The Rancher’s Dog Laid Flowers in Her Lap… He Said, “I Think God Is Trying to Tell Me Something”
Chapter 5
The ride home was silent.
Margaret held the papers tightly against her chest.
Thomas rode beside her.
Neither spoke until they reached the ranch.
Then Thomas dismounted.
“We’ll need proof.”
“Of what?”
“That your father never signed those papers.”
“I have nothing.”
“You have your memory.”
“That won’t defeat a seal.”
“No.”
Thomas looked toward the hills.
“But there may be something else.”
Gideon barked from the yard.
He was standing near the oak tree.
Margaret walked toward him.
The dog had something in his mouth.
Another flower.
This one was yellow.
He placed it in her lap.
Thomas stopped several feet away.
Margaret looked at him.
He stared at Gideon.
Then he exhaled slowly.
“I really don’t like this.”
“What?”
“Gideon only does that when he finds something.”
Margaret looked down.
The flower’s stem had a small piece of red thread tangled around it.
Thomas crouched.
He touched the thread.
His expression changed.
“That color.”
“What?”
“My mother had a red shawl.”
Margaret’s heart stopped.
Thomas looked toward the oak.
“She died there.”
Margaret stood.
“What happened?”
Thomas didn’t answer immediately.
“My father said she fell.”
“Did you believe him?”
Thomas’s eyes remained on the tree.
“I was sixteen.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
He looked at her.
“No.”
The word was barely audible.
Margaret stepped closer.
“What did you think happened?”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“I thought someone killed her.”
Silence.
“Who?”
“I never found out.”
Gideon began scratching at the earth beneath the oak.
Thomas froze.
The dog scratched again.
Then again.
Margaret knelt.
“Help him.”
Thomas grabbed a shovel.
Within minutes, they uncovered an old iron box.
The lock had rusted away.
Inside were letters.
Dozens of them.
Margaret picked up the first.
The handwriting belonged to her mother.
She knew immediately.
Her mother’s final letter began with four words.
Thomas, if I disappear, trust no one.
