Chapter 3 - You’re Not Alone
By noon, Elias could no longer see the smoke.
That did not mean he had stopped thinking about it.
Every mile toward Tucson carried him farther from the Ward ranch, and every mile made the image clearer in his mind: Samuel’s old chair, the cedar chest their father had built, the marks on the doorframe where two brothers had measured themselves as boys.
Maybe Calder had burned everything.
Aayoka rode quietly beside him.
She had apologized three times.
Elias had answered only once.
“Stop apologizing for what another man chose to do.”
After that, she said nothing.
Toward evening, they found an abandoned line shack.
Elias checked it before allowing her inside.
There was one broken cot and a fireplace.
It was enough.
Aayoka gathered wood while Elias tended the horses.
When he returned, she was staring at something hanging from his saddle.
A small wooden whistle.
Samuel’s.
Elias removed it.
“My brother made that.”
Aayoka nodded.
“You carry it?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
He sat.
“Because leaving everything behind isn’t the same as letting it go.”
She understood.
That was becoming dangerous.
Elias had spent years around people who wanted to fix him.
Aayoka never tried.
She simply listened.
Later, while rain began tapping against the roof, she told him about her father.
His name had been Nantan.
He had believed the changing territory required understanding both old traditions and new laws.
He had acquired legal title to land surrounding a reliable spring.
That water made the property valuable.
Very valuable.
After his death, ownership passed to Aayoka.
Calder discovered it.
The proposed marriage followed soon afterward.
“If I married Silas Mercer,” Aayoka explained, “he would gain control through agreements my uncle expected me to sign.”
“And if you refused?”
“You know what happened.”
Elias stared into the fire.
“What does your uncle get?”
“Protection. Cattle access. Money.”
“And you?”
She looked at him.
“A husband.”
The bitterness in her voice made Elias’s jaw tighten.
“That’s not marriage.”
“No.”
“What is marriage to you?”
Aayoka seemed surprised.
“No one has asked me that.”
“I just did.”
She thought.
“A place where leaving is possible.”
Elias frowned.
“That sounds backward.”
“If you are free to leave and still choose to stay, then staying means something.”
He looked at her.
Aayoka held his gaze.
“And you?”
“What?”
“What is marriage to you?”
Elias almost laughed.
“Something other people do.”
She smiled.
Outside, thunder rolled.
For a few minutes, the danger seemed far away.
Then one of the horses whinnied.
Elias stood instantly.
Aayoka reached for the rifle.
Footsteps approached.
Elias positioned himself beside the door.
Someone knocked.
“Travelers?”
An elderly voice.
Elias waited.
“We saw your horses,” the voice continued. “Storm’s getting worse.”
Aayoka whispered, “Could be Calder.”
“Could be.”
Elias opened the door two inches.
An elderly Mexican couple stood outside beside a wagon.
Behind them was a teenage boy.
No weapons visible.
Elias opened the door.
They shared the shack that night.
The couple, Mateo and Rosa Alvarez, were traveling toward Tucson with their grandson.
Rosa offered tortillas.
Aayoka helped prepare coffee.
For the first time Elias saw her in an ordinary moment.
Laughing softly at something Rosa said.
Fixing her braid.
Holding her hands toward the fire.
It struck him how young she was.
Not helpless.
Not fragile.
Simply young enough that she should not have been forced to calculate which stranger might provide the safest marriage.
The thought angered him.
Later, Mateo pulled Elias aside.
“Men behind us asking questions.”
“What men?”
“Three riders.”
Elias’s expression hardened.
“What did you tell them?”
“That we saw nobody.”
“Thank you.”
Mateo shrugged.
“I don’t like men who ask where women are going.”
At dawn, the travelers separated.
Mateo gave Elias directions to a lesser-used route.
By afternoon, Tucson appeared in the distance.
Aayoka visibly relaxed.
“Thomas lives near the south end.”
They entered carefully.
Elias kept his hat low.
Thomas Redbird’s house was small and painted white.
Aayoka knocked.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Elias examined the door.
It was unlocked.
“Aayoka.”
She understood his tone.
He entered first.
The room had been searched.
Drawers open.
Papers scattered.
Chair overturned.
Aayoka rushed inside.
“Thomas?”
No response.
She checked the back room.
Empty.
Elias picked up a broken frame.
Someone had arrived before them.
Aayoka’s face drained of color.
“The papers.”
“Where would he keep them?”
“I don’t know.”
She began searching.
Nothing.
Then Elias noticed a dark stain beside the rear door.
Blood.
Not much.
But enough.
Aayoka saw it.
“No.”
“We don’t know whose.”
“Thomas.”
“We don’t know.”
She looked at him.
For the first time since leaving the ranch, panic returned.
“If Calder has the deed—”
“He doesn’t.”
“How can you know?”
“Because if he had it, he wouldn’t still need you.”
She stopped.
Elias was right.
Someone had searched the house.
That meant the documents remained hidden.
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Elias spun.
A gun clicked.
An older man stood in the doorway.
Bandage around his shoulder.
Revolver pointed at Elias.
Aayoka gasped.
“Thomas!”
The gun lowered.
Thomas Redbird stared at her.
“You came.”
She crossed the room and embraced him.
Thomas winced.
“What happened?”
“Boone’s men.”
“Do they have the papers?”
“No.”
Aayoka exhaled.
“Where are they?”
Thomas looked at Elias.
“Who is he?”
“Elias Ward.”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“The rancher?”
“Yes.”
Thomas looked from Elias to Aayoka.
Then he asked the question Elias had been dreading since the moment she appeared.
“Is he your husband?”
Silence.
Aayoka looked at Elias.
Elias looked at her.
Neither answered.
Thomas frowned.
“You said the marriage was the only way your uncle would stop claiming authority over you.”
Aayoka swallowed.
“I know.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“And Boone has already filed a petition arguing that you are incapable of managing the property alone.”
Elias stared.
“What?”
Thomas nodded grimly.
“He isn’t merely chasing her anymore.”
He looked at Aayoka.
“He is using the territorial courts.”
Aayoka went still.
“And if the court accepts his claim?”
Thomas’s expression answered before his words did.
“Your uncle may gain control of the land.”
Aayoka sat slowly.
Elias felt anger rise.
Not because marriage should determine whether she could own what belonged to her.
But because men like Calder knew exactly which rules to twist.
Thomas continued.
“There is a hearing in six days.”
“Can we fight it?” Elias asked.
“With the deed and witnesses.”
“Then we fight.”
Thomas studied him.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You understand Boone will come after you?”
“He already burned my ranch.”
Thomas’s face changed.
Aayoka looked at Elias.
“I am sorry.”
Elias ignored the apology.
“Where’s the deed?”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“Somewhere Boone would never look.”
He walked to the fireplace.
Removed a loose brick.
Reached inside.
And pulled out an oilskin packet.
Aayoka closed her eyes in relief.
Thomas placed it in her hands.
“This belongs to you.”
She held it against her chest.
For the first time since meeting her, Elias saw something stronger than survival in her face.
Possibility.
Then someone shouted outside.
Thomas moved to the window.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Elias joined him.
Three horses stood across the street.
Calder Boone sat on the first.
He had followed them all the way to Tucson.
May you like
And now he knew exactly where the deed was.
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