“I’ll take the wall.  I could climb over you if I had to but no offense, I don’t want you trying to climb over me.”

“Insults everywhere.  I’ll blow out the candle.”

“We’ve been here before,” Chace said.

“Will you tell me the Creation story now?”

“It still takes two days.”

Charlotte crawled awkwardly into bed beside him and fell back on the pillows.

“This isn’t easy,” she said.

“No one’s likely to think it would be.  Do you want to reconsider?”

“Ha,” she said and then more softly, “No, actually, I don’t.”

“I don’t either.  About anything.”

A floorboard creaked in the cold.  A shaft of moonlight fell across the bed.

She reached out for him and he held her close, her body warm against him.  His hand traveled slowly, tenderly over all of her, her face, her eyes, her mouth, tracing the smooth line of her shoulders under the loosened shift, the stretched expanse of her belly, the curve of her hip, the inside of her wrist.  Her breath caught in her throat.

“Everything’s different now,” she said, her voice gone quiet.  “How does it work?”

“I don’t know,” he said.  “We’ll figure it out.”

Their scents mixed with the smell of candle smoke, raw wood, cold iron.  In the moonlight, he kissed her gently, with care and feeling, the wild and beautiful woman who was his wife.  When she touched him, gave herself up to him, the small room was the barn, the rain, her bare feet on his, sunlight and shadow, the two of them alone together, hearing no words but their own, finding each other in the dark.

Charlotte saw that when they stood looking out at the new green land, she would only sometimes know what was in his thoughts.  Maybe it would be the high empty canyons, the valley with the stream running through it, the white flag, the past.  Maybe it would be his voices, the ones that watched over him, took care of him, that saw him safely home.  And no matter what, she would never be far from his thoughts.  Her heart was sure of that.  He would stand beside Ellis and Miller too, that was important, and she would be glad for what they all knew and who they were together.

But for now, when the snows came and the winds howled, when the river froze and game grew scarce, in the moon of the red calf, after a time of long endurance, Ada would, God willing, turn to Chace and hand him their baby, a miracle and a blessing, likely born of the old one’s wisdom, a new beginning, life starting all over again.

*****

Dear Chace and Charlotte,