Chap­ter 10 begins with Margery recall­ing her unset­tling con­fronta­tion with Clem McCul­lough, a man known for hold­ing grudges and act­ing on them with­out hes­i­ta­tion. His words, drip­ping with ven­om, had left a lin­ger­ing sense of unease, mak­ing her feel as though she had unknow­ing­ly set some­thing dan­ger­ous into motion. McCul­lough had warned her that she would regret humil­i­at­ing him, and Margery couldn’t shake the feel­ing that his ret­ri­bu­tion was not only inevitable but pos­si­bly lethal.

Sven lis­tens care­ful­ly, his expres­sion grow­ing more seri­ous with every detail she shares. He knows Margery is no stranger to con­flict, yet there is some­thing dif­fer­ent about her unease this time—it isn’t just brava­do or stub­born defi­ance fuel­ing her wor­ry. There is real fear in her voice, a hes­i­ta­tion that is unlike her, and that alone is enough to make him under­stand the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion.

Sven imme­di­ate­ly sug­gests that they seek the sheriff’s help, rea­son­ing that if McCul­lough is mak­ing threats, law enforce­ment should be involved before things esca­late fur­ther. But Margery is firm in her refusal, know­ing all too well that jus­tice in their town bends in favor of men like McCul­lough. “No one’s going to stop him,” she tells Sven, her voice steady but laced with an unmis­tak­able edge. “Men like him, they don’t need proof or rea­son. They act, and every­one looks the oth­er way.”

It is then that Margery reveals she has begun car­ry­ing a Colt .45, a deci­sion that makes Sven’s stom­ach tight­en with anx­i­ety. He under­stands her need to pro­tect her­self, yet the thought of Margery stand­ing alone, armed against a man like McCul­lough, makes his blood run cold. He knows she is capable—strong, fear­less, and unwill­ing to back down—but he also knows that vio­lence often breeds more vio­lence, and he fears what could hap­pen if Margery is forced to use that gun.

As the night deep­ens, the two sit togeth­er in her dim­ly lit cab­in, the air heavy with the weight of their con­ver­sa­tion. Margery con­fess­es the exhaus­tion that has been press­ing down on her, not just from McCullough’s threats, but from the sheer bur­den of try­ing to live freely in a place where old feuds and small-town pol­i­tics dic­tate the course of one’s life. “Some­times, I won­der if it’s even worth stay­ing,” she admits, her voice qui­eter than before. “But then I think—where else would we go?”

Sven, who has spent his life teth­ered to these moun­tains, under­stands her tur­moil bet­ter than any­one. The land they live on is more than just a home; it is part of who they are, woven into their very exis­tence. To leave would be to aban­don not only their past but also the life they had fought to build, and that was not some­thing either of them was ready to do.

He squeezes her hand gen­tly, his voice res­olute. “We’re not run­ning, Marge. What­ev­er comes, we’ll face it togeth­er.” It is a promise, one that binds them not just as lovers, but as part­ners in the ongo­ing bat­tle to hold on to what is right­ful­ly theirs.

As dawn begins to break, their con­ver­sa­tion shifts from fear to strat­e­gy. Margery refus­es to let McCul­lough intim­i­date her into sub­mis­sion, but she also knows that cau­tion is nec­es­sary. They agree that she will con­tin­ue her Pack Horse Library deliv­er­ies, ensur­ing that her rou­tine remains unchanged to avoid draw­ing sus­pi­cion.

How­ev­er, she will no longer trav­el alone. Sven plans to adjust his shifts at the mine to accom­pa­ny her on the more treach­er­ous routes, ensur­ing that she is nev­er iso­lat­ed in vul­ner­a­ble areas. They also decide to estab­lish a silent sig­nal sys­tem with their clos­est allies, a net­work of peo­ple who can be relied upon in case of an emer­gency.

By the time Sven steps out­side, the first rays of morn­ing light spill over the frost-cov­ered ground, cast­ing long shad­ows that stretch toward the moun­tains. Despite the uncer­tain­ty ahead, Margery feels an unex­pect­ed sense of relief. She knows the road for­ward will not be easy, but in this moment, she is cer­tain of one thing—she will not be fac­ing it alone.

As she watch­es Sven dis­ap­pear down the trail, she takes a deep breath, inhal­ing the crisp morn­ing air. The fight ahead is unavoid­able, but she is ready. And no mat­ter what McCul­lough has planned, she refus­es to let fear dic­tate her future.