Not severe.
Yellow at the edges.
He did not ask.
Not yet.
Instead:
“Your brother signed your name?”
Lara became still.
“To the marriage request.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
“How did he get you on a train?”
Her mouth tightened.
“He told me the contract had already been accepted.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
She looked toward him.
He waited.
Lara sighed.
“My parents died six years ago.”
“House went to Thomas.”
“Money too.”
“Why?”
“My father believed sons should manage family property.”
“And you?”
“A small trust.”
“How small?”
“Enough that my brother could remind me every month I lived under his roof because he was generous.”
Elias heard bitterness.
“And the marriage?”
“Thomas said I had two options.”
“Go west.”
“Or find somewhere else in Boston by the end of the week.”
Elias felt anger rising.
“Could you?”
Lara looked at him.
“Find somewhere?”
“Yes.”
She gave a quiet laugh.
Not humor.
“Mr. Montgomery, landlords refused me rooms after seeing me.”
“Two boarding houses said their staircases weren't suitable.”
“One said the furniture wasn't built for me.”
“Another agreed, then doubled the rent.”
Elias said nothing.
Lara continued:
“My brother knew.”
“He had spent years teaching me exactly what the world thought a woman like me should accept.”
Elias stared at the snowy trail.
“What does that mean?”
She looked toward the trees.
“You saw the men in town.”
“Yes.”
“My brother sounds like them.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“All the time?”
“Only when he’s awake.”
Elias almost smiled.
Lara did not.
“He would invite guests.”
“Then make jokes about how much food was required.”
“At Christmas he bought me a chair as a present.”
She paused.
“It was a reinforced warehouse chair.”
Elias looked at her.
She met his eyes.
“Everyone laughed.”
He returned his gaze to the road.
“What did you do?”
“Thanked him.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother taught me manners.”
“That seems unfortunate.”
A small sound escaped Lara.
Half laugh.
She covered it.
Elias smiled faintly.
Then serious.
“Why did Thomas sign the contract?”
“Because I embarrassed him.”
“How?”
“I was alive in his house.”
Elias looked at her.
She shrugged.
“He had plans to marry a woman whose family moved in Boston society.”
“She didn't want his enormous unmarried sister appearing in every family gathering.”
“Thomas began talking about opportunities in the West.”
“I said no.”
“Then the contract appeared.”
“Did he receive money?”
“I don't know.”
Elias thought of the line.
Arrangement fee received in full.
“How much did he say the agency cost?”
Lara frowned.
“He said the rancher paid.”
Of course.
Elias nodded.
She studied him.
“You think Thomas got paid.”
“Yes.”
Her face changed.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He’s cruel.”
“Not…”
She stopped.
Not what?
Criminal?
Greedy?
The distinction was painful.
Elias said:
“We'll find out.”
Lara looked toward the thickening snow.
“You say that often.”
“What?”
“We’ll find out.”
“Better than guessing.”
“Is that your ranch philosophy?”
“Mostly cattle.”
That earned another tiny smile.
They reached Whispering Pines after dusk.
The house stood at the edge of a broad valley bordered by pine-covered slopes.
The ranch had belonged to Elias’s father.