Every conflict pushed someone away.
And Black Ridge quietly purchased what remained.
Jonathan discovered it.
He planned to expose Gideon.
Then came the mine explosion.
Caleb looked at his father's photograph.
"You think Gideon tried to kill him."
"I know he did."
"But my father survived."
"Yes."
"Then where did he go?"
Takoda looked toward the containers.
"That is what I never knew."
Nayeli opened another box.
Inside were letters written over many years.
Some were addressed to Takoda.
They had never been delivered.
Others were addressed to Caleb's mother.
One had Caleb's name.
His hands trembled as he opened it.
Son,
If this reaches you before I can return, know that leaving you was never the life I chose.
Caleb had to stop.
He read the sentence again.
Nayeli remained beside him but said nothing.
He continued.
Jonathan wrote that the mine collapse had been staged to kill him.
He survived because another worker dragged him through a ventilation shaft.
But Jonathan believed returning home immediately would put his wife and son in danger.
So he disappeared temporarily while gathering proof against Gideon.
Temporary became months.
Then years.
Because Gideon discovered Jonathan was alive.
Caleb reached the final paragraph.
One day you may hear that your father abandoned you.
You may even believe it.
I would rather have you hate me and live than love me and be buried beside me.
Caleb lowered the letter.
His eyes were wet.
"He was alive."
Nayeli touched his arm.
"Yes."
"For how long?"
Chief Takoda found a date on the letter.
Fourteen years after the funeral.
Caleb stared.
"My father was alive until I was twenty-six."
Nobody answered.
"He could have come home."
Takoda spoke quietly.
"Perhaps."
Caleb turned angrily.
"Don't defend him."
"I am not."
"He let my mother die believing she was a widow."
"We do not know what she knew."
Caleb froze.
Takoda pointed to another bundle of letters.
They were tied with blue thread.
Every envelope carried the name Elizabeth Morgan.
Caleb's mother.
All had been opened.
Nayeli looked at him.
"She knew."
Caleb felt as if the floor had moved beneath him.
His mother had known Jonathan survived.
She had corresponded with him for years.
Yet she never told Caleb.
His anger had nowhere to land.