Chapter 4 - The Man She Refused to Marry
Calder did not attack.
That made Elias more nervous than if he had.
The three riders remained across the street while Thomas Redbird watched from behind the curtain.
“Why doesn’t he come in?” Aayoka whispered.
“Witnesses,” Thomas said.
Tucson was not an isolated ranch.
People watched from windows.
A deputy walked somewhere nearby.
Calder understood that shooting his way into a house would destroy the legal strategy he had already begun.
So he smiled.
Tipped his hat.
And rode away.
Elias hated him more for that.
“He’ll use the hearing,” Thomas said.
“Then we use it too.”
Thomas looked at Elias.
“You think justice is that simple?”
“No.”
“Good.”
That evening they moved to a boardinghouse.
Thomas explained the petition.
Aayoka’s uncle, Chayton, had claimed that after her father’s death she lacked the experience to manage the spring property and had abandoned her family obligations.
Calder’s lawyers argued the land should temporarily be managed by Chayton.
“And then transferred through marriage,” Aayoka said.
Thomas nodded.
“To Silas Mercer.”
Elias leaned forward.
“Who is Mercer?”
Aayoka’s face tightened.
“The man I refused.”
As if summoned by the name itself, a knock came at the boardinghouse door the next morning.
Elias opened it.
A tall man stood outside.
Fine coat.
Polished boots.
Cold eyes.
“Silas Mercer.”
Elias did not offer his hand.
“I guessed.”
Mercer smiled.
“I’d like to speak with Aayoka.”
“No.”
“You answer for her now?”
That question struck exactly where Mercer intended.
Elias stepped aside.
“Aayoka. Man here asking to talk to you.”
She appeared.
Saw Mercer.
Her entire body stiffened.
“No.”
Elias looked back at Mercer.
“There’s your answer.”
Mercer’s smile vanished.
“You’ve caused enough trouble.”
Aayoka stepped closer.
“I caused trouble by refusing you?”
“You humiliated your family.”
“You wanted my land.”
“I offered stability.”
“You offered a cage.”
Mercer looked at Elias.
“You believe her?”
“I believe she said no.”
“You know nothing about our arrangement.”
“I know the important part.”
Mercer’s eyes narrowed.
“You planning to marry her?”
Silence.
Aayoka looked at Elias.
He felt the trap.
If he said yes, he would be claiming a relationship that did not exist.
If he said no, Mercer would use it.
Aayoka answered first.
“That is none of your concern.”
Mercer smiled.
“It becomes my concern at the hearing.”
He left.
That night, Elias found Aayoka on the boardinghouse balcony.
“You’re thinking about it,” she said.
“What?”
“Marriage.”
Elias leaned against the railing.
“For the hearing.”
“Yes.”
She looked toward the street.
“I asked you once.”
“You were half dead.”
“I remember.”
“And frightened.”
“I remember that too.”
He was quiet.
Aayoka turned.
“If we marry only because Calder forces us, how are you different from Mercer?”
The question hit hard.
“I wouldn’t force you.”
“No. But fear would.”
Elias nodded.
She was right.
“So we don’t.”
“What if we lose?”
“Then we find another way.”
Aayoka studied him.
“You would risk your ranch, your life, everything, but you will not marry me?”
“Not like this.”
“Why?”
“Because you said something at the line shack.”
She waited.
“You said staying means something only when leaving is possible.”
Her eyes softened.
Elias continued.
“If you ever marry anybody, it should be because you could walk away and decided not to.”
Aayoka looked down.
“You are a strange man, Elias Ward.”
“So I’ve been told.”
The hearing approached.
Thomas found an attorney willing to represent Aayoka.
Elias gathered testimony.
Mateo Alvarez returned unexpectedly and agreed to testify that Boone’s riders had been pursuing them.
A rancher named Henry Shaw came forward claiming Calder had tried similar tactics to obtain water rights from his family.
Piece by piece, a case formed.
Then two nights before the hearing, Thomas disappeared.
His room was empty.
The deed was gone.
A single message had been left on the bed.
BRING AAYOKA TO THE OLD MISSION.
COME ALONE.
Elias read it twice.
Aayoka stood behind him.
“They have Thomas.”
“Maybe.”
“And the deed.”
“Probably.”
“I’m going.”
“No.”
She glared at him.
“You said I am not a prisoner.”
“You’re not.”
“Then you cannot stop me.”
Elias stared at her.
She was right again.
He was beginning to find that irritating.
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“We go together.”
“The note says alone.”
“Calder has shown very little respect for my preferences. I’m returning the favor.”
They left before dawn.
The abandoned mission stood twelve miles south.
When they arrived, the courtyard appeared empty.
Elias dismounted.
“Aayoka, stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Aayoka.”
“I am done standing behind men while they decide my life.”
Before he could answer, a door opened.
Thomas emerged.
Alive.
But beside him stood Calder Boone.
And on Calder’s other side—
Aayoka’s uncle.
Chayton.
Aayoka froze.
Her uncle looked older than she remembered.
Ashamed.
Calder smiled.
“Family reunion.”
Aayoka stepped forward.
“Where is the deed?”
Calder lifted the oilskin packet.
“Here.”
Elias’s hand moved near his revolver.
Three rifles appeared in the mission windows.
Calder shook his head.
“Wouldn’t.”
Elias stopped.
Aayoka looked at her uncle.
“Why?”
Chayton could not meet her eyes.
Calder answered for him.
“Because everyone has a price.”
Aayoka’s face crumpled.
Then Chayton finally looked up.
“No.”
Calder turned.
Chayton’s voice grew stronger.
“No more.”
Something changed.
Calder’s smile disappeared.
Chayton looked at Aayoka.
“I was wrong.”
The courtyard became silent.
“I thought I was protecting our family,” he continued. “I told myself agreements with powerful men would keep everyone safe.”
His eyes filled.
“But I traded your freedom for my fear.”
Calder reached toward him.
Chayton suddenly knocked the deed from Calder’s hand.
“Run!”
Everything exploded into motion.
Thomas shoved one guard.
Elias grabbed Aayoka.
A shot struck stone.
Dust burst from the wall.
They ran through the side archway.
Elias seized the oilskin packet from the ground as they passed.
Horses screamed.
Another shot.
Then they were riding.
Behind them, Calder shouted.
Elias did not look back.
But Aayoka did.
And what she saw made her scream.
Her uncle had not escaped.
Calder’s men had taken him.
Now the hearing was no longer the only deadline.
They had the deed.
But Calder had Chayton.
May you like
And Aayoka knew exactly what kind of bargain would come next.
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