Chapter 3 - The Shot Beyond the Ridge
Maeve heard the gunshot once.
Then nothing.
She went to the window.
Snow covered everything.
“Tess, stay beside Toby.”
The little girl grabbed Maeve's skirt.
“No.”
“I only need to look outside.”
“No!”
The terror in Tess's voice stopped her.
Maeve crouched.
“I won't leave.”
Tess searched her face.
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
Maeve stayed.
Morning arrived.
Gideon did not.
Toby's fever finally began dropping near noon.
Relief nearly brought Maeve to tears.
But Gideon's absence grew heavier with every passing hour.
By sunset, Maeve had two sickening possibilities.
Either Gideon was injured.
Or he was dead.
The storm weakened overnight.
At dawn, Maeve made a decision.
She prepared food, filled the kettle, stacked firewood beside Toby, and showed Tess where everything was.
“I need to find Gideon.”
Tess began shaking her head.
“I'll come back.”
“Everybody says that.”
Maeve froze.
Tess's eyes filled with tears.
Maeve knelt.
“I came back after Toby bit me.”
Tess blinked.
“I came back when you hid from me. I came back every time I walked outside.”
Tess nodded slowly.
“And I'll come back today.”
Maeve wrapped herself in Gideon's spare coat.
She followed his tracks.
The snow made progress agonizing.
An hour from the cabin, she found blood.
Not much.
Then she saw a broken branch.
“Gideon!”
A voice answered faintly.
Maeve ran.
He lay below a rocky embankment.
His leg was trapped beneath a fallen pine limb.
He was conscious.
Barely.
When he saw Maeve, anger flashed across his face.
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving your life, apparently.”
Even injured, he looked surprised.
Maeve worked to free him.
It took nearly an hour.
By the time the branch shifted, both were exhausted.
Gideon tried standing.
He collapsed.
Maeve caught his shoulder.
“Don't be foolish.”
“Cabin.”
“Toby's fever broke.”
Gideon's face changed.
“Fever?”
“He's better.”
“You handled it?”
“Yes.”
He stared at her.
Maeve helped him stand.
They made the journey slowly.
When the cabin finally appeared, Tess burst through the door.
“Papa!”
She ran toward Gideon.
He fell to his knees and caught her.
Maeve had never seen him hold either child.
He held Tess now as though she were the only thing keeping him alive.
Then Toby appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a blanket.
Gideon's eyes filled.
“Toby.”
The boy looked past him.
At Maeve.
Then he whispered the word again.
“Mama.”
Gideon went completely still.
Maeve did too.
Tess smiled as though nothing unusual had happened.
“She made him better.”
Gideon looked at Maeve.
Maeve expected anger.
Instead, pain crossed his face.
A pain so deep that she understood immediately.
There had been another woman who once answered to that name.
That night, after the children slept, Gideon finally told Maeve about Sarah.
His wife.
Their mother.
“She died last winter.”
“How?”
“Fever.”
Maeve waited.
“I was gone.”
His voice broke slightly.
“Trapline.”
The pieces began fitting together.
The neglected cabin.
The children hiding.
Gideon's silence.
His endless work.
“Who cared for them afterward?”
Gideon stared into the fire.
“My sister came for a while.”
Maeve sensed something.
“What happened?”
“She left.”
“Why?”
Gideon's jaw hardened.
“She said Toby was impossible.”
Maeve looked at her wrist.
Gideon noticed.
“He bit you.”
Maeve said nothing.
His face darkened.
“He did.”
“It wasn't his fault.”
“I know.”
Maeve looked sharply at him.
Gideon lowered his voice.
“My sister hit him.”
Maeve felt cold.
“How often?”
“I didn't know until after she left.”
That explained the raised hand.
The flinch.
The fear.
Gideon rubbed both hands over his face.
“I should've known.”
“You were grieving.”
“So were they.”
“Yes.”
That truth seemed to strike harder than accusation.
After a long silence, Gideon said, “You can leave when the snow clears.”
Maeve looked at him.
“You don't owe me anything.”
“You traded two mules for me.”
His mouth tightened.
“I paid Amos because he wouldn't let you go otherwise.”
Maeve stared.
“What?”
“He said you owed him for food and lodging.”
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Gideon looked uncomfortable.
“Didn't think you'd believe me.”
Maeve did not know whether she believed him now.
Then Gideon reached into his coat.
He placed a folded paper on the table.
“Read it.”
Maeve unfolded it.
The agreement did not transfer ownership of her.
It recorded Amos accepting two mules as settlement of Maeve's supposed household debt.
At the bottom, another sentence had been written.
MAEVE CALLAHAN IS FREE TO LEAVE GIDEON REED'S PROPERTY AT ANY TIME OF HER CHOOSING.
Maeve read it twice.
“You wrote this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Gideon's answer came simply.
“Because people aren't livestock.”
Something inside Maeve cracked.
All this time, she had believed herself purchased.
Gideon had not bought her.
He had bought her freedom.
And before Maeve could decide what that meant, hoofbeats sounded outside.
Not one horse.
Several.
Gideon stood.
His hand moved toward the rifle above the mantel.
Maeve looked through the window.
Three riders were approaching the cabin.
The man in front was Uncle Amos.
May you like
And he had come to take Maeve back.
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