“He was investigating Gideon Shaw.”
Silas stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because Shaw had stolen land from several families.”
Silas's hands tightened.
“My father knew?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to him?”
Margaret looked down.
“He discovered the original deed.”
Silas's voice was barely audible.
“Where is it?”
Margaret pointed toward a cabinet.
“In there.”
Eleanor opened it.
Inside was a wooden box.
She lifted it.
The deed was beneath old letters.
Silas unfolded it.
The document was unmistakable.
The land Gideon Shaw claimed belonged to him had been legally transferred years earlier.
The original boundary included the valley beside Creed Ranch.
But there was more.
A second document.
Silas read it.
His father's name appeared.
Then his mother's.
Then Rebecca's.
He looked at Eleanor.
“What is this?”
Margaret answered.
“Your father transferred his share of the land into your name.”
Silas stared.
“I never knew.”
“He intended to return.”
“But he never did.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Gideon Shaw found him.”
Silas closed his eyes.
Eleanor reached for his hand.
Margaret spoke softly.
“Your father was murdered.”
Silas's eyes opened.
The room became silent.
For twenty years, he had imagined his father walking away.
Perhaps angry.
Perhaps ashamed.
Perhaps dead in some distant town.
Now he knew.
He had not abandoned his son.
He had been killed.
Silas's shoulders lowered.
Eleanor stood beside him.
He did not cry.
Not then.
But she knew.
He had spent half his life carrying a question that had finally received an answer.
Margaret gave them another envelope.
“This came from your father.”
Silas opened it.
The letter was dated six months before his death.
My son,
If you are reading this, I failed to return.
I want you to know one thing.
I did not leave because I wanted to.
I left because I believed I could make something right.
You have always been stronger than you believe.
Do not let bitterness become the only inheritance I leave you.
Build something better.
Love someone who challenges you.
Do not choose a quiet life merely because it is easier.
Silas stared at the final line.
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
His father had known him.
Even then.
Especially then.
Silas folded the letter.
He looked at Eleanor.
“You knew.”
“I didn't.”
“You suspected.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you needed to hear it from him.”
He nodded.
Then he pulled her into his arms.
She held him.
For the first time since they met, Silas allowed himself to be held.
When they returned to Wyoming, Gideon Shaw was waiting.
He stood outside the ranch house with six armed men.
Silas stopped the wagon.
Eleanor stepped down beside him.
Shaw was a tall, elegant man in his fifties.