A Widowed Rancher Stopped for a Mother and Daughter in the Rain… She Said ‘Stay Back or I’ll Shoot
Chapter 9
Thomas couldn’t move.
His father had been dead for three years.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
Yet there he stood.
Older.
Thinner.
His beard was white.
A scar ran across his cheek.
“Thomas.”
Thomas’s pistol was in his hand before he realized it.
“You’re dead.”
“I had to be.”
“Why?”
His father looked at Sarah.
Then at Lucy.
“Because Mercer would have killed all of you.”
Thomas’s voice shook.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You knew what Mercer was doing.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“There is always a choice.”
His father lowered his eyes.
“Your mother knew.”
“And Elizabeth?”
“She learned shortly before she died.”
Thomas stared at him.
“You were the man she was protecting?”
“No.”
His father looked toward the water.
“I was trying to find the original ledger.”
“What happened?”
“Mercer found me first.”
His father explained.
He had been forced to disappear.
He had spent years gathering evidence.
He had discovered that Mercer planned to seize an entire valley.
The stolen deeds were only the beginning.
Mercer wanted the river crossing.
With control of the river, he could control trade throughout the region.
The farmers’ land was valuable because of its access to water.
Sarah opened the iron box.
“Then this isn’t enough.”
“No.”
Thomas looked at her.
“What else do we need?”
“The ledger.”
“Where?”
His father looked at Lucy.
“Her mother knew.”
Sarah shook her head.
“She never told me.”
“She would have if she had survived.”
The old man reached into his coat.
He produced a folded map.
“There is an old stone house near the river.”
Thomas recognized it.
“Mercer’s first warehouse.”
“Beneath it is a cellar.”
“What’s there?”
“The ledger.”
Thomas took the map.
“Why didn’t you get it?”
“Because I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
His father looked at him.
“Because someone had to make Mercer believe I was dead.”
Thomas understood.
“You.”
“Yes.”
Silence followed.
Then Lucy spoke.
“Is he my grandpa?”
Sarah looked at Thomas’s father.
The old man smiled sadly.
“No, little one.”
“Then why does he look like Thomas?”
Thomas almost laughed.
His father did too.
For the first time in years, Thomas saw something familiar in the old man’s face.
His father.
Not the ghost he had imagined.
A man who had been afraid.
A man who had made mistakes.
But perhaps a man who had spent years trying to repair them.
