Chapter 11 - Daniel's Other Name
Martha refused to believe it.
"Daniel had no brother."
Coyle shrugged.
"Then your husband lied."
She wanted to strike him.
Instead she walked out.
Elias followed.
"Martha."
"Don't."
He stopped.
She breathed.
Then turned.
"Why does every truth about my husband come from someone else?"
Elias had no answer.
Samuel did.
When they confronted him, his face confirmed it.
"You knew."
Samuel looked ashamed.
"Daniel told me near Scotts Bluff."
"His real name?"
"Daniel Mercer."
Martha sat.
Silas Mercer.
Daniel Mercer.
Brothers.
"Why Whitcomb?"
"Your husband's mother remarried when Daniel was young. He took his stepfather's name."
"Silas didn't?"
"No."
"Why did Daniel hide it?"
"Because Silas was already working for Coyle."
Martha stared at Rose sleeping nearby.
Her daughter carried the name Whitcomb.
A chosen name.
Perhaps that mattered more than blood.
"Did Daniel know Silas sabotaged the wagon?"
"No."
"He was dead."
"I mean did he know Silas might come after me?"
Samuel hesitated.
"He feared it."
Martha closed her eyes.
Again.
Another secret.
Elias sat beside her.
"Being angry at a dead man is allowed."
She looked at him.
"I love him."
"I know."
"I'm furious with him."
"I know."
"I can't yell at him."
"You can."
She almost smiled.
"People will think I'm mad."
"People already think you're the pregnant widow who shot Coyle."
"Fair."
That evening Martha went alone to Daniel's grave.
It lay miles east, but they traveled there because she needed it.
She sat beside the stones.
Rose slept against her chest.
"You idiot," Martha whispered.
Tears came.
"You brave, impossible idiot."
She told him everything.
About Elias.
About Rose.
About Silas.
About the land.
About how angry she was.
Then she read Daniel's letter aloud.
When she finished, the wind moved through the cottonwood leaves.
Nothing supernatural happened.
No voice answered.
But Martha felt lighter.
She returned to Elias.
"I'm ready."
"For what?"
"Home."
They traveled back to the claim.
Winter approached.
They built a cabin.
Elias finished the cradle.
He preserved Daniel's original pieces and replaced only what Mercer had broken.
On the underside, Elias carved two initials.
D.W.
Then his own.
E.C.
Martha found them.
She cried.
Elias panicked.
"Should I remove mine?"
"No."
"Then why are you crying?"
"Because you're an idiot too."
He accepted that.
Life settled.
Rose grew stronger.
Jacob arrived in spring.
He adored the baby.
Anna visited.
She and Martha became unlikely friends.
Samuel opened a trading post two miles away.
Ben attended the small school Martha started in her cabin.
For a while, it seemed the danger had ended.
But Mercer remained missing.
Then cattle began disappearing.
A fence was cut.
A dead raven appeared on Martha's doorstep.
Elias knew.
"He's here."
Martha looked toward the hills.
"Then let him come."
"No."
"We can't keep waiting."
Elias agreed.
They set a trap.
Word spread that Martha was traveling to Fort Laramie with Daniel's remaining papers.
She wasn't.
Elias and Judge Vale waited along the route.
Mercer appeared.
But he wasn't alone.
He had kidnapped Samuel.
Mercer held a gun to him.
"Where's Martha?"
Elias stepped from cover.
"Safe."
"She has something Daniel stole from me."
"What?"
"A deed."
Elias frowned.
"What deed?"
Mercer laughed.
"The original Whitcomb claim."
Martha had a copy.
The original had never been found.
"Why do you need it?"
"Because Daniel wasn't the sole owner."
Elias understood.
Silas's name must have been on an earlier version.
Mercer wanted legal leverage.
"Let Samuel go."
"Bring Martha."
"No."
Mercer fired.
Samuel fell.
Elias shot back.
Mercer fled.
They rushed to Samuel.
The bullet had struck his leg.
He would live.
But before losing consciousness, Samuel grabbed Elias.
"He knows."
"Knows what?"
"Where Martha is."
Elias went cold.
"How?"
Samuel struggled to speak.
"He never believed the Fort Laramie story."
Elias mounted immediately.
He rode for home.
Miles away, Martha rocked Rose beside the fire.
Jacob was in the barn.
A knock came.
Martha froze.
"Elias?"
No answer.
She reached for the rifle.
Another knock.
Then a man's voice.
"Martha."
Silas Mercer.
She aimed at the door.
But Mercer wasn't alone.
Jacob cried out from outside.
"Don't shoot!"
Martha's blood froze.
May you like
Mercer had Elias's son.
And the door slowly began to open.
