Chapter 7 - The Truth About Sarah
Elias waited until they were alone.
Then he hit Thomas.
One punch.
Thomas fell against the stable wall.
He didn't fight back.
“What happened to Sarah?”
Thomas wiped blood from his mouth.
“Elias—”
“What happened?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“The men who attacked your ranch weren't random raiders.”
Elias felt the world narrowing around him.
“Calder?”
Thomas nodded.
“Why?”
“Because of me.”
Years earlier Thomas had stolen financial records from Calder.
Calder discovered it.
Thomas hid evidence at the Mercer ranch.
Calder sent men to retrieve it.
Elias had been away.
Sarah had been there.
“No.”
Elias backed away.
“You knew?”
“Not until afterward.”
“You let me blame myself for six years.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
Elias struck him again.
This time Naya appeared.
“Enough.”
Elias turned.
“Stay out of this.”
“No.”
She stepped between them.
“Thomas wrong.”
Elias stared.
“But anger not change dead.”
He walked away.
For two days, Elias barely spoke.
Calder and Cole were transported toward Prescott under guard.
Naya stayed near Elias but never forced conversation.
On the third night, he finally said, “I spent six years punishing myself for something I didn't do.”
Naya sat beside him.
“Yes.”
“I could've had a life.”
“Yes.”
“I wasted it.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You came here.”
She touched his hand.
“Road brought you here.”
Elias slowly turned his palm upward.
Their fingers intertwined.
He realized something then.
Sarah's memory didn't require his misery.
Loving someone who had died did not mean refusing to live.
He looked at Naya.
“You really still think I'm your husband?”
She smiled.
“No.”
He blinked.
“No?”
She leaned closer.
“Not yet.”
Then she kissed his cheek and walked away.
Elias sat beside the fire, stunned.
Thomas, watching from across camp, started laughing.
“Don't.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“Keep it that way.”
For the first time in years, Elias smiled.
But their victory didn't last.
The next morning a marshal arrived at full gallop.
The prison wagon had been attacked.
Sheriff Cole was dead.
Two guards were wounded.
Silas Calder had escaped.
And he wasn't running away.
Tracks showed he was riding east.
Toward Naya's homeland.
Toward the valley her father's documents had protected.
Calder had lost the papers.
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Now he intended to take the land by force.
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