PART 3 — THE LETTER THAT COULD DESTROY THEM BOTH

Gideon didn’t step aside.

“Say what you came to say, Vale.”

Henry Vale removed a folded document from his coat.

“Everett has filed a formal complaint. He claims Mave abandoned their marriage without legal grounds, stole confidential business papers, and entered into another marriage while still legally bound to him.”

Mave gripped the back of the chair.

“That’s a lie.”

Vale shrugged.

“Then you should have no difficulty explaining it to a magistrate.”

Gideon took the document.

He studied the seal, the signature, and the date.

Something was wrong.

“Who witnessed this?”

“Several people.”

“Names?”

Vale smiled.

“Why don’t you come to town and ask?”

Gideon handed the paper back.

“You can leave now.”

Vale’s expression hardened.

“You’re making a mistake. Everett is prepared to pay a considerable amount to bring his wife home.”

“She isn’t going anywhere with him.”

“That’s not your decision.”

Gideon stepped forward.

“It’s hers.”

Vale glanced toward Mave.

“Think carefully, Mrs. Everett. Your husband has been very patient. But he isn’t a man who enjoys being embarrᴀssed.”

Mave’s voice trembled, but she answered.

“Then he should have behaved like an honorable man.”

For the first time, Vale seemed genuinely surprised.

He put on his gloves.

“Tomorrow morning. Oak Haven. Don’t make us come looking for you again.”

Then he mounted his horse and disappeared into the darkness.

Mave didn’t sleep that night.

She sat near the window, staring at the snow-covered trees.

Gideon remained at the table, examining the document Vale had left behind.

Around midnight, she finally spoke.

“You should send me away.”

He looked up.

“No.”

“You don’t understand what Everett can do.”

“Then explain it.”

Mave took a shaky breath.

“He has friends in the county office. He knows the sheriff. He has money, and he can make people believe almost anything.”

Gideon folded the document.

“I’ve met men like him.”

“You don’t know what he is capable of.”

“Maybe not. But I know what he isn’t.”

“What?”

“He isn’t enтιтled to decide your future.”

Mave looked down at her hands.

“Why are you doing this?”

Gideon was quiet for a long moment.

“Because when I was younger, I trusted Henry Vale with something important. He betrayed that trust, and I spent years believing I could never put it right.”

He glanced at the paper.

“Now I have a chance to find out what really happened.”

At first light, Gideon and Mave rode toward Oak Haven.

He had arranged for a neighbor to check the cabin and left instructions about the horses and supplies.

Mave wore her warmest coat and carried the leather bag containing the papers she had taken from Everett.

The town was already awake when they arrived.

People stood outside the general store, whispering as the wagon pᴀssed.

Mave recognized several faces.

Some looked away.

Others stared openly.

At the courthouse, a clerk directed them to a small office.

Everett was waiting.

He was dressed in a dark suit, his hair neatly combed. He looked exactly like the respectable businessman Mave had once introduced to her friends.

He rose when she entered.

“Mave.”

She stopped beside Gideon.

Everett smiled sadly.

“You’ve caused quite a disturbance.”

“You tried to frighten me into signing away my father’s land.”

His smile disappeared.

“Careful. You don’t want to make accusations you cannot prove.”

Gideon placed Vale’s document on the desk.

“Let’s talk about the marriage record.”

Everett looked at him.

“Your marriage is invalid. Mave was still my wife.”

The clerk opened a large register.

“According to this record, Mr. Everett’s first marriage was dissolved eighteen months ago.”

Mave stared.

“What?”

Everett’s expression barely changed.

“An administrative matter.”

Gideon leaned forward.

“Then why did you tell everyone she was still your wife?”

Everett ignored him.

“Mave, come home. We can settle this privately.”

“No.”

The answer was quiet.

But it was clear.

Everett’s expression turned cold.

“You have no idea what you’re doing.”

Mave reached into her bag and removed the papers.

“Neither did you when you left these in your desk.”

She placed the list of names on the table.

Everett’s eyes moved over the page.

For the first time, his composure cracked.

Gideon noticed.

“You recognize it?”

Everett quickly gathered himself.

“Those are private business records.”

“Records of forged land transfers,” Mave replied.

The clerk examined the paper.

Then he looked toward Everett.

“Mr. Everett, these signatures appear to belong to several residents who have filed complaints against your company.”

Everett stood abruptly.

“This is ridiculous.”

But before he could leave, another man entered the office.

It was Henry Vale.

And he wasn’t alone.

Behind him stood an elderly woman carrying a small wooden box.

She looked directly at Mave.

“My name is Clara Whitmore,” she said. “Your father was my brother.”

Mave stared at her.

“My father told me all his family was gone.”

“He told you that because he was trying to protect you.”

Clara placed the wooden box on the desk.

“Your father didn’t lose his land, Mave. He transferred it into a trust before he died. The original deed is inside this box.”

Everett’s face turned ashen.

Clara opened the lid.

Inside lay a document bearing the official county seal.

But it wasn’t the deed that caught Gideon’s attention.

It was the second paper beneath it.

A letter addressed to him.

He recognized the handwriting immediately.

It belonged to his late father.

Gideon unfolded it.

The first sentence made his hands go still.

My son, if this letter has reached you, then Henry Vale has finally returned to finish what he started.

Gideon read on.

There is something I never told you about the land you inherited. The woman who owns the original deed is not a stranger to our family.

He looked at Mave.

Then at Clara.

The old woman nodded slowly.

“Your fathers knew each other,” she said. “And they made a promise long before either of you married.”

Gideon looked down at the final paragraph.

It contained a name he had not heard in years.

MARGARET EVERETT.

Mave’s mother.

The woman everyone had told her died when she was a child.

But the letter ended with five words that changed everything:

Your mother is still alive.

Mave gripped the edge of the desk.

“That’s impossible.”

Clara’s eyes filled with tears.

“No, child. It isn’t.”

She turned toward the courthouse window.

“And if we want to find her, we must leave before Everett’s men reach the town.”

Outside, a carriage had just stopped in front of the courthouse.

A woman stepped down.

She looked remarkably like Mave.

And she was carrying a pH๏τograph of Gideon’s father.

TO BE CONTINUED…