Chapter Twenty-Six
A Few Days Later
Nora moved through the house without a purpose that morning.
June had gone to town for the groceries, while Mary Jane was outside with Weston, so she had the whole space for herself.
She kept walking in circles, back and forth, as the hem of her skirt followed her moves with each pass.
Her mind ran faster than her feet. Her hands were knotted in front of her.
Her eyes flicked toward the window every few seconds, as though a rider might appear on the horizon with news. Come on, Cade…Hurry up.
She hadn’t heard from him since he’d gone for the cattle four days ago. The silence stretched tight around her ribs like a corset pulled too tight. You said you’d come the very same day…Has something gone wrong? Please, Lord, no more wrong, please. I’m tired of things going wronger, day by day...
Nora knew the risks. She had counted them, prayed over them, tried to fold them up and tuck them into the back of her mind like laundry into drawers.
But they had a way of coming loose, those worries, spilling out again and again.
And she kept fighting them, over and over.
No! Stop it, Nora. Everything is fine. Please, Lord, let everything be fine…
Just then, she heard Mary Jane’s laughter, light and unburdened, drifting through the open kitchen window like a birdsong.
Weston’s deep voice followed just behind.
They were in the front yard, pulling weeds from the garden Nora and she had planted weeks ago.
Sunny buttons, Nora found grinning to herself.
It’s what Mary Jane called the daisies. They have surely grown nicely.
The rhythm of their conversation was easy, almost playful, and she could make out the words.
“I told you not to pull like that,” Mary Jane said with a voice lilting with amusement. “Look at me, how I do it. You have to pull it slowly, so you don’t hurt the sunny buttons.”
Weston chuckled. “I take garden advice from old people, not five-year-olds.”
“That’s not fair,” the little girl protested. “How come I can’t have better ideas than grownups?”
“Because you’re not a grownup,” Weston explained simply. “Because when you grow up, you get to be in charge.”
“So,” Mary Jane snorted, “a dumb man can be more right than a smart kid? I don’t like that.” Nora could imagine her frowning and folding her arms.
“Are you calling me dumb?” Western asked, adding a lighthearted chuckle.
“No,” she answered, then continued after a little pause. “Okay, maybe a little bit. Only sometimes, like now. You don’t know anything about flowers.”
Nora looked through the window and watched them for a moment. Mary Jane was in her sunhat, looking like a fine young lady except for dirt smudged on her cheek. Nora smiled at that. Weston, on the other hand, was crouched in the rows, looking like he belonged there, despite Mary Jane’s accusations.
But despite this lovely image of the family garden before her eyes, Nora felt like she was coming apart.
Where are you, Cade? She sighed and turned away from the window.
She began pacing again, feeling her heart hammering in her chest. Please, tell me you’re not in some kind of trouble because of me…
Just then, a knock rattled the front door.
There were two sharp raps, then one softer, as if the person behind it had started strong and lost confidence halfway through.
Nora froze mid-step in the hallway. From all those thoughts twirling in her mind, she hadn’t even noticed a person walking into her property in the real world.
Then it came again. Rap, rap…tap.
Nora rushed to the door, throwing it open.
“Sadie?” she asked, completely confused. “Since when do you knock on my door like that?”
“I don’t know,” she gasped breathlessly. Her cheeks flushed, and Nora could tell that she was running all the way to her. “I just saw Cade and he—
“Oh, my God!” Nora cut her off. “Is he all right?”
“He was riding hard, toward the canyon road,” Sadie continued urgently. “He said they found traces! They’re after the cattle!”
Nora stepped forward and pulled Sadie into a tight embrace. “Oh, thank God,” she whispered into her shoulder. “Thank God!”
“He said they found hoofprints near Cottonwood Crossing,” Sadie went on. “And that it looked like maybe half the herd. He thinks they took the pass to try to split the trail.”
Nora pulled back just enough to see Sadie’s face, still sweaty and red from all that running. “So, they’re following now?”
Sadie nodded, which made her curls bounce. “He said, ‘Tell Nora I will take care of it. And tell her to meet me at the office three hours from now.’ Then he was off again.”
“All right, I better finish what I have, before I head to the town.” As she spoke, Nora was already stepping outside, then turning to Sadie again. “But first, I need to wait for June to come back…Oh, Sadie, I don’t know what to do!”
“Don’t worry,” Sadie said quickly. “I’ll wait for her. I’ll be here with Mary Jane until she comes back. Off you go, now.”
Nora nodded, her heart already galloping faster than the horse she’d ride. “Thank you Sadie,” she said, giving her another warm hug. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Sadie’s mouth curved into a smile as she hugged her back. “Everything will be fine, my love.”
***
The sun beat down hard as Nora and Weston rode into town. Weston rode beside her in silence, but Nora could tell he felt the same tension she did. It was as tight as a drawn wire.
The sheriff’s office soon came into view, with its shutters open and the door ajar.
A breeze stirred the paper nailed to the post outside.
It was a wanted notice, faded and curling at the corners.
I wonder how many people are out there, free, ruining other people’s lives just because they don’t know what to do with theirs…
But there was no time left to wonder. She needed to know the news, good or bad. She swung down from her horse before it had fully stopped and strode for the door as her boots made loud, even thumps beneath her. Weston followed her with the same urgency.
Just as she reached for the latch, a commotion came from up the street. She turned, and when she saw who was heading their way, she was elated.
“Cade!” she called, and waved.
He appeared at a fast trot, pulling another horse behind him. A man was slumped in the saddle of the trailing mount with tied wrists.
Cade reined in, threw one leg over, and quickly dismounted. “Got one,” he announced, jerking a thumb at the man behind him. “Other two scattered north into the breaks. Cowards ran the second they saw we weren’t bluffing.”
Nora stared. “You really caught one?”
Cade turned to her. He was grinning proudly, as sweat glinted at his temples. “Yes, ma’am. But better than that… We found the herd.”
“You did?” she asked, incredulous.
“Every last one of them, as far as I can tell. They were holed up in a box draw west of Cottonwood Crossing. The thieves were probably trying to keep ’em penned till nightfall…not that it matters now. My men are pushing the cattle back to your place, as we speak. They should be home before dusk.”
Nora just registered the words before her mind caught up. Every. Last. One. It was like the world gave a sudden exhale and took her with it.
She sagged slightly, then anchored herself by pressing a hand to her chest. “I don’t know how to thank you…”
Cade raised a hand. “No need,” he said quickly. “The important thing is that the animals are safe now. I saw them myself. They look lean, a little thirsty, but they’re yours. As for him”— he turned his head toward the caught criminal—“we’ll take this one and ask him some questions.”
Nora turned to Weston, who was still beside her. His eyes were fixed on the tied man like he was measuring him for a coffin. She touched his arm, and he looked back at her with a smile in his eyes.
“It’s all right,” he whispered.
“Everything will be all right,” she repeated. “And Cade”—she turned her head away from Weston—“thank you…for everything.”
Cade gave another short nod, then turned to a deputy just emerging from the office and handed him the reins of the prisoner’s horse. “You’ll want to be ready when they bring the herd in,” he said, looking at Weston. “They’ll need water, food, and rest. You’ve got enough hands?”
“We do,” Weston said. “Thank you, Cade.”
Cade gave a little grunt of acknowledgment. “I reckon you kept your head better than most would’ve. Not bad, Crane.” He turned to another deputy who walked in and gave further instructions.
Cade’s tone was gruff, but Nora knew Cade hadn’t meant it as a jab.
She could tell by the way he didn’t look Weston in the eye after he said those words.
His reply was kind of clumsy, and so was his attempt at kindness.
But Weston, to her surprise, didn’t bristle.
He just gave a dry half-smile, like he understood exactly what Cade was trying to do.
Nora watched the small exchange unfold and realized that slowly, and despite themselves, these men were learning to trust each other.
“Well…” Cade cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck again. “We better get moving.” He forced the thief to get off the horse. “We need to see what this fella has got to say for himself.”
He led the way into the office, with the prisoner stumbling and keeping his head down. Nora and Weston were right behind. They stepped into the dim, dusty interior, its air redolent with smells of old paper, sweat, and gun oil.
Cade shoved the thief down onto a bench, and the man didn’t resist. He was young, maybe in his early twenties, with windburned skin and clothes that haven’t been washed in days.
His face was lean and narrow, his eyes sunken.
One of his boots was half falling apart, the toe flapping open with each shuffling step.
He had the look of someone who’d been desperate long before he got caught, and Nora felt sorry for him.
Cade crossed his arms. “You want to do yourself any favors, you’ll start talking immediately. Who put you up to this?”
The man licked his lips, darting a glance toward Weston, then Nora, then back to Cade. “Ain’t got a name,” he said. “Didn’t ask...didn’t figure I needed one.”
Cade frowned. “Don’t play smart. Somebody paid you to rustle livestock. You don’t forget the face that gives you money just like that. What did he look like?”
The man hesitated for a moment. Then, he added quietly, “He…it was a wiry fella. He didn’t talk much, just showed me the money and gave me the order.
He had pale eyes, the kind that don’t blink much, you know.
Oh, and…he looked like he hadn’t slept in days, and was thinner than me. If that’s even possible.”
Nora’s gaze instinctively snapped to Weston and saw recognition in his face.
Elias. She could hear the name echo in her own thoughts like a dropped coin in a well.
She said nothing, but felt fury rising in her chest. She met Weston’s eyes, and though neither of them spoke, the message passed clean between them. Nash Colter will pay for this.
***
Cade slammed the cell door shut with a final clatter of iron and key, the sound echoing through the small office like a bell toll.
The thief didn’t speak again. He just sank onto the cot inside, rubbing the red rings around his wrists and staring at the floor like he knew whatever came next would be worse than a jail cell.
Cade turned to face them. “I’m riding to Colter’s.”
Nora’s spine stiffened. “We’re coming with you.”
He didn’t look as if he liked what he had heard. “Are you sure, Nora? It could get ugly.”
“That man tried to ruin us.” She tried not to raise her voice, but she was sure everyone in that room could tell how indignant and upset she was.
“He put Elias on our land. He tried to steal our herd and break our backs before harvest. Do you really think I’m going to sit at home and wait to hear how it turns out? ”
Just then, Weston stepped forward beside her. “You’ll want someone to be there. You’ll need witnesses. And besides,” he added, “we won’t let you walk into that place alone.”
Cade rubbed his jaw as he considered them both for a moment, then gave a single nod. “Mount up.”
They rode out within minutes with Cade in the lead.
The wind had started picking up, tugging strands of hair from beneath Nora’s hat and throwing grit in her face, but she barely felt it.
Her heartbeat thundered louder than the hooves beneath her.
Rage and fear rode side by side inside her, sparring beneath her ribs.
You’ve been tearing my life apart for years. Well, you know what? I’ve had enough. You’re not getting away with this one, Nash Colter.
Even the name made her whole body stiffen in disgust. She had never once bent to Nash Colter, never given him what he wanted.
But that hadn’t spared her. His presence clung like smoke in a closed room.
It was a poison without touch, a persistence without permission.
And that was the worst of it; not the threats, not even the schemes, but the knowing that no matter how far she pulled away, Nash always knew how to come slithering back, as if some part of him believed she had always belonged to him.
She gripped the reins tighter, her eyes firmly locked to the road ahead.
Nash’s estate would rise from the hilltop soon, that white-stoned and false civility, all built on land his grandfather stole and cattle he never worked.
A house like a crown, she’d once heard someone say.
But today, she wasn’t riding there to bow her head.
She was riding to confront the man who had tried to destroy her.
And this time, even though it was going to be just a simple conversation, she wasn’t going to let him win.
Or at least, that’s what she told herself.
Because beneath the resolve, there was a tremor she couldn’t shake.
It sat low in her belly, causing her fingers to tighten around the reins even more.
What if Nash has been waiting for this? What if we’re walking into a trap we can’t see until it’s too late?
The wind tugged at her hair. She shifted in the saddle, blinking against the dust, and stole a glance sideways.
Weston was already looking at her, giving her that anchoring, quiet look, the one that meant: I’m right here.
We’ll face it together. And yes…you’re always way more stronger than you think.
She let out a slow breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, tightened her grip on the reins one last time, and simply rode on. There was only one way out of this mess, and it was forward.