PART 2 — THE WOMAN WHO WAS AFRAID OF HER OWN SHADOW

Mave lowered her eyes.

For several seconds, she seemed unable to remember how to speak.

Then she whispered two words.

“My husband.”

Gideon didn’t move.

“Your first husband?”

She nodded.

“He was called Everett. Everyone in town thought he was a respectable man. He owned a successful trading business, attended church every Sunday, and never raised his voice in public.”

Her fingers тιԍнтened around the chair.

“But behind closed doors, he was different.”

Gideon remained silent, allowing her to continue at her own pace.

“At first, he only criticized everything I did. The meals were never right. The house was never clean enough. I wasn’t allowed to visit my sister without asking permission.”

She paused.

“Then the punishments began.”

Gideon looked toward the floor, his jaw тιԍнтening.

Mave quickly noticed his expression.

“Please don’t be angry.”

“I’m not angry with you.”

“You look angry.”

“I am. But not with you.”

She stared at him as though she had never heard those words before.

Mave explained that Everett had controlled every part of her life. When she finally found the courage to leave, he accused her of stealing money and threatened to have her arrested.

Then, one night, she discovered a letter hidden inside his desk.

It contained a list of names, payments, and land transfers.

Everett had been secretly helping a group of businessmen take farms from widows and elderly settlers through forged contracts.

Mave’s father had once owned a small property near Dakota Territory. After his death, Everett claimed the land had been transferred to him.

But Mave had found the original deed.

“He wanted me to tell him where I’d hidden it,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t.”

Gideon glanced at the old bruises.

“And that’s why you left?”

“No. I left because I heard him planning to send me away somewhere nobody would ever find me.”

She reached into her travel bag and removed a small folded paper.

“I brought this with me.”

Gideon didn’t reach for it.

“May I look?”

Mave nodded.

The paper contained a list of names. At the bottom was a signature Gideon recognized immediately.

HENRY VALE.

His former business partner.

Gideon read the name twice.

“Where did you get this?”

“From Everett’s desk. I thought it was just a business record. But when I saw your name in the marriage agency advertisement, I recognized the town.”

Gideon looked up.

“My name?”

“Your cabin is near the old Vale property, isn’t it?”

He nodded slowly.

Mave’s voice became almost inaudible.

“Everett told me that if I ever went near this mountain, I would never come back.”

Gideon placed the paper on the table.

He suddenly understood why a quiet widow with no family nearby had chosen such an isolated destination.

She hadn’t been looking for a husband.

She had been looking for somewhere her former husband couldn’t reach her.

And somehow, she had arrived at the one place connected to the secret he had spent years trying to forget.

That evening, Gideon prepared supper.

Mave sat near the fireplace, watching him carefully.

She still flinched when he moved too quickly, but something had changed. She no longer apologized every time she needed to ask for something.

When he placed a bowl of stew in front of her, she hesitated.

“You don’t have to serve me.”

“I know.”

“I can do it myself.”

“I know that too.”

He sat opposite her.

“Tomorrow, we’ll find out what Henry Vale has been doing with those land records.”

Mave looked worried.

“Will you send me away if this becomes dangerous?”

Gideon put down his spoon.

“Mave, you aren’t a burden I agreed to carry for the winter.”

She looked at him.

“You’re a person. And you deserve to decide where you live.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

Before she could answer, someone knocked at the door.

Three slow knocks.

Gideon rose.

“Stay here.”

He opened the door.

A man stood on the porch, dressed in a fine black coat. Snow covered the shoulders of his expensive clothing.

Gideon recognized him immediately.

Henry Vale.

“Gideon,” the visitor said with a polite smile. “It’s been a long time.”

Gideon blocked the doorway.

“What do you want?”

Vale looked past him.

“I’ve come to collect something that belongs to me.”

From behind the fireplace, Mave stood.

The moment Vale saw her, his smile widened.

“Mrs. Everett,” he said. “I wondered how long it would take you to find this place.”

Mave went pale.

Then Vale delivered the words that made Gideon’s hand тιԍнтen against the doorframe.

“Your husband is waiting in town. And he’s brought proof that your marriage to Gideon was never legally valid.”