“He was shooting at me.”
“Why?”
“I testified he stole horses.”
Clara stared.
“Then what about three men?”
“No.”
“Mountain lion?”
“No.”
“Wolf?”
“Yes.”
“You fought wolf?”
“I threw firewood.”
“That is less impressive.”
“It worked.”
She laughed.
He smiled.
A real smile.
The scar shifted.
His entire face changed.
Clara forgot to breathe for half a second.
That frightened her more than the knife had.
Trust was one thing.
Wanting was another.
She stood.
“I should check stove.”
Silas watched her.
Said nothing.
At the end of February, Harlan Pike arrived.
He rode a mule.
Carried mail.
Clara saw him through window and ran outside before she remembered boots.
Snow soaked her stockings.
Harlan dismounted.
His face softened.
“Clara.”
“Is my father alive?”
“Yes.”
She exhaled.
Then hated relief.
“How?”
“Eating better than rest of us.”
“Drinking?”
Harlan hesitated.
“Some.”
Of course.
Clara asked:
“Why are you here?”
Harlan looked at Silas, who had come outside.
“Ephraim says you kidnapped her.”
Silas’s expression did not change.
Clara laughed.
Harlan continued.
“He’s been telling anyone who’ll listen that Rourke gave supplies then took you by force.”
Clara stared.
“He offered me.”
“I know.”
“So do you.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell?”
Harlan looked ashamed.
“Not publicly.”
“Why?”
“Ephraim’s got men sympathetic.”
“Who?”
“Mostly people who think a father still has say over unmarried daughter.”
“I am twenty-four.”
“I know.”
“Did he spend supplies?”
“Some.”
“Sell any?”
Harlan hesitated again.
Clara went cold.
“What?”
“One blanket.”
“For whiskey?”
“Yes.”
She turned away.
Silas said nothing.
Harlan reached inside coat.
“I brought something.”
A small envelope.
Clara looked.
“What?”
“Your mother left it with me.”
Clara spun back.
“What?”
Harlan’s face tightened.
“Not a letter.”
“Money.”
Clara stared.
“She left money?”
“Eighty-three dollars and forty cents.”
The mountain seemed to tilt.
Harlan held envelope.
“She sold a silver brooch and some household pieces before she got sick.”
“Told me if she died, I was to hold it until you were either twenty-five or no longer living under Ephraim’s roof.”
Clara could not speak.
“You knew all this time?”
“Yes.”
Anger exploded.
“You watched me starve.”
Harlan flinched.
“I did not know how bad—”
“You saw me at your store.”
“I extended credit—”