Chapter 16
Their reunion took place beneath the oak tree.
He embraced her with trembling arms.
“I thought I’d lost you.”
Clara held him tightly.
“You didn’t.”
With legal assistance and testimony supporting Clara’s account of coercion, proceedings began to challenge her marriage and protect her father’s property. Months later, the court set the marriage aside, leaving Clara free of Voss’s claim.
The ranch became quiet again.
But this time, it was a different kind of quiet.
Clara stayed while she regained her strength.
A doctor confirmed that her pregnancy was progressing normally, though she needed rest and better nourishment after the hardships she had endured.
Mason made certain she had both.
He never asked her to explain the circumstances of the baby’s conception.
He didn’t need to.
What mattered was that Clara and the child would no longer live in fear.
And slowly, trust became affection.
Affection became something neither could ignore.
One evening, Mason found Clara beneath the cottonwood tree beside Evelyn’s grave.
She had placed a small bouquet of wildflowers against the headstone.
Mason stood beside her.
“Talking to Evelyn?”
Clara smiled through tears.
“Thanking her.”
He looked at the flowers.
“For what?”
“For knowing where to send me.”
Mason took her hand.
Clara turned toward him.
“Mason, you’ve already given me more than I could ever repay.”
“You don’t owe me repayment.”
“I know.”
This time, she smiled when she said it.
He took both her hands.
“Clara, I need you to understand something. Whatever happens between us, this ranch is a safe place for you and your child. You don’t have to love me to keep that promise.”
Tears gathered in her eyes.
“And if I do love you?”
Mason’s breath caught.
She stepped closer.
“I tried not to. I thought you’d always belong to the woman you lost.”
“A part of me always will.”
“I know.”
“But that doesn’t mean the rest of my heart is empty.”
Clara began to cry.
Mason brushed a tear from her cheek.
“I don’t want to replace Evelyn. I want to build something new with you.”
She leaned into his hand.
“And the baby?”
He looked toward her growing stomach.
“That child deserves to be loved from the first breath.”
Clara whispered, “Even though the father is Gideon Voss?”
Mason’s eyes darkened at the name.
Then he answered with absolute certainty.
“A cruel man’s blood doesn’t decide what kind of life a child deserves.”