Jacob woke everyone except the children.
Abigail took the news with less surprise than irritation.
“Seven?”
“That’s what Boone says.”
“Of course there are seven.”
Jacob frowned.
“What number would be acceptable?”
“Zero.”
“Fair.”
Daniel checked his revolver.
“Why is Tully coming?”
Boone answered.
“Silas had a contingency plan.”
Everyone looked at him.
Boone was in his late forties, lean and weathered. A scar ran from his ear toward his jaw.
“I worked for Creed twelve years.”
Eliza’s face tightened.
“Were you there when my father disappeared?”
Boone removed his hat.
“Yes.”
Jacob watched her.
Eliza went very still.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
Boone looked at the floor.
“I was twenty-six and afraid.”
Eliza gave a humorless laugh.
“Seems to have been contagious.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He did not defend himself.
“Why help now?” Daniel asked.
“Because Bell is dead. Creed is arrested. Men are talking.”
Boone looked at Eliza.
“And because some debts don’t go away just because nobody sends a bill.”
Jacob understood.
“What’s Tully’s plan?”
“Kill Eliza. Take the original ledger. Burn the ranch.”
Abigail nodded.
“Charming.”
“And the girls?” Jacob asked.
Boone hesitated.
Eliza’s face whitened.
“What about my daughters?”
“Tully has orders to take them.”
“From Silas?”
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then who?”
Boone looked at him.
“Judge Crane.”
The corrupt judge.
Captured but apparently still dangerous.
Daniel cursed.
Boone continued.
“Crane believes Clara and Rose can become leverage. If the trial collapses, he thinks Creed money survives.”
Jacob shook his head.
“Creed’s accounts are frozen.”
“Not all of them.”
Daniel looked away.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Silence.
Jacob considered their options.
They had fewer than three hours.
The nearest marshal detail was in Dry Mesa.
Sending a rider risked interception.
The ranch had six hands nearby, but three were miles away with cattle.
Jacob looked at Boone.
“Why didn’t Tully kill you?”
“He tried.”
Boone touched the scar.
“Missed once. I decided not to offer him another shot.”
Daniel spoke.
“We can take Eliza and the girls south.”
Jacob shook his head.
“Tully expects that.”
“How do you know?”
“Because that’s what he’d do.”
Eliza crossed her arms.
“I’m not running.”
Jacob looked at her.
She stared back.
“No argument?”
“Would it help?”
“No.”
“Then I’m learning.”
Abigail smiled.
“Miracles everywhere.”
They prepared the ranch.
Jacob sent one hand toward Dry Mesa by a creek route Tully was unlikely to watch.
Another rode east to warn neighbors.
The remaining men positioned themselves around the barn and bunkhouse.
Daniel stayed near the house.
Boone watched the north road.
Eliza loaded a shotgun.
Jacob stared.
She raised an eyebrow.
“I know how.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was going to ask whether you had enough shells.”
Eliza almost smiled.
“Better.”
Clara woke while Abigail was carrying Rose downstairs.
“What’s happening?”
“Storm coming,” Abigail said.
Clara looked toward the clear window.
“There aren’t clouds.”
“Different kind.”
Clara immediately understood.
“Tully?”
Jacob entered.
“Yes.”
“I can help.”
“No.”
“I’m twelve.”
“Exactly.”
“My mother was younger when Creed started hurting her family.”
Eliza knelt.
“And that is exactly why you will not carry this for us.”
Clara’s eyes filled.
“I don’t want Rose taken again.”
Eliza hugged her.
“She won’t be.”
Jacob added, “You have one job.”
Clara looked at him.
“What?”
“Stay with Rose.”
She glanced at the baby.
“Protect her?”
“Yes.”
Clara straightened.
“All right.”
Abigail took both girls into the stone root cellar beneath the kitchen.
Eliza resisted.
“I’m staying upstairs.”
Clara said, “Mama.”
Eliza stopped.
Clara’s voice trembled.
“You said I shouldn’t carry this.”
Eliza closed her eyes.
Her own words had trapped her.
Jacob nearly smiled.
Clara was dangerous.
Eliza kissed her daughter.
“I’m coming back.”
Then she closed the cellar door.
Sunrise began as a gray line over the prairie.
The ranch went silent.
Jacob stood behind a stone watering trough.
Daniel waited near the porch.
Eliza crouched inside the front room.
Boone watched through binoculars.
“Riders.”
Jacob looked north.
Eight.
Not seven.
“Tully brought company.”
They approached slowly.
No attempt at surprise.
Wade Tully rode in front.
He stopped beyond rifle range.
“Mercer!”
Jacob stepped into view.
“You keep showing up where you’re unwanted.”
Tully grinned.
“I want the book.”
“Everybody wants the book.”
“Give it to me and I ride away.”
Jacob laughed.
“Try something believable.”
Tully’s smile vanished.
“We burn the house.”
“Children are inside.”
“I know.”
Jacob felt a murderous calm settle over him.
“You threaten them again and this conversation ends.”
Tully stared.
Then raised one hand.
Two men spread wide.
Jacob understood.
They meant to surround the ranch.
He fired a warning shot.
“Next one isn’t warning.”
Tully shouted.
Gunfire erupted.
The first volley shattered porch windows.
Jacob dropped behind the trough.
Ranch hands returned fire.
Daniel shot from beside the barn.
Boone struck one attacker from the fence line.
Eliza fired through a window and forced another rider behind cover.
The fight lasted minutes.
It felt like hours.
Tully’s men reached the corral.
One set hay on fire.
Smoke rolled across the yard.
Horses screamed.
Jacob ran toward the barn.
Bullets struck dirt near his boots.
He reached the gate and released the horses before flames spread.
Daniel joined him.
“House!”
Jacob turned.
Two men were moving toward the back door.
He fired.
One fell.
Daniel chased the second.
Jacob heard glass break inside.
“Eliza!”
He ran.
A man had entered through the kitchen window.
Jacob reached the doorway as Eliza struck the intruder across the face with the shotgun stock.
The man collapsed.
Jacob stopped.
She looked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You look surprised.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Later.”
Another shot.
They returned outside.
Then a scream came from beneath the house.
Clara.
Jacob froze.
Root cellar.
A man had entered through the exterior hatch.
Jacob ran around the house.
The hatch stood open.
He jumped down.
Darkness.
Rose crying.
Clara shouting.
Jacob saw a silhouette.
The attacker held Clara by one arm.
“Back!”
Jacob raised his gun.
“Let her go.”
The man dragged Clara toward the ladder.
“Gun down.”
Clara suddenly bit his hand.
He screamed.
She kicked his knee.
Jacob moved.
He struck the man with the revolver.
The attacker collapsed.
Clara ran into his arms.
“I protected Rose.”
“You did.”
“You told me to.”
“I did.”
Her face crumpled.
Jacob held her.
“But next time, less biting armed men.”
“He grabbed me.”
“Fair.”
Rose screamed from Abigail’s arms.
Everyone was alive.
Outside, the gunfire stopped.
Jacob climbed out.
Tully was retreating.
Boone shouted.
“He’s heading west!”
Jacob mounted Copper.
Daniel rode beside him.
They pursued.
Tully reached open prairie.
He looked back and fired.
Daniel’s horse stumbled.
Daniel fell.
Jacob stopped.
“Tully’s getting away!”
“I know.”
“Go!”
Jacob hesitated.
Daniel shouted, “Go!”
Jacob continued.
He gained ground.
Tully reached a dry wash and turned.
Both men dismounted.
Tully raised his gun.
Jacob did the same.
For a moment neither fired.
Tully laughed.
“You think this changes anything?”
“Yes.”
“Men like Creed don’t disappear.”
“No.”
Jacob stepped closer.
“But they stop owning everybody once people stop being afraid.”
Tully spat.
“You always were soft.”
“You barely know me.”
“I know your father.”
Jacob’s eyes narrowed.
Tully smiled.
“He was there when Samuel Harper disappeared.”
Jacob felt the words strike.
“What?”
“Your father knew.”
Jacob’s pulse thundered.
“Knew what?”
“Where they took Harper.”
“Liar.”
“He followed us.”
Jacob stared.
“Why didn’t he tell anyone?”
“Creed threatened you.”
The world seemed to tilt.
Jacob’s father.
Keep riding. Not our business.
Tully laughed.
“He wasn’t protecting Creed.”
Jacob’s gun lowered slightly.
“He was protecting you.”
Pain twisted inside Jacob.
Everything he had believed about his father shifted.
Not erased.
Not excused.
Changed.
Tully raised his weapon.
Jacob saw movement.
He fired first.
The bullet struck Tully’s hand.
His gun fell.
Jacob crossed the distance and kicked it away.
Tully clutched his bleeding fingers.
“Kill me.”
“No.”
“You think prison scares me?”
“No.”
Jacob grabbed him by the collar.
“But testimony might.”
He tied Tully to his horse and returned.
Federal marshals had arrived at the Mercer ranch.
The rider Jacob sent had succeeded.
Smoke rose from the corral, but the house still stood.
Abigail met Jacob with Rose.
“Before you ask, she is fine.”
Jacob took the baby.
Rose stared at him.
Then smiled.
A real smile.
Small.
Bright.
Jacob froze.
Abigail saw it.
“Oh, dear.”
“What?”
“She got you.”
“She smiled.”
“Yes.”
“At me.”
“Terrible, isn’t it?”
Jacob laughed.
Eliza approached.
Her face was dirty with smoke.
Hair loose.
Eyes exhausted.
“You came back.”
“So did you.”
They stared at each other.
For a moment everyone else disappeared.
Jacob wanted to touch her.
He didn’t know whether he had the right.
Eliza solved it.
She stepped forward and rested her forehead against his chest beside Rose.
Jacob wrapped one arm around her.
Neither called it love.
Not yet.
Some things needed time.
The following week changed everything.
Tully testified.
Driscoll corroborated him.
Boone testified about Samuel Harper.
Federal agents located records proving Samuel had been imprisoned under a false name.
Judge Crane was charged with conspiracy and obstruction.
Silas Creed was indicted on multiple counts involving fraud, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, bribery, and conspiracy connected to several deaths.
Daniel publicly surrendered his claim to disputed Harper property.
He also transferred several other Creed holdings into a restitution trust for families who had lost land.
Dry Mesa’s newspaper printed Samuel Harper’s name on the front page.
Not as a debtor.
Not as a criminal.
As the man whose records exposed the largest corruption case the county had ever seen.
Eliza read the article on the Mercer porch.
She cried quietly.
Jacob sat beside her.
“My father knew where they took yours.”
Eliza looked up.
“Tully told you?”
“Yes.”
“What will you do with that?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s fair.”
Jacob stared across the field.
“All these years I thought he taught me cowardice.”
“Maybe he taught you what fear costs.”
Jacob looked at her.
“That sounds like Abigail.”
“It does.”
Inside, Clara was arguing with Daniel about arithmetic.
Rose was sleeping.
The house felt alive.
Jacob said, “What happens after the trial?”
Eliza knew what he meant.
Where will you go?
She folded the newspaper.
“I don’t know.”
Jacob nodded.
Too quickly.
Eliza noticed.
“You want us to leave?”
“No.”
The answer came so fast she smiled.
“I see.”
Jacob cleared his throat.
“I mean, you should decide.”
“I should.”
“You have choices now.”
“Yes.”
“You could rebuild the Harper place.”
“I could.”
“Daniel could help.”
“He offered.”
Jacob nodded.
Silence.
Eliza leaned slightly closer.
“And what if I wanted another choice?”
Jacob looked at her.
“What choice?”
She smiled.
“You really are terrible at this.”
“At what?”
“Everything that doesn’t involve horses or criminals.”
“That seems unfair.”
“Is it?”
Before Jacob could answer, Clara opened the door.
“Mr. Mercer!”
“What?”
“Rose woke up.”
Jacob stood automatically.
Eliza laughed.
He looked at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She watched him go inside.
But the expression in her eyes suggested it was far from nothing.