The Rancher’s Dog Laid Flowers in Her Lap… He Said, “I Think God Is Trying to Tell Me Something”
Chapter 8
The traveling judge was expected in town three days later.
They needed to survive until then.
Mercer’s men searched the roads.
Thomas moved Margaret to a small hunting cabin deeper in the hills.
There was little food.
A fireplace.
Two blankets.
One bed.
Margaret refused the bed.
Thomas gave it to her anyway.
“I’ll sleep by the fire.”
“You’ll freeze.”
“I’ve slept in worse places.”
She almost smiled.
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve been told.”
That night, Margaret woke to the sound of rain.
Thomas was sitting beside the fire.
Gideon rested his head on his knee.
Margaret looked at them.
For a moment, the scene felt peaceful.
Then she noticed Thomas holding one of the old letters.
“What is it?”
He hesitated.
“My mother wrote about your father.”
Margaret sat up.
“What did she say?”
“She trusted him.”
“Then why did he never tell me?”
Thomas’s eyes lowered.
“Maybe he tried.”
Margaret remembered her uncle burning a bundle of letters after her father’s death.
She had been told they were useless business papers.
She suddenly wondered.
“What if my uncle destroyed them?”
Thomas nodded.
“Then we need another witness.”
“Who?”
“Someone who knew both our families.”
They returned to the old mill the following morning.
Gideon found a trail beneath the floor.
Thomas removed several boards.
A narrow stone passage appeared.
They entered with lanterns.
The passage ended at a small chamber.
Inside was a wooden box.
Within the box were more papers.
And a silver brooch engraved with the initials A.R.
Abigail Reed.
Margaret found another letter.
This one was addressed to her.
It had been written before she was born.
She opened it with trembling hands.
“My dear Margaret,
If you ever read this, your father and I have failed to keep you from the trouble surrounding us.
Remember this: land is only soil, but the truth buried beneath it can feed generations.”
Margaret pressed the letter against her chest.
Then she saw the final line.
“Your uncle knows where the original deed is.”
She looked at Thomas.
“We have to find it before he does.”
