Then Eliza asked:
“Were you ever married?”
Caleb stared into fire.
“No.”
“Almost?”
He looked at her.
“How did you know?”
“You have an expression.”
“What expression?”
“The kind men get when question touches old grave.”
Caleb sighed.
“Her name was Rebecca.”
“What happened?”
“She chose someone else.”
Eliza blinked.
“That simple?”
“No.”
“She married Samuel?”
Caleb looked sharply.
Eliza’s eyes widened.
“Oh.”
He laughed unexpectedly.
“No.”
“God, no.”
She exhaled.
“Then?”
“She wanted town.”
“I wanted ranch.”
“She wanted children.”
“I wanted time.”
“She was tired of waiting for me to become ready.”
“Was she wrong?”
“No.”
“Did you love her?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“Moved Oregon.”
“Married schoolteacher.”
“Five children.”
Eliza smiled.
“How do you know?”
“Mother kept letters.”
“Did it break you?”
“No.”
“What did?”
Caleb looked at her.
“Samuel.”
The answer settled between them.
He continued:
“When he disappeared, I decided caring gave people a place to hurt you.”
“So you stopped?”
“Tried.”
Eliza touched edge of blanket.
“And now?”
Caleb looked toward wagon where twins slept.
“Apparently I’m failing.”
Her smile was sad.
“Good.”
He stared.
“Why good?”
“Because Ruth laughed at you today.”
“That was gas.”
“It was laugh.”
“She is two weeks old.”
“It was laugh.”
Caleb shook head.
“You are unreasonable.”
“Samuel said that.”
Caleb's expression changed.
Eliza instantly regretted.
“Sorry.”
“No.”
He looked back toward fire.
“Tell me things he said.”
“Even if they hurt?”
“Especially.”
So she did.
She told Caleb Samuel snored.
That he hated turnips.
That he sang badly while repairing fences.
That he once walked twelve miles for licorice because Eliza craved it during pregnancy.
That he told twins stories before they were born.
That he planned to bring them to Montana in spring.
That he had described Caleb as “meanest good man I ever knew.”
Caleb laughed.
Then cried.
Quietly.
Eliza did not pretend not to notice.
She moved closer.
Their shoulders touched.
Caleb let them.
Fort Benton was busy despite winter.
The priest was gone.
Transferred east two years earlier.
But church registry remained.
Marriage:
Samuel Morgan, alias Samuel Hart, and Eliza Mayfield.
Witnesses:
Father Joseph Tierney.
Margaret Doyle.
Caleb stared at book.
“There.”
Eliza whispered.
“There.”
The clerk made certified copy.
Then another surprise.
A baptism entry.
Not twins.
Samuel.
Eight years earlier.
Samuel Morgan had visited church and signed his true name as witness for another child.
Caleb touched signature.
Proof he had lived.
Proof Caleb could have found if he had known where to search.
Eliza gently took his hand away.
“Don't punish yourself with information you did not have.”
He looked at her.
“You've said that before.”
“I’ll say it until you hear.”
Outside church, a man waited.
Gray coat.
Black hat.
Caleb recognized him immediately.