Chapter 15 - “You’re My Husband Now”
They married in the rain.
No grand church.
No ballroom.
No wealthy guests.
Just people who had survived enough to understand what promises were worth.
Naya wore a beautifully crafted yellow buckskin dress decorated with turquoise beadwork and fringe.
Elias wore the cleanest shirt Thomas could force him into.
Aiyana stood beside Naya.
Keme stood beside Elias.
Judge Whitaker performed the ceremony.
When he asked whether Elias accepted Naya as his wife, Elias answered immediately.
“I do.”
Then Whitaker turned toward Naya.
Before he finished the question, she said:
“Yes.”
Laughter rippled through the gathering.
Whitaker smiled.
“I hadn't asked yet.”
“I know question.”
More laughter.
Then she looked at Elias.
Rain ran through his hair.
Naya touched his face with one finger exactly as she had in the cabin weeks earlier.
“You're my husband now.”
Elias smiled.
“This time legally.”
She kissed him.
The valley erupted in cheers.
For several months, life became almost ordinary.
Elias built a cabin near the river.
Naya insisted on helping.
She was better with a hammer than he expected and worse at admitting mistakes than anyone he'd ever met.
Thomas purchased land nearby.
Keme married a woman named Tala the following spring.
Elias attended.
Keme whispered before the ceremony, “If she says I husband before ceremony, I run.”
Elias laughed.
“You're learning.”
The community built a school.
Naya taught children both English and Apache traditions with elders from her people.
Elias worked with horses and ranchers.
For the first time, his days weren't defined by what he had lost.
Then one morning Naya stood in the doorway holding a tiny pair of handmade moccasins.
Elias stared.
“What are those?”
Naya said nothing.
He looked at the moccasins.
Then her.
Then the moccasins.
His eyes widened.
“No.”
Naya smiled.
“Yes.”
“Are you—?”
“Yes.”
Elias sat down.
Naya laughed.
“You fight five men. You fight Calder. Baby make you fall?”
“Apparently.”
He stood and embraced her.
But joy carried fear.
Naya saw it immediately.
“Do not run inside head.”
He nodded.
“I'll try.”
“Not try.”
She touched his chest.
“Stay.”
So he did.
And months later, when complications threatened the pregnancy, Elias faced the hardest challenge of his life:
May you like
Standing beside someone he loved when there was absolutely nothing he could do to control the outcome.
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