She Wrote Letters for Every Lonely Man in Town—Then a Rancher Asked for One Addressed to Her
Chapter 4
Clara did not accept Thomas’s proposal.
Not that morning.
She did not reject it either.
Instead, she gave him the only answer she could think of.
“Give me a week.”
Thomas nodded.
“One week.”
“And you must not ask again before then.”
“I won’t.”
“And you must tell me why.”
He looked at her.
“Why what?”
“Why me?”
Thomas was silent.
Then he said, “Because when my mother died, I forgot what home felt like.”
Clara waited.
“My father became bitter. My brothers left. The ranch grew larger, but the house grew quieter.”
He rubbed his thumb over the scar on his knuckle.
“Then I came into town one winter and heard you reading a letter aloud to an old man who couldn’t see anymore.”
Clara remembered.
“Mr. Harlan?”
“Yes.”
“He was nearly blind.”
“I know.”
“You wrote his letter.”
“You read it.”
Clara smiled faintly.
“I remember.”
Thomas’s eyes softened.
“That was the first time I heard your voice.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I knew then.”
“Knew what?”
“That I wanted to hear it every day.”
Silence.
Clara looked at him again.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because every man in Bellmere wanted something from you.”
She frowned.
“I thought if I spoke, I’d become another burden.”
“You might have.”
“I know.”
His honesty surprised her.
Thomas continued.
“So I waited.”
“For three years?”
“Yes.”
“That was foolish.”
“Yes.”
Despite herself, Clara smiled.
He smiled too.
It was brief.
But real.
Then he said, “There is another reason.”
“What?”
“Someone has been taking the letters you write.”
Clara’s smile vanished.
“What?”
Thomas nodded toward the desk.
“Not the ones addressed to wives or families. The private ones.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“How do you know?”
“Because some of the men never receive them.”
Clara stared at him.
“That is impossible.”
“I thought so too.”
Thomas pulled a folded paper from his coat.
Clara opened it.
Her handwriting.
Her exact handwriting.
But the letter was not one she remembered writing.
It contained three sentences.
Someone in Bellmere knows what she wrote.
Someone has been watching her.
And if Thomas Reed marries her, they will come for both of them.
