The Mountain Man’s Bride

PART 3 — THE WOMAN BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR

“Caleb!”

Sadie hurried downstairs, nearly spilling the lantern.

He was sitting beside the dying fire, sharpening a hunting knife. When he saw her face, he immediately stood.

“What happened?”

“There’s someone in the locked room upstairs.”

The knife slipped from his hand.

For several seconds, neither moved.

Then Caleb grabbed his coat and climbed the stairs two at a time. Sadie followed, her fear growing with every step.

At the locked door, he stopped.

“You shouldn’t have gone up there,” he said quietly.

“Someone was crying. I heard a child call for its mother.”

Caleb closed his eyes.

“It’s my daughter.”

Sadie stared at him.

“You have another child?”

“Her name is Lily. She’s eleven.”

“Why is she locked away?”

“She’s not locked away because I want to punish her.” His voice cracked. “She hasn’t spoken to anyone since her mother died. She refuses to eat, and sometimes she becomes so frightened that she hides beneath the bed. I keep the door closed because she runs into the forest when she’s upset.”

Sadie felt a chill that had nothing to do with the winter air.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I couldn’t bear to watch another person pity my family.”

He took a key from a chain beneath his shirt and unlocked the door.

Inside was a small bedroom with faded curtains, a narrow bed, and a collection of wooden dolls arranged on a shelf. A little girl sat in the corner, her knees drawn to her chest.

Her dark hair fell over her face. She wore a pale blue nightdress, and her thin hands clutched a worn shawl.

When Caleb entered, she pressed herself against the wall.

“Lily,” he whispered. “It’s Father.”

She shook her head violently.

“Go away!”

Caleb stopped.

Sadie stepped forward slowly, then lowered herself to the floor several feet from the child.

“My name is Sadie,” she said softly. “I’m not going to touch you.”

Lily looked at her through frightened eyes.

“You’re the new wife.”

“I’m the woman who came to help your family.”

“My mother said Father would never let another woman take her place.”

Sadie swallowed the ache in her throat.

“Your mother will always be your mother. Nobody can take that away from you.”

Lily’s fingers tightened around the shawl.

Then she whispered something that made Caleb stumble backward.

“Mother didn’t die because she was sick.”

Sadie turned toward him.

Caleb looked as though all the strength had drained from his body.

“Lily, please,” he begged. “Don’t do this.”

But the little girl had already begun to cry.

“I saw the bottle,” she whispered. “The night Mother died, I saw someone put something in her drink.”

Silence filled the room.

Sadie felt her blood run cold.

“Who did you see, Lily?”

The girl stared at her father.

Caleb’s face twisted with anguish.

“I don’t know what she thinks she saw,” he said. “She was only eleven—”

“I was eleven!” Lily screamed. “I wasn’t a baby! I saw Aunt Margaret in the kitchen!”

Caleb went completely still.

Sadie had heard him mention Margaret once—a relative who lived in a neighboring settlement and had helped the family after his wife’s death.

Lily clutched the shawl to her chest.

“Aunt Margaret told Mother she would never let her leave the mountain. They argued about something. Then Mother drank from her cup, and later she couldn’t breathe.”

Caleb sank onto the edge of the bed.

“No,” he whispered. “Margaret helped us bury your mother. She stayed with you children for weeks.”

“She told me that if I spoke, you’d die too!”

Lily began sobbing.

Sadie moved closer, stopping just short of touching her.

“You don’t have to tell us anything more tonight,” she said gently. “You’re safe here.”

But Caleb rose abruptly.

“Margaret said she was leaving the territory. She hasn’t visited in months.”

“Then we need to find her,” Sadie replied.

He shook his head.

“What if Lily misunderstood? What if grief has confused her memories?”

“Then we’ll discover the truth. But we cannot ignore a child who is terrified.”

Caleb looked at his daughter, and for the first time, Sadie saw something deeper than grief in his eyes.

He was afraid.

Not of the mountains, the wolves, or the coming blizzard.

He was afraid that the woman he had trusted after his wife’s death might have been responsible for it.

And he was afraid that his children had been living with that secret alone.

Suddenly, a loud knock echoed through the cabin.

Caleb reached for his rifle.

Nobody visited this remote place after dark, especially when snow was beginning to bury the mountain trail.

He opened the door cautiously.

A man stood outside, his coat covered in snow. He was an elderly traveler with a gray beard and a leather medical bag slung over his shoulder.

“Caleb Blackwood?” the stranger asked.

“Yes. Who are you?”

“Doctor Elias Mercer. I treated your wife the night she died.”

Caleb’s face drained of color.

“You told me the storm prevented you from reaching us.”

“I know what I told you.” The doctor glanced toward Sadie and lowered his voice. “But I’ve carried the truth long enough.”

He reached into his coat and produced a folded letter.

“Your wife’s death wasn’t natural. I found evidence of poison in the cup she drank from, but someone threatened my family if I spoke.”

Caleb gripped the doorframe.

“Who threatened you?”

The doctor looked toward the dark mountain trail.

“Margaret Blackwood.”

Before anyone could respond, a gunshot cracked through the forest.

The doctor staggered, clutching his shoulder.

Caleb caught him before he fell, while Sadie dragged him inside and pressed a clean cloth against the wound.

Outside, a horse galloped away through the snow.

Someone had followed the doctor to the cabin.

And whoever had fired that shot now knew that the secret of Caleb Blackwood’s first wife was no longer buried.

End of Part 3.