"I had questions after your last letter, things you didn't say, things you danced around. So I wrote to your cousin in Kenton Valley, asked some direct questions." Ice flooded Lena's veins. "You wrote to Margaret?" "Damn right I did." He stopped 3 ft away, close enough that she could see the disgust twisting his features. "And she was real helpful, told me everything I needed to know about your marriage, about why it ended, about why you're really here." "Thomas, please." Lena reached for him, but he jerked back like she was diseased. "Don't touch me." Cyrus shifted uncomfortably on the wagon seat.
"Listen, folks, maybe I should "You can go." Thomas snapped. "Your job's done." "Now hold on." Cyrus looked at Lena, concern creasing his weathered face. "Miss Crowell paid for passage both ways if things didn't work out. That was the agreement." "Things aren't working out." Thomas's jaw clenched. "But that's not my problem." Lena's world tilted.
"What are you saying?" He finally looked at her, really looked at her, and the contempt in his eyes was like a physical blow. "I'm saying you lied to me. You let me believe you were a decent, honest woman looking for a fresh start. You never mentioned you were damaged goods." The words hit like a slap. Lena recoiled, her face burning.
"I never lied." "You sure as hell didn't tell the truth." Thomas's voice rose, sharp enough to scatter the chickens. "Your cousin told me everything. How your husband left you after 5 years because you couldn't give him children. How the doctors said you're barren as a salt flat. How you've been passed around from relative to relative like unwanted baggage because nobody knows what to do with a broken woman." Each word was a knife, precise and cruel.
Lena's vision blurred. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think. "I asked you in my letters." Thomas continued, relentless. "I asked if there was anything I should know, anything that might affect our arrangement, and you wrote back." He pulled a crumpled letter from his pocket, shook it at her. "You wrote back, 'I have nothing to hide.
I come to you with an honest heart.' Well, that was a damn lie, wasn't it?" "I didn't think Lena's voice cracked. I didn't think it mattered. You said You said a woman's worth wasn't measured by by what she can give." Thomas laughed, bitter and harsh. "You really think I meant that? You think any man means that?" He shook his head, disgust radiating from every line of his body.
"I need sons, Miss Crowell. I need heirs to work this land, to carry on my name. What good is a wife who can't provide that? You're useless to me." The world went very quiet. Somewhere a crow cawed.
The wind rustled through the pine trees. Lena heard her own heartbeat, loud and painful in her ears. "Please." she whispered. "I have nowhere else to go." "That's not my concern." "Thomas, I sold everything. I used every penny I had to get here.
If you turn me away "You should have thought of that before you deceived me." He turned his back on her, started toward the house. "Cyrus, get her off my property." "Now see here." Cyrus climbed down from the wagon, his face reddening. "You can't just leave a woman stranded in the middle of nowhere. That ain't Christian and it sure ain't decent." Thomas paused on the porch steps. "Then take her back where she came from." "I told you she paid for a round trip if needed.
She didn't pay for immediate return. I've got other deliveries to make and I'm not heading back to Kenton Valley for another 2 weeks." "Not my problem." Thomas disappeared into the house. The door slammed with a finality that echoed across the valley. Lena stood frozen, her mind unable to process what had just happened. This couldn't be real.
This couldn't be happening. She had come so far, sacrificed so much, believed so completely. "Miss Crowell." Cyrus's voice was gentle, pitying. "I'm sorry. I truly am.