A few people shifted.
"He simply helped me."
Nathaniel looked away.
Clara finished.
"That was the first time I understood something."
The judge leaned forward.
"What?"
Clara looked directly at Nathaniel.
"A person can survive being abandoned."
She paused.
"But they should never have to survive it alone."
Nathaniel was convicted.
Twenty years.
Clara walked out of the courthouse beneath a bright spring sky.
Elias waited outside.
"You all right?"
She smiled.
"I think so."
"What now?"
She looked toward the road.
"I don't know."
"That's allowed."
She laughed.
"You're always saying things like that."
"Like what?"
"Things that sound simple until you realize they're true."
Elias smiled.
"Maybe I'm getting better at talking."
"No."
He looked offended.
"You aren't."
She laughed again.
Then she noticed something.
A horse stood beside him.
Her horse.
The one from her father's ranch.
"You brought me a horse."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"So you can ride home."
She looked at him.
"Where is home?"
Elias didn't answer.
Clara smiled.
"Exactly."
The Choice
Summer came.
Clara stayed at her father's ranch.
She helped restore the northern fields.
She opened the old family schoolhouse.
She began teaching children who had been unable to afford lessons.
But she visited Elias often.
At first, she told herself it was because of business.
Then because of friendship.
Eventually, she stopped pretending.
One evening, she arrived at his ranch carrying a basket.
Elias looked at it.
"What is that?"
"Dinner."
"I have dinner."
"You have beans."
"Beans are dinner."
"Not good dinner."
She entered.
Ruth looked at Elias.
"She's staying."
Elias sighed.
"I assumed."
They ate together.
Afterward, Clara and Elias sat outside.
The sunset turned the mountains red.
Clara spoke quietly.
"Do you ever think about what would have happened if you hadn't found me?"
"Yes."
"What do you think?"
"You'd have died."
She nodded.
"And if you hadn't told Nathaniel I was alive?"
"He might have escaped."
"Then everything happened because you made choices."
"So did you."
"What choice did I make?"
"You chose to live."
Clara looked at him.
"I didn't have much choice."
"You did."
"No."
Elias shook his head.
"You could have given up."
She thought about it.
"Maybe."
"You didn't."
She smiled.
"Neither did you."
Silence.
Then Elias said:
"You should stay."
Clara looked at him.
"At your ranch?"
"If you want."
"As what?"
Elias struggled.
He was a man who could face armed outlaws without blinking.
But this question frightened him.
"As yourself."
Clara smiled.
"That's a poor offer."
"I've never been good at offers."
"I noticed."
She leaned closer.
"What if I want more?"
Elias looked at her.
"More what?"