Chapter 13 - Anna's Letter
Eli wanted to confront Gideon immediately.
Nathan stopped him.
“If you do, he'll know I gave you the ledger.”
“He should know.”
“Then he'll destroy everything else.”
Eli looked at his cousin.
Nathan was twenty-nine.
When they were boys, they had raced horses along the creek and fought over nothing.
As adults, Gideon's influence had placed distance between them.
“You knew?”
“Not then.”
“When?”
“Some of it last year.”
“And you said nothing.”
Nathan looked ashamed.
“I'm saying it now.”
“That doesn't erase last year.”
“No.”
The answer disarmed Eli.
Nathan pointed at the ledger.
“The thousand dollars went to Daniel Reed.”
Anna's older brother.
Eli remembered him well.
Proud.
Protective.
Always convinced Eli's ranch would ruin Anna's life.
“What did he buy?”
“A letter.”
Nathan reached into his coat.
Not the original.
A copy.
Anna's handwriting.
Eli recognized it.
Daniel,
Uncle Gideon visited again.
He says Eli's debt is worse than Eli admits and that the ranch will be seized within a year. He claims Eli refuses every offer to leave because he cares more for the Mercer name than for me.
You were right that I cannot raise children here while creditors circle the house.
I have decided to go.
Eli read the sentence twice.
Children.
He and Anna never had any.
They had spoken about them.
Dreamed.
Then stopped dreaming after money tightened.
Nathan continued.
“Gideon told her you had hidden debts.”
“He was the debt.”
“Yes.”
“He told me Anna hated the ranch.”
“She hated being frightened.”
Eli folded the copy.
“Why pay Daniel?”
“Daniel convinced her to leave immediately. Gideon gave him money to cover the trip east and establish a shop.”
Eli's face went cold.
Nathan grabbed his arm.
“Eli.”
“What?”
“Anna still made the choice.”
The words were painful.
Necessary.
Nathan continued.
“Don't turn this into Gideon controlling every person around you. He created fear. He lied. But Anna chose to believe him instead of confronting you.”
Eli stared at his cousin.
“You defending him?”
“No.”
Nathan looked toward the house.
“I'm trying not to become him.”
That sentence stayed with Eli.
At dawn Nathan slipped away.
Eli carried the ledger page in his mind like a burning coal.
Chaska found him beside Calico.
“You didn't sleep.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
He told her.
Not everything.
Enough.
When he finished, Chaska did not say what he expected.
She did not tell him Anna would have stayed without Gideon.
She did not promise the marriage had been stolen.
Instead she asked, “Did you tell Anna about your money?”
Eli looked at her.
“Some.”
“All?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I was ashamed.”
Chaska nodded.
“So Gideon put lies into a silence you created.”
Eli flinched.
“That sounds like blame.”
“It is responsibility.”
She looked toward the house.
“Gideon is responsible for deception.”
Then back at Eli.
“You are responsible for making deception easier.”
He walked away angrily.
She let him.
An hour later he returned.
“I hate talking to you.”
“I know.”
“You enjoy it.”
“Sometimes.”
He sat beside her.
“If Anna had stayed…”
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because that road has no end.”
Eli stared at the canyon.
Chaska continued.
“You can learn what happened without building a second life inside your head.”
He knew she was right.
Again.
He was beginning to find that irritating.
Later that morning Gideon emerged from the house.
“Ready to sign?”
Eli laughed.
Gideon looked genuinely confused.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You've lost your property and you find this amusing?”
“I haven't lost anything yet.”
“You've lost more than you understand.”
Eli studied him.
“Did Anna understand?”
Gideon's face did not move.
But his eyes did.
Eli had the answer.
“You talked to her.”
“I spoke to your wife because she asked for help.”
“What did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
“That I was hiding debt?”
“You were.”
“A debt you manufactured.”
Gideon's voice hardened.
“You had no business marrying her.”
The cruelty was casual.
That hurt more.
“Why?”
“She wanted a home. You offered stubbornness.”
“I offered this ranch.”
“Exactly.”
Gideon looked around.
“Boards. Dust. Pride.”
Eli stepped closer.
“You paid Daniel Reed.”
For the first time, Gideon lost control.
Only briefly.
Nathan had told the truth.
“You've been stealing my business records.”
“No.”
“Then Nathan—”
Eli cursed himself.
Too late.
Gideon's eyes shifted toward the bunkhouse where Nathan slept.
Eli grabbed his uncle's arm.
“You leave him out of this.”
Gideon looked down at Eli's hand.
“You've always been easy to move.”
“Not anymore.”
Gideon pulled free.
“Anna left because she saw what you were.”
“Maybe.”
That answer surprised him.
Eli continued.
“Maybe she would have left anyway.”
Gideon stared.
“But you were afraid she might not.”
Silence.
“That is why you interfered.”
Eli stepped back.
“You needed me alone.”
Gideon scoffed.
“For what?”
“Because a man with nobody beside him sells cheaper.”
That landed.
Gideon walked toward the house.
Before entering, he stopped.
“You think those women beside your creek are beside you?”
Eli said nothing.
“Everybody leaves when the cost gets high enough.”
He went inside.
That afternoon the cost rose.
A rider arrived from town carrying a telegram.
For Victor Hale.
Dorsey read it first.
Then his face darkened.
“What?”
Eli asked.
The deputy handed him the message.
San Aurelio had secured preliminary backing from a Santa Fe freight consortium.
If possession of Mercer Ranch transferred by September 1, the company would receive twenty thousand dollars in development capital.
If it did not—
The agreement vanished.
That was why Hale and Gideon were desperate.
They did not have twenty-one days.
They had twelve.
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And for the first time Eli understood something critical.
The deadline threatening him was also threatening them.
