You were clear with all of us. He looked up at her. But Doris Faulk wasn't in those rooms. And she's going to say what she's going to say. People are allowed to have opinions, she said.
Out here, opinions become the air you breathe. He said, "If enough people decide you're something, it becomes harder for you to be anything else. " He paused. I'm telling you because I want you to know what's in the room before we get back. So, it's not a surprise. She looked at him across the fire.
The light did what fire always does made the familiar look slightly different. Showed angles that daylight covered. Called her, she said. Why are you telling me this? An hour ago, you said I was right.
You've spent 9 weeks deciding whether to trust me. You could have heard this and said nothing and let me walk back into the valley without warning. He was quiet for a long moment. The fire popped "because you walked into a blizzard for this family," he said. "And your hands went bad and you didn't say a word about it until I saw them. " "And you could have quit any of 20 times and you didn't. " "He looked back at the fire. " "That earned you an honest warning. " She sat with that.
"What are you going to do about Doris Faulk? " she asked. "I already did it," he said. "I talked to her this afternoon. Before we left, what did you say? " He didn't answer immediately. He picked up a stick and poked the fire once.
I told her that Tessa Danner walked into a blizzard less last week and brought eight yearlings home when we couldn't afford to lose them. I told her that she's been on the Danner ranch for 9 weeks and she's worked every one of them. I told her that ranch country doesn't decide whether to respect somebody based on where they came from. He paused. I told her it decides based on whether they stay when the work gets hard.
Tessa looked at him and then I told her, Calder said that in 9 weeks I have not once seen Tessa Danner consider leaving. He threw the stick into the fire. "She can have her opinion," he said. "I wanted her to have the facts first. " EMTT appeared from the horse's direction and settled near the fire without asking what had been discussed. He had that quality knowing when a conversation was over and arriving exactly at the end of it.
The three of them sat near the fire for a while. The stars were very clear in the cold sky, and the valley was quiet around them in the particular silence of a winter night that has decided to be peaceful, at least for now. Tessa thought about Warren at the ranch gate tomorrow evening. She thought about the settlement sheet in her coat pocket. She thought about Milo's careful eyes waiting by the window and Hollis who would ask the numbers question and Tobin who would pretend not to be relieved and would be obviously relieved.