It had been waiting.
She heard hoofbeats.
Silas Crane rode into the field.
Alone.
Rowan stood.
“You found them.”
It was not a question.
Crane dismounted.
“You knew.”
“For years.”
“You destroyed the eggs.”
“Yes.”
His admission shocked her.
“You don’t even deny it?”
“No point now.”
“You burned my barn.”
“I did not.”
“Your man did.”
“Drenner acted foolishly.”
“On your orders?”
Crane looked at the silverleaf.
“You don’t understand what you have.”
“I understand enough.”
“No. You don’t.”
He walked toward the plants.
“Do you know what pharmaceutical men in New York offered me for exclusive access?”
Rowan said nothing.
“Fifty thousand dollars.”
Her breath caught.
Crane smiled.
“That was four years ago.”
Rowan looked at the tiny plants.
“Then why not grow them?”
“Because they die anywhere else.”
“And if you mine the peat?”
“The wetland dies.”
“Yes.”
“And the plant?”
“Also dies.”
Rowan stared at him.
“You’d destroy it for peat.”
“I would extract everything valuable from the land.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“It is to men who understand business.”
He reached into his coat.
Rowan tensed.
But Crane produced paper.
“A deed.”
“What?”
“I will give you ten thousand dollars today.”
“No.”
“Twenty.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“Thirty.”
Rowan almost laughed.
“You tried to destroy the only thing keeping this place alive.”
“And you can walk away rich.”
“No.”
“Your mother refused too.”
Rowan froze.
Crane saw it.
Then smiled faintly.
“Yes. Evelyn and I had this exact argument.”
“You knew her.”
“Very well.”
Something in his tone made Rowan uneasy.
“How well?”
Crane looked toward the farmhouse.
“Better than your father did.”
Rowan’s blood chilled.
“My father died when I was three.”
“I know.”
“What are you saying?”
Crane’s expression changed.
For the first time, the confidence disappeared.
He looked older.
Tired.
“I am saying there is a reason your mother fought me so fiercely.”
Rowan stared.
“No.”
“She wanted nothing from me.”
“No.”
“She made me promise never to tell you.”
Rowan stepped backward.
Crane’s voice softened.
“Rowan.”
“No.”
“You are my daughter.”
The world went silent.
Even the geese seemed to stop moving.
Rowan shook her head.
“That’s a lie.”
“I wish it were.”
“You’re lying.”
“Your mother and I were twenty-two. I was married. She was not.”
“Stop.”
“She became pregnant.”
“Stop.”
“I offered money.”
Rowan slapped him.
The sound cracked across the marsh.
Crane did not move.
Her hand shook.
“My mother hated you.”
“Eventually.”
“Because you abandoned her?”
“Because I tried to buy you.”
Rowan felt sick.
Crane continued quietly.
“I offered to take responsibility privately. Provide money. A house.”
“But not your name.”
He looked away.
“No.”
“Not your daughter.”
“No.”
Rowan swallowed tears.
“And now you want my land.”
“I wanted the silverleaf.”
“You wanted everything she protected.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His face twisted.
“Because every time I looked at this property, I remembered the one thing Evelyn chose over me.”
Rowan stared.
“What?”
“You.”
The anger vanished from his voice.
Only bitterness remained.
“She could have had security.”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
“But she chose me.”
“She chose this place. She chose poverty. She chose to raise you away from Caldwell Flats.”
Crane laughed hollowly.
“Then she returned years later and discovered those plants. Suddenly even the land had become precious.”
Rowan understood.
“This was never only money.”
“No.”
“You hated this place because she loved it.”
Crane closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“You destroyed the eggs because they were going to save it.”
“Yes.”
“And if the Sink failed…”
