Night settled heavily over the Western town.<\/p>\n
Cold wind moved through muddy streets while lanterns flickered weakly against gathering storm clouds.<\/p>\n
Inside the cabin\u2014<\/p>\n
silence lived between them.<\/p>\n
Lydia sat near the fire.<\/p>\n
Hat resting beside her now.<\/p>\n
Hands wrapped around a warm tin cup.<\/p>\n
The cowboy stood near the window.<\/p>\n
Watching.<\/p>\n
Always watching.<\/p>\n
Outside\u2014<\/p>\n
dark shapes moved faintly near the edge of town.<\/p>\n
Three riders.<\/p>\n
Still there.<\/p>\n
Still waiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know who they are?\u201d he finally asked.<\/p>\n
Lydia lowered her eyes.<\/p>\n
Fear touched her expression for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t work for lawmen.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey work for the man Eleanor ran from.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cowboy turned slowly.<\/p>\n
Jaw tightening.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of man sends riders across states?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lydia swallowed hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kind who believes people belong to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fire cracked softly.<\/p>\n
Storm wind pressed against the cabin walls.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
hoofbeats.<\/p>\n
Closer now.<\/p>\n
Both froze.<\/p>\n
Outside the window\u2014<\/p>\n
shadows moved near the fence.<\/p>\n
Watching.<\/p>\n
Not hiding anymore.<\/p>\n
The cowboy calmly reached for the rifle leaning beside the door.<\/p>\n
Checked the chamber.<\/p>\n
Loaded.<\/p>\n
Ready.<\/p>\n
Lydia stood quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can still leave,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou barely know me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at her once.<\/p>\n
Then toward the darkness outside.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey followed you here.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes it my fight now.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time\u2014<\/p>\n
something softer crossed Lydia\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
Hope.<\/p>\n
Fragile.<\/p>\n
Dangerous.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
a loud voice shattered the night.<\/p>\n
Outside.<\/p>\n
Cold.<\/p>\n
Threatening.<\/p>\n
\u201cSend the woman out!\u201d<\/p>\n
The horse shifted nervously near the porch.<\/p>\n
Rain began falling lightly.<\/p>\n
The cowboy stepped toward the door.<\/p>\n
Slow.<\/p>\n
Unhurried.<\/p>\n
Rifle resting steady in his hands.<\/p>\n
Voice calm enough to frighten anyone listening.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou boys picked the wrong cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thunder rolled somewhere far away.<\/p>\n
And outside\u2014<\/p>\n
the riders slowly reached for their weapons.<\/p>\n
Because dawn suddenly felt very far away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Night settled heavily over the Western town. Cold wind moved through muddy streets while lanterns flickered weakly against gathering storm clouds. Inside the cabin\u2014 silence lived between them. Lydia sat near the fire. Hat resting beside her now. Hands wrapped around a warm tin cup. The cowboy stood near the window. Watching. Always watching. Outside\u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}