"Yes." He exhaled a long, slow exhale, the kind that carries something that has been held a very long time. "I want to tell the children," he said. "Tell them tonight," she said. At supper, he looked at her.
"You did this," he said. "We did this," she said. "You kept 3 years of invoices in a box in your study. I just read them." "Clara, we did this," she said again, firmly.
He looked at her for a long moment. "All right," he said. "We did this." That evening at supper, Nate told the children. He didn't tell them everything, not the detail, not the full scope of Hargrove's overcharging, not the threat to the East pasture.
He told them what they needed to know, that there had been a business problem with the ranch's accounts, and that it had been resolved, and that the ranch was secure. Thomas immediately asked if they were going to have to sell horses. "No," Nate said. "Are we going to lose any land?" Daniel asked.
"No," Nate said. "Is it because of Clara?" Sam asked. The table went slightly still. Nate looked at Sam.
"Partly," he said. Sam turned to Clara with the expression of someone whose theory has been confirmed. "I knew it," he said. "I told Ethan last week that Clara was going to fix it." Whatever it was.
"You didn't know what it was last week," Clara said. "I knew you were working on something," Sam said, entirely unconcerned by this distinction. "You had your numbers face on." "My numbers face?" She said.
"You get a face when you're working on numbers," Sam said. "It's a very serious face. Ethan draws it better than I can describe it." Everyone looked at Ethan. Ethan looked at the table.
"I may have done a sketch," he said to his plate. He looked up. "Can I see it?" She said. He reached into his jacket.