Cordelia awoke alone in their bed. It was barely dawn. Silvery white light trickled down into the canyon from a clear sky over the mountains. After his injury and infection, she had expected Cap to rest at least for a day. But he hadn't even woken her before he'd left the room.

Perhaps he was eager to get to work, anything to distract his mind from the violent death of Uncle Jim. Though she harbored no warm feelings for the man, Jim Vance was a great loss to her husband. The surly mountain man had been like a second father to him. To be the only survivor of their encounter with the McCoy bounty hunters was bound to leave him heartbroken and confused. Mountain folk liked to throw themselves into work when they were grieving, a useful preoccupation she had found herself after losing everything and escaping with the Hatfields into the wild.

Tying her apron around her waist, she emerged into the kitchen to find it empty except for her mother-in-law. Her brow furrowed as she studied the woman. Levicy sat with her spine ram rod straight by the cast iron stove, her worn hands folded tightly in her lap and eyes trained on the dying fire. Cordelia had never witnessed her relentless mother-in-law sitting for no good reason during the day. Even at night when she would finally rest her feet, she was always busy shelling beans or darning clothes. Never just sitting with hands idle.

"Levicy?"

She stirred, her mouth snapping closed as she shot a glance at Cordelia. "Yes? Well... we got to get on the churning today. The girls just brought in the milk from the barn."

"Are you... alright?" Cordelia pressed, approaching the kitchen table as Levicy dragged over the butter churn.

Levicy jerked her chin sharply towards the hearth. "Why wouldn't I be now? Quit with your questions and get me that boiling water. It's too cold to just put the cream in without warming the churn first. Remember that in your winter months. When you have a home of your own with Cap someday."

Cordelia felt the tug of a smile at that thought. It wouldn't be easy to live without her newly found family, but to have a place of their very own somewhere close to Levicy and Anse would be nice. Quiet even, until they had children. If she would be able to carry a pregnancy to term.

A doctor's daughter had knowledge of such unpleasant subjects as barren wombs and women who lost baby after baby before they even made it halfway through their confinement. Cordelia tried not to dwell on it, but after her miscarriage, the fear had haunted her like bird shadow on the ground at her feet. Especially since she had realized that she really did want to have Cap's children.

While they churned, Levicy became more withdrawn, her expression turning more severe as she pounded the plunger into the sloshing liquid. A stray splinter on the handle caught her palm and she hissed, bringing the pad of her hand to her mouth, perched her other fist on her hip. Cordelia's heart thudded hard at the sight of a tear escaping Levicy's eye.

"Something is the matter," Cordelia said quietly, bringing her a damp cloth for her hand to dab away the blood. "Please tell me."

"Don't- don't ask me anything. Not yet," Levicy replied, shaking her head. "Not till I know for sure."

"Till you're sure of what?"

Levicy glared up at Cordelia. Her daughter-in-law maintained her fierce stare with her chin tilted in challenge. The older woman sighed heavily through her nose. "Anse took Johnse fishing this morning. They haven't returned home yet."

Cordelia didn't need to ask what was so terrifying about a fishing trip. She had heard enough the past couple days about Johnse being the possible culprit in letting slip where Jim Vance and Cap had been hiding out. Devil Anse hadn't earned his nickname by chance, but was he really the kind of man who would murder his own son for being a Judas? The whole thing rang of a Shakespearean tragedy waiting to happen.

Levicy sank to a chair, wiping her brow with the cloth. "I told him- I made him promise me-"

"Anse loves his children. Any fool can see that," Cordelia stated firmly though her insides quivered. "He would never... he would never harm one of them, either by accident or-"

The gentle thud of hoofbeats sounded outside. Levicy dropped the cloth and sprang to her feet, fluttering to the door of the cabin. Levicy gripped the door post as Anse appeared in the yard, leading a lonely horse. Levicy swayed a little as her husband paused then moved towards where she stood.

Johnse ambled into view, his straw gold hair the same shade as Cap's gleaming in the broad daylight. Levicy relaxed heavily against her husband, gripping his shoulder before bustling into the yard to greet her eldest.

Cordelia released her breath and knelt to pick up the cloth, a weak smile of relief breaking across her face. It faded when she noticed that Anse's grimace as he poured himself a cup of hickory coffee from off the stove top, the earthy scent filling the kitchen. Anse sipped the steaming tin cup then tipped it towards the door. He wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Cap's down by the creek. Mentioned something about wanting to see you when you were done with your chores."

Something in his voice made her freeze. Why hadn't Cap come looking for her himself? Sending his father as messenger didn't sound like him, it certainly didn't sound like Anse either to deliver it willingly.

Giving a curt nod, Cordelia turned to the butter churn and slammed the plunger into it to keep the creamy sludge from solidifying. Levicy soon returned to the kitchen, her shoulders less tense and mouth relaxed.

"You almost done with that then?" she asked, stacking more kindling on the fire.

"Nearly," Cordelia grunted. "Anse said something about Cap wanting to see me down by the creek."

"Go on to your husband then, I can finish this," Levicy replied, taking over after wiping her hands on her apron. "Why didn't he just come looking for you his'self? Sending for you like some house girl, I'll have a talkin' to him if you need me to."

Cordelia gave her a shaky grin. "I am sure that's not necessary. He's probably preoccupied with something. I'll be back in a moment."

The air was crisp with mid-January, the thaw still a time off yet. Wrapping her shawl tightly around her shoulders, she traveled far down the creek without seeing Cap. She paused at the spot beyond the curve of the rock face where he had proposed to her. She couldn't believe it hadn't been two full months since that time, so much had occurred over a short period.

A rustling in the dead leaves beyond the slow moving water drew her attention. Cap was hidden among the birch and pine, sitting with his shot gun behind his knees. He lifted his scruffy chin in greeting though his mouth remained a rigid line.

Cordelia let out an uncertain chuckle. "What are you doing over there? Squirrel hunting?"

He shrugged. "No."

"Thinking about it then?"

"Thinkin'. But not about huntin'."

He rose from the bracken and moved to the edge of the water without crossing it, the short, chilly current separating them. He tipped the rim of his hat back from his forehead, a strand of hair falling over his blind eye, the other frosted with apathy.

Cordelia shifted from foot to foot and peered down towards the camp. "Thinking about your brother then?"

"Johnse? Did pappy... did he and pappy come back?"

"They just returned. Together."

Cap gave a brief, wry grin. "That's a scrap of good news, I s'pose."

Cordelia swallowed past a dry throat. "And I expect you have some bad news. You wouldn't ask to talk to me all the way out here unless you had something pivotal to say."

"Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"Stop it, Cap. I hate it when you do this. I wish you would let me in and tell me what's bothering you instead of keeping me at arm's length. It's exhausting," she ranted despite herself. The stress of the morning had gotten to her and now her husband's cagey attitude was driving her mood home. "Don't be afraid to tell me-"

"I'm not afraid. At least not for me. I'm afraid for you."

She wet her lips. "Why?"

"Because..." He ran a hand over his face and dug the butt of his prized shot gun into the dirt. "I know this might hurt you somethin' awful, at first maybe. And I don't want to do that, but I gotta do what's right."

"Stop talking in riddles and speak plainly!" Cordelia's arms fell to her sides, her fists clenched.

"Fine. You want plain talk then here it is," he snapped, rubbing his chin and pacing away from her. "I want you to leave."

Cordelia let out a breathy laugh. "What?"

"You heard me. I want an annulment."

A space of silence stretched between them. Pricks of heat lit up her spine to the base of her neck, her cheeks going cold.

"How- but why? What have I done?"

"You've- you've been fine. Just fine-"

"Fine?"

"Yeah and what we had was good enough for a time, but I've been doing a lot of thinking-"

"You think way too much and talk too little, Cap Hatfield."

"Let me finish, will you?" His eyes flickered over her then fell away. "We are too different, you and me. We got nothin' in common except a hankering for each other. That's all we built this dang thing on. And after I found that letter you'd kept from that Yankee beau of yours, I decided it would be better if you went back to where you belong."

"Where do I belong?" Cordelia asked, her question not only for him but for herself as well. "Tell me where I belong now? After everything that has happened?"

"You belong up- up north!" He threw a hand vaguely towards the sky. He took off his hat and wiped his brow with his sleeve. "You belong back east. Safe and far away from all this blood."

His original excuses melted like late winter snow in her mind. All his arguments about their marriage being built on nothing but lust faded as she studied his tormented expression.

"You don't really want me to go," she whispered, tears of anger gathering in her throat. "Why are you saying this? What's making you?"

"Doesn't matter what I want, doesn't matter what you want," he snarled, pointing at her with his hat flopping in his hand. "What matters is what is right."

"And an annulment. That's your solution to making all this right between us? What are you scared of?"

"I told ya', I ain't scared. I just know better now. These parts are too dangerous for a lady like yerself. It's best that you go home." He hopped across the water and stood several yards off from her. She didn't turn towards him as he cleared his throat, peering in the opposite direction towards the cabin. "I already had pap talk to Uncle Wall about it. Had him draw up the papers. I'll be signing them."

"And you expect me willingly to sign as well?"

"Yes. Then you'll be leaving with Uncle Wall this afternoon. He's takin' you back to that McCoy house maid of yours till you can figure your way back north. He'll help you, he promised. There are others too... others in town that will help."

"Cap," she breathed, refusing to allow her tears to surface yet. "You can't go through with this... after everything... after all-"

"Youthful enthusiasm. That's what ma called what I felt for you when I told her I was fixin' to marry you. Took me some time, but I see it now. It never would have worked between us, Cordelia. You've known it from the start, I was just a little slower than you."

Putting his hat back on his head, Cap shouldered his shot gun and strode away from her with his back straight and head held high. Confidence was in his step, not indecision. There would be no changing his mind.

Cordelia gasped a breath and sank to the damp creek sand, covering her mouth with a quivering hand so the others wouldn't hear her sobs carried on the biting breeze.