Chapter 12 - Clara’s Impossible Choice
Edward found Clara in the barn three nights before the guardianship hearing.
She was brushing the old horse.
“You're avoiding me.”
“Yes.”
“Fair.”
Clara continued brushing.
Edward leaned against a post.
“I filed.”
Her hand stopped.
“For guardianship.”
He nodded.
Clara closed her eyes.
She had known.
Margaret Bell had told her that afternoon.
Still, hearing Edward say it felt different.
“You told me you'd support keeping them together.”
“I am.”
“With you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They're my family.”
“So am I now.”
Edward looked at her.
Clara regretted the sentence immediately.
Not because it was untrue.
Because it revealed too much.
“Yes,” Edward said quietly. “You are.”
“Then why?”
“Because I don't know if the judge can give ten children to a woman unrelated to them.”
“He can.”
“He might.”
“You want them?”
Edward's answer took time.
“I owe Jacob.”
“That wasn't what I asked.”
He looked toward the farmhouse.
“I love those kids.”
“Enough to raise them?”
“I don't know.”
Clara almost laughed.
“My answer exactly.”
Edward sighed.
“Judge said filing gives him options.”
“Did Voss tell you?”
“No.”
“Wade?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Margaret Bell.”
Clara turned sharply.
“She told you to file?”
“She said if your petition failed and mine didn't exist, the county might split them before anyone could act.”
Clara understood.
It was insurance.
Not betrayal.
The anger left her immediately.
“I should apologize.”
“Please don't. Eli already punched me.”
“What?”
“Shoulder.”
Clara stared.
“He apologized too.”
“After?”
“Eventually.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“Ten children.”
Edward smiled.
“You chose this.”
“I was emotionally compromised.”
“Too late.”
At supper, Clara told the children.
No secrets.
Not anymore.
“The judge may choose Uncle Edward.”
May immediately said, “No.”
Edward winced.
Ruth asked, “Would Clara leave?”
“I don't know,” Edward said.
All ten children started talking.
Clara raised her hands.
“Stop.”
Silence returned slowly.
“Whatever happens, no one is abandoning anyone.”
May pointed at Clara.
“You promised.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell the judge.”
“I will.”
Eli stared at his plate.
“What do you want?”
Clara looked at him.
“What?”
“You always ask what the judge might do. What do you want?”
Everyone waited.
Clara's throat tightened.
She had spent months avoiding that sentence because wanting something invited loss.
Henry.
Jacob.
A child she had miscarried during her first marriage and never told anyone in Mercy Ridge about.
Dreams could become graves.
Yet these children deserved truth.
“I want to be your guardian.”
May smiled.
Ruth cried quietly.
The twins exchanged grins.
Eli nodded once.
“Then say that.”
“I just did.”
“Say it in court.”
“I will.”
The night before the hearing, Clara could not sleep.
Daniel Mercer found her sitting on the porch.
He held two cups of coffee.
“You have alarming habits.”
“You're awake too.”
“I am a doctor.”
“Convenient excuse.”
He sat.
For a while they listened to the prairie.
Spring was beginning.
The snow had retreated to shadows.
Somewhere near the barn a night bird called.
“What if I lose?” Clara asked.
“You'll still be here.”
“Edward could take them somewhere else.”
“He won't.”
“You don't know that.”
“I spoke to him.”
Clara frowned.
“Everyone discusses my life when I'm not present.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That if the judge gives him guardianship, he'll ask you to stay.”
Clara stared.
“That's absurd.”
“Why?”
“Because I'd be what? Housekeeper?”
“Family.”
The word entered the night quietly.
Clara looked toward the dark house.
Ten children slept inside.
“You know,” Mercer said, “when you arrived, people thought you'd be gone within a day.”
“I almost was.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Stationmaster told everyone.”
“Of course.”
Mercy Ridge.
He smiled.
“Then people thought you'd leave after the first debt notice.”
“Reasonable.”
“After the blizzard.”
“Also reasonable.”
“After the fire.”
“Yes.”
“After Boston.”
Clara looked at him.
“You didn't.”
“No.”
“You keep choosing this place.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe the judge will notice.”
“And if he doesn't?”
Mercer set down his cup.
“Then the children will.”
Their hands rested inches apart.
Clara moved hers first.
Not away.
Toward him.
Their fingers touched.
No dramatic kiss.
No confession.
Only warmth.
For now that was enough.
The courthouse hearing lasted three hours.
Judge Hollis questioned Clara.
Edward.
Warren Pike.
Dr. Mercer.
Abigail Harper.
Eli.
Even May.
When May climbed into the witness chair, Judge Hollis softened.
“Do you understand why you're here?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“To make grown-ups stop making things complicated.”
The courtroom laughed.
Judge Hollis hid a smile.
“And where would you like to live?”
“Home.”
“With whom?”
“Everybody.”
“Miss Whitmore?”
“Yes.”
“Your uncle?”
May looked at Edward.
“He can live in the barn.”
Edward covered his face.
More laughter.
Judge Hollis leaned forward.
“Why Miss Whitmore?”
May thought carefully.
“Because she stayed.”
Silence.
That was all.
Three words.
Clara's eyes filled.
Judge Hollis dismissed May.
Then called Eli.
The boy sat straight.
“You understand your uncle is your nearest adult blood relative?”
“Yes.”
“You understand Miss Whitmore had never met your father?”
“Yes.”
“Why should I place you with her?”
Eli looked at Clara.
Then back at the judge.
“Because Pa chose her before he died.”
“He requested consideration.”
“He wrote seven months.”
“That is not a legal qualification.”
“No.”
“Then give me one.”
Eli swallowed.
“When she came, we had no food.”
Clara looked down.
“She fed us.”
“One act doesn't qualify someone.”
“When Annie got sick, she stayed awake.”
The judge waited.
“When the roof broke, she burned chairs.”
A few people smiled.
“When Mr. Voss came, she stood in front of the barn.”
Eli's voice shook.
“When May ran away, Clara found her.”
He wiped his eyes angrily.
“When she went to Boston, she came back.”
Now Clara was crying.
Eli continued.
“Everybody keeps asking what makes her family.”
He looked toward Clara.
“I think coming back does.”
No one spoke.
Judge Hollis removed his glasses.
The court recessed.
Thirty minutes felt like thirty years.
Finally everyone returned.
Judge Hollis looked at Clara.
“Miss Whitmore, stand.”
She did.
“Edward Bennett, stand.”
He did.
The judge looked toward the children.
“Law favors blood kin for good reason.”
Clara's heart sank.
“However, law also requires the court to consider established bonds, stability, expressed wishes of older minors, the deceased parent's written preference, and the best interest of the children.”
Clara stopped breathing.
“Mr. Bennett has submitted a statement withdrawing his petition as primary guardian.”
Clara turned.
Edward smiled.
“You didn't.”
“I did.”
The judge continued.
“Furthermore, Mr. Bennett requests appointment as secondary guardian and estate co-trustee.”
Margaret Bell whispered, “Smart.”
Judge Hollis looked at Clara.
“I am granting permanent guardianship of all ten Bennett children to Clara Whitmore, subject to annual review for two years.”
May screamed.
The courtroom erupted.
Clara covered her mouth.
The children rushed forward before the judge finished.
He banged his gavel.
“Order!”
No one listened.
Even he gave up.
Clara dropped to her knees as children surrounded her.
Eli hugged her.
Ruth.
May.
All of them.
Edward stood behind.
Daniel watched from the aisle.
For the first time since Henry died, Clara felt something she had once believed life would never give her again.
Not happiness.
Happiness was too small.
Belonging.
She had come west to marry a stranger.
Instead she became mother to his children.
It should have been the end of the story.
But that afternoon, Sheriff Cole arrived at Bennett Farm carrying a telegram.
Charles Wade had been arrested in Oklahoma Territory.
And according to the sheriff, Wade was ready to talk.
About the land fraud.
About Silas Pike.
May you like
And about what really happened to Jacob Bennett at the north well.
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