Black gloves.
Clean boots despite snow.
Three men behind him.
“Mrs. Carter.”
“What?”
“I’m looking for Mr. Carter.”
“He’s away.”
Voss smiled.
“May I come inside?”
“No.”
His smile remained.
“It’s very cold.”
“You should have dressed warmer.”
One hired man almost smiled.
Voss did not.
“I understand you’ve had a visitor.”
Clara’s grip tightened on the rifle hidden behind the door.
“Many.”
“Tobias Hale.”
Clara looked mildly surprised.
“Who?”
Voss’s eyes narrowed.
“He may have come regarding property documents.”
“Did he?”
“You haven’t seen him?”
“No.”
Clara had learned lying from men.
She found she disliked it less when useful.
Voss looked toward the pantry window.
Something about the glance confirmed too much.
“You know about the cellar.”
Clara said it directly.
His face barely moved.
Enough.
She continued:
“Tobias told us.”
Voss’s smile disappeared.
The men behind him shifted.
Clara lifted the rifle into view.
“Leave.”
Voss stared.
“You don’t understand what you found.”
“I understand my grandfather’s deed.”
Silence.
There.
The first real fear.
Voss’s voice changed.
“Mrs. Carter, old deeds are complicated.”
“So are rifles.”
One man stepped forward.
Clara pointed directly toward the snow at his feet.
“Take another step and we’ll learn which is faster.”
He stopped.
Voss looked at Clara.
“You cannot possibly administer that much land.”
The insult was familiar.
Her body.
Her sex.
Her capacity.
Different man.
Same assumption.
Clara smiled.
“I don’t remember asking what you thought I could manage.”
Voss’s jaw tightened.
“That deed affects innocent families.”
“My mother already solved that problem.”
“What?”
“She left them alone.”
Voss stared.
Clara continued:
“I’m not taking occupied farms.”
Relief flickered.
Then:
“I am claiming the north ridge.”
Relief vanished.
That was what Voss wanted.
Timber.
Road access.
Creek.
He looked at the men.
Clara saw it.
A decision.
Then horse hooves sounded from behind.
More riders.
Voss turned.
Samuel.
With him:
County judge.
Two deputies.
And another man carrying document cases.
Territorial surveyor.
Samuel had moved faster than Clara expected.
He dismounted.
Saw Voss.
Then Clara.
His face became very still.
“You all right?”
Clara nodded.
“Fine.”
Samuel looked toward Voss.
The judge spoke.
“Alden.”
Voss’s confidence weakened further.
Samuel walked toward Clara.
Not touching until he reached her.
Then one hand settled at her waist.
The same gesture from the night of the cabbage.
Except now the meaning was different.