Chapter 14 - The Banker's Final Visit
Nathan was furious.
Margaret wasn't.
“It's business.”
“He sat at our table.”
“And?”
“He knew about the contract.”
“So did half the valley.”
“You trust him?”
“No.”
Nathan stopped.
Margaret continued.
“I don't need to trust him to compete with him.”
They traveled to Cheyenne.
Cardy was already there.
He looked uncomfortable when he saw them.
Nathan confronted him.
“You couldn't tell me?”
Cardy answered, “Would you have withdrawn?”
“No.”
“Neither would I.”
Margaret almost smiled.
“Then we're all wasting time.”
The contract was large.
Too large for either ranch alone.
The purchasing officer explained requirements.
Volume.
Quality.
Reliable delivery.
Price.
Margaret listened.
Then asked a question.
“Would you accept a joint supplier?”
Nathan and Cardy both turned toward her.
The officer said yes.
Outside, Nathan stared.
“You want to partner with him?”
“For one contract.”
Cardy laughed.
“You're insane.”
Margaret looked at him.
“Can you fill the order alone?”
“No.”
“Neither can we.”
Nathan understood first.
Combined, they could.
Brooks Ranch had preservation expertise and systems.
Cardy still had land and rebuilding herds.
Neither needed to borrow heavily.
They negotiated.
Margaret insisted on written responsibilities.
Separate accounting.
Quality standards.
Exit clauses.
Cardy read every page.
She noticed.
“You've improved.”
“I've become frightened of women carrying contracts.”
They signed.
The agreement doubled both operations without forcing either into reckless debt.
Nathan later admitted Margaret's solution was better than defeating Cardy.
She corrected him.
“This isn't about defeating people.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Nathan smiled.
“Make people useful again.”
Margaret kissed him.
“You do listen.”
The contract succeeded.
A year passed.
Then two.
Brooks Ranch became profitable enough that Nathan paid the remaining mortgage early.
The day the final release arrived, he brought the paper home without opening it.
Margaret raised an eyebrow.
“You're trusting me?”
“No. I'm terrified of paperwork.”
They opened it together.
PAID IN FULL.
Nathan sat.
Margaret sat beside him.
For a moment neither spoke.
His father's ranch was finally free.
Nathan cried.
Quietly.
Margaret held him.
Cyrus came in, saw the paper, and cried louder.
Then claimed dust was in his eyes.
There was no dust.
That evening they walked to Nathan's father's grave.
Nathan placed a copy of the release against the stone.
“We did it.”
Margaret stood several steps away.
Nathan reached for her.
She joined him.
“Dad,” he said softly, “you were wrong about some things.”
Cyrus, behind them, made a distressed sound.
Nathan smiled.
“So was I.”
He squeezed Margaret's hand.
“But you gave me something worth fixing.”
They left the paper beneath a stone.
On the walk home Samuel and Lucy ran toward them.
“Ma!”
Margaret still felt something every time they called her that.
Lucy jumped into her arms.
Samuel waved another paper.
“A man came!”
Margaret groaned.
“No more paper.”
Nathan laughed.
“What is it?”
Samuel handed it over.
An offer.
A corporation from the East wanted to buy Brooks Ranch.
The price was enormous.
More money than either had imagined possessing.
Nathan looked at Margaret.
Margaret looked at the land.
They spent three days discussing it.
Selling would mean security.
No drought could bankrupt them.
No disease could erase everything.
No winter could trap their wealth beneath snow.
Margaret understood the temptation.
So did Nathan.
On the third night he asked, “What do you want?”
Margaret looked around the kitchen.
At ledgers.
Children's drawings.
Cyrus's forgotten coffee cup.
Thomas's letter safely stored in a drawer.
The table where Nathan had once believed he needed to sell eighteen breeding cows.
“This.”
Nathan smiled.
“Me too.”
They declined.
The corporation returned with a larger offer.
They declined again.
Then came the final letter.
Nearly double.
Cyrus whistled at the number.
Wade said, “I'd sell my mother.”
Margaret looked at him.
Wade added, “Figuratively.”
Nathan burned the offer in the stove.
That seemed final.
Until the following morning.
A rider arrived from town.
Not a stranger.
The new bank manager.
He carried a document.
Nathan laughed.
“You're too late. We don't owe you anything.”
“I know.”
“Then what?”
The manager handed Margaret the paper.
“That's why I'm here.”
She read the first paragraph.
Her smile disappeared.
Nathan moved closer.
“What is it?”
Margaret turned the page.
The original boundary survey of Brooks Ranch had been found.
And according to it, the land beneath their restored North Creek didn't belong to Brooks Ranch at all.
It belonged to someone whose name Margaret recognized.
May you like
She looked toward the road.
A wagon was already approaching.
