PART 5: THE MAN WHO HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR HER

Wilder didn’t sit down.

She remained standing, the letter trembling in her hand.

“Tell me.”

Goss looked toward the fire.

“Your father came to this mountain six years ago.”

“That isn’t possible. We were living in Pincher Creek.”

“He came alone. He was looking for work.”

Wilder remembered her father’s absences.

The long trips.

The unexplained money.

The arguments with her mother that ended whenever Wilder entered the room.

“Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Because he was ashamed.”

Goss reached into a wooden drawer and removed a small leather pouch.

He opened it.

Inside lay a silver pocket watch.

Wilder recognized it immediately.

Her father’s watch.

She reached for it.

“Where did you get this?”

“He left it with me.”

“Why?”

“Because he knew he was dying.”

Wilder stared at him.

“My father died of fever.”

Goss nodded.

“He did.”

“Then why did he leave you his watch?”

“Because he asked me to find you.”

The cabin seemed suddenly too small.

Goss continued.

“Your father had debts. Some were real. Others were invented by a man who knew how to make a desperate person desperate enough to sign anything.”

“Silas?”

Goss nodded.

Wilder felt a familiar bitterness rise.

Her uncle had always been cruel, but she had never imagined the extent of it.

“What did my father owe him?”

“Nothing by the time he died.”

“Then why did he sell me?”

Goss looked at her.

“Because Silas threatened to have you sent to a workhouse.”

Wilder closed her eyes.

She remembered the day her father announced the arrangement.

He had stood in the kitchen, avoiding her gaze.

“You’ll have a home,” he had said. “You’ll have food. A man who needs help.”

She had thought he was selling her because he was tired of feeding her.

Perhaps he had been trying to save her.

Perhaps both things were true.

“Why didn’t he tell me?” she whispered.

“Because he believed you would refuse to go.”

Wilder gave a bitter laugh.

“He was right.”

Goss’s expression softened.

“He was also afraid that if you knew the truth, you’d try to come back for him.”

She looked up sharply.

“What truth?”

Goss stood and walked to the far wall.

There, beneath a row of tools, was a narrow wooden box.

He lifted it down.

Inside lay a stack of papers, several old pH๏τographs, and a map.

He placed the map on the table.

It showed a section of land near Pincher Creek.

Wilder recognized the creek.

The old mill.

The road leading toward her father’s farm.

But there was something else.

A small cabin marked in red.

“What is this?”

“Your father’s property.”

Wilder stared.

“My father didn’t own land.”

“He did.”

Goss unfolded another paper.

“He purchased it years ago. He intended to leave it to you.”

Wilder felt her knees weaken.

“Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Because Silas was trying to take it.”

Goss pointed to the map.

“Your father hid the deed. He asked me to keep it safe.”

Wilder looked at him.

“Where is it?”

Goss’s answer was immediate.

“Not here.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere Silas won’t think to look.”

Wilder gripped the edge of the table.

“Why did you agree to marry me?”

Goss was silent for a long moment.

Then he said, “Because I promised your father I would give you a choice.”

“A choice?”

“To stay here. To leave. To take the land. To start over somewhere else.”

He looked at her.

“I wasn’t supposed to decide for you.”

Wilder felt tears gather in her eyes.

All her life, people had decided what she was worth.

Her father had traded her.

Her uncle had threatened her.

The placement service had described her like a piece of livestock.

But Goss was telling her that the future belonged to her.

And somehow, that frightened her more than anything else.

“What happens if I leave?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“What happens if I stay?”

“Nothing.”

She frowned.

“Nothing?”

Goss looked at her.

“Then you stay because you want to.”

Wilder lowered her head.

She had no words for the strange feeling spreading through her chest.

Not graтιтude.

Not fear.

Something she had never been allowed to feel before.

The freedom to choose.

That night, she slept beside the fireplace rather than in the bed.

Goss didn’t question her.

He simply placed another blanket within reach.

And in the early hours of the morning, Wilder heard him speaking outside.

She rose quietly and approached the window.

Goss stood beside the woodpile, speaking to a man on horseback.

The rider wore a dark coat.

Wilder couldn’t see his face.

But she heard Goss’s words.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

The rider answered.

“She knows now?”

“Some of it.”

“Then you have to tell her everything.”

Goss looked toward the cabin.

“I will.”

The rider leaned forward.

“Because if Silas discovers the deed is still in your possession, he’ll come for both of you.”

Wilder stepped away from the window.

Her father had left her a secret.

Goss had promised to protect it.

And now someone else knew.

Someone who believed the truth could destroy them all.