Ethan nodded.
“And if you decide you don’t want to marry me?”
“I tell my father.”
“And if I decide the same?”
“You tell me.”
“That simple?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
Nahimana looked toward the canyon.
“You would still have to leave these lands.”
Ethan sighed.
“There it is.”
“But you would leave unmarried.”
He looked at her carefully.
“Is that what you want?”
Nahimana took a long time to answer.
“I do not know you.”
“Fair.”
“You do not know me.”
“Also fair.”
“My father believes gratitude can become a marriage.”
“And you?”
“I believe gratitude can become resentment if people confuse the two.”
Ethan respected that immediately.
More than he wanted to admit.
“So what do you propose?”
Nahimana met his eyes.
“One month.”
Ethan blinked.
“What?”
“You need to return to your cattle.”
“Yes.”
“I will go with you.”
Ethan stared.
Nahimana continued.
“We live under the same roof. We work. We talk. We learn what the other is hiding.”
“Hiding?”
“Every person hides something.”
“I don’t.”
She looked at him.
Ethan felt exposed.
Nahimana said, “You do.”
“How could you know?”
“You have the eyes of a man who left somewhere and does not want anyone to ask why.”
Ethan went completely still.
Oklahoma.
For a second, red Arizona desert disappeared.
Rain.
Mud.
A farmhouse burning against a black night.
His younger brother shouting.
A gun.
Blood.
Ethan shoved the memory away.
Nahimana watched him.
“I am right.”
He said quietly, “Maybe.”
“One month.”
“And then?”
“If I want to leave, you return me.”
“To the camp?”
“Yes.”
“If I want to leave?”
“You tell me before you disappear.”
“That sounds oddly specific.”
“It is.”
Ethan wondered which former suitor had tried.
Probably more than one.
He asked, “And if neither of us wants to leave?”
Nahimana looked at him.
“Then perhaps my father gets the marriage he already announced.”
Ethan laughed.
The tension eased slightly.
Chaska finally approached.
“You have decided?”
Nahimana answered in Apache.
The chief’s expression became irritated.
He replied.
She responded more sharply.
Ethan waited.
Eventually Chaska looked at him.
“One month.”
Ethan nodded.
“I heard.”
“You will treat her with respect.”
“Yes.”
“You will not force—”
Nahimana interrupted.
“Father.”
Chaska stopped.
She looked embarrassed for the first time.
Ethan pretended not to notice.
The chief ignored her.
“You understand.”
Ethan did.
“Yes.”
Chaska extended his hand.
Ethan took it.
The older man’s grip tightened.
“If she returns unhappy, I will know.”
Ethan glanced at Nahimana.
“I suspect she’ll tell you herself.”
Chaska almost smiled.
Almost.
They left the next morning.