PART 3 — THE LETTER THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN BURNED

Maeve read the sentence twice.

Then she carefully folded the paper.

Tess watched her with anxious eyes.

“Is Mama angry?”

Maeve crouched beside her.

“No, sweetheart. Why would you think that?”

“Because Papa hides her things. He says they hurt him.”

Maeve glanced toward the doorway.

Gideon stood there.

His face had lost every trace of color.

“Where did you find that?” he asked.

Tess pointed toward the bed.

“Under your pillow.”

Gideon closed his eyes.

“Go back to sleep, little bird.”

Tess hesitated.

“Are you angry?”

“No.”

He knelt and brushed her hair back.

“I’m not angry with you.”

The girl looked at Maeve.

“Will you stay?”

Maeve nodded.

“Of course.”

Tess climbed beneath the blanket.

Maeve waited until the child’s breathing settled before following Gideon into the main room.

He was standing beside the fireplace, staring at the letter.

“You should not have read that,” he said.

“I didn’t mean to. Tess found it.”

“I know.”

“Who wrote it?”

Gideon looked at the paper.

“My wife.”

Maeve waited.

“Her name was Eleanor.”

He sat down heavily.

“She wrote that letter a few days before she died. I never understood why she worded it that way.”

“What happened that night?”

Gideon stared into the fire.

“It was winter. The children were very young. Eleanor had been ill for several days, but she insisted she was well enough to look after them.”

He paused.

“I went into town to get medicine. When I returned, the cabin was full of smoke. The stove pipe had cracked, and the fire had spread to the wall.”

Maeve’s hand rose to her mouth.

“I found the children outside. Eleanor had carried them through the snow before she collapsed.”

“Was she injured?”

“She was exhausted. Sick. The doctor came, but she never recovered.”

Gideon pressed his palms together.

“I had been gone too long.”

Maeve’s voice softened.

“You couldn’t have known.”

“I should have.”

“Gideon—”

“I should have been here.”

He spoke with such force that Maeve fell silent.

For two years, he had been carrying the same thought, repeating it until it became a punishment he believed he deserved.

Maeve looked at the letter again.

“May I ask you something?”

He nodded.

“Why did Eleanor write that another woman should not discover what happened?”

Gideon frowned.

“I don’t know.”

Maeve turned the paper over.

There was more writing on the back, but the ink had faded.

She moved closer to the lamp.

A few words became visible.

The children were not alone…

Maeve read the next line.

Someone came before the smoke…

Then the writing disappeared beneath a dark stain.

She looked up.

“Gideon, what does this mean?”

He took the letter.

His hands began to tremble.

“I don’t know.”

But his voice suggested otherwise.

Maeve thought of Toby’s feverish words.

Don’t let him take Tess.

She thought of the frightened children hiding beneath the table when she first arrived.

And she remembered how Gideon had avoided explaining why the cabin had been left in such terrible condition.

“Did someone else know about the fire?” she asked.

Gideon rose.

“Enough questions for tonight.”

Maeve remained seated.

“I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“I know.”

“Then tell me the truth.”

He looked at her for a long moment.

Finally, he walked to a wooden chest beside the wall and opened it.

Inside were old blankets, children’s clothes, and a small leather-bound book.

He lifted the book.

“This belonged to Eleanor.”

Maeve noticed that the first several pages had been torn out.

“Why are those missing?”

“I don’t know. I found it like this.”

Maeve opened the book.

Most entries were ordinary: notes about supplies, the children’s illnesses, repairs to the cabin, and reminders about planting vegetables when spring came.

Then she reached an entry dated three days before the fire.

The man from the lower valley came again. He asked about Gideon’s land. I told him the answer was still no.

The next entry was shorter.

He said the children would be safer if Gideon signed.

Maeve looked up.

“Who was this man?”

Gideon took the book from her.

“His name was Silas Crowe.”

“Do you know him?”

“I used to.”

Gideon closed the book.

“Silas wanted to buy the timberland above the valley. I refused. He believed there was silver in the mountain and thought I was keeping it from him.”

“Was there?”

“No.”

“Then why did he keep coming?”

“Because he didn’t believe me.”

Gideon walked to the window.

“After Eleanor died, Silas stopped visiting. I ᴀssumed he’d finally given up.”

Maeve looked toward the children’s room.

“Perhaps he didn’t.”

The next morning, Dr. Price returned to check Toby.

The boy was sitting up, weak but alert, and managed to drink a little broth. The doctor said his condition was improving but that he needed continued care.

Tess stayed close to him.

When Gideon entered with a fresh blanket, Toby looked up.

“Papa?”

“Yes?”

“Are you staying today?”

Gideon stopped.

The question was simple.

But it seemed to reach somewhere deep inside him.

“Yes,” he answered. “I’m staying.”

Toby nodded and closed his eyes.

Maeve watched Gideon pull a chair beside the bed.

He did not leave.

Not when the children fell asleep.

Not when the fire needed wood.

Not even when the doctor finished his visit.

For the first time, Gideon seemed to understand that being a father was not something he could postpone until he felt less sad.

Later that afternoon, Maeve went into the pantry to prepare supper.

She found the food stores neatly arranged, except for one small wooden box pushed behind a sack of cornmeal.

Inside were several old receipts, a silver ʙuттon, and a folded document bearing Silas Crowe’s name.

Maeve opened it.

It was a notice demanding that Gideon surrender the mountain property.

The date was two years old.

But something else caught her attention.

A signature appeared at the bottom.

It was not Gideon’s.

It belonged to Eleanor Reed.

Maeve read the document carefully.

Eleanor had apparently agreed to meet Silas on the night of the fire.

But why?

And why had she signed a promise concerning land that belonged to her husband?

Maeve was still studying the paper when Gideon entered.

“What are you doing?”

She turned.

“I found this.”

His expression changed immediately.

“Put it down.”

“Gideon, why did Eleanor sign this?”

He crossed the room and took the document.

His hands were shaking again.

“She wouldn’t have.”

“But that’s her signature.”

“No.”

“Look at it.”

He stared at the page.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he turned the document over.

On the back was a sentence written in a different hand.

“The children will be returned when the deed is signed.”

Maeve felt the blood drain from her face.

“What does that mean?”

Gideon gripped the paper.

“Nothing.”

But Maeve knew it was not nothing.

She remembered the words Toby had whispered during his fever.

Don’t let him take Tess.

Then a knock sounded at the front door.

Three slow knocks.

Gideon went still.

Maeve heard a man’s voice outside.

“Reed. I know you’re home.”

Gideon moved toward the door.

“Stay with the children,” he told Maeve.

She caught his sleeve.

“Who is it?”

He looked at her.

“Silas Crowe.”

Outside, the man laughed softly.

“It’s been a long time, Gideon. I see you’ve finally found yourself another woman to keep house.”

Maeve’s stomach тιԍнтened.

Then Silas spoke again.

“Tell her what happened to your wife. Tell her why those children were hiding under the table.”

Gideon reached for the latch.

Maeve stepped in front of him.

“Don’t.”

He looked down at her.

For a moment, she thought he would ignore her.

Instead, he stopped.

Silas knocked once more.

“I didn’t come for the land today, old friend.”

A pause.

“I came for the boy.”

From the bedroom, Toby began to cry.

And Tess whispered something Maeve would never forget.

“That’s the man Mama was afraid of.”

Part 4 would reveal why Silas wanted Toby, what Eleanor had discovered before her death, and the secret Gideon had buried for two years.