Edna whispered, “Silas.”
He whirled.
“What?”
“Stop talking.”
Mave saw it again.
Fear.
Not fear of Caleb.
Fear of Silas saying too much.
Mave descended the porch.
She faced Edna.
“You delivered my daughter.”
Edna’s lips trembled.
Silas said, “Ma, don’t.”
Mave continued.
“You knew who I was when Silas brought me home.”
Silence.
“You knew I had been married.”
Silence.
“You knew Caleb was alive?”
Edna’s eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
Caleb stiffened.
“I swear.”
Silas laughed harshly.
“Don’t listen to the old fool.”
Edna turned on him.
Something inside her finally broke.
“You shut your mouth.”
Everyone stared.
Silas stared hardest.
Edna stepped toward Mave.
“I thought he was dead.”
Caleb said, “Who?”
“You.”
Her shoulders sagged.
“After the attack, Hiram said both of you were dead.”
Caleb frowned.
“Hiram?”
Mave knew the name.
Silas’s father.
Dead five years.
Edna began crying.
“He planned it.”
Silas shouted, “Ma!”
Sheriff Reed grabbed Silas.
Edna kept talking.
“Hiram saw those land papers when Maeve went into labor. Caleb mentioned the springs on the north acreage. Hiram understood what they were worth.”
Caleb went pale.
Blackwater’s northern springs had later become the only dependable water source for miles during drought years.
Edna continued.
“Hiram followed you when you left.”
Mave’s stomach turned.
“He attacked us for land?”
“For the deed. For money.”
“What happened to my baby?”
Edna closed her eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Mave slapped her.
The sound echoed across the yard.
Nobody moved.
Edna touched her cheek.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I held Anna after you were dragged from the wagon. Hiram brought you back unconscious. Silas was with him.”
Mave stared at Silas.
He looked away.
Edna continued.
“Your head was badly hurt. You woke and slept and woke again. You kept calling for Caleb and the baby.”
“You told me it was fever.”
“Yes.”
“Where was Anna?”
Edna’s voice trembled.
“I put her in the root cellar.”
Mave stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Hiram meant to kill her.”
Caleb surged forward.
Sheriff Reed blocked him.
Edna shouted, “I stopped him!”
She sobbed.
“I hid the baby. That night I wrapped her in blankets and carried her five miles to Saint Agnes Mission.”
Mave’s knees nearly buckled.
“You abandoned my daughter?”
“I saved her.”
“You stole her mother!”
“I was afraid!”
Edna screamed it.
Then silence.
A lifetime of excuses sat between them.
Mave stepped closer.
“You were afraid?”
“Yes.”
“So you let me believe my baby never existed.”
Edna wept.
“Hiram said he’d kill Silas if I talked.”
Mave looked at Silas.
The man Edna had supposedly protected.
The man who had become exactly like his father.
“And after Hiram died?”
Edna had no answer.
That silence condemned her more completely than any confession.
Mave whispered, “You had two years after his death.”
Edna lowered her head.
“You could have told me.”
“Yes.”
“You could have taken me to the mission.”
“Yes.”
“You could have given me back my name.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Edna looked toward the ground.
“Because by then… we had used the deed.”
