He grunted and went back to the woodpile.
Ara smiled long after he turned away.
But neither of them noticed the rider watching the cabin from the ridge.
Caleb Dorne arrived at noon three days later.
Ara dropped a bowl when she saw him through the window.
It shattered.
Elias was outside splitting wood.
Caleb rode directly into the yard.
He was taller than Ara remembered.
Or perhaps terror enlarged him.
His beard had grown.
A pistol hung at his hip.
Another man rode behind him.
Ara recognized that man too.
Sheriff Bellamy.
Her stomach turned.
Caleb dismounted.
“Elias Vance!”
Elias set down the axe.
“That’s me.”
Sheriff Bellamy approached.
“We have a complaint.”
Elias looked past him toward Caleb.
“What kind?”
Caleb’s eyes moved toward the cabin window.
“A man stole my wife and children.”
Ara stopped breathing.
Elias turned.
Their eyes met through the glass.
He saw her terror.
Everything about him changed.
He walked slowly toward the porch.
“Your wife?”
Caleb smiled.
“Ara Dorne.”
Inside, Ara grabbed both babies.
She nearly ran toward the back door.
Then stopped.
Running had brought her into the snow once.
She refused to spend her life running.
Ara opened the front door.
Caleb’s smile widened.
“There she is.”
Elias moved between them.
“Don’t.”
Caleb laughed.
“She’s my wife.”
“She says otherwise.”
Sheriff Bellamy removed a folded document.
“Marriage record from Benton County.”
Elias didn’t take it.
“A paper doesn’t give him permission to beat her.”
Bellamy’s expression shifted.
Caleb spoke quickly.
“My wife becomes confused.”
Ara stared.
“Confused?”
“You were sick after childbirth.”
Caleb looked toward the sheriff.
“Doctor said she had fever. Delusions.”
“You left us in the snow.”
Caleb sighed dramatically.
“Ara.”
She tightened her arms around the babies.
“You pulled me from the wagon.”
“She wandered from camp.”
“You’re lying.”
The sheriff looked uncomfortable.
Caleb continued.
“I woke and she was gone. I’d been searching for days.”
Elias stepped forward.
“Interesting.”
Caleb’s smile faded.
“What?”
“The wagon tracks.”
Silence.
Elias looked at Bellamy.
“They came from the west. One wagon stopped where I found her. Then the same wagon turned east.”
Bellamy frowned.
Caleb shrugged.
“Storm confused the tracks.”
“No.”
Elias’s gaze never left him.
“Snow doesn’t confuse direction.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened.
Bellamy raised one hand.
“Enough.”
He looked toward Ara.
“Mrs. Dorne, legally, your husband has parental rights.”
Ara’s face went white.
Caleb smiled.
Elias’s voice became dangerous.
“She’s not going anywhere.”
Bellamy rested one hand near his pistol.
“Careful.”
Elias didn’t move.
Ara looked at the sheriff.
“Ask him their names.”
Bellamy turned.
“What?”
Ara lifted her chin.
“Ask my husband our daughters’ names.”
Caleb’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But Elias saw it.
The sheriff looked toward him.
Caleb cleared his throat.
“She named them without consulting me.”
“What are their names?”
Silence.
Ara stared at him.
“You searched for weeks.”
Her voice shook.
“You rode through winter to recover your beloved daughters.”
Caleb’s eyes hardened.
“And you don’t know their names.”
Bellamy slowly lowered his hand from his pistol.
Caleb stepped forward.
“They’re mine.”
Ara flinched.
Elias immediately blocked him.
Caleb’s expression became ugly.
“I wasn’t speaking to you, mountain rat.”
“No.”
Elias’s voice went quiet.
“You were threatening someone standing behind me.”
Bellamy stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
Caleb pointed toward Ara.
“She’s coming with me.”
