It was close to ten o'clock at night when he'd finally caught up with her, but then she was a fast walker. She'd learned to be one, trying to keep up with his giant stride - least-ways, that's how she explained it to him. She was soaked through and had almost reached her destination. He held back, tying the horse to a nearby tree branch and following behind her silently, Tick-licker in his hand. He watched not only her, but around her. They were in dangerous territory now.

They had done a good job of cleaning up the area. He hadn't been back and he was pleased to see that they had cleared away the wreckage. At the top of each mound of earth they had put a wooden cross. She stopped then, standing before the dark mounds of earth. He moved closer until he was just a few yards behind her. The steady rain fell around them.

Without turning around she said, "Which one?" She faced him then, looking small, almost like a little girl, and he was overwhelmed with a memory of the first time he'd ever seen her; so young and joyful. He stepped closer and removing his jacket, he placed it over her wet shoulders, "That one." He said pointing. She turned in the direction he pointed, slid her arms into his coat and moved to where her sister lay. He stayed where he was, waiting.

She cleared away some leaves and fallen branches. The rain began to lighten a bit, and fell in a soft mist, giving a sort of silvery glow to everything.

"I'm here, Susannah." She said softly. " I had to come and see you. I wanted to tell you that Katie Grace is with us, and she's doing fine. I'll take care of her just like she's one of my own. She smiles just like you, and Dan and I will make sure she smiles all her days." She sighed.

"Remember how we always talked about how things would be one day? I'm so blessed. I have all those things we said. I've a home and a family. I wish you had been able to meet them all. Daniel's over there, my husband. He's watching over me. He always is. He loves me so, just like the made-up husbands we talked about as girls, and you should see how he dotes on Katie Grace. I hope your days were as good as mine have been."

"I keep thinking of that day that we were sold. I ran as fast as I could to say goodbye to you, but I was too late and you were gone. I wanted to make sure and say goodbye to you this time. I am really sorry it ended this way. I know you must have been so frightened, but I know you are at peace now."

"I've been thinking of our James of late. He died like you at the hands of those filled with hatred. But I think the two of you must be together now - at peace. So, you and James can look after each other, and our little ones who we lost later, and I'll look after Katie Grace - just until we are all together again."

The rain had slowed and she stood drenched and shivering in front of her sister's grave. Seeing she had finished, Daniel knelt and placed the stone he'd spent weeks chiseling at the head of the grave. Rebecca walked and stood beside him, clutching his hand tightly she peered down at the inscription. "Inouin" She read. "How did you . . .?"

"Did I put it right?" He asked her. "I've heard you say it, but I wasn't sure about the letters."

"Yes," She said incredulous. "Beloved."

***DB***

He found a nearby cave and built a fire. She was wet through to the bone and he wished he'd thought to bring her a change of clothes. He looked in his pack but all he had was the clean shirt that she kept tucked inside for him. He handed it to her and said, "Well, it is dry."

He went out and managed to catch a couple of rabbits. He roasted them over the fire. She sat across from him dressed in his shirt which looked more like a dress on her, and her black pantaloons. Her hair was nearly dry and fell loose over her shoulders. Even now, distressed and no doubt exhausted, she looked beautiful.

"I would have brought you here." He said. "It was dangerous."

"I'm sorry." She said. "I wasn't thinking clearly. I had to go. I needed to face it alone or at least try to."

He sighed, "I said the same to you once, long ago. It was foolish of me and unfair to you. I see that clearer now."

She remembered those dark and bitter days after James' death. Overwhelmed with rage, he'd left in the middle of the night to pursue the savages who had slaughtered him. Shattered and broken-hearted then, she'd greeted him with fury on his return.

"You had to go." She said softly. "I see that clearer now, too."

"I dunno." He sighed again thinking of the life he'd given her. "Maybe I should have left you there at Clinch Station. You could've married Jim. Maybe you'd be there still - with seventeen sons and nothing but sunny days."

"I was never going to marry Jim." She said wrinkling her nose in disgust. "You rode up on that horse, grinning that sideways grin looking like some kind of storybook hero." She smiled at him. "I don't want to be a bitter woman, spending my days counting up all my hurts. Besides, my life is good - the kind of life that Susannah and I longed to have." She smiled at him. "I longed for a home and I have that. I wanted a family that loves each other more than anything and I have that. I hoped to marry the kind of man who'd rather die than let his daughter bound over to pay his debt, and I have that too." She crossed over to him and sat down in the circle of his arms. "I know you sent her letters telling her not to come, that it was too dangerous. You didn't even tell me that. Mingo did."

"It didn't matter. They came anyway." He said.

"Sure it did. It matters to me." She relaxed in the comfort of his embrace and felt herself begin to drift off to sleep. "She was too stubborn to listen. The Bryan girls can be a mite stubborn." He smiled at her. "I wish she'd listened. I wish the two of us were walking around Philadelphia right now."

"That would have been something to see." He said. "Everyone would have stopped to stare at the two of you. But Becky, you got it wrong." She looked at him puzzled. "You did look like twins, but you are the pretty one."

She turned in his arms and kissed him then, and then she began to cry - thinking of her beloved sister laid beneath the dark and bloody ground.