The fire changed something in Silas.
Ruth could see it.
Before, he had treated Ephraim Cole as a dishonest banker.
Afterward, he treated him as a dangerous man.
Two ranch hands began sleeping near Ruth's property each night.
Silas checked the fences personally at dawn and dusk.
He gave Ruth a revolver.
She stared at it.
"I know how to shoot."
"I assumed."
"Then why are you looking at me like that?"
"I was wondering whether Thomas also taught you to chase coyotes with firearms instead of cookware."
She glared.
Silas almost smiled.
The barn was gone.
But the cabin survived.
Three days later, the roof was repaired.
Ruth moved into it with Anna.
Silas said nothing when she announced the decision.
That disappointed her.
She had not expected him to argue.
She had perhaps hoped he would.
Instead he carried their belongings across the creek, fixed the stove pipe, checked every window latch, and left before supper.
That night the cabin felt enormous.
Ruth lay awake listening to Anna breathe.
She missed Silas's house.
That realization was unbearable.
The next morning, she found him repairing fence.
"You left without saying good night."
Silas glanced up.
"You were home."
"Yes."
"That's what you wanted."
"Yes."
He drove another staple.
Ruth folded her arms.
"You're irritating."
"So I've been told."
"By Thomas?"
"Frequently."
She tried not to smile.
Silas put down the hammer.
"Ruth."
Something in his tone made her heart change rhythm.
"What?"
"We need to talk."
"That sentence never brings anything pleasant."
He looked toward the hills.
"Thomas asked me something else before he died."
Ruth became still.
"What?"
Silas rubbed one hand across his jaw.
"I should have told you earlier."
"Yes."
"You don't know what it is yet."
"At this point I assume Thomas secretly purchased half of Wyoming."
Silas did not smile.
Ruth's humor vanished.
"What did he ask?"
Silas took a long breath.
"He asked whether I loved you."
The world stopped.
Ruth stared.
"What?"
Silas looked miserable.
"He was sick. He knew he was dying."
"That doesn't explain the question."
"No."
"What did you say?"
Silas turned away.
Ruth stepped around him.
"What did you say?"
"I told him he was delirious."
"And?"
"He said that wasn't an answer."
Ruth almost laughed because it sounded so much like Thomas.
She didn't.
"And then?"
Silas's voice lowered.
"I told him yes."
Ruth stopped breathing.
The prairie wind moved around them.
Silas continued before she could speak.
"I told him I'd never acted on it. Never would."
"How long?"
He looked at her.
"How long what?"
"How long had you..."
She could not finish.
Silas understood.
"Since before Anna was born."
Ruth stepped backward.
Shock came first.
Then anger.
"You came to our home."
"Rarely."
"You ate at our table."
"Yes."
"You were Thomas's friend."
"Yes."
"How could you?"
Silas's face tightened.
"I didn't choose it."
"You expect that to matter?"
"No."
"Did Thomas know?"
"Not until near the end."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Ruth turned away.
Her mind raced backward through years.
Silas appearing once during branding.
Silas attending Anna's christening.
Silas standing at Thomas's grave with his hat in his hands.
She had never noticed.
She had been married.
She had been happy.
Silas had made certain she never noticed.
That realization complicated her anger.
"What did Thomas say?"
Silas was silent.
"Tell me."
"He laughed."
Ruth turned.
"He what?"
"Said he'd suspected for years."
Despite herself, Ruth almost smiled.
Thomas.
Of course.
Then grief came.
Sharp and immediate.
"He should have told me."
Silas shook his head.
"No."
"Everyone keeps deciding what I should know."
"This was different."
"Why?"
"Because it wasn't your burden."
Ruth stared.
Silas looked down.
"I never expected anything from you, Ruth. Not then. Not now."
"Then why tell me?"
"Because Cole is dangerous."
Confusion replaced anger.
"What does Cole have to do with this?"
"If something happens to me, there are papers in my desk."
Ruth's face hardened.
"Don't."
"Hear me."
"No. I have already listened to one man arrange my future from his deathbed. I will not listen to another."
Silas stepped closer.
"I'm not dying."
"Then stop talking like it."
His eyes held hers.
Something raw appeared there.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
Ruth's anger softened despite her efforts.
"Silas..."
"I love you."
The words were quiet.
No grand declaration.
No expectation.
That made them more powerful.
"I don't know whether that is something you will ever want. I don't know whether you will hate me tomorrow for saying it. But I'm done keeping Thomas's secrets and mine."
Ruth's eyes filled.
"Thomas was my husband."
"I know."
"I loved him."
"I know."
"I still love him."
"I know."
Silas swallowed.
"Love for the dead does not disappear because the living remain."
Ruth closed her eyes.
That sentence broke something inside her.
For thirteen months she had thought moving forward required leaving Thomas behind.
She suddenly understood why she had resisted every small happiness.
Laughing.
Eating well.
Enjoying Silas's company.
Imagining curtains in the cabin.
Each had felt like betrayal.
But Thomas had wanted her to come here.
Thomas had prepared this future.
Not this exact moment perhaps.
Not love.
But life.
He had expected her to continue living.
Ruth whispered, "I don't know what I feel."
Silas nodded.
"You don't have to."
"Don't be so reasonable."
"I can try being foolish."
She laughed through tears.
"You're terrible at it."
"Likely."
They stood several feet apart.
Neither moved closer.
Some distances deserved time.
Then hoofbeats sounded.
A ranch hand approached fast.
"Mr. Kane!"
Silas turned.
The rider pulled up.
"Someone broke into your office."
Silas's face changed.
"When?"
"Must've been while we were down here."
Ruth's stomach dropped.
"The papers."
They rode hard to the main house.
The office window had been broken.
Desk drawers stood open.
Ledgers lay across the floor.
The metal box was gone.
Thomas's original deed.
Gone.
His cattle transfer.
Gone.
His letter.
Gone.
Ruth felt suddenly sick.
Silas searched the room.
"Nothing else?"
The ranch hand shook his head.
"Just that box from what I can tell."
Ruth whispered, "Cole."
Silas's jaw tightened.
"He wants the originals destroyed."
"Without them, do I lose the land?"
"No. The deed was recorded."
"The cattle?"
"Recorded separately."
"Then why take the box?"
Silas looked at her.
"Because Thomas's letter mentioned the partnership."
Ruth understood.
If Cole's fake loan depended upon claiming Thomas's cattle interest...
Then Thomas's own written explanation could undermine it.
"We still have the ledgers."
"Yes."
"And Doctor Hayes."
"Yes."
"Is that enough?"
Silas hesitated.
"I don't know."
The front door opened.
Anna entered carrying wildflowers.
She stopped.
"Mama?"
Ruth turned.
Behind Anna stood a man.
Thin.
Bearded.
Rough coat.
Ruth had never seen him.
Silas reached instinctively toward his revolver.
The stranger raised both hands.
"Easy."
"Who are you?" Silas demanded.
The man looked at Ruth.
"My name's Henry Vale."
Ruth froze.
The witness.
The deputy clerk whose signature appeared on Ephraim Cole's loan.
Silas stepped forward.
"Henry Vale left Wyoming."
"I did."
"Why are you back?"
Vale looked frightened.
"Because Ephraim Cole found out I was alive."
Ruth's pulse quickened.
"What do you mean?"
Vale reached inside his coat slowly.
He removed a folded piece of paper.
"I signed that bank note."
Ruth felt hope rise.
Then he added:
"But Thomas Bellamy never did."
Silas went still.
Vale continued.
"Cole forged Thomas's name. I witnessed it anyway."
"Why?"
"Money."
Vale looked ashamed.
"Fifty dollars."
Ruth stared at him.
"My daughter nearly starved because of your fifty dollars."
Vale lowered his head.
"I know."
"No. You don't."
Anna slipped beside Ruth.
Ruth placed an arm around her.
Vale's voice shook.
"Cole wanted the south creek before Thomas died. After Bellamy refused, Cole planned to claim it through debt. Thomas's death made the scheme easier."
Silas stepped closer.
"Why come back now?"
"Because Cole sent men after me in Nebraska."
Vale's eyes moved toward the broken office.
"He is cleaning up anything that can prove what he did."
Ruth looked at Silas.
The banker was no longer merely threatening property.
He was hunting witnesses.
Vale held out the paper.
"This is a copy of Cole's private transaction book. I stole it before I left."
Silas opened it.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then he looked at Ruth.
"What?"
Silas handed it to her.
Beside Thomas Bellamy's name was one entry.
SOUTH CREEK CLAIM — $50 V.
Ruth's hands trembled.
"Will this prove it?"
Vale nodded.
"If I testify with it."
Silas looked toward the shattered window.
"Then Cole knows exactly where you'll be."
Vale swallowed.
"So do we."
That night no one slept.
And before sunrise, three riders appeared on the ridge above Silas Kane's ranch.