Chapter 17 - Blackstone
Silas remained in Hartwell jail awaiting hearing.
Vane faced separate charges connected to Finch’s death, bribery and fraudulent representations.
Neither case was simple.
Neither was over.
But Cedar Pass became quiet enough for people to think.
That proved harder than fighting.
Jonah rode to Blackstone Ranch three days later.
Naelli came.
Elias did not.
Jonah was grateful.
Blackstone was larger than Cedar.
Three barns.
Stone house.
Hundreds of cattle.
Silas had spent four decades building wealth from land he partly acquired through manipulation.
Now he wanted Jonah to inherit it.
Naelli stood in the office doorway.
“You look angry at furniture.”
“It belonged to Silas.”
“Still furniture.”
Jonah opened desk drawers.
Deeds.
Accounts.
Letters.
The will lay inside a metal box.
Silas had updated it two months earlier.
Before Naelli arrived.
Before Finch died.
Blackstone went to Jonah.
Why?
A letter answered.
Jonah,
If you read this after my death, you will likely think this is another attempt to control you. Perhaps it is. I never had children. You were the closest thing. I know that sentence will disgust you once you know the truth. It disgusts me too.
Jonah stopped.
Naelli waited.
He continued.
I loved your mother. I loved you. I also lied to both of you because keeping you close became more important than deserving your trust. Those facts exist together. I do not know how to repair that.
Jonah swallowed.
Blackstone contains land I acquired honestly and land I did not. Do not treat the deed as proof that all of it belongs to you. Investigate it. Return what should be returned. Keep what remains if you want it. Burn the house if you do not.
Jonah almost laughed.
Do not romanticize Elias because I failed you. He failed you differently.
That line felt vicious.
Also fair.
If I survive long enough to tell you this myself, I probably will not. Cowardice grows habits.
Jonah folded the letter.
Naelli asked, “What will you do?”
“Investigate.”
She smiled slightly.
“You expected something else?”
“No.”
They began with maps.
Blackstone’s northern grazing land overlapped three old family claims.
Two families still lived nearby.
One had spent twenty years leasing grazing rights from Silas on land that may have belonged to them.
Jonah felt sick.
Naelli said, “You did not do this.”
“No.”
“But you benefit if you keep it.”
“Yes.”
They rode to the first family.
The Carters.
Widow Eleanor Carter listened while Jonah explained.
She was seventy-three and unimpressed by Reed guilt.
“You here to give me land?”
“Maybe.”
“Then come back when maybe becomes a deed.”
Jonah almost smiled.
“Fair.”
The second family had moved east.
Records would take time.
The third claim involved Naelli’s community.
Blackstone had fenced part of an old winter corridor.
Jonah looked at Naelli.
“That can be corrected now.”
“Yes.”
They cut one section of fence that afternoon after confirming no cattle would escape into danger.
Jonah watched the opening.
Small.
Symbolic.
Useful.
Naelli said, “My father will like this.”
“Good.”
“He will also say opening one fence does not settle forty years.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“Good.”
At sunset, they returned to Blackstone house.
Jonah found another ledger.
Not fraud.
Household.
Payments for Jonah’s schoolbooks.
Saddle.
Medical bills.
Repairs after storms.
Silas had supported him secretly even after Jonah became independent.
The amounts were modest compared with Blackstone income.
But consistent.
Naelli watched Jonah.
“You want to hate him cleanly.”
“Yes.”
“You cannot.”
“No.”
She nodded.
“That may be punishment enough.”
Jonah laughed softly.
“You are not very comforting.”
“I learned from you.”
They spent the night in separate rooms.
Not because Jonah wanted distance.
Because Naelli chose it.
He accepted.
At dawn, they rode back toward Cedar.
Halfway home, Naelli stopped beside the creek where Jonah found her.
Snow had melted enough to reveal brown grass.
She dismounted.
Jonah followed.
“This place,” she said.
“I know.”
She touched her side.
Scar beneath clothing now.
“You thought I was a bison.”
Jonah stared.
“How do you know that?”
“You told my father.”
“I did not.”
“He guessed.”
“That seems unlikely.”
“He said you looked disappointed when I became a person.”
Jonah laughed.
Naelli smiled.
Then her expression changed.
“I was afraid here.”
“You hid it well.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I was angry because fear embarrassed me.”
Jonah understood.
She continued.
“When I grabbed your wrist, I thought you were one of Vane’s men.”
“Reasonable.”
“You listened.”
“Eventually.”
“No. Immediately.”
He looked at her.
“You stopped touching me.”
“Yes.”
“That is why I let you carry me.”
Jonah had never considered that moment from her side.
She stepped closer.
“When I said I choose to stay, I meant I wanted to know who you were when no debt forced either of us.”
Jonah’s voice lowered.
“And?”
“I am still learning.”
He smiled.
“Fair.”
Naelli touched his face.
This time she initiated.
Jonah kissed her.
Slowly.
No claim.
No debt.
No reward.
When they separated, hoofbeats approached.
A messenger from Hartwell.
Jonah sighed.
“Of course.”
The rider handed him a telegram.
Territorial land office had agreed to reopen Cedar survey records.
But there was a complication.
Someone had filed a competing claim before the investigation began.
Claimant:
ELIAS REED.
Jonah stared.
His father had filed for control of Cedar mineral rights in his own name.
While telling everyone he had returned only to expose Silas.
Another secret.
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Another inheritance war.
And this time the betrayal came from the man Jonah had almost begun to understand.
