Elena sat again.
Caleb continued gently.
“After Sarah died, I hired attorney in Helena.”
“You hired attorney for me?”
“For the property.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“That was not your right.”
“No.”
He accepted too quickly.
Elena almost wanted him to argue.
He continued:
“I thought if I approached you directly, your father would move faster.”
“He did.”
“Yes.”
“The railroad survey changed everything.”
Elena looked.
“What railroad?”
“A proposed branch line through White Pine Basin.”
Her heart slowed.
“Why?”
“Timber.”
“Water.”
“And possibly copper.”
Now the twenty dollars felt much smaller.
Her father had not sold her because she was a burden.
He had moved her because she was an owner.
Caleb leaned forward.
“Two weeks ago a land company offered your father twelve thousand dollars for an exclusive purchase option.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Not because corset.
“Twelve thousand?”
“Yes.”
She had never seen one thousand.
Her father had complained about flour cost.
Shoes.
Fabric.
Coal.
He had told Elena daily that feeding her was expensive.
That no man would take her without compensation.
Meanwhile land in her name was worth twelve thousand dollars.
Caleb said:
“He could not sign cleanly while you remained unmarried and the recorded deed named you.”
“What does marriage change?”
“Depends on what papers get filed.”
Elena’s stomach turned.
“He planned to marry you to a man named Silas Vane.”
“I don’t know him.”
“You’re lucky.”
“Who?”
“Land company agent.”
The room became very still.
Elena remembered her father mentioning a widower from Butte.
A man with property.
A respectable opportunity.
She had refused even to meet him.
Caleb continued.
“Vane intended to marry you, obtain your signature on transfer documents, then leave.”
“How do you know?”
“I heard him say it.”
“Where?”
“Hotel in Bozeman.”
“You followed him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Sarah asked me before she died to watch what happened to you.”
Elena stared.
Caleb looked away.
“She said your mother would haunt her otherwise.”
Despite everything, Elena laughed.
One broken laugh.
Then another.
Caleb smiled faintly.
“Sarah believed strongly in ghosts when convenient.”
Elena wiped her eyes.
“So you decided to marry me first.”
“Yes.”
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“I came to your father’s house three months ago.”
Elena remembered.
A man at gate.
Her father had gone outside.
They argued.
Caleb had left.
“That was you.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That you refused to see me.”
“I never knew you were there.”
“I know now.”
Elena looked toward storm.
“My whole life has been people speaking for me.”
Caleb’s face tightened.
“I know.”
“You did too.”
“Yes.”
That answer again.
No defense.
It made anger harder.
She asked:
“Why twenty dollars and two horses?”