Just an hour.”
    “How about we play rock - paper - scissors for it?”
    “Where did you learn to play that?”
    “Cooper taught me!”
    “He played with you? When?”
    “This morning ! He also did magic with a penny and made it come out my ear!”
    “Wow. I didn’t think he would be the type to play games with kids.”
    “He was fun.”
    Ronan beat me on the first two tries and we backed out of the driveway while Ronan wore a satisfied look of triumph upon his face. Solomon and Brigham greeted us in front of Ivy’s house minutes later. After explaining the food, they gratefully accepted their portion and carried it load-by-load into the house. Ivy came out minutes later and Ronan was already off with boys.
    Ivy, Marianna and Gretchen sat with me around the small table in the camper after the men had cleared the goods. They asked how I felt and how the night went with Cooper taking care of me. I was quick to let them know he did better than most people could have.
    “Hello? Gretchen?”
    “Hi Jayde. We’re in here.” A dainty, attractive woman with long dark brown locks and wide eyes stepped up into the cabin.
    “Hi, I was just wondering if I could talk to you later on. Not now, but later.”
    Gretchen nodded and introductions were made. Jayde had been a librarian in Tulsa when she made her escape. The stiff smile and quick once-over glance made me nervous.
    “Your son is adorable,” she said.
    “Thank you,” I answered. There was an awkward pause so I waited for someone else to say something. I wasn’t sure what her story was or if she had lost any children, so there was nothing else I could comfortably offer in the way of idle conversation.
    “Do you want to sit down?” asked Ivy. “We were just talking about how Cooper was the one who took care of Carson last night.” Jayde sidled in next to Gretchen and bent her head into the center of the table, looking a little too eager to gossip.
    “I heard. Why did he do that? Was it awful?”
    “No, it was fine,” I said while putting both hands in the air, palms out. “He was courteous and totally respectful. He even made breakfast in the morning.”
    “Cooper?” Ivy and Jayde blurted in unison.
    “Pancakes,” Gretchen confirmed. “And they were good.”
    “He goes back and forth with his attitude. I don’t really know what to expect with him. But he also stays out of my hair. He knows when to leave, so I’m fine with him.”
    “He fights with everyone here,” said Jayde. From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Ivy roll her eyes.
    “ About what?” I asked.
    “Everything,” Ivy replied. “Anything. You can just look at him and he’ll start a fight with you for staring at him one