Chapter 9

At the cabin,Caleb stripped out of his wet clothing and curled into the blankets on the bed as Brance revived the embers in the fireplace.Once he hada steady blaze going,he hitched up the clothesline,a thin piece of rope tiedto pegs on opposing walls that ran the length of their single room.He draped Caleb’s clothes over the line—the shirt and flannel pants,the threadbare union suit,the wooly socks.His boots were set on the hearth to dry.

On the bed,Caleb lay with the blankets tucked in tight around him,clenched under his chin as he watched Brance.The domestic scene was so incongruous with the man he’d known for so long that his heart swelled with sudden emotion.He pressed the end of the blanket to his mouth to choke it down.Even in their silence,he heard Brance’s earlier admission of love spoken aloud.It hung in the air between them,as palpable as the hint of coming snow,or a promise whispered on the wind.