Chained Apache Woman Begged Him to Do Anything — The Cowboy Did the Unexpected Thing
Chapter 3
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"Easy now," he said, lowering her to the ground. "I've got you.""You don't got anything," she muttered, but there was less fight in her voice now. "You just... bought yourself a death sentence.""Well, it won't be my first." He gathered her up carefully, mindful of injuries he couldn't see. "My cabin's about a quarter-mile that way. Can you hold on?""Do I have a choice?""Everyone's got a choice. That's the thing they don't tell you. We always have a choice right up until we don't."She made that broken laugh sound again. "Philosopher rancher. That's a new one.""I have layers.""You have a death wish."Caleb started walking, the woman's weight barely noticeable compared to the feed sacks he hauled daily. The sun had nearly set now, turning the sky into a bruise of purples and reds. Stars were beginning to emerge, cold and distant."What's your name?" he asked.Silence for a long moment, then: "Ayla.""Ayla Vance.""Caleb Roark.""Well, Caleb Roark, I hope you made peace with whatever god you believe in, because you just made an enemy of something far worse."He didn't respond to that, partly because he didn't know what to say, and partly because he was focused on the horizon, where the last light was fading. If someone was watching, they'd have seen him take her, which meant the clock was already ticking.The cabin came into view as full darkness settled over the land. It wasn't much—a single-room structure he'd built himself from timber hauled from 30 miles away, with a stone chimney and a roof that only leaked in two places. But it was solid, defensible, and most importantly, it was his.He kicked the door open and carried Ayla inside, laying her on his bed—the only bed, which meant he'd be sleeping on the floor for the foreseeable future. She was shivering now, shock setting in.He lit the oil lamp on the table, filling the room with weak yellow light that threw dancing shadows on the walls. For the first time, he could see the full extent of her injuries. It was worse than he'd thought."I need to clean these wounds," he said, moving to the basin where he kept his washing water. "It's going to hurt.""Everything hurts. What's a little more?"He heated water on the stove, tore strips from a clean shirt, and gathered what medical supplies he had, which wasn't much: some whiskey for cleaning, some laudanum for pain, needle and thread for the worst cuts.When he returned to the bedside, she was watching him again with that same measuring look."Why?" she asked."Why what?""Why help me? You don't know me. Don't know what I've done. Don't know what's coming for you now."Caleb dipped a cloth in the warm water and began cleaning the blood from her face, working gently around the swollen eye. "Does there need to be a why?""In my experience, always.""Then maybe I'm tired of the world being the way it is. Maybe I saw a chance to make one thing right, and I took it."