Avery rubbed his face.
“Because someone told her you had another woman.”
Jack went silent.
“What?”
“They showed her letters.”
“Fake letters?”
Avery nodded.
“Sarah believed you were leaving.”
Jack felt sick.
“Who?”
Avery didn't answer.
“Who?”
“Elias Mercer.”
Jack's expression changed.
Mercer was one of the richest men in Red Creek.
He owned half the ranches in the valley.
He had always disliked Jack.
Why?
Jack didn't know.
Avery continued.
“Mercer wanted Sarah.”
Jack's jaw tightened.
“He tried to buy her father's ranch.”
“Yes.”
“She refused.”
“Yes.”
“So he lied.”
“Yes.”
“And when Sarah left, you all let me believe she was dead.”
Avery looked at him.
“We thought it was safer.”
“For whom?”
The sheriff had no answer.
Jack turned toward the door.
Avery said:
“Jack.”
He stopped.
“Sarah asked us to keep you away.”
Jack turned.
“Why?”
“Because Mercer threatened her.”
Jack's face hardened.
“What kind of threat?”
“He said if she stayed with you, he'd destroy you both.”
Jack laughed bitterly.
“So you protected her by letting me mourn her for twenty years?”
Avery looked down.
“I was afraid.”
Jack stared at him.
“You should have been.”
Jack returned to the cabin and found Emma sitting at the kitchen table.
Hattie was beside her.
Emma looked up.
“Are we going somewhere?”
Jack sat across from her.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“To find your mother.”
Emma's eyes widened.
“She isn't dead?”
Jack shook his head.
“No.”
Emma began crying.
“She said she'd come back.”
Jack reached across the table.
“She tried.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I believe her.”
Emma wiped her eyes.
“Do you know where she is?”
“No.”
“But we'll find her?”
Jack looked at the pendant around her neck.
“Yes.”
For the first time in twenty years, Jack had a reason to search.
Not for revenge.
Not for answers alone.
For a little girl who had been abandoned by everyone except a lonely cowboy who happened to stop on the right road at the right time.
The search lasted weeks.
Jack traveled to neighboring towns.
He spoke to old ranchers.
He visited abandoned properties.
He searched county records.
He found Sarah's name in places he never expected.
A boarding house in Colorado.
A small clinic in Wyoming.
A church registry in Montana.
Each clue led somewhere.
Each ended with disappointment.
Until one letter changed everything.
It came from a woman named Eleanor Hayes.
She was eighty-three.
She lived in a small mountain town six hundred miles away.
She had known Sarah.
According to the letter, Sarah had lived with Eleanor for several years.
Jack drove there immediately.
Emma came with him.
The journey took three days.
When they arrived, Eleanor opened the door.
She looked at Emma.
Then at Jack.
And began to cry.
“You finally found her.”
Jack's heart pounded.
“You know Sarah?”
Eleanor nodded.
“She talked about you every day.”
Jack stepped inside.
“Where is she?”
Eleanor looked at Emma.
Then back at Jack.
“She isn't here.”
Jack's heart sank.
“She left eight years ago.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Why?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“She was sick.”
Jack stopped.
“How sick?”
“She had a heart condition.”
Emma looked frightened.
“Is my mother dead?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“I don't know.”
Jack sat down.
“Then what do you know?”
Eleanor disappeared into another room.
When she returned, she carried a wooden box.
She placed it on the table.
“This belonged to Sarah.”
Jack opened it.
Inside were letters.
Photographs.
A wedding ring.
And a notebook.
Jack recognized the handwriting immediately.
His hands trembled.
He opened the first page.
The date was twenty years earlier.
Jack,
If you ever read this, I am sorry.
Jack stopped.
He couldn't breathe.
He turned the page.
Sarah had written everything.