“I see a woman who crossed half a country alone.”
Her lips parted.
“A woman who walked through an entire town laughing at her and still had the courage to offer me an apology she didn't owe.”
Her eyes filled.
“A woman who came into a cold house and made it warm.”
He paused.
“And a woman who makes me want to come home before dark.”
Lara's breath caught.
“Elias…”
He gently brushed snow from her hair.
“You're beautiful.”
She stared.
No man had ever said those words to her without mockery.
She shook her head.
“You don't have to say that.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because I mean it.”
For a moment, she looked as though she might cry.
Instead she laughed softly.
“You're a very strange man.”
Elias smiled.
“So I've been told.”
He moved closer.
She did not step away.
Their faces were inches apart when a horse whinnied loudly from the barn.
Both startled.
Then laughed.
Elias rested his forehead briefly against hers.
“Seems even the horses have opinions.”
Lara smiled through tears.
“For once, I'd rather not hear them.”
Chapter 7: The Storm Nobody Expected
By December, winter became brutal.
Snow buried fences.
The river narrowed beneath ice.
The wind swept across the northern pasture with such force that the cattle gathered in tight groups.
One morning, a ranch hand rode in from the far field with terrible news.
A section of fencing had collapsed.
Thirty cattle were trapped beyond a drift.
The temperature was dropping.
Elias immediately gathered his men.
Lara watched them prepare.
Ropes.
Lanterns.
Blankets.
Shovels.
The sky was already darkening.
“Don't go alone,” she told him.
He fastened his coat.
“I won't.”
“How long?”
“As long as it takes.”
She looked toward the storm.
“Promise you'll come back.”
He paused.
Then turned toward her.
There was something unspoken between them now.
Something warm.
Fragile.
Growing.
Elias stepped closer.
“I promise I'll do everything I can.”
Lara shook her head.
“That's not the promise I asked for.”
His expression softened.
He took her hand.
“I'll come home.”
Then he left.
The storm lasted through the night.
Lara kept the fire burning.
She prepared hot food.
Boiled water.
Gathered dry blankets.
Organized the men who remained behind.
When one horse returned without its rider, panic spread through the yard.
Lara refused to surrender to it.
She directed the remaining hands to follow the horse's tracks before the snow erased them.
She had lanterns lit along the road.