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Anna stared up at him with her mouth gaping open.
“But it was your mother’s own ignorance the constable abused.” He paused and Anna waited, slightly confused. “After he caught Edmund stealing he threatened to have him hung for theft unless your mother agreed to repay his debt.”
She gasped and took a step back.
“Anna,” he said softly and reached out to touch her, then dropped his hand. “A man can’t be hung for theft.”
She felt a sharp pain stab her heart and felt her mother’s suffering. “She never told us.”
“I suppose she wouldn’t,” he stated quietly and Anna realized how true his words were.
If Edmund had any idea what their mother had done for him, he would never have forgiven himself. She was certain in the end they would have hung him, for she knew Edmund well enough that he would have wanted revenge. And the murder of a lawman was a major crime, punishable only by death.
They said nothing else for several minutes until Wade softly broke the silence. “I think we should head back now.”
Anna nodded, then followed him out of the house. She was glad he had told her. Otherwise, Anna would have spent the rest of her life remembering her mother’s memory slightly tarnished. Stopping to look back at the house one more time, she smiled to herself and thought her mother was probably the biggest hero in this entire nightmare.
“Anna?”
She turned to see him looking at her concerned and said, “Before we go back, I want to show you something.”
He looked puzzled but followed her out of the village. They walked several yards until finally reaching a clearing that overlooked the valley below. Anna looked over the view that had lured her many times and felt the same beauty and tranquility the scenery brought.
“I would come here often and watch as the sun set beyond the mountain ranges in the distance.” She pointed to the western horizon and Wade turned to look.
“It’s beautiful up here.”
She smiled and nodded. “I wouldn’t have traded any home in Lantern for this mountain.”
His face went soft before he turned and looked down the valley. “I believe that’s the homestead in the far distance.”
Anna already knew that. “I often could see smoke rising from that part of the valley and I knew it was someone’s home, I just didn’t know whose. I once asked my father, but he told me no good would come out of finding out and I was best to stay away.”
Wade faced her. “Anna, I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but it was your father that fought hard to allow this community to remain on the mountain.”
She really wasn’t surprised. Her father loved the vast wilderness as much as she had. “And it was your father that fought so hard to rid us.”
He winced, and looked slightly ashamed. “Ignorance can make the most sensible man wrong.”
Her mother came to mind and Anna couldn’t but agree. “Because of you, we were able to stay.”
“He had his flaws, but he was a good man and he loved me dearly. The only one who did in those days. My mother pampered my siblings and saw me as her husband’s son and wanted nothing to do with me until his death. Then she relied on me for her survival. But could never really learn to love me. It was far too gone for that.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“It would be disrespectful for me to speak ill of him, but I am sorry that he hurt your family.” He turned back to look over the valley. “I remember several years after his death, I had gone alone up into the mountain. I often would, just so I could be by myself and think. That day I was in search of some missing heifers that had wandered off from the herd. I wasn’t successful in locating the animals, but I did come across a child of about the age of four or five. It was a little girl who had the biggest brown eyes I had ever seen. I remember her looking up at me with such a terrified look but then ran off. I followed her to the village. It was the first time I had ever seen it. I stood along the edge and did not let myself be noticed. I watched this little community of people and realized that I could never evict them from the only home they knew. Or that little girl.”
Anna stood watching him, startled by this story. “That little girl?”
He smiled. “When you first showed up in my barn with your face all covered in mud except for your eyes, it triggered a memory. I had seen those frightened eyes before, but didn’t make the connection until much later.”
“My God,” she muttered, trying to remember an incident when she had seen a stranger in the woods. “I remember. You were the biggest man I had ever seen.”
Wade chuckled, then reached out for her hands. “Anna, the other day, I made a visit to Walter Grisham. He’s the family lawyer. I had him sever the land. The mountain is no longer part of the ranch. It now belongs to you.”
Her jaw dropped and she stared up at him stunned. “You’re giving me the mountain? Why?”
“I’ve always said it belonged more to you than me.” He looked back toward the village. “Its name has been officially changed. It no longer is Mount Louis.”
