Nathaniel noticed.
For a moment, he considered asking why.
Instead, he pointed toward the western ridge.
“That's where the snow comes first.”
Clara smiled.
“And the ranch?”
“Beyond those pines.”
She nodded.
Then whispered almost to herself.
“Closer than I thought.”
Nathaniel glanced at her.
“What was that?”
She turned.
For a moment, her expression became guarded.
Then she smiled.
“Nothing. Just thinking aloud.”
He nodded.
But he remembered the words.
Because when Clara eventually opened the hidden deed on their wedding night, he would understand that her first journey to Arizona had carried two purposes.
One was to meet the man who might become her husband.
The other was to finish a task her father had left unfinished twenty-six years earlier.
And the closer she came to loving Nathaniel, the more frightened she became of telling him how closely those two purposes were connected.
The Carter ranch looked worse than Clara expected.
Not because it was ugly.
It was beautiful.
The cabin stood on a gently rising meadow beneath towering ponderosa pines, with the mountains stretching blue and silver beyond the valley. A narrow stream crossed the lower property, its water catching the afternoon light before disappearing through a stand of willows.
The barn was large but weathered.
A wooden fence surrounded the nearest pasture.
There was an orchard on the southern slope, a vegetable garden beside the house, and a small workshop with a roof that leaned slightly toward the east.
Clara loved the place immediately.
But she also saw the problems.
The porch steps were uneven.
Two fence sections leaned outward.
The windmill near the northern trough stood motionless.
A wagon wheel rested against the barn with one spoke broken.
And the cabin's chimney was producing more smoke than seemed reasonable.
Nathaniel watched her examine the property.
For a moment, he seemed embarrassed.
“I told you things were rough.”
Clara nodded.
“You did.”
He looked toward the barn.
“It's been a difficult year.”
She turned toward him.
For several seconds, she studied his expression.
Then she smiled.
“Nathaniel, I didn't travel halfway across the country expecting a polished mansion.”
He looked at her.
“What did you expect?”
She considered.
“Something worth building.”
For a moment, he couldn't speak.
Then Mateo approached with her luggage.
The foreman showed her the arrangements Nathaniel had prepared inside.