Nayeli smiled.
"I don't need to."
"Pretty confident."
"No."
She looked toward Jonathan and Takoda talking beside the fire.
"You spent your life thinking your father left you. Then you learned he had spent his life trying to find his way back."
Caleb followed her gaze.
Nayeli continued.
"You will not leave quickly now."
Caleb smiled.
"That doesn't answer the other question."
"What other question?"
"You chose me."
"I remember."
"In front of a hundred warriors."
"Ninety-eight."
"You counted?"
"I rejected them. Of course I counted."
Caleb laughed.
Then became serious.
"You chose a stranger."
"I chose what I saw."
"And what do you see now?"
Nayeli stepped closer.
"A man who came searching for a horse."
Caleb waited.
"And?"
She smiled.
"Who finally found where the horse was trying to take him."
Several months later, Caleb returned to his ranch.
But he no longer thought of the canyon and the ranch as separate worlds.
A trail connected them.
The same trail Samson had followed.
The same trail Jonathan had once ridden.
Caleb began traveling it often.
Sometimes carrying supplies.
Sometimes carrying messages.
Sometimes for no reason except that Nayeli was waiting at the other end.
The following spring, there was another gathering beneath the cottonwoods.
Far smaller this time.
No hundred warriors.
No demonstrations of strength.
No competition.
Chief Takoda stood beside Jonathan Morgan.
Caleb faced Nayeli.
Takoda looked at his daughter.
"You chose once already."
Nayeli nodded.
Then the chief looked at Caleb.
"This time the choice is yours."
Caleb smiled.
"It was always going to be."
Nayeli raised an eyebrow.
"Careful. That sounds confident."
"I learned from watching ninety-eight men fail."
Even Chief Takoda laughed.
Caleb took Nayeli's hand.
"I choose her."
From behind them came a loud snort.
Samson stood tied beneath the cottonwood.
Caleb turned.
The chestnut gelding was chewing through the rope.
Nayeli laughed.
"You should stop losing that horse."
Caleb watched Samson free himself and trot casually toward the trail.
"No."
He smiled.
"I think he's finally figured out exactly where he's going."