He kissed her like a drowning man finding air. He wanted to stay in this alley forever. He wanted to forget the ledger and the war, but footsteps clattered on the boardwalk above them. Reality crashed back in. They pulled apart, breathless, their foreheads resting against each other.
"We have to go," Luke whispered, his voice unsteady. Ayanna nodded, her eyes shining. "Yes, but we are not finished." They slipped out of the alley and back to the horse. The ride back to the hills was different. The silence was no longer heavy.
It was charged with a shared secret, a bond that had been sealed in the shadow of the enemy. They reached the camp well before dawn. Taza was waiting. Luke tossed the ledger to him. "It is all there," Luke said.
"The bribes, the lies." Taza looked at the book, unable to read the words, but understanding their power. "The meeting is at noon," Luke said. "I will walk in at 10 minutes past. That is when you strike the wagons. Taza, when they hear the smoke, they will look out the window, and I will be standing there with the book." Taza nodded.
A grim smile touched his lips. "It is a good plan." "White man." "Brother," Luke corrected. Taza paused, then nodded once, sharply. "Brother." The camp settled into the restless quiet of the pre-dawn hours. The warriors began to prepare their weapons for the raid.
Luke walked away from the main fire, heading toward a small, hidden hollow in the rocks 100 yards upstream. It was a place of solitude, sheltered by ancient junipers. He sat down on the soft pine needles, the weight of the coming day pressing on him. Soft footsteps approached. Ayanna stepped into the hollow.
She had removed the restrictive dress and was back in her buckskins, but she had left her hair loose. It fell around her shoulders like a dark waterfall. "You should sleep," Luke said softly. I cannot sleep, she said. She sat down beside him.
The stars were spread above them like a cold river of light, brilliant and indifferent. She looked at the sky. Do you think there is a place for us? She asked, after tomorrow? Luke took her hand.
There is a valley I saw once, he said, up north in the rim country. Too high for cattle, too cold for the soft settlers. It has water, it has game. He looked at her. I want to build a house there, Ayanna, not a wikiup, not a white man's mansion, a cabin with a porch where we can watch the sun go down.
A home. She whispered testing the word. A home, he confirmed. Where your people can come, where we can have He stopped. Children.