“I was cruel.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Mabel studied her.
“Thank you.”
No instant friendship.
No absolution.
Just truth.
Enough.
Inside the courthouse, the clerk read Hannah’s will.
Then grandfather’s codicil.
Silver rights split.
Eastern cut entirely Mabel’s.
The hidden assay entered evidence.
Gold value estimated conservatively.
Staggering.
Mabel barely reacted.
Money had already nearly killed her.
She would not worship it.
When documents were placed in front of her, she read every line.
The clerk became impatient.
Gideon smiled from the rear bench.
Mabel looked up.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re smiling.”
“You read contracts like they insulted your mother.”
“They did.”
He laughed.
The clerk stopped being impatient.
Mabel signed.
For the first time, the property was legally hers.
Not Jonah’s.
Not Gideon’s.
Hers.
Outside the courthouse, reporters from Denver waited.
Mabel ignored them.
She walked toward Gideon.
He stood near the wagon.
Hat in hand.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“What now?”
Mabel looked toward Ridge Creek.
Then toward the mountains.
“I don’t know.”
Gideon nodded.
No suggestion.
No claim.
No assumption she would return to the cabin.
That was deliberate.
Mabel saw.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Without me?”
“If that’s what you want.”
Her chest tightened.
“You’d let me go?”
Gideon’s expression became sad.
“Yes.”
“Even after all this?”
“That is when it matters most.”
Mabel looked at him.
The man who once used a marriage bargain partly as strategy.
Now standing beside her when she owned enough wealth to never need him.
No debt.
No threat.
No reason.
Only choice.
Mabel stepped closer.
“I’m still angry.”
“I know.”
“I may remain angry for quite some time.”
“I assumed.”
“I want the eastern mine independently managed.”
“Good.”
“I want separate accounts.”
“Yes.”
“My property remains mine.”
“Yes.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“You’re agreeing too easily.”
“I learned.”
Mabel almost smiled.
“And…”
Gideon waited.
“I don’t want you sleeping in the barn anymore.”
He stopped breathing.
Mabel’s face warmed.
“That does not mean everything is repaired.”
“I understand.”
“It means…”
She struggled.
Gideon waited.
No rescue.
Mabel finally said:
“It means I still choose you.”
His eyes closed briefly.
When they opened, emotion had broken through every rough line in his face.
“Mabel.”
She reached for his coat.
Pulled him closer.
“Ask.”
He understood.
“May I kiss my wife?”
“Yes.”
He did.
This time Ridge Creek watched.
Mabel did not care.
Jonah’s trial began in spring.
Doctor Bellamy was captured in Utah.