They had been partners.
Friends.
Thomas had discovered that Clara was secretly attempting to sell mineral and passage rights she did not own.
He threatened to expose her.
Weeks later, his ranch burned.
Thomas died.
Seven-year-old Emily survived.
Samuel believed Clara was responsible.
He moved Emily quietly to relatives in Nebraska and allowed everyone in Wyoming to believe she had died shortly after the fire.
Even Daniel had never known the child he rescued was alive.
Years later, Samuel began trying to locate her.
But there was one mystery left.
The first letter.
Clara swore she had not written it.
Samuel had been dead nearly three years when Emily received it.
Daniel spent weeks searching.
Then, in late October, an attorney arrived from Denver.
He carried a sealed envelope.
“I was instructed to deliver this only if Daniel Mercer and Emily Hale were both alive and Clara Whitmore had been arrested or died.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Who gave you those instructions?”
“Samuel Mercer.”
Emily whispered, “That’s impossible.”
The lawyer shook his head.
“Not quite.”
He placed the envelope on the table.
“Your father arranged this six years before his death.”
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a letter written in Samuel Mercer’s unmistakable handwriting.
Daniel read aloud.
Son, if you are reading this, then Emily came home.
Emily covered her mouth.
Daniel continued.
You will probably believe I brought her back because of the land.
I did not.
Daniel stopped.
Below those words was a photograph.
Two children stood beneath a cottonwood tree.
A twelve-year-old boy.
And a little girl holding his hand.
Daniel stared.
Emily began crying.
On the back Samuel had written:
Daniel and Emily, three weeks before the Hale fire.
Daniel looked up.
“We knew each other?”
Emily shook her head.
She remembered nothing.
He turned back to the letter.
Samuel explained.
Daniel had met Emily during several visits between the Mercer and Hale families.
They had played together.
Daniel had taught her to ride.
Emily had followed him everywhere.
After the fire, however, the trauma had erased much of Emily’s childhood memory.
Samuel had deliberately told Daniel that Emily died.
Not because she had.
Because Clara was watching.
Samuel believed the only way to protect Emily was to make everyone think the surviving Hale heir no longer existed.
Even Daniel.
Then Daniel reached the final page.
His hands started trembling.
Years from now, if it becomes safe, Emily will receive a letter offering her a teaching position in Mercer Valley.
She will believe it came from a stranger.
It came from me.
Emily gasped.
Daniel read on.
I will not ask her to love you.
I will not ask her to marry you.
