"Then what do we do?" Rhett helped her to her feet. "We stop running. We stop hiding. We go to Coleman."
"And we end this." "How?" "I don't know yet. But I'm done letting him control our lives."
He took her hand. "You said you were tired of running. So am I. Let's stand and fight."
"With what? We have no leverage. No money. No proof of anything he's done." "We have the truth."
"The truth doesn't matter to men like Coleman." "Then we make it matter." They made their way back to the main cave as night fell. Rhett spent the evening checking his weapons, making plans.
Ayah sat by the fire, watching him with an expression he couldn't read. "You're really going to do this?" she finally said. "We're really going to do this."
"And if it doesn't work, then at least we went down swinging." He set down the revolver he'd been cleaning and looked at her. "I'm tired of being afraid. Tired of waiting for the next bad thing."
"I want to choose what happens next. Even if it's choosing to fight a battle we might not win." Ayah stood and crossed to him, sitting down close enough that their shoulders touched. "I'm scared."
"Me too." "But you're still going." "Yeah. Because scared and brave aren't opposites. They're partners."
"You taught me that." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I didn't teach you anything." "You taught me how to stand still."
"How to plant seeds even when you don't know if they'll grow. How to call down rain." He turned to kiss her forehead. "You taught me that giving up isn't the same as letting go."
"Pretty words for a cowboy." "I'm a complicated man." She smiled against his shoulder. "Yes, you are."
They sat like that for a long time, the fire burning low, the canyon breathing around them. Rhett thought about Caleb. About the farm they'd lost. About all the years he'd spent running from the memory of failure.
He thought about the land he'd given up, the home he'd sold for Ayah's freedom. And he realized he didn't regret any of it. Not the loss. Not the sacrifice.
Not the fear. Because it had brought him here. To this moment. To this woman who sang to stones and made the earth answer.
"Tomorrow," he said, "we ride to Fort Karns. We face Coleman, and we finish this together." "Together." Ayah lifted her head and kissed him, soft and slow and full of promise.