PART 2: THE MOUNTAIN MAN TOOK ONE STEP… THEN THE WIDOW DISCOVERED THE SECRET HE HAD BEEN HIDING

Martha couldn’t move.

For several seconds, she simply stared at Colum.

The enormous mountain man was gripping the edge of her table with both hands. His shoulders shook, his jaw was clenched, and his face was covered in sweat despite the freezing morning air.

His legs were trembling beneath him.

“Colum…”

He didn’t look at her.

“Don’t.”

His voice was strained.

“Don’t come closer.”

Martha stopped.

“You’re standing.”

“Observant woman.”

“You’re actually standing!”

“I said don’t!”

His arms suddenly weakened.

The table scraped across the floor.

Colum dropped hard onto one knee, knocking the remaining pieces of the broken cup beneath the cot.

Martha rushed forward.

“Good heavens!”

“Stay back!”

But he was already struggling to get himself upright again.

“Colum, stop! You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“I need to know.”

“Know what?”

“Whether my legs are still mine.”

His voice broke on the last word.

Martha went quiet.

She knelt beside him, careful not to move his injured legs.

“Listen to me. You don’t have to prove anything to me.”

Colum stared at the floor.

“Everyone else already decided what I am.”

“And what is that?”

“A cripple. A burden. A man who needs someone to feed him until he dies.”

Martha’s expression hardened.

“Well, everyone else can mind their own business.”

He looked at her.

She placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re in my house, Colum. Nobody gets to decide what you’re worth.”

For a long moment, the mountain man said nothing.

Then he looked toward the table.

“I felt something.”

Martha followed his eyes.

“What?”

“When I tried to stand. There was pain. Terrible pain. But I felt my feet against the floor.”

She studied him carefully.

“Does that mean you’re getting better?”

“I don’t know.”

His expression darkened.

“Doctor said the damage was permanent.”

“Doctors aren’t always right.”

“Sometimes they are.”

Martha helped him back onto the cot.

This time, he didn’t argue.

But she noticed something strange.

He kept looking toward the floor, as though he were trying to remember something.

Later that morning, Martha prepared breakfast.

She had just finished placing a plate of eggs and bread on the table when Colum spoke.

“How much money do you owe the bank?”

Martha stopped.

“Why?”

“Because Amos mentioned your farm when he dropped me here.”

She sighed.

“That man has never known when to keep his mouth shut.”

“How much?”

Martha hesitated.

“More than I can pay.”

“How much?”

She finally gave him the number.

Colum’s expression changed.

“That’s a lot of money.”

“I know.”

“How did you get into that kind of debt?”

Martha looked toward the window.

“My husband borrowed money to repair the north pasture fence and purchase new equipment. He intended to repay it after the harvest.”

“And?”

“He died before the harvest.”

Colum nodded slowly.

“Did the bank give you the original loan papers?”

Martha shook her head.

“Amos said they were lost.”

Colum’s eyes narrowed.

“Convenient.”

Martha gave a tired laugh.

“You’re beginning to sound like a lawyer.”

“Never liked lawyers.”

“Then we’re in agreement.”

For the rest of the morning, Colum remained unusually quiet.

That afternoon, Martha went into town to purchase medicine and collect a few supplies.

She returned shortly before sunset.

The moment she entered the farmhouse, she knew something was wrong.

Colum was sitting upright on the cot.

Beside him lay a small leather pouch.

She had never seen it before.

“What’s that?”

He quickly covered it with his hand.

“Nothing.”

Martha raised an eyebrow.

“That word seems to get used a lot around here.”

Colum sighed.

Then he slowly opened the pouch.

Inside were several folded documents, a silver pocket watch, and a pH๏τograph worn almost white around the edges.

Martha picked up the pH๏τograph.

It showed a younger Colum standing beside another man near a mountain cabin.

The second man looked remarkably similar to him.

“Your brother?”

Colum nodded.

“His name was Daniel.”

“What happened to him?”

Colum looked toward the fireplace.

“He died three years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“He left me something.”

Martha examined the papers.

There was a property deed.

A mining claim.

And a document bearing the seal of a territorial land office.

“What is all this?”

Colum looked at her.

“Land.”

“How much land?”

“Nearly six hundred acres.”

Martha nearly dropped the papers.

“Six hundred?”

“Mountain property. Timber, a creek, and an old mining operation.”

“Then why are you living like a man with nothing?”

Colum’s expression became distant.

“Because I never wanted any of it.”

He explained that his brother had spent years developing the property, believing a profitable silver deposit lay beneath the mountain.

After Daniel died, Colum inherited everything.

But he had never trusted the men who worked the claim.

Several months before the bear attack, he had discovered that someone had been secretly removing valuable equipment and selling timber from the property.

He had confronted the foreman.

The man denied everything.

Then, one evening, Colum had gone into the mountains alone.

He remembered hearing something behind him.

He remembered turning.

And then he remembered the bear.

Martha listened without interrupting.

“Do you think someone caused your accident?” she finally asked.

Colum looked at the documents.

“I don’t know.”

But his voice suggested otherwise.

The following morning, Martha went to town again.

She had barely entered the trading post when she heard two men talking near the counter.

One of them was Amos Higgins.

The other was a well-dressed stranger.

“…the widow won’t last through winter,” Amos was saying. “And the mountain man’s in no condition to interfere.”

The stranger chuckled.

“Then we should finish the business before he discovers what happened to his brother’s land.”

Martha stopped behind the doorway.

Her blood turned cold.

Amos continued.

“Once the widow loses her farm, nobody will question the new boundary survey.”

The stranger lowered his voice.

“And the mountain property?”

“That will be ours soon enough.”

Martha backed away quietly.

She had come to town believing her only problem was debt.

Now she understood that something much bigger was happening.

When she returned home, Colum was waiting near the window.

He noticed her expression immediately.

“What happened?”

Martha closed the door.

“I heard something.”

She told him everything.

Amos’s conversation.

The boundary survey.

The plan to take his brother’s property.

Colum listened without moving.

Then he reached for the leather pouch.

“Give me the deed.”

Martha handed it over.

He studied the document for several minutes.

Then his eyes settled on a signature at the bottom.

His face turned pale.

“That’s impossible.”

“What?”

Colum held the paper toward the light.

“This signature.”

Martha leaned closer.

“What about it?”

Colum’s voice dropped.

“That’s Daniel’s signature.”

“But your brother is ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.”

“I know.”

He looked up at her.

“And according to this document, he transferred the entire property to Amos Higgins six months before he died.”

Martha felt a chill run through her.

“Could it be real?”

Colum shook his head.

“No. Daniel never would have signed this.”

He folded the deed carefully.

Then, for the first time since Martha had known him, the mountain man looked genuinely frightened.

“Amos didn’t bring me here because the poorhouse was full.”

Martha stared at him.

“What do you mean?”

Colum looked toward the window.

“He wanted me somewhere he could watch me. Somewhere nobody would believe me if I accused him.”

A heavy silence filled the room.

Then Colum reached for the wooden table.

He placed both hands against it and slowly pushed himself upright.

Martha rushed toward him.

“Colum! What are you doing?”

He looked down at his trembling legs.

“I’m going to town.”

“You’re not ready!”

“Maybe not.”

He took a careful breath.

“But if Amos thinks I’m helpless, he’s about to discover something.”

“What?”

Colum raised his eyes.

“That I remember exactly where my brother buried the original property records.”

Martha stared at him.

Before she could respond, three horses appeared on the road outside.

Amos was riding at the front.

And he wasn’t alone.

Two men followed him, carrying a rolled-up document and a wooden survey stake.

Colum slowly reached for his walking stick.

Martha moved toward the window.

“They’re coming here.”

Colum nodded.

“Good.”

Then he said something that made her heart stop.

“Because I think they know I found the papers.”

What Martha didn’t know was that the original records were not the only thing Daniel had hidden in the mountains. And the secret buried with them could destroy every powerful man in Oak Haven.