His hard gaze softened. Just a fraction, he sighed. A long, weary sound. This is bad business. Reed, the whole town, they're spooked.
They say you're a killer. They say things about her. I don't care what they say. Daniel said you should. Miller said it ain't safe for you.
It ain't safe for that. Why, Reed? Why stay with her? You know what this world is? It's just It's just trouble.
Why? It was the question the whole town wanted to ask. Daniel felt Tyen's gaze on his back. He did not have to think about the answer. He had been thinking about it for months.
He looked the old rancher in the eye. "Because she's mine," he said, his voice simple and clear, carrying across the silent plaza. "And I'm hers." It was an answer so final, so absolute that there was nothing more to be said. Miller stared at him for a long moment, then just shook his head, turned, and walked back into the saloon.
Daniel finished loading the mule. He and Tyen mounted up. They rode out of Santa Fe. The eyes of the town following them until they were just a speck on the trail. They were for good or ill.
Left alone, the summer burned into fall. The aspens turned a fiery impossible gold. The nights grew sharp, promising the first snow. Tyen was heavy, her movement slow, her time near. The storm broke on a cold night in late October.
It was not a gentle rain. It was a return to the violence of the land. A furious high country thunderstorm that brought wind, then sleet, then snow. The wind shrieked, slamming against the new walls of the cabin. Thunder cracked, echoing off the canyon walls.
Tyen woke him, her hand gripping his. "Daniel, it is time." The words he had been waiting for and dreading. He flew into action. He built the fire up until it roared.
Heating water, his mind racing. He was a soldier. He was a builder. He was not a midwife. His only experience with birth was the one that had stolen Elara.
The memory sent a spike of pure cold panic through his heart. The labor was long. The storm outside matched the one inside for hours. Tyen paced. Her face a mask of concentration, breathing through the pain.