But something else had appeared in her expression. She was looking at a living child after a night that could easily have ended in silence. You said he needs shade and steady air," she said. " "Later, I want to take him outside." Wade considered it before answering.
There's a protected spot near the fence. The morning breeze reaches it without kicking up much dust. We can try once the sun is fully up. Seiya nodded. She did not say thank you, but Wade could see how much the answer meant to her.
Taza moved again. His hands drifted weakly until one brushed against his mother's arm. A faint broken sound slipped from his lips. It barely carried across the room. Still, it struck Seiya harder than a shout.
Wade crouched beside them and checked the boy's pulse with gentle pressure. He's getting some strength back," Wade said. " Not much yet, but it's there. Seiya let out a shaking breath that seemed to have been trapped inside her since before dawn. You did this," she whispered.
Wade shook his head. He fought for it. I just kept him steady long enough to keep fighting. Seiya looked at him again. But the look had changed.
It was no longer the exhausted, suspicious stare of a woman who had arrived, expecting a price to be demanded from her. Now she watched him like someone trying to understand a man whose actions did not fit the rules she had learned from the world. Wade stood and headed toward the door. I'll bring in more water. Stay with him.
Seiya placed her hand against Taza's chest and held it there, feeling the steady rise and fall beneath her palm. For the first time since she had fled across the country with her son, the fear inside her began to loosen. Taza's survival no longer felt like a question with no answer. But the road ahead of Seiya had become more complicated. what she would have to face, where she would go, what choice she would make once Taza recovered.
All of it became harder to understand with every hour she spent beneath Wade Coulter's roof. Neither of them yet realized how tightly the days ahead would bind their lives together. By the time full morning had settled over the property, Wade returned from the barrel, carrying a filled bucket against his hip. Inside the cabin, Seiya had rearranged the blanket and was holding Taza upright against her chest. The boy's eyes stayed open longer now.
They followed movement. They reacted to sound. Watching those small changes gave Seiya a sense of steadiness she had not known in months. Wade set the bucket beside the table and studied Taza with the quiet attention of a man who knew that every sign mattered. The boy was still weak.
His breathing had not yet returned to normal, but the fever no longer seemed to own him the way it had during the night. He was not safe yet. Still, the immediate threat of losing him had begun to pull away. Want to try taking him outside for some air? Wade asked.