Yeah, son. Can I ask you something? Always. A Jonah sat down beside him, his young face serious. Do you think my paw, my real paw, would be mad about you and Ma getting married?
About us calling you P? Silas set down the carving carefully. Come here. Jonah moved closer and Silas put an arm around his shoulders. Your father loved you, all of you.
And I think he'd be grateful that someone's here to take care of you the way he would have if he could. I'm not trying to replace him, Jonah. I couldn't even if I wanted to. But I can promise to love you and protect you the way he would have. Is that enough?
Jonah was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded, leaning against Silas's side. Yeah, that's enough. Mara, listening from across the room, felt her heart swell until it hurt. Later that night, when the children were asleep and the fire burned low, Silas pulled Mara close on their new bed.
"I need to tell you something," he said quietly. Mara's stomach tightened. "What? When I found you on that road, I was on my way south to Texas, back to where my wife and daughter are buried. I'd been thinking," He swallowed hard.
I'd been thinking, "Maybe it was time to stop running. Maybe it was time to join them." Mara went very still. Silas, but then I saw you dragging that wagon, bleeding and broken, but refusing to quit. And something in me just stopped. I couldn't leave you there.
And then I couldn't leave you at the creek. And then I couldn't leave you at all. What are you saying? I'm saying you saved my life just as much as I saved yours. Maybe more.
He cupped her face in his hands. I was dying, Mara. Just doing it slowly. And you gave me a reason to live again. Tears spilled down Mara's cheeks.
I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't stopped. If you'd ridden past. I didn't. I couldn't. It's like I was supposed to find you.
Like everything I'd been through, losing my family, wandering for years, ending up in this valley, it was all leading me to that exact moment on that exact road. You think it was fate? I think it was Grace. He kissed her softly. You and those kids, you're my second chance, and I'm not going to waste it.
Mara held him close. This man who'd appeared in her darkest hour and refused to leave. This man who'd chosen her and her complicated, chaotic, beautiful family. "I love you," she whispered. "I love you so much it scares me." "I know.
Me, too." They lay tangled together in the darkness, listening to the wind howl outside, and the children breathed softly in the loft. The cabin creaked and settled around them. Familiar now, safe. Home. Spring came slowly to Wyoming that year, but when it finally arrived, it brought warmth and promise and new beginnings.