Chapter 2 - The Man Who Came to Collect
Nora’s blood turned cold.
Silas held one finger to his lips and moved away from the window.
Another knock shook the door.
“Hear me, Reed?”
The voice outside belonged to a man who was used to being obeyed.
“Harlan paid for the girl first.”
Nora whispered, “You said Voss agreed to my father’s bargain.”
Silas nodded once.
“Then he thinks I belong to him.”
“No.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you don’t.”
The man outside laughed.
“Open the door, Reed, or we open it for you.”
Silas crossed to a rifle hanging over the fireplace.
Nora stared at him.
“You said there were five.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re one.”
“Yes.”
“You planning to die quietly too?”
A faint glance.
“Hopefully not.”
He checked the rifle.
Nora’s gaze traveled around the cabin.
One door.
Two windows.
No rear exit.
“You have another gun?”
Silas pointed toward a kitchen drawer.
Nora opened it.
Inside lay an old revolver.
She picked it up.
His eyebrow lifted.
“You know how?”
“My father had me shooting coyotes before I could reach the kitchen shelf.”
Another blow hit the door.
The latch groaned.
Silas positioned himself beside the frame.
“Stay behind the stove.”
“No.”
“Nora.”
“You bought me to keep Voss from getting me?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Then I’d prefer not to make your sacrifice pointless.”
The door shuddered.
Silas almost smiled.
“You’re stubborn.”
“So I’ve heard.”
A shot blasted through the upper panel.
Nora ducked.
Silas fired through the wall beside the door.
Someone outside shouted.
Horses scattered.
“Last warning!” Silas called.
Silence answered.
Then a different voice spoke.
“Harlan said alive, Reed. He didn’t say undamaged.”
Nora’s hands tightened around the revolver.
Silas’s expression went flat.
“Get down.”
A window exploded.
Glass flew across the floor.
Nora fired once toward the silhouette outside.
A man cursed.
Silas fired again.
Then came retreating hoofbeats.
Not all of them.
But several.
Silas waited.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
A minute.
Finally, silence returned.
Nora’s hands began shaking only after the danger passed.
Silas lowered the rifle.
“You hit?”
“No.”
He checked anyway, scanning her arms and face without touching.
“You?”
“No.”
Nora looked at the shattered window.
“They’ll return.”
“Yes.”
“With more men.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t waste words, do you?”
“No.”
This time she was certain she saw the edge of a smile.
It vanished quickly.
They covered the window with a blanket.
Silas bolted the door and returned to the papers.
Nora still held the revolver.
“Tell me everything.”
He sat across from her.
“Your mother inherited forty acres from her father.”
“My grandfather?”
“Isaac Rowan.”
Nora knew the name vaguely.
Her mother rarely spoke of him.
Silas continued.
“The land wasn’t valuable then.”
“And now?”
“Railroad survey changed that.”
Nora stared.
“How valuable?”
“Enough.”
“That isn’t a number.”
“Maybe twenty thousand.”
Her mouth opened.
Twenty thousand dollars was a fortune.
“My father knew?”
“Yes.”
“And Voss?”
“Yes.”
Silas pushed the second paper toward her.
It was a preliminary railway map.
A proposed spur line crossed directly through Margaret Bell’s property.
Nora sat back.
“Why would my mother’s property become mine?”
“Her will.”
“What will?”
“County copy disappeared.”
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
“You found another?”
“Your mother gave one to my father.”
Nora stared at him.
“You knew my mother?”
“No. My father did.”
Silas rose and opened a wooden chest.
From beneath folded clothes, he removed an envelope.
The paper was yellow.
He handed it to Nora.
Her name was written across the front.
For Nora, when she is old enough.
She recognized the handwriting instantly.
Her mother’s.
The room blurred.
She sank into the chair.
“Where did you get this?”
“My father gave it to me before he died.”
“Why didn’t he give it to me?”
“He tried.”
Nora looked up.
“Elias stopped him.”
“What?”
“My father was Jonah Reed.”
The name hit her like something from a forgotten dream.
A thin man who had occasionally visited when Nora was little.
Her mother always welcomed him.
Her father never did.
“He was friends with Mama?”
“Since childhood.”
Nora’s fingers trembled around the envelope.
Silas nodded.
“He promised her he’d protect the will if anything happened.”
Nora opened it.
Inside was a short letter.
My dearest Nora,
If you are reading this, I did not live long enough to tell you myself.
The land at Cedar Ridge belongs to you when you turn eighteen. Your father cannot sell it, mortgage it, or transfer it in your name.
Never let anyone convince you that your future must be purchased by obedience.
You are not a burden.
You are not property.
You are my daughter.
Choose your own life.
Love always,
Mama.
Nora pressed the letter to her mouth.
A sob escaped.
She hated that Silas heard it.
She hated more that Elias had hidden these words from her.
For eight years she had lived believing her mother left nothing behind.
Not land.
Not protection.
Not even final words.
Silas turned away, granting her privacy within a room too small to offer any.
That kindness hurt.
After several minutes Nora whispered, “Why today?”
Silas faced her.
“What?”
“Why did you interfere today?”
His silence lengthened.
“You knew about the land. You had the will. Why wait?”
“I didn’t know Elias was selling you.”
“How did you learn?”
“I came to town for flour.”
Despite everything, Nora stared.
“Flour.”
“Yes.”
“And accidentally bought a wife?”
Silas looked uncomfortable.
The absurdity pulled a broken laugh from her.
It became another sob.
Silas waited until she recovered.
“I heard Elias speaking with Voss’s foreman behind the saloon.”
“What did he say?”
“That Voss would erase six thousand dollars of debt if Elias delivered you before sundown.”
Nora went still.
“Six thousand?”
“Yes.”
“How did my father owe six thousand dollars?”
“Cards. Cattle speculation. Whiskey.”
She closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
Silas continued.
“I knew if Voss married you, he could pressure you into signing Cedar Ridge over.”
“Unless I refused.”
“He wouldn’t depend on permission.”
She looked at the bullet hole in the wall.
No.
Harlan Voss probably would not.
“So you made my father a better offer.”
“Fast offer.”
“The mule and four hundred dollars.”
“Yes.”
“He chose cash over clearing six thousand in debt?”
Silas’s face hardened.
“No.”
Nora frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“Your father took both deals.”
The words landed slowly.
“He sold me twice?”
“Yes.”
Nora looked toward the fire.
There should have been another emotion left.
Shock.
Anger.
Grief.
But she was emptied.
“He knew Voss would come after me.”
“Yes.”
Silas’s restraint broke slightly.
“He expected Voss to take you from me and keep the money.”
Nora laughed.
It sounded terrible.
“My father sold me twice and expected one buyer to rob the other.”
Silas said nothing.
Nora wiped her face.
“Why would you risk your life?”
His gaze shifted.
“You don’t know me.”
“No.”
“You don’t owe my mother anything.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Silas stood.
“Tomorrow we ride for Cedar Ridge.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
“Do you ever answer questions you don’t like?”
“No.”
She almost smiled again.
Almost.
Night settled around the cabin.
Silas cooked beans and salt pork.
Nora ate because she knew she needed strength.
Afterward, he brought a washbasin and left it near the bed.
Then he placed a chair under the damaged door handle.
Nora watched him spread blankets near the hearth.
“This is our wedding night.”
Silas stopped.
The statement seemed to make him deeply uncomfortable.
“That’s what Elias called it.”
“What do you call it?”
He considered.
“Tuesday.”
Nora laughed before she could stop herself.
A genuine laugh.
Small.
Unsteady.
But real.
Silas looked almost startled.
Then he lowered himself onto the blanket.
Nora remained sitting on the bed.
“Silas.”
“Yes?”
“If you wanted me to be free, why marry me at all?”
He stared at the ceiling.
“Because Voss had paperwork prepared.”
“What paperwork?”
“A marriage license application.”
“That doesn’t make us married.”
“No.”
“You said you agreed to marry me.”
“Yes.”
“Did we?”
“No.”
Nora’s pulse quickened.
“My father lied?”
“Yes.”
“Then what did you buy?”
“Time.”
She absorbed that.
Time.
Not a wife.
Time.
Silas turned toward the wall.
“You should sleep.”
Nora lay down fully dressed.
For the first time since the saloon, her body began to loosen.
She still did not trust him completely.
Perhaps trust did not come in a single evening.
But fear had changed shape.
Before she slept, she whispered, “Thank you.”
Silas did not answer.
She thought he was already asleep.
Then, quietly:
“You’re welcome.”
Nora woke sometime before dawn.
Silas was standing near the broken window.
“Someone there?” she whispered.
“No.”
But he was holding something.
A piece of paper pushed beneath the door.
Nora climbed from bed.
“What is it?”
Silas handed it to her.
Three sentences were written in black ink.
RETURN THE GIRL.
CEDAR RIDGE BELONGS TO VOSS.
ASK NORA WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO HER MOTHER.
Nora read the final line twice.
May you like
Then someone knocked three times on the cabin wall.
From the outside.
