He looked back.
“What?”
“You rejected me because I wasn’t what you imagined.”
“Fine.”
“You were rude.”
“Also fine.”
“But since then, every time I help, you look at me like it proves what you failed to do.”
“It doesn't.”
She stepped closer.
“I am here now.”
“Use the help.”
His expression changed.
No one had spoken to him that way in a long time.
Maybe ever.
He whispered:
“You really don't know when to stop.”
“No.”
A pause.
Then he laughed quietly.
“Mae would have liked you.”
Nola’s face softened.
“Maybe.”
“She hated being agreed with.”
“Then definitely.”
That was the first time they spoke about Mae without the room collapsing.
Another small repair.
Crow returned the next afternoon with papers.
Deputy Pike came as witness.
Of course.
Nola served coffee.
The deputy barely looked at her.
Crow looked too much.
Garrick sat at the table.
The sale agreement waited.
Nola had already arranged the kitchen so the old medicine bottle sat visibly near a cup.
Crow noticed.
She saw his eyes.
Good.
He looked toward Garrick.
“Boy still ill?”
“Worse.”
Crow made a sympathetic sound.
Nola hated him.
Garrick picked up the pen.
“Money?”
Crow placed a bank draft on the table.
Seven thousand five hundred dollars.
Enough to make desperation look like salvation.
Garrick stared.
Then:
“I need until morning.”
Crow’s expression hardened.
“We agreed today.”
“I know.”
“Why wait?”
“My son.”
“What about him?”
“If he dies tonight, I bury him on Hale land.”
Silence.
Even Crow had not prepared for that.
Garrick continued:
“If I sign first, he dies on yours.”
Crow leaned back.
The father’s grief looked real because it was.
Just pointed at a different possibility.
Crow nodded reluctantly.
“Morning.”
He stood.
Deputy Pike followed.
At the door, Crow paused beside Nola.
“You coming with the property?”
Nola smiled politely.
“No.”
“Shame.”
Garrick’s chair scraped behind him.
Crow smiled.
Then left.
After the horses disappeared, Nola looked toward Garrick.
“That almost ruined everything.”
“What?”
“You nearly hit him.”
“He asked if you came with the property.”
“I heard.”
“He—”
“I can insult men myself.”
“I noticed.”
She picked up the bank draft.
“Why morning?”
Garrick looked toward the road.
“Because if Amos isn't back by then…”
He did not finish.
Nola understood.
Tomorrow they either had proof.
Or Crow had documents ready to take the ranch.
The plan was tightening around them.
Amos returned at sunset.
Horse exhausted.
Man worse.
He nearly fell from the saddle.
Garrick caught him.
Nola ran outside.
“Did you find Merritt?”
Amos nodded.
Then pulled a folded letter from inside his coat.