Chapter 15 - The Winter That Tested Them
Their first winter married brought the worst freeze Dry Creek had seen in decades.
Cattle died.
Water froze.
A supply wagon never arrived.
Families began running short of food.
Elias and Naelli opened their storehouse.
“We need this,” Elias said.
“So do they.”
He nodded.
No argument.
Together they organized supplies.
The railroad station became a shelter.
Naelli taught families which preserved desert foods could supplement dwindling stores.
Elias and other ranchers pooled livestock.
For weeks, survival replaced old divisions.
Then Elias became sick.
It began with a cough.
Then fever.
Naelli sat beside him night after night.
“You need sleep,” he whispered.
“So do you.”
“I am sleeping.”
“You complain while sleeping.”
“That takes talent.”
She smiled, but fear lived behind it.
For thirty years she had survived without him.
Now the possibility of losing him seemed unbearable.
One night Elias woke and found her crying quietly.
“Naelli.”
She wiped her face.
“You saw nothing.”
“I saw enough.”
“You cannot leave.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“You promise?”
He reached for her hand.
“When we were children, you made me promise to remember.”
She nodded.
“I kept that one.”
He squeezed her fingers.
“I'll try to keep this one too.”
The fever broke two days later.
Spring eventually arrived.
Elias walked outside for the first time in weeks.
Naelli stood beside him.
The valley was beginning to turn green.
He looked toward her.
“Still here.”
She leaned against him.
May you like
“So am I.”
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