Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Came Down the Mountain
Constance did exactly what Elias would have told her not to do.
She went to town.
Samuel argued.
She ignored him.
By dawn, he had harnessed Elias’s strongest horse to a narrow sleigh.
The road was barely passable.
Constance wore two coats and wrapped a scarf around her head.
Samuel sat beside her.
“You know this could be what Pike wants.”
“It is what Pike wants.”
“That doesn’t concern you?”
“Very much.”
“And you’re going anyway?”
“Yes.”
Samuel shook his head.
“You and Elias are going to drive each other insane.”
Constance looked ahead.
“That assumes I’m staying.”
Samuel did not answer.
That bothered her.
The town of Pine Creek appeared after noon.
It consisted of one main street, a church, hotel, mercantile, saloon, livery, blacksmith, and scattered houses.
People noticed Constance immediately.
She could feel it.
Curtains moved.
Men outside the saloon stopped talking.
Two women whispered near the mercantile.
Then someone laughed.
Constance kept walking.
The laugh followed.
“Boon send his bride back already?”
She stopped.
A young man leaned against the saloon post.
His friends grinned.
Constance turned.
“Which one of you is Harvey Pike?”
The laughter died.
A man stepped from inside.
He was about forty.
Clean coat.
Trim mustache.
Expensive boots.
The kind of man who looked respectable because other people did his dirty work.
“Mrs. Bradley.”
“Miss.”
“Of course.”
His eyes moved over her body.
There was the look.
Constance knew it well.
Assessment.
Amusement.
Dismissal.
“You received my note.”
“I did.”
“Then perhaps we should speak privately.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You humiliated me publicly. We can discuss your reasons publicly.”
People gathered.
Pike’s smile thinned.
“Elias Boon assaulted two surveyors.”
“On his property?”
“They dispute that.”
“Where is he?”
“Sheriff’s office.”
Constance turned.
Pike caught her arm.
Only for a second.
Constance looked down at his hand.
Then at him.
“Remove it.”
Something in her voice made him obey.
“You should understand your position,” Pike said.
“I understand it perfectly.”
“Do you?”
“You forged a man’s signature, deceived a woman, transported her across state lines, and used her to interfere with a land claim.”
The street became very quiet.
Pike’s expression changed.
“Those are serious accusations.”
“So were your letters.”
“You can’t prove I wrote them.”
Constance smiled.
It was the first time he looked uncertain.
“No?”
She walked away.
The sheriff’s office stood near the end of the street.
Elias was behind iron bars.
He stood when she entered.
His expression moved from surprise to fury.
“What are you doing here?”
“Good afternoon to you too.”
“I told Samuel—”
“You told me nothing. You were kidnapped.”
“Arrested.”
“By men trespassing on your land.”
Sheriff Nolan looked up from his desk.
“I’m sitting right here.”
Constance turned.
“Excellent. Release him.”
The sheriff stared.
Elias almost laughed.
Nolan removed his spectacles.
“Ma’am, Mr. Boon broke a surveyor’s jaw.”
Constance looked at Elias.
“Did you?”
“He reached for a pistol.”
Nolan sighed.
“You left that part out.”
“You didn’t ask.”
Constance faced the sheriff again.
“Release him.”
“Still can’t.”
“Why?”
“Judge arrives tomorrow.”
“Then I’ll wait.”
Elias gripped the bars.
“No. You’re going back to the cabin.”
She turned slowly.
“Would you like to reconsider your tone?”
Samuel coughed to hide a laugh.
Elias glared at him.
Constance approached the cell.
“You don’t order me around.”
“I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“Try differently.”
Their faces were separated by iron.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Elias lowered his voice.
“Pike brought you here for a reason.”
“I know.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing useful.”
“Constance.”
“Elias.”
He exhaled.
“Please.”
That word worked.
She showed him the note.
His face darkened.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“I’m beginning to suspect you repeat yourself when worried.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She leaned closer.
“I have the original letters.”
“Where?”
“Cabin.”
“Keep them there.”
“I brought one.”
His eyes widened.
“Why?”
“Because unlike you, I occasionally plan before entering fights.”
Samuel turned away, shoulders shaking.
Elias pointed at him.
“Stop enjoying this.”
That afternoon, Constance visited the newspaper office.
The editor, Margaret Hale, was a sharp-eyed widow in her fifties.
Constance placed the forged letter on her desk.
Margaret read it.
Then read it again.
“I printed that matrimonial advertisement.”
Constance stiffened.
“You?”
“It arrived by post with payment.”
“From whom?”
“No name.”
“Do you still have the envelope?”
Margaret looked toward a filing cabinet.
“I keep everything.”
Ten minutes later, she found it.
The postmark was Pine Creek.
More importantly, the envelope bore a faint purple stamp from Pike Mercantile.
Constance stared.
“Is that enough?”
“For embarrassment? Yes.”
“For court?”
“Maybe.”
Margaret looked at her.
“You planning to fight Harvey Pike?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because half this town has wanted to for ten years.”
By evening, word had spread.
The joke bride was fighting back.
Constance hated the phrase.
But she used the attention.
She spoke to anyone who would listen.
A stable boy remembered Pike’s clerk posting several letters.
A hotel maid had overheard Pike boasting about “sending Boon something he couldn’t ignore.”
A storekeeper remembered the photograph.
That detail hurt most.
Pike had apparently shown it in the saloon.
Men had laughed.
Constance returned to her hotel room before dark.
She shut the door.
Then she finally cried.
Not delicately.
Not beautifully.
She sat on the bed and covered her face.
Every cruel laugh she had ignored in her life seemed to return at once.
A knock came.
She wiped her eyes.
“Who?”
“Margaret.”
Constance opened the door.
The newspaper editor entered carrying tea.
She said nothing about Constance’s face.
That kindness almost caused another flood.
Margaret poured two cups.
“Want to know something?”
Constance sniffed.
“What?”
“When I married my husband, I weighed ninety-eight pounds.”
Constance blinked.
“I’m not sure how that helps.”
“It doesn’t.”
Margaret sipped tea.
“He still cheated.”
Constance stared.
Margaret shrugged.
“My point is men who enjoy cruelty will always invent a reason. Too heavy. Too thin. Too loud. Too quiet. Too poor. Too clever. If you spend your life trying to remove their reasons, you’ll disappear.”
Constance looked at the tea.
“Did it stop hurting?”
“No.”
Margaret’s answer surprised her.
“But eventually I stopped treating their cruelty as evidence.”
Constance thought of Elias.
He had never once looked embarrassed by her.
Not once.
The next morning, Judge Warren arrived.
The hearing lasted less than an hour.
The surveyors admitted entering Elias’s land.
One admitted reaching for his pistol.
Elias was released.
He walked directly past Pike and stopped before Constance.
“You all right?”
She nodded.
He looked at her swollen eyes.
“You’re lying.”
“So are you.”
His knuckles were split.
A bruise darkened his cheek.
Without thinking, she touched it.
Elias went completely still.
So did Constance.
Her fingers rested against his beard.
The courthouse disappeared.
Then someone laughed outside.
Constance pulled her hand away.
Elias looked toward the sound with murder in his eyes.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
His gaze returned to her.
“I’m tired of people laughing at you.”
“So am I.”
“Then let me—”
“No.”
She straightened.
“I’ll handle laughter.”
Something like pride appeared in his face.
They returned to the mountain that afternoon.
For several miles neither spoke.
Finally Elias said, “Margaret told me what you found.”
“The envelope?”
“Yes.”
“It connects Pike to the letters.”
“Maybe.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“I want enough to destroy his claim.”
Constance looked at him.
“Not him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Men like Pike survive fights. Take away what they’re trying to steal and everybody sees what they really are.”
Constance smiled.
“That was almost wise.”
“Almost?”
“Don’t become arrogant.”
He laughed.
It was the first full laugh she had heard from him.
She liked it far too much.
When they reached the cabin, Constance stopped.
The front door stood open.
Elias immediately moved ahead of her.
“Stay here.”
This time she did.
He entered with his rifle.
A minute later, he called her.
The cabin had been searched.
Drawers open.
Mattress cut.
Cupboards emptied.
Her larger trunk had been forced apart.
Constance rushed to it.
“My letters.”
Gone.
Elias swore.
“The originals?”
“All of them.”
Then Constance saw something on the table.
A photograph.
Her photograph.
The one she had sent with her matrimonial reply.
Someone had drawn a black circle around her face.
On the back were five words.
Next time, she stays gone.
Elias read them.
His expression turned terrifyingly calm.
Then a floorboard creaked above them.
Constance looked toward the loft.
May you like
Elias raised his rifle.
Someone was still inside the cabin.
