“All right, Alpha, let’s go outside and sit in the warm sunshine. I think we both ate too much. A little nap might do us both some good,” he said sourly as he led the dog out to the little wooden deck off the kitchen where he had a lounging chair and an umbrella. His pipe and his tobacco were waiting for him. At the last second, he reached into one of his cookie jars for a rawhide chew for Alpha.

They looked at one another, wonderment on both their faces. Neither said a word for a long time. Finally, Pappy found his voice. “What now, Sam?”

What now indeed. She’d woken a good thirty minutes before Pappy and had stayed quiet, thinking. She took a deep breath and told him what was in her heart. “This whole year can’t have been for nothing. You have to let me have my time just like the others. I earned it, and deserve it. A year, Kollar. Then I’ll come back. You need to understand something. All my life I was never quite good enough, didn’t quite measure up, didn’t quite make the cut, no matter how hard I tried. This time I did. Maybe this isn’t for me. Then again, maybe it is. If I give it up, I want it to be my choice. For once in my life I want to finish what I start and come out on top. This is something I need to do. If you love me as much as you say you do, you’ll help me.”

Pappy closed his eyes. He’d found her, and now he was going to lose her. He was about to voice the thought aloud when Sam said, “I will come back because I love you. I love this mountain. I love Alpha and your father.”

Pappy struggled with the question he was afraid to ask. “But will you come back to stay?”

Sam looked deep into his eyes and was as honest as she could be. “I don’t know. I want to think I will. I love you. If I don’t do this, I will always wonder if it was the world I was meant to work in. I would grow discontented here, I think we both know that. I’m asking you to wait, to give me a chance.”

“All right. A year is a very long time, Sam.”

“I know. It’s 365 days. It could be an eternity if you want to think about it like that. I will come back, I promise.”

Pappy smiled and reached for her. “If I told you my love for you was measured by the sands in the desert, would you believe me?”

“Yes. Would you believe me if I told you my love for you was measured by the depth of the ocean?”

Pappy laughed as he pulled her under the covers.