The snow crunches under my boots as I haul the last of the supplies up to the old cabin. It’s an hour’s ride off the main road, through thick woods and up a trail so steep it’s damn near vertical in places. Only someone like Old Man Granger would choose to live this far out, but when Indie got the call, there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation in her.
“Picked a bad day to be born–this wind is downright nasty,” I mutter, catching my cowboy hat right before the wind steals it off my head.
“Babies don’t wait for convenience,” she hums at my side as we climb the old steps to the cabin.
I glance over my shoulder. Her cheeks are flushed pink from the cold, strands of blonde hair peeking out from under her knit hat. Damn her for looking so at ease, so content. “You think this is funny?”
She shrugs. “I think you’re not used to being out of control.”
My jaw tightens. She’s not wrong, but I don’t like her knowing it. “I’m just saying, maybe a cabin closer to civilization wouldn’t kill the man. There’s rugged, and then there’s stupid.”
“You’d get along with him,” she teases. “You both have the same sunny disposition.”
“Cute,” I growl, my mouth quirks at the edges. She catches it, I know she does, because she laughs softly beside me. The sound rolls through me like the warmest fire.
Just as the sky starts to darken, streaks of orange and pink bleeding into the mountains, we knock on the old wooden door. Granger greets us, gruff but grateful as hell that Indie came all this way.
“She’s laboring hard,” he says, his voice tight with worry. “Been at it since this morning.”
Indie wastes no time. “Let’s get inside.”
She steps into the cabin like she’s done this a thousand times. And maybe she has. But something about watching her in action, so sure of herself, so damn confident, stirs something deep in me.
The hours crawl by as I sit on the porch, the cold biting at my face and fingers. I’m not used to waiting. Not used to feeling helpless. Inside, Indie is working miracles. Every now and then, I catch glimpses of her through the cracked door—her calm voice, her steady hands, the way she reassures Mrs. Granger with a quick smile.
“Strong as hell,” I mutter, leaning back against the cabin wall.
And she is. I’ve known strong women before—my mom, Mrs. Steele, Betty, my brothers’ girlfriends—but Indie is a different kind of strong. She doesn’t just endure. She thrives. Even after everything she’s been through, she’s here, giving her all to a family that isn’t hers.
The door creaks open, and she steps out, her face lit up despite the exhaustion in her eyes.
“It’s a boy,” she says, a wide smile breaking across her face.
I push off the wall, the tension easing from my shoulders. “Everyone’s okay?”
She nods, wiping her hands on her pants. “Healthy as can be. Granger’s over the moon.”
“You look like you’ve been through it,” I say, though the truth is, she looks radiant. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes bright, her lips tugged up in a way that makes it hard to look anywhere else.
“Thanks, cowboy,” she says with a smirk. “You always know just what to say.”
I grab her medical bag before she can argue and move down the steps. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
By the time we reach the ranch, the moon is high and the stars are so clear it feels like you could reach out and grab one. I head to the barn first to feed Copper while Indie heads toward the cabin. But instead of going inside, she stops at the porch, staring up at the sky.
When I join her, she doesn’t look at me, just keeps her eyes on the stars. “You ever think about how small we are?”
“Not really,” I admit, leaning against the railing. “Why?”
She shrugs, her arms wrapped around herself. “It’s humbling, I guess. All those problems we carry around—family, fear, heartbreak. They feel huge to us, but out here, they’re nothing.”
“They’re something,” I say, my voice quiet. “To you, they’re something. That’s what matters.”
She turns to me, her expression softer than I’m used to. “You’re not as grumpy as you pretend to be, you know.”
I huff a laugh. “Don’t let that get around.”
Her smile fades, and she looks down at her hands. “I know I’ve made a mess of things. With Chad, with my family, with you…”
