He closed his eyes.
She gently touched his cheek.
"Tell me why."
For a long time, he remained silent.
Then he whispered, "It isn't your body."
Her breath caught.
He opened his eyes.
"I know what you've been thinking."
She looked down.
He continued.
"And I need you to understand something."
His voice broke.
"There's nothing about you I'm ashamed of."
Tears filled her eyes.
He looked toward her blue gown.
Then back at her face.
"I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever known."
She swallowed.
"Then why?"
He stared toward the fire.
"Because once before, I loved someone, and everything around us burned."
She went still.
He took a slow breath.
"I thought I'd buried that part of my life."
She watched him.
"But four days ago, a letter arrived."
Her heart tightened.
"What letter?"
He looked directly into her eyes.
"It said the woman I thought was dead might still be alive."
The words seemed to stop the air.
Before she could answer, the cabin door shook beneath three thunderous knocks.
And a man outside shouted the old name her husband had hidden for seven years.
The mountain man's first instinct was to lift his wife from the chair and put himself between her and the door.
But he stopped before touching her.
Even now, with someone shouting his former name through the storm, the habit of asking permission remained.
"May I help you stand?"
The woman stared at him.
A hundred questions burned inside her.
But another violent blow struck the front door, and she understood that the questions would have to wait.
She nodded.
He steadied her while she rose, then reached for the rifle standing beside the fireplace.
The stranger outside shouted again.
"I know you're in there! Open up before they reach the ridge!"
The mountain man moved toward the door.
His wife followed him with her eyes.
"Who is that?"
"I don't know."
"He's calling you by another name."
The mountain man stopped.
She continued.
"And you recognize it."
He looked back.
The grief in his expression made her chest tighten.
"Yes."
Before she could ask more, the stranger shouted, "I came from the doctor! The woman from the depot fire is alive!"
The mountain man closed his eyes briefly.
Then opened the door.
A gust of snow rushed into the cabin.
A man stumbled across the threshold.