“Yes.”
“You remain alone with Mr. Cole after dark?”
“We live in the same house.”
Laughter rippled through the courtroom.
Clara’s cheeks burned.
The attorney smiled.
“Do you have romantic feelings toward Mr. Cole?”
“Objection,” Ethan’s lawyer snapped.
The judge raised a hand.
“Answer only if you wish, Miss Hayes.”
Clara could barely breathe.
Mercer was watching.
So were the children.
Clara straightened.
“My private feelings have never harmed a child.”
Silence.
The judge’s eyes sharpened.
“Well answered.”
Mercer’s smile disappeared.
Then the attorney described Samuel’s muteness.
Lucy’s nightmares.
Annie’s responsibilities.
“Were these conditions not evidence of neglect?”
Clara stared at him.
“Those conditions existed before I came.”
“Under Mr. Cole’s care.”
“Under grief.”
The attorney shrugged.
“Children cannot live on explanations.”
“No,” Clara said quietly. “But they can be destroyed by people who mistake suffering for guilt.”
A murmur passed through the room.
The judge raised her gavel.
Then she looked toward the children.
“Annie Cole?”
Annie stood.
Before she could step forward, Lucy suddenly rose.
“Please don’t send Miss Clara away.”
Judge Ward’s expression softened.
“No one has decided anything yet, child.”
Lucy began crying.
“She keeps the lamp on.”
“What lamp?”
“For Mama.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Lucy swallowed hard.
“And she doesn’t lock us downstairs.”
The courtroom changed.
It was almost physical.
Every sound vanished.
Judge Ward leaned forward.
“What did you say?”
Lucy looked confused by the attention.
“She doesn’t lock us downstairs when Mr. Mercer comes.”
Clara turned sharply toward Annie.
The girl had gone white.
Mercer stood.
“This is absurd.”
The judge’s voice became steel.
“Sit down.”
Lucy pointed toward him.
“He told Annie we had to be quiet.”
Mercer shouted, “The child is confused!”
Samuel began sobbing.
Annie shot to her feet.
“STOP!”
Her scream echoed through the courtroom.
Everyone stared.
Annie was shaking violently.
Then she said the words that changed everything.
“Mr. Mercer was at our house the night Mama died.”
Ethan staggered as though struck.
“What?”
Annie looked at her father.
“You were in Fairhaven buying cattle medicine.”
Ethan’s face drained.
“You told me Mercer never came.”
“He said he’d take Samuel and Lucy if I told.”
Mercer lunged upright.
“She’s lying!”
Judge Ward slammed the gavel.
“Deputy!”
Two men moved behind Mercer.
Annie burst into tears.
Clara reached her first.
The girl clung to her.
“What happened that night?” the judge asked.
Annie could barely speak.
“Mama found papers.”
“What papers?”
“She said Mr. Mercer was stealing our ranch.”
Clara felt Ethan stiffen.
“He came after supper,” Annie continued. “They argued. Mama told us to go downstairs. Mr. Mercer followed her into Papa’s office.”
Her voice broke.
“I heard glass break.”
Ethan whispered, “Oh God.”
“Then Mama came downstairs. Her lip was bleeding.”
Several women gasped.
“She made us hide in the root cellar.”
Annie pressed both hands to her face.
“Mr. Mercer said Mama had until morning to give him something.”
