Forgot the bank's threats, the ruined fences, and the powerful rancher who had spent years trying to purchase his land.
There was only Clara.
The woman who had arrived with a battered toolbox instead of a proper bridal trunk.
The woman who challenged him whenever he underestimated her.
The woman who had somehow taken a house filled with silence and made it feel like a place worth returning to.
Nathaniel looked into her eyes.
“I would rather lose every acre of this ranch than lose you, darling.”
Clara smiled.
Her fingers moved gently along his cheek.
“Then hold me close, my love,” she whispered, “and never let me go.”
His arms tightened carefully around her.
He leaned forward.
Their noses almost touched.
Then Clara's expression changed.
She glanced toward the window.
Nathaniel felt her body become tense.
“What is it?”
She hesitated.
Then slowly reached into a concealed pocket beneath the embroidered folds of her wedding gown.
She withdrew an old document.
The paper was yellowed.
Its edges were worn.
And a thick red wax seal remained attached near the bottom.
Nathaniel recognized the seal immediately.
A hawk with its wings spread across a mountain.
The private mark of William Hawthorne.
The richest rancher in Red Hollow.
And the man who had spent the previous four months trying to drive Nathaniel from his property.
Nathaniel loosened his hold slightly.
“Clara?”
She looked at him.
His voice became quiet.
“Why does that document carry Hawthorne's seal?”
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, “Because he never expected anyone to find the original.”
Nathaniel stared.
Outside, a horse whinnied.
Then came the unmistakable sound of hooves striking frozen ground.
One horse.
Then another.
Then a third.
Clara turned toward the window.
Her face had gone pale.
Nathaniel slowly rose from the bed.
He looked toward his shotgun resting above the fireplace, then toward his wife.
“Did you know they were coming?”
She swallowed.
“I hoped they wouldn't.”
A heavy fist struck the front door.
Three times.
Then a man's voice carried through the cabin.
“Carter! Open up! We know the woman is in there!”
Nathaniel looked at the document in Clara's hand.
Something terrible tightened inside his chest.
He had married her that morning before a minister and two witnesses.
He had kissed her beneath the church lanterns.
He had promised to stand beside her through every hardship that might come.