But she also knew with the part of herself that had walked back to that ranch gate even when she'd said she was leaving. Even when the sensible thing was to go, that not walking in wasn't a solution either. You can build a wall high enough, she had told him. She had not told him that she was talking about herself, too. She turned over in her narrow bed.
Outside the window, Montana was dark and enormous and full of things she didn't know yet. She thought, "Tomorrow I will know more. " She thought, "That is enough for tonight. " She closed her eyes. She slept. The wire from Croft came back in 36 hours. Roy brought it to Claraara at the schoolhouse, folded in half, still sealed, because he said it felt right that she should see it first.
She didn't ask why. She took it, read it standing in the doorway while her students worked on their letters inside, and then she read it a second time because the first time her mind had skipped ahead of her eyes. The Northeast parcel claim filed in the Billings Territorial Office had been submitted under the name of Curtis Dempsey, deceased, 3 weeks prior. The filing agent had flagged it as unusual, but processed it pending verification. Croft had immediately placed a hold on the claim pending proof of the signator's identity.
Curtis Dempsey could not produce that proof. Curtis Dempsey had been dead for 3 years, but whoever had filed the claim had also filed a secondary document, a sworn affidavit from a witness who claimed to have been present at an 1871 meeting in which Carter Ranch's original land consolidation had been verbally disputed by the Dempsey family. The witness's name was Gerald Alcott. Clara folded the wire. Roy, she said, yes, ma'am.
Where is William right now? Billings left at dawn with Hayes. Send a wire to Croft's office immediately. Tell them Gerald Alcott has a personal financial interest in the outcome of this claim and that his affidavit constitutes a conflict of interest. Tell them we have documentation evidence of filing irregularities in the original 1871 transfer and we are prepared to submit it to the federal land office directly.
She paused. Can you do that word for word? Roy was already writing. Miss Bennett, he said without looking up. Did anyone ever tell you that you missed your calling every day for 3 years?
She said, I just didn't listen. She went back inside to her students. William came back from Billings on the third day. Clara knew he was back because Roy sent Pete to tell her, and because 20 minutes later, William Carter was standing outside the schoolhouse with his hat in his hands and a look on his face she hadn't seen before. Something that was tired and grateful and uncertain all at the same time, a combination that sat very differently on him than his usual composure.
She finished the lesson. She was not going to cut short Thomas Henderson's reading session because a man had written back from Billings. Thomas was working through his first complete paragraph, and he deserved her full attention. When she finally came to the door, William looked like he had been standing there long enough to reconsider everything he'd planned to say. "You sent the wire," he said.
"Roy sent the wire. " I told him what to say. He looked at her. Croft told me when I got there, he said someone had already flagged the conflict of interest. A pause. He also said whoever composed that message knew exactly which legal pressure points to push.
Is the hold still in place? Yes. And Gerald Alcott's affidavit has been referred for investigation. He paused again. Clara, you should probably come inside.
She said, "You look like you've been on a horse for 3 days. Two and a half. Come inside anyway. " Mr. Anders had gone home for the day. The school room was empty of children, chalk, dusty and warm, with the afternoon light coming through the window in long flat bars.
William sat down in one of the adult chairs Clara had borrowed for parent meetings, which was not quite big enough for him and looked like a man who had finally stopped moving and wasn't sure what to do with the stillness. She poured water from the picture on her desk and handed him a cup. Tell me everything Croft said," she told him. He did. The situation, as William laid it out, was this.
The competing claim was legally shaky, but not impossible. Gerald's affidavit gave it a surface legitimacy that a corrupt or careless land judge might accept. The forged signature on the Dempsey filing was provable as a forgery. Croft had a federal document examiner who could establish this, but proving it took time and time was what the Alcott were counting on. If the claim moved through adjudication before the forgery could be demonstrated, the northeast parcel could be placed in legal limbo for years, which would make it unsellable, Clara said, and unmortgageable and would cloud the title on the adjacent parcels by association, he set down the water cup.
It wouldn't take the land, but it would make the land effectively useless as collateral, which means which means you couldn't borrow against it in a difficult year. He looked at her. How do you know about ranch financing? I've been talking to Roy for 3 weeks. Something crossed his face.
Something warm quickly controlled. The document examiner can be in Cedar Falls in 2 weeks. He said, "If we can get the original 1871 filings to him and the altered document, he can produce a sworn comparison analysis. " Croft says that combined with the conflict of interest flag on Gerald's affidavit should be enough to have the claim dismissed. 2 weeks, Clara said. Yes.
And in the meantime, in the meantime, he said, I keep running my ranch and I don't give them anything else to work with. She nodded slowly. There's one more thing, he said. She waited. Croft mentioned something else.
Someone else has been making inquiries and billings about Carter Ranch, not about the land claim, about me personally, my financial standing, my personal arrangements. He looked at her steadily. He thinks Margaret is preparing a secondary approach. If the land claim fails, she may try to make a case that our correspondence arrangement constitutes a breach of contract, that I owe her damages for losses she sustained when she left this valley. Clara stared at him.
She's going to claim you wronged her. She said she's going to try. And you're telling me this because because if she does that, she will almost certainly try to use you. He said your presence here, the correspondence arrangement. She'll try to make it look like I collect women, import them for my convenience, and discard them.
His jaw tightened. I wanted you to know before she tries to tell you herself. Clara was quiet for a moment. William," she said. "I know how it sounds.
It sounds like you're warning me because you're worried about me. " She said, "Not because you're worried about yourself. " He looked at her. "Yes. " She looked at her desk at her students copy books stacked neatly at the corner at Thomas Henderson's name written in large, careful letters on the top of the first one. "Let her try," Clara said. He blinked. "I mean it," she said.
Let Margaret Alcott come to Cedar Falls and tell anyone who will listen that I am a woman who was imported for William Carter's convenience. Let her. She looked at him directly. I have been here for 3 weeks. I have taught 43 children.
I know the name of every family in this valley. I fixed the water situation for the Henderson family before you even knew there was one. She paused. Let her explain to Mrs. Gilmore or to Roy or to Thomas Henderson's mother who I am.
William was very still. I am not a male order bride who was abandoned. She said, "I am a woman who chose to stay. There's a difference and people in this valley can see it. " He looked at her for a long moment. "Clara," he said, "don't," she said quietly.
"Don't say something grateful right now. I didn't do any of it to help you. I did it because it needed doing. He closed his mouth. She stood up.
But yes, you're welcome. Something happened to his face. The almost smile she had cataloged closer than it had ever been. "Yes, ma'am," he said. Margaret came to Cedar Falls on a Thursday.
Clara knew she was there before she saw her because Cedar Falls was a small town and small towns have their own telegraph system that requires no wire and no office. Mrs. Patterson at the dry goods store mentioned it to Mrs. Gilmore. Mrs.
Gilmore mentioned it to Pete, who mentioned it to half the children in school, one of whom, a girl named Lucy Marsh, who had an excellent instinct for important information, relayed it to Clara before noon. There's a pretty dark-haired lady staying at the saloon hotel. Lucy said she was asking Mrs. Peterson about you. Was she?