PART 3 — THE CHOICE AT THE CROSSING

Friday came with a hard wind off the river.

Caleb was gone before dawn. He rode the entire fence line alone and came back with mud on his boots and nothing to say. Marcus left for town at mid-morning with the railroad papers in his coat. He didn’t ask either brother to come with him.

Eli stayed at the house until the sun was high. Then he saddled his horse and rode to the crossing.

Anna was already in the water.

She didn’t smile when she saw him. Her hair was tied back. There was a bruise on her wrist she tried to hide under her sleeve.

“My father locked me in my room last night,” she said. “My brother let me out an hour ago. He told me if I came here again he’d tell Father everything.”

Eli stopped his horse beside hers. The river moved cold around their stirrups.

“Marcus went to town,” he said. “He’s going to accept the offer.”

Anna closed her eyes.

“Then it’s over.”

“Caleb won’t sign. The will says all three of us have to agree.”

“My father doesn’t care about your will. He cares about the water. If your brother sells his share, the railroad will own enough of the river to shut you down anyway. And if Caleb fights it, they’ll bleed you in court until there’s nothing left.”

Eli looked at the far bank. No one was watching today.

“Come with me,” he said.

Anna’s eyes opened.

“Where?”

“Anywhere. Tonight. We take two horses and we don’t look back.”

She was quiet for a long time. The wind moved her hair across her face.

“And leave my mother? Leave my little sister? My father will take it out on them.”

“Then we take them too.”

Anna shook her head.

“You know we can’t.”

A rider appeared on the Reed side of the river. Caleb. He sat his horse on the bank and watched them without calling out. His face was unreadable.

Anna saw him and went still.

“You have to go,” she said.

“Anna—”

“If he tells my father he saw us, it won’t matter what any of us want.”

She turned her horse. Eli reached for her rein. She pulled it free.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Then she was gone, riding hard toward the Hale house.

Eli stayed in the river. Caleb didn’t move from the bank. They looked at each other across the water until Eli finally rode out and stopped beside his brother.

“How long have you known?” Caleb asked.

“Eight months.”

Caleb nodded once, like the number made sense.

“Marcus is in town right now signing papers he can’t sign alone. Hale is waiting for an excuse to bring men across the river. And you’re standing here asking a Hale girl to run away with you.”

Eli didn’t answer.

Caleb looked at the house in the distance, then at the river, then at his youngest brother.

“I buried our father six days ago,” he said. “I am not burying this ranch. And I am not burying you. But if you cross that river again tonight, I won’t stop you. And I won’t come after you when Hale’s men do.”

He turned his horse and rode toward home.

Eli sat alone at the crossing until the light began to fail.

When he finally reached the yard, Marcus was back. He stood on the porch with Caleb. Neither of them was speaking. A third horse was tied at the rail—one Eli didn’t recognize.

A man in a railroad coat stepped out of the house. He looked at Eli, then at the two older brothers.

“Gentlemen,” he said, “I was told all three of you would be here to discuss the final terms.”

Caleb’s eyes stayed on Eli.

Marcus looked at the ground.

The railroad man smiled.

“Shall we begin?”

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 4…