The mines had cut shifts.
Rail work had moved west.
Age turned strong men invisible quickly.
Someone knocked.
Nathan looked up.
Clara did not.
“Expecting anyone?”
“No.”
The second knock was heavy.
Measured.
Nathan opened the door.
Elias Thorne filled it.
Snow covered his shoulders.
His dark beard held melted ice.
He wore a thick fur-lined coat and carried a folded sheet of paper in one gloved hand.
Clara stopped breathing.
Elias looked first at Nathan.
Then Clara.
His eyes were not what stories had prepared her for.
Gray.
Alert.
Almost tired.
Nathan stepped backward.
“Mr. Thorne.”
Then remembered.
Words meant nothing.
Elias reached into his coat.
Pulled out a small notebook.
Charcoal pencil.
He wrote.
Held it toward Nathan.
I heard about the debt.
Nathan read aloud out of habit.
Elias watched his mouth.
He could read lips somewhat.
Nathan looked toward Clara.
Elias wrote again.
I will pay it.
Clara stood.
Her chair moved backward.
She walked directly toward him.
Elias looked down at her.
She was tall for a woman.
Still he towered.
Clara took the notebook.
Wrote:
Why?
Elias read.
Then looked at her for several seconds.
He wrote:
I need a wife.
The answer was so blunt Clara almost laughed.
Instead:
Why me?
Elias hesitated.
Then:
You work hard.
She frowned.
He continued below.
You are not cruel.
Clara stared.
Of all possible answers, that was not one she expected.
Nathan interrupted.
“You don't have to—”
Elias looked toward him.
Nathan stopped.
Clara wrote:
Do you know what they said?
Elias nodded.
Yes.
Does it bother you?
He considered.
Then wrote:
People in town talk because work requires more effort.
Clara almost smiled.
Elias noticed.
Something shifted faintly in his face.
Nathan asked:
“Marriage?”
Elias read his lips.
Nodded.
He removed another paper.
A bank receipt.
Fifty dollars paid.
Nathan sat down hard.
Clara stared at Elias.
“You already paid it?”
She spoke without thinking.
He watched her lips.
Then nodded.
Anger flared.
Clara grabbed the pencil.
You paid before I agreed.
Elias read.
His eyebrows rose.
Then he wrote:
Debt is paid whether you marry me or not.
Clara stopped.
Nathan looked between them.
Elias continued:
If no, I leave.