PART 3 — THE LETTERS THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED

The cabin appeared just after dark.

It stood beneath a towering wall of pine, its thick log walls weathered by years of mountain storms. A narrow chimney rose above the roof, and a small creek ran behind the clearing.

Gareth had spent three weeks preparing the place.

He had repaired the roof, replaced the broken window, scrubbed the floorboards, and carved a rocking chair from cedar.

He had even bought a blue porcelain teapot in Laramie.

Now, as Hannah stepped through the doorway, he suddenly felt foolish.

The cabin was small.

The bed was narrow.

The kitchen was barely large enough for two people.

And the woman standing in the center of it seemed to have traveled through half the country only to discover that the man waiting for her had no idea who she really was.

Hannah set down her carpetbag.

“You did all this?”

Gareth nodded.

“For you.”

She ran her fingers across the polished table.

Then she examined the rocking chair beside the window.

“Cedar?”

“Yes.”

“Beautiful work.”

He felt an unexpected warmth in his chest.

“Thank you.”

Hannah turned toward him.

“You expected me to be pleased with this.”

“I hoped you would be.”

“I am.”

She looked around again.

“But I need to ask you something.”

Gareth’s warmth faded.

“Go ahead.”

“Have you ever heard of a woman named Margaret Bell?”

He froze.

The name seemed to echo through the cabin.

“Why?”

Hannah’s eyes narrowed.

“So you have.”

Gareth moved toward the stove.

“Margaret was Thomas Bell’s wife.”

“Was?”

“She died before I bought the cabin.”

“When?”

“About seven years ago.”

Hannah slowly reached into her carpetbag.

She pulled out a small pH๏τograph.

The image was faded, but the woman in it was unmistakable.

A young woman stood beside a wooden fence, wearing a plain dress and holding a little girl in her arms.

Gareth stared.

“Where did you get that?”

Hannah placed it on the table.

“From a letter.”

“What letter?”

“One sent to me in St. Louis.”

Gareth looked up.

“By whom?”

Hannah hesitated.

Then she answered.

“Thomas Bell.”

The name seemed to change the temperature of the room.

Gareth took a step backward.

“That’s impossible. Bell left years ago.”

“Perhaps.”

Hannah opened the letter.

The paper was old, the handwriting uneven.

She began reading.

Dear Hannah Gallagher,

If you are reading this, then the man who has promised to marry you may not be the man you believe him to be.

Gareth felt the blood drain from his face.

Hannah continued.

His name is Gareth Lockwood. He lives in the mountains above Laramie. He is a good man, but he has been living inside a lie.

She stopped.

Gareth’s voice was barely audible.

“Keep reading.”

Hannah looked at him.

The cabin he calls his home was once mine. The land surrounding it was promised to my wife and daughter. When I returned from a winter trapping expedition, I discovered that the deed had been transferred without my consent.

Gareth stared at the letter.

“That cannot be true.”

Hannah continued.

I confronted the man who arranged it. He told me the papers were signed, the land was sold, and I had no right to return.

The next paragraph was written in a different hand.

A shakier one.

If you have already reached Gareth, do not trust anyone who tells you that Thomas Bell abandoned his family.

Hannah stopped reading.

Gareth looked at her.

“Who wrote that?”

“I don’t know.”

She turned the paper over.

There was a name at the bottom.

Elias Rutherford.

The station manager.

Gareth’s mind raced.

Elias had known about the stagecoach attack.

He had known Hannah was coming.

He had been the one to tell Gareth that the road was dangerous.

And he had been the one who ᴀssured him that everything was in order.

Gareth moved toward the door.

“We’re going back to Laramie.”

Hannah caught his arm.

“Not tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because the letter says something else.”

She unfolded the final page.

Her voice became quieter.

The man who took the land did not act alone. He had help from someone who knew the mountains, knew the law, and knew exactly when Thomas Bell would be away.

Gareth stared at the words.

“Who?”

Hannah looked at him.

“I believe that is what the next letter was supposed to tell me.”

“Where is it?”

She shook her head.

“I never received it.”

The silence stretched between them.

Outside, the wind rose through the pines.

Then came a sound.

Three sharp knocks against the cabin door.

Gareth reached for the rifle above the mantel.

Hannah stood motionless.

A man’s voice called from the darkness.

“Lockwood? Open up.”

Gareth recognized it.

Elias Rutherford.

He opened the door just enough to see the station manager standing on the porch.

The man’s face was pale.

His hat was clutched in both hands.

“I need to speak with you,” Elias said.

Gareth kept the rifle lowered but ready.

“About what?”

Elias looked past him.

His eyes settled on Hannah.

Then he whispered:

“About the woman you brought home.”

Hannah stepped into view.

“I’m listening.”

Elias swallowed.

“I was told you were ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.”

Gareth turned toward Hannah.

Her expression had gone completely still.

“Who told you that?” she asked.

Elias looked at Gareth.

Then back at Hannah.

“Your husband.”

The room seemed to tilt.

Gareth’s fingers тιԍнтened around the rifle.

“My wife has never been married.”

Elias stared at him.

Then he said the words that shattered the silence.

“Not you, Lockwood.”

He pointed at Hannah.

“Her first husband.”

Hannah’s face drained of color.

For the first time since arriving in Wyoming, she looked genuinely frightened.

And then, from inside her carpetbag, a small folded letter slipped onto the floor.

Gareth picked it up.

The handwriting was unmistakable.

His own.

But he had never written the words on the page.

Hannah Gallagher must never reach the mountain cabin.

If she does, the truth about Margaret Bell will come out.

Gareth looked at Hannah.

She looked back at him.

And suddenly, the question was no longer whether their marriage had been arranged under false pretenses.

The question was whether someone had arranged their meeting because they wanted them together—

Or because they wanted both of them ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.

END OF PART 3

Part 4 will reveal who forged Gareth’s letters, why Hannah’s first husband disappeared, and the shocking connection between the stagecoach attack and the cabin Gareth believed was his own.