Chapter 13 - Gideon Vane Makes His Last Offer
Gideon Vane asked to see Hannah before his transfer to Cheyenne.
She almost refused.
Then she thought of Thomas.
And went.
Gideon sat behind iron bars wearing the same expensive clothing he had worn when half the county feared him.
Without the bank, deputies, and polished desk, he looked smaller.
Not harmless.
Just human.
“Hannah.”
“What do you want?”
“To explain.”
“No.”
He blinked.
“You came here.”
“I came to hear what you wanted. That does not mean you deserve to explain.”
His jaw tightened.
“I never intended Thomas to die.”
Hannah felt nothing.
She had expected those words.
“Did you chase him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you leave him injured?”
Gideon looked away.
“Yes.”
“Then intention does not interest me.”
He leaned closer.
“You think I’m a monster.”
“I think you wanted land badly enough that other people became numbers.”
“You don’t understand business.”
Hannah nearly laughed.
“My husband is in the ground because of your business.”
Silence.
Then Gideon tried his final weapon.
Information.
“Thomas was offered money.”
“I know.”
“He considered it.”
Hannah paused.
Gideon saw it.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“What offer?”
“Five thousand dollars. Enough to leave Wyoming.”
“For what?”
“His silence.”
“And did he take it?”
Gideon smiled.
“He met with me twice.”
Hannah’s heart tightened.
“Did he take it?”
“No.”
Relief angered her.
Not because she doubted Thomas.
Because Gideon had tried to make her.
Gideon leaned back.
“He called me pathetic.”
“That sounds like Thomas.”
“He said a man who owned half the town but feared a pregnant widow deserved none of it.”
Hannah stared.
“He knew I was pregnant?”
Gideon’s expression changed.
“Apparently.”
Again.
Thomas had suspected.
Perhaps known before she had.
Hannah swallowed.
“Why tell me this?”
Gideon looked tired for the first time.
“Because he was right.”
Hannah did not answer.
Before she left, Gideon said, “There’s another packet.”
She turned.
“What?”
“Documents Thomas never found.”
“Where?”
“My office. Behind the western bookcase.”
“Why tell me?”
Gideon looked at the stone floor.
“Because there is nothing left for me to protect.”
Federal deputies searched the bank.
They found letters.
Payments.
Railway maps.
And a sealed envelope.
HANNAH MERCER.
Another message from Thomas?
No.
The handwriting belonged to Gideon.
Inside was a deed cancellation prepared months earlier.
Thomas had forced Gideon to sign a document acknowledging the original forty-dollar balance and prohibiting alteration.
It had never been filed.
But it was witnessed.
By Daniel Hale.
The Mercer foreclosure was legally dead.
Hannah owned the farm free of Vane’s fraudulent claim.
She sat on the courthouse steps holding the paper.
Caleb found her there.
“Well?”
She handed it over.
He read.
Then looked at her.
“You won.”
Hannah stared across Red Willow.
“I don’t feel like I won.”
“No.”
“Thomas is still dead.”
“Yes.”
“The barn is half burned.”
“Yes.”
“I sold his saddle.”
“That was a terrible saddle.”
She looked at him.
He kept a straight face for two seconds.
Hannah laughed.
Then cried.
Caleb sat beside her.
For a long time neither spoke.
Finally Hannah said, “What will you do now?”
The question changed him.
His shoulders tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re free.”
“I was free before.”
“You know what I mean.”
Gideon would leave.
Daniel had returned.
Lucy was safe.
Thomas’s promise had been fulfilled.
Caleb had no reason to stay.
The realization frightened Hannah.
Caleb stared toward the mountains.
“I don’t know.”
“You could trap again.”
“Yes.”
“Go north.”
“Yes.”
“Rebecca would probably want you to live.”
“Yes.”
Hannah hated every answer.
Lucy began crying from Abigail’s wagon.
Caleb stood automatically.
Hannah almost smiled.
“You might have difficulty explaining her to the bears.”
He looked at Hannah.
“Daniel wants her to remain here most of the year.”
“With you?”
“With us.”
The word hung between them.
Us.
Hannah’s heart stumbled.
Caleb seemed to realize what he had said.
“I mean—”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then Hannah’s unborn baby kicked hard enough that she winced.
Caleb crouched immediately.
“You all right?”
“Yes.”
“Another pain?”
“No. Your friend apparently wants attention.”
Caleb hesitated.
“May I?”
Hannah looked at his hand.
Then placed it against her belly.
The baby kicked.
Caleb’s entire face changed.
Wonder.
Pure and unguarded.
He smiled.
Hannah had never seen him smile that way.
“Strong,” he whispered.
“Unfortunately.”
Caleb looked up.
Their faces were close.
Too close.
Neither moved.
Then Abigail called from across the street.
“Hannah!”
They separated instantly.
Abigail approached, pretending not to notice anything.
“The federal marshal needs you.”
Hannah stood.
As she walked away, she looked back.
Caleb remained on the courthouse steps.
Watching her.
That night Hannah finally read Thomas’s letter from beginning to end.
And one paragraph changed the future she had been afraid to imagine.
Han, if I am gone, do not turn our love into a locked door. I loved you because you were alive in every possible way. Stay that way. Be angry. Laugh too loudly. Raise our child. Love the world again if it gives you someone worth loving.
Hannah pressed the letter against her heart.
Outside, Caleb was repairing the porch step Thomas had never fixed.
She laughed through her tears.
May you like
Of course he was.
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