The Guardian of Echo Canyon - An Interlude
Sometimes, the best way to support someone is by standing beside them.
Interludes from Women of the Canyon
Not every chapter is about action. Some are about presence. Interludes like this one slow the pace to honor something quieter—but just as powerful. Friends that don’t rush in to fix, but show up and stay. In the stillness between storms, we meet the ones who remind us we’re not alone.
The Friend Who Stands Beside You
The evening stretched long over the hills of Echo Canyon, the sky painted in dusky oranges and deep, rich purple. A warm breeze carried the scent of mesquite and sun-warmed earth, rustling through the dry grass as Ben worked in quiet rhythm. He knelt near the fence line of his upper ranch, hands steady as he twisted new wire into place, reinforcing the weathered posts that had stood against time, wind, and the occasional wandering mustang.
It was a simple task, one he had done more times than he could count. But tonight, his mind wasn’t on the fence. It was on his cousin.
Raven carried so much, more than anyone truly understood. The weight of her ancestors’ stories, the expectations of a land that still whispered to her in ways others couldn’t hear, and now, the threat of Whitman and those who saw Echo Canyon as just another piece of property to be claimed. Ben had seen this kind of battle before, not always with men and land, but in the way strength was tested over time.
He leaned back on his heels, gazing toward the distant ridge where Raven’s home sat nestled among the cottonwoods. He had known her since she was a girl, had watched her grow into the woman she was now; proud, fierce, unwilling to bend. It made her formidable. It also made the fight harder.
His mind drifted to a story his father once told him, about a stallion that had roamed the canyon long before his time. A wild one, black as midnight, eyes sharp as flint. No one could get near him, let alone break him. Ranchers tried, lassoed him, fought him, but he tore through ropes like they were threads. They called him a lost cause. Until one day, another horse, a quiet, steady gelding, found his way beside the stallion, grazing near him, sharing space without demand. No battles, no force, just presence.
Over time, the stallion stopped running. Not because he had been tamed, but because he had been given the space to decide for himself. And when the day came that the herd needed a leader, it wasn’t the ranchers who chose him. It was the herd.
Ben exhaled, pushing himself to his feet. He knew his role. He wasn’t the one to fight Raven’s battles or to tell her which way to go. But he could be there, steady as the earth beneath her, giving her space to find her way without ever feeling alone.
He looked out over Echo Canyon, where the land stretched wide, rugged and untamed. To some, like Whitman, it was just property to be divided and sold. But to Ben, it was more than that.
The fight for it wasn’t just about one moment. It was about the long road ahead, about ensuring that people like Raven had the ground beneath them to keep walking.
With one last glance toward the horizon, he gathered his tools, his decision already made. Whatever came next, he would stand beside her—not to shield her from the storm, but to make sure she never faced it alone.
I’m Marylee, and I write fiction and for women who are ready to rewrite their story, or just need to feel seen. My words are a soft place to land when life shifts, dreams return, or you simply need a little light.
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