The blizzard lasted 3 days. By the time it finally passed, the world outside was buried under 4 ft of snow, and the ranch looked like something out of a frozen nightmare. The brothers dug themselves out slowly, clearing paths from the house to the barn, from the barn to the pastures, assessing the damage as they went. Two sections of fence were down. One of the outbuildings had partially collapsed, and three head of cattle were missing, either dead or wandered off in the storm.
But the house had held, the barn had held, and all six brothers were still alive. That night, they gathered around the table for the first real meal they'd had in days. Evelyn had made stew from the last of the fresh vegetables, and the brothers ate like they were trying to make up for lost time. Halfway through the meal, Caleb looked up. So, we going to talk about it?
Talk about what? Holden asked. The fact that we just survived a blizzard that should have killed us, and the only reason we didn't is because we had someone here who knew how to keep us alive. Everyone went quiet. Caleb gestured at Evelyn.
I'm just saying, if she hadn't been here, if we'd been trying to do this on our own like we did last winter, we'd be in a hell of a lot worse shape right now. He's right, Levi said quietly. Cain nodded. Yeah, he is. Jonah didn't say anything, but he met Evelyn's eyes across the table, and there was something in his expression that looked like agreement.
Holden set down his fork. We're grateful, all of us. You've done more for this place than you had any reason to. Evelyn felt her chest tighten. I was just doing my job.
It's more than that, Holden said, and you know it. And you know, she didn't know what to say to that. Didn't know how to explain that she hadn't been trying to save them. She'd just been trying to survive. That keeping them alive had been a way of keeping herself alive, because she couldn't stand the thought of being alone in this house with ghosts.
But before she could figure out how to put any of that into words, Levi spoke up. You're staying, right? The question hung in the air. Evelyn looked around the table at the six men staring back at her. They were a mess, exhausted, battered, half frozen, but they were looking at her like she mattered, like she was part of this.
And for the first time in 3 years, she let herself believe it might be true. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I'm staying." The decision to stay should have made things easier. It didn't.
The morning after Evelyn agreed to remain at the ranch, she woke up with her stomach in knots and her mind racing through every possible way this could go wrong. She'd committed to something, put down roots, however shallow, and every instinct she'd honed over 3 years on the road was screaming at her that roots meant vulnerability, and vulnerability meant pain, but she'd said yes. And Evelyn Mercer didn't go back on her word, even when her word terrified her. She got dressed and went downstairs to find Caleb already in the kitchen rummaging through the pantry with the focus of a man on a mission. "What are you doing?" she asked.
He jumped and spun around clutching a jar of preserves like she'd caught him stealing. "Nothing, just looking." "For what?" "Something sweet." "I don't know.
I had a craving." Evelyn crossed her arms. "At 5:00 in the morning?" "Is there a law against cravings at 5:00 in the morning?" "There is in my kitchen."