Chapter 5 - The Name Inside the Bible
Jacob raised his rifle.
“No.”
The voice above them laughed.
“Then she never learns.”
Hannah touched Jacob's arm.
“Go.”
“No.”
“My choice.”
His jaw tightened.
That phrase had become something between them.
Finally he lowered the rifle.
“I'll be outside the door.”
Jacob left.
The attic hatch opened.
A man descended.
Hannah recognized Cyrus's rider.
But without his hat and scarf, she saw details she'd missed.
He was perhaps twenty-eight.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
And the black ring.
“My name is Nathan Vale.”
“Vale.”
“Daniel was my father.”
Hannah's heart stumbled.
“Then you're—”
“My half brother.”
She stepped backward.
“No.”
Nathan smiled without warmth.
“That's what Cyrus hoped you'd say.”
“Why were you helping him?”
“I wasn't.”
“You pointed a rifle at Jacob.”
“To convince Cyrus I was.”
“Why?”
“To find the ledger.”
“Did you?”
“You did.”
Hannah moved toward the door.
Nathan blocked her.
“Listen first.”
“Move.”
“Hannah, Cyrus killed our father.”
She stopped.
Nathan explained that Daniel Vale had discovered Cyrus's trafficking scheme years earlier. Daniel and Elizabeth tried to expose him.
Cyrus retaliated.
Daniel disappeared.
Elizabeth was attacked.
Thomas Bell began collecting proof.
“Why are you here?”
“Because my mother spent twenty years telling me my father abandoned us. Three months ago she died. She left his letters.”
Nathan placed a bundle on the desk.
Hannah recognized her mother's name.
Elizabeth.
Dozens of letters.
She opened one.
Daniel wrote about Hannah.
My little girl has Elizabeth's stubborn mouth.
Tears blurred the words.
“He knew me.”
“Yes.”
“Where is he buried?”
Nathan's expression changed.
“He isn't.”
Hannah stared.
“What?”
“I think he's alive.”
The office door opened.
Jacob entered.
“I heard that.”
Nathan reached toward his pistol.
Jacob's rifle was already aimed.
Hannah stepped between them.
“No.”
Neither moved.
“Put them down.”
Nathan obeyed first.
Jacob followed reluctantly.
Nathan showed them Daniel's last letter.
It was dated 1874.
Eight years after Hannah's birth.
Daniel said he had discovered something that could destroy Cyrus and several influential men.
Then the letters stopped.
“What was it?” Jacob asked.
Nathan looked at Hannah's Bible.
“That.”
Hannah stiffened.
“My Bible?”
“Elizabeth's Bible.”
She opened it.
They examined the spine again.
Nothing.
Nathan took the book.
He pressed the back cover.
A small section lifted.
Inside was a thin sheet.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
And one name repeated above all others.
Judge Horace Whitcomb.
Jacob swore quietly.
“He controls half the territorial court appointments.”
Nathan nodded.
“Cyrus wasn't working alone.”
Hannah suddenly understood.
“That's why my mother disappeared.”
“And why Bell died,” Nathan said.
“And why Cyrus sold me.”
Nathan nodded.
“If you married Mercer without knowing your inheritance, Cyrus could claim the land transfer was fraudulent. Whitcomb could invalidate it.”
Jacob looked at Hannah.
“So Cyrus expected me to marry her quickly.”
“He counted on it.”
Hannah almost laughed.
“Everyone counted on something.”
She closed the Bible.
“I'm finished being useful to men.”
Nathan's expression softened.
“Then help me destroy them.”
They returned to the ranch.
Samuel ran toward Jacob.
Ruth ran toward Hannah.
The little girl wrapped both arms around her waist.
Hannah froze.
Then slowly embraced her.
Samuel pretended not to notice.
That night, Hannah helped Ruth wash her hair.
“Will you leave?”
“I don't know.”
“Pa likes you.”
Hannah nearly dropped the towel.
“Your pa barely speaks.”
“He speaks more since you came.”
Children noticed dangerous things.
Later Hannah found Jacob repairing a harness.
“Nathan says we should go to Helena.”
“He's right.”
“Do you trust him?”
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
Jacob looked up.
“Good.”
She smiled despite herself.
It was the first time he'd seen her smile.
He stared a fraction too long.
Hannah noticed.
So did he.
He returned immediately to the harness.
“Jacob.”
“Yes?”
“Why haven't you asked me to marry you?”
His hands stopped.
“Because you were sold to me.”
“That doesn't answer it.”
“It answers everything.”
She waited.
He sighed.
“If I asked now, how would you know whether yes was yours?”
Hannah couldn't speak.
Jacob stood.
“You deserve to know what freedom feels like before anybody asks you to give part of it away.”
He walked toward the barn.
Hannah watched him go.
Something unfamiliar hurt inside her.
Not fear.
Something far more dangerous.
Hope.
At dawn Samuel discovered the north fence cut.
Twenty cattle were missing.
Jacob and Nathan followed the tracks.
They returned near noon.
No cattle.
But they had found a body.
Cyrus's hired man.
Dead.
Pinned to his coat was a note.
NEXT IS THE GIRL.
Jacob doubled the guards.
That night Hannah couldn't sleep.
She went downstairs.
Jacob sat by the fire.
“Couldn't sleep?”
“No.”
He poured coffee.
She sat opposite him.
“Were you happy with Mary?”
“Yes.”
“Does talking about her hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Why do it?”
“Because not talking about her doesn't make her less dead.”
Hannah looked into the fire.
“I'm afraid if I love anyone, they'll become another person I lose.”
Jacob's eyes met hers.
“That's possible.”
She laughed softly.
“You're terrible at comfort.”
“I've been told.”
“By Mary?”
“Often.”
For one quiet moment, they smiled.
Then someone screamed upstairs.
Ruth.
They ran.
Her window stood open.
Snow blew into the room.
Ruth was gone.
On her pillow lay Hannah's mother's Bible.
It had been opened to a single verse.
Beneath it someone had written an address.
Hannah recognized it.
Cyrus's cabin.
And below the address were five words:
May you like
BRING THE LEDGER OR SHE DIES.
Then, from downstairs, came three slow knocks at the front door...
