Chapter 29
Thomas, after recovering, managed correspondence.
The arrangement between them was not peaceful.
At least not initially.
They argued about everything.
Maps.
Money.
Margaret.
Coffee.
One morning Matilda found them shouting over a fence line.
“You cheated at cards in 1851!” Elias yelled.
Thomas shouted back, “You still married the woman I loved!”
Matilda opened the window.
“If either of you is still arguing when breakfast gets cold, neither of you eats!”
Silence.
Jedodiah, sitting at the table, nearly choked laughing.
Margaret did return to Colorado.
But she did not move back with Elias.
Instead, she bought a small cottage near town.
For months, she and Matilda rebuilt their relationship slowly.
No dramatic forgiveness.
No pretending.
Margaret answered questions.
Matilda allowed herself anger.
Then allowed herself tenderness.
Sometimes they cooked together.
The first time Margaret reached automatically for Matilda's childhood favorite spice, Matilda cried.
Neither spoke about it.
They simply kept chopping onions.
Abigail Thatcher's trial lasted months.
She lost everything.
In the end, she was sentenced to prison.
Matilda attended only one day.
Abigail looked at her across the courtroom.
“You stole my life.”
Matilda shook her head.
“No.”
She spoke softly.
“You built yours on other people's lives.”
Then she walked away.
She never visited again.
The greatest transformation, however, happened on Black Ridge.
Jedodiah rebuilt his cabin.
Not because the old one had burned.
It had survived with only minor damage.
He rebuilt because Matilda kept complaining about the stairs.
“They're too narrow.”
“You fit.”
“That isn't the point.”
“The bed is upstairs.”
“Exactly.”
“You want the bed downstairs?”
“I want sensible stairs.”
So Jedodiah demolished half the interior.
Then rebuilt it.
Wider stairs.
Larger kitchen.
Two bedrooms.
Then three.
Matilda noticed.
“Why three?”
Jedodiah avoided her eyes.
“Guests.”
“What guests?”
“Future guests.”
She smiled.
“Interesting.”
Spring arrived.
Snow melted from the ridges.
Wildflowers appeared beneath the pines.
One afternoon, Jedodiah asked Matilda to walk with him.
They climbed to the place where Silas had first revealed the secret.
A stone marker stood there now.
SILAS REED
HE KEPT THE TRUTH UNTIL THE TRUTH COULD KEEP ITSELF.
Matilda placed flowers beneath it.
“He'd hate that inscription.”
Jedodiah nodded.
“Too poetic.”
“He'd probably ask why we didn't mention whiskey.”
“I suggested it.”
She laughed.
Then Jedodiah became quiet.
Matilda recognized the expression.
“What?”
He reached into his coat.
She stared.
“Jedodiah.”
He pulled out a small wooden box.
“Don't laugh.”