Chapter 17 - The Child at the Window
Two years after Elias first entered the settlement looking for coffee, flour, ammunition, and a reason to keep moving, he rode home beneath falling snow.
A small figure appeared in the window.
A little girl.
Her name was Mara.
She had lost her parents during an illness the previous winter.
Aayoka and Elias had taken her in temporarily.
Temporary became permanent.
Mara ran outside.
“Papa!”
Elias stopped dead.
She had never called him that before.
The little girl seemed worried.
“Is that okay?”
Elias climbed from Copper.
He crouched.
For several seconds he could not speak.
Then he opened his arms.
Mara ran into them.
“Yes,” he whispered.
His voice broke.
“That's okay.”
Aayoka watched from the porch.
Elias looked at her over Mara's shoulder.
He had once believed nobody needing him was freedom.
Now a child was holding his neck and calling him Papa.
May you like
He had never felt freer.
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