“So your letters.”
“Were real.”
“Do not tell me what was real.”
His jaw tightened.
She held up the forged note.
“You knew my signature might be false.”
“Yes.”
“And you paid them anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they were going to take your room.”
“That was my problem.”
“You wrote that you had seven dollars.”
Her eyes flashed.
“You had no right.”
“I know.”
That stopped her.
Caleb stepped closer.
Not too close.
“I know.”
Eleanor stared.
“Then explain.”
He sat slowly.
“Your creditor's name was Silas Creed.”
“Yes.”
“I knew his brother.”
Her anger hesitated.
“What?”
“Martin Creed.”
Caleb looked toward the fire.
“Traded fur contracts in Denver.”
“Cheated trappers.”
“Forged delivery weights.”
“My father lost most of a season's money to him.”
Eleanor listened.
“Years later I heard Martin's brother had gone east.”
“Banking.”
“Private notes.”
“Collections.”
“When your advertisement reached the church office in Denver, the woman there forwarded it to three men looking for wives.”
“One was me.”
Eleanor frowned.
“What advertisement?”
Caleb looked surprised.
“The widow placement notice.”
“I never placed one.”
Silence.
They stared at each other.
Eleanor whispered:
“What?”
Caleb stood.
“You didn't?”
“No.”
Her skin went cold.
“I wrote to Mrs. Adler at the Baltimore Aid Society asking whether there was paid domestic work in the West.”
Caleb’s expression hardened.
“She sent your information through a marriage placement circular.”
Without Eleanor’s permission.
The room seemed to tilt.
Caleb continued carefully.
“Your note included the creditor problem.”
“I recognized Creed.”
“So I asked a lawyer to investigate before I wrote you.”
Eleanor looked toward the papers.
“Why not tell me?”
Caleb hesitated.
Wrong answer coming.
She knew.
“Caleb.”
“I thought you'd refuse help.”
Her face hardened.
“So you decided for me.”
“Yes.”
“At least you are honest.”
“I was wrong.”
She turned away.
He did not approach.
That mattered.
But anger remained.
“You paid a debt you believed might be fraudulent.”
“Yes.”
“Then proposed marriage.”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand how that looks?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He looked at her.
“Like I bought leverage.”
The words landed exactly where she feared.
Eleanor swallowed.
“Yes.”
Caleb’s face tightened with pain.
“That isn't why.”
“But you hid information that affected my decision.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe marriage was my only safe option.”
He went still.
“I didn't think of it that way.”
“That does not make it untrue.”
Caleb lowered his eyes.
Eleanor felt tears burn.
She hated them.
“You asked me to trust you.”
“I know.”
“I told you what Henry did.”
“I know.”
“How he made decisions.”