The sentence entered both of them.
Caleb turned another page.
He asks about girls. I told him no woman would accept what he carries. Cruel thing to say. Heard it come from my mouth and knew I sounded like the men I hate. But fear made me do it. If he wants a normal life, he may someday expose himself to those who would sell him. Better he hate me than end in a cage. At least that is what I tell myself tonight.
Caleb shut the journal.
Hard.
He stood.
Walked toward the door.
Eleanor followed.
"Where are you going?"
"Outside."
"The snow is six feet deep."
"I need air."
"Open the window."
He turned.
His face was broken.
"He knew."
Eleanor said nothing.
"He knew what he was doing."
"Yes."
"He knew he was making me afraid."
"Yes."
"And did it anyway."
"Yes."
Caleb looked almost angry at her agreement.
"You are supposed to tell me he loved me."
"He did."
"That's not enough."
"No."
His expression changed.
Eleanor continued.
"Love does not make every decision good."
"Sometimes love is the excuse people use while hurting someone."
Caleb stared.
She knew exactly how true that was.
Henry had said cruel things "for her own good."
Her mother had encouraged the first marriage because "security was love."
Caleb's father had built isolation and called it protection.
Eleanor whispered:
"Your father loved you."
"He also frightened you."
"Both can be true."
Caleb sat heavily.
Eleanor joined him.
After a long silence, he reopened the journal.
They read together.
The final entry was written three days before his father's death.
Caleb thinks I stayed in these mountains because I preferred them. Truth: I stayed because I no longer knew how to take him back into the world after teaching him the world was dangerous. Perhaps I failed him more by succeeding at hiding him.
Caleb cried again.
Different this time.
Not shame.
Grief.
For his father.
For himself.
For nineteen lost years.
The blizzard broke the following morning.
Sunlight turned the entire mountain white.
Caleb stood outside the cabin in silence.
Eleanor joined him wearing his father's enormous coat over her dress.
It barely buttoned across her.
Caleb looked.
Then smiled.
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"Your face did."
"Looks good."
"Caleb."
He laughed.
The pass would remain buried for days.
They were still isolated.
But something had changed.
The mountains no longer felt like the edge of the world.
They felt temporary.
Eleanor said:
"When spring comes, we're finding a doctor."
Caleb's smile disappeared.
"I knew there was a price."
"No price."
"A request."
"Strong request."