Chapter 2 - The Debt Her Father Never Mentioned
Harlan motioned Josephine behind the stove.
“Do not answer him.”
The man outside laughed.
“I know she’s in there, Creek.”
Harlan’s rifle remained pointed toward the door.
Josephine whispered, “Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew the name Vale.”
“That isn’t Vale.”
The stranger struck the door again.
“Open up. I’ve got papers.”
Harlan’s eyes moved toward the marriage contract.
“What papers?”
“A claim signed by Silas Bell.”
Josephine’s blood went cold.
“My father?”
Harlan stepped closer to the door without opening it.
“What claim?”
“Open the door and read it.”
“No.”
A pause.
Then the stranger said, “Vale owns Bell’s debt. Bell offered his daughter as collateral.”
Josephine’s knees weakened.
Harlan’s expression became dangerous.
“She isn’t property.”
“Tell that to her father.”
“I’m telling it to you.”
The stranger laughed again.
“Marriage doesn’t erase a debt, Creek.”
“It sure as hell erases your right to come onto my land threatening my wife.”
The word wife sounded different now.
Not ownership.
Protection.
Josephine hated that she noticed.
The stranger’s boots moved across the porch.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then hoofbeats faded into the storm.
Harlan waited another full minute before lowering the rifle.
Josephine emerged.
“What did he mean?”
“I don’t know enough yet.”
“Stop saying that.”
Harlan looked at her.
“Your father owed Vale money. That much I knew.”
“How much?”
“Last I heard? Eight hundred dollars.”
Josephine stared.
Eight hundred dollars was a fortune.
“My father doesn’t own anything worth eight hundred dollars.”
“He owned land.”
“Barely sixty acres.”
“He lost it.”
Josephine shook her head.
“No. The Bell farm belonged to my mother.”
“Not anymore.”
The words hit her.
“When?”
“October.”
Josephine gripped the chair.
Her father had never told her.
October.
That was when he had begun disappearing into town at night.
That was when strangers started visiting.
That was when he began talking about Josephine marrying.
“You think he used me to settle his debt.”
“I think Vale wants you to think that.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Men like Vale don’t travel through a blizzard over something they already own.”
Harlan picked up the contract.
“They want something.”
Josephine stared at the red notation.
“Maybe me.”
Harlan’s gaze hardened.
“They’re not getting you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not a sack of flour.”
She gave a humorless laugh.
“You paid twenty dollars for the sack.”
His jaw flexed.
“You’re going to remind me of that for a while, aren’t you?”
“For the rest of your natural life.”
“Fair.”
Again, that nearly made her smile.
Harlan secured the door and checked the shutters.
He then opened a wooden chest and removed a blanket.
“You should sleep.”
“You expect me to sleep?”
“No. But you should try.”
Josephine looked toward her small room.
“What will you do?”
“Stay awake.”
“All night?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated.
“Harlan.”
He looked at her.
“Why did you really agree to twenty dollars and two horses?”
“I told you.”
“Caleb.”
“Yes.”
“That explains needing a wife. It doesn’t explain why my father.”
Harlan was silent.
Josephine waited.
Finally he said, “Your mother.”
She froze.
“You knew my mother?”
“Once.”
“How?”
“Eleanor Bell saved my life.”
Josephine stared.
Harlan sat at the table.
“Fourteen years ago, before you ask.”
Josephine had been eleven.
“There was an avalanche near Tanner Pass. I was twenty-five and stupid enough to think I could outrun weather. Your mother found me half-frozen near the road.”
“My mother never mentioned you.”
“She probably had better stories.”
“What happened?”
“She took me to your farm. Fed me. Stitched my shoulder. Let me sleep in your barn because your father didn’t want a drifter inside.”
That sounded exactly like Silas.
“Before I left, she made me promise something.”
Josephine’s pulse quickened.
“What?”
Harlan looked directly at her.
“If her daughter ever needed help, I was to give it.”
Josephine stopped breathing.
“My mother said that?”
“She was worried.”
“About what?”
“Your father.”
The answer was quiet.
Josephine sat.
Her mother had died six years ago after a fever.
In those final months, Eleanor had grown secretive. She had hidden papers. She had made Josephine promise never to sign anything without reading it.
Josephine had forgotten that warning until now.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know how.”
“You could have started before marrying me.”
“Yes.”
Anger returned.
“You knew my father was dangerous.”
“I knew he was selfish. I didn’t know he was selling you a lie.”
“But you still made a bargain with him.”
Harlan looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
Josephine wanted to hate him cleanly.
That would have been easier.
Instead she saw a man who had done something wrong for reasons that were not entirely wrong.
It complicated everything.
Near midnight, Harlan finally convinced her to rest.
Josephine entered the little bedroom and closed the door.
She did not sleep.
She sat beneath the quilt listening to the storm.
Around two in the morning, she heard Harlan moving quietly.
Then silence.
Then a softer sound.
Paper.
Josephine opened her door.
Harlan stood at the table with the marriage contract.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking at the seal.”
He held it toward the lantern.
“There are two layers of wax.”
Josephine approached.
Harlan carefully warmed the seal beside the stove.
The upper layer softened.
Beneath it appeared another impression.
Josephine recognized it.
Her mother’s initials.
E.B.
“That’s impossible.”
Harlan peeled back the altered paper.
A narrow strip had been glued over the original document.
Underneath were three handwritten lines.
Josephine read them aloud.
“Twenty dollars received as temporary consideration. Horses held in trust. No person transferred as property.”
She looked at Harlan.
“What is this?”
“Protection.”
“From whom?”
He shook his head.
Josephine turned the paper.
Another sentence appeared near the bottom.
PROPERTY DESCRIBED IN ATTACHED DEED PASSES TO JOSEPHINE ELEANOR BELL UPON LAWFUL MARRIAGE.
Josephine stared.
“What property?”
Harlan unfolded the final corner.
There was a number.
Parcel 17.
Tanner Pass.
Harlan stood so quickly his chair fell.
“What?”
He crossed to a shelf and pulled down an old map.
His finger traced the mountains.
Then stopped.
Parcel 17 covered nearly three thousand acres.
Josephine stared.
“That belongs to Vale.”
“No.”
Harlan looked at her.
“Vale claims it belongs to him.”
“What’s there?”
“Timber. Water rights. The only winter pass suitable for a railway spur.”
Josephine suddenly understood why a wealthy lender cared about a farmer’s daughter.
Her mother had owned something valuable.
Something Silas could not legally sell.
And marriage had triggered its transfer.
“To me,” Josephine whispered.
Harlan nodded.
The knock came again.
This time not from the front door.
From Josephine’s bedroom window.
She turned.
May you like
A human shape stood beyond the frost.
Then the glass shattered.
