Bought Love

Chapter 4

Katniss

I wake up pressed next to something warm. A cool breeze hits my shoulders and I cuddle up closer to the warmth, causing its owner's arm to fall over me.

Wait. Arm?

I blink open my eyes and am met by an only slightly familiar face. As I recognize him, yesterday comes back to me and I remember that I am now a wife. I sit up, careful not to wake Peeta, and begin dressing for the day. I never wore any of this stuff much before now. I wore the same light buckskin dresses the other Cherokee girls wore that had no sleeves and just barely came to my knees. Now I'm covered in at least three layers that brush the toes of the shoes I also didn't wear before. I look over to see Peeta still sleeping peacefully. I decide not to wake him and sneak out to do the cores in the barn.

As soon as I open the door, the big black stallion, who I've decided to call Storm, whinnies at me, waking Little Cloud, the plump black and white cow, and the clucking chickens. When I hear nothing from Sceeter, the nibbling black and brown goat, I decide to find out why. And when I look in her stall, what I see nearly makes me tear up a little.

Standing on wobbly little legs next to her mother, is a newborn goat kid. From her still wet grey pelt makes me guess she is no more than a few hours old. Sceeter nuzzles her as she starts to feed, her tiny little tail wagging like a dog. Sceeter looks up at me and lets out a gentle bleat before turning her attention back to her baby. I set to work feeding the others and milking Little Cloud and just as I'm about to get some fresh straw for the new family, Peeta walks in.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asks.

"I'm not afraid of work," I reply as I spread the fresh straw much to the new arrivals delight. "I can milk a cow and feed these guys just fine."

"I didn't say you couldn't," he says but then smiles down at the little grey and black fuzz ball skipping around my skirts on her fragile little legs. "I'd just like to help you is all."

"I wouldn't say no to you hunting through the straw for our breakfast," I say and watch as he goes to the corner where the chickens roost and starts looking through the nesting boxes for the eggs they laid since last night. I'm distracted by the little cutie jumping on my skirts. I look down and the goat kid lets out a tiny little bleat. I kneel down to her level and she climbs into my lap. I look at her mother and then hesitantly pet her head. She lays down on the red calico skirt of my dress and falls asleep, tiny puffs of breath escaping her little muzzle.

"It seams like our new arrival is settling in well," Peeta says making me look up at him. I nod as I continue to run my fingers through her baby soft hair.

"Yeah," I say. "She was a very pleasant surprise this morning. I think I might name her Flint."

"Whatever you want Katniss," he says and I feel a smile creep across my face. The more I think about it, the more I feel I could learn to enjoy my life with Peeta. Maybe, just maybe, we might even have a family someday. I'm in absolutely no rush for that and last night made it quite apparent that neither is he. Lately, I've found that in this world, anything could happen.

"I should probably start breakfast huh?" I say although I'm in no rush to wake the newborn curled up in the warm calico on my lap.

"There's no rush," he says as he open the stall door and walks in. "I'm not really hungry. Are you?" I shake my head as he settles down next to me.

"We ate pretty late yesterday and thanks to you, it was a very filling meal," I reply. "Do you have to go to work?" I ask.

"I'm not gonna work for my father anymore," he says. "I can't do that knowing what he did to you. We just fought a war to prove that we are all equal. He had no right to buy you and whip you like a disobedient mule."

"Then how are we going to make a living in town?" I ask worriedly. "We can't farm where there isn't any land to and hunting's nearly impossible around so many folks."

"I didn't want to bring this up so early," he says. "But what would you say to moving out to the Indian Territories?"

"I'd like to not be so close to so many people," I admit. "But I've read about those prairies. Some of the tribes out there are hostile and our words don't make sense to each other. I speak Cherokee, but not every tribe out there does."

"But they'd treat you better out there," he says. "You won't get so many looks and you know how to provide for yourself. Together, we could really make a life out there." I look at him and the look in his eyes tells me he's serious. He'd really leave everything he knows so I could have a life where I wouldn't get looks of disgust every time I step outside my house.

"We'd have to wait a while to make sure we can get enough savings if the crops are a dud," I say. "We can't be caught out there without any money incase we ever have an emergency."

"So we'll go?" Peeta asks.

"If we can save fifteen dollars by the time the year is up, we'll go as soon as the snow melts. That would give us enough time to get a teammate for Storm and train them together. We'd also have to make wagon boughs and buy a canvas and pack up the necessities," I say. "It'll be hard."

"We could do it Katniss," he says. "You've got to know it will work if we put enough into it." I think it over for a moment, not looking over at him but at the little fragile baby on my lap. New life, a new beginning. I finally reach over and take his hand in mine and look up at him.

"I trust you to provide for us Peeta," I say. "We've barely just met, but I do. If this is what we really want, then we are gonna make it happen."