Rhett spread it across the kitchen table and pinned one edge beneath his coffee cup. Clay Boon stood beside the window with his arms folded. Nia leaned over the paper without rushing. She had no intention of speaking before she was certain of what she saw. "Show me where you found the moisture," Rhett said.
Nia traced Cedar Ridge with one finger until she reached the stretch where the fence followed the base of the hill. "Here, the soil changes color and the vegetation follows this grade. If water used to come down from the ridge, this would have been its natural course. Rhett studied the spot. That land's been dry as long as I can remember.
Then whatever blocked it has been there a long time. Nia pointed at the fence line marked on the map. When was that fence put up? Clay frowned. Before Elias Holtz's time.
Maybe 40 years ago. How deep are those posts? 8 ft. Some deeper. Men back then built fences expecting them to outlive their sons.
Nia nodded slowly. If they drove them into an underground channel and the clay packed tight around the timber over the years, they could have choked the flow little by little. The water would have backed up or been forced to find a deeper path. Rhett looked at her. And you think pulling a few fence posts will bring the water back?
I think finding out is better than sitting here until the last trough goes dry. Silence settled over the kitchen table. Nia knew that kind of moment. It was the point where a man had to decide whether to listen to a woman he barely knew or cling to everything he had believed for years simply because it was familiar. Rhett straightened.
At first light tomorrow, we ride to Cedar Ridge. Then his eyes shifted to Nia. You're coming, too. She turned back toward the stove before he could notice the faint tremor in her hands. By the next morning, the heat already promised trouble before the sun had cleared the horizon.
Nia made coffee, cornbread, and eggs. Dusty Wade and Luke Mercer ate louder than usual. Word had spread. You really think there's water under there? Dusty asked.
I think the signs are there? Luke looked up from his plate. We've ridden across that ground plenty of times. Never saw anything. Because you were looking at the fence, Nia said, not at what was underneath it.
Clay Boon came in, poured coffee, and said nothing. Rhett arrived a moment later, ate quickly, then ended breakfast with a single order. Saddle up. Five riders left the ranch. Rhett rode in front.
Clay Boon kept pace beside him. Nia sat an old, steady mare. It had been 2 years since she had been on horseback, but her body remembered the rhythm before her mind had time to doubt it. When they reached Cedar Ridge, everyone dismounted beside the fence. Nia walked straight to the place she had marked the day before.
She dropped to one knee and pressed her palm against the ground. "Here. Clay crouched and did the same. He pressed harder, pulled his hand away, then touched the earth again. "It's colder," he said.