In the days that followed, Clara became the heartbeat of the ranch. She worked from sunrise to dusk — cooking, cleaning, mending fences, tending the sick cattle. She asked for little, only food and a place to rest.
Ethan, though still distant, began to notice her quiet strength. She didn’t chatter or complain. She simply worked — and little by little, life returned to the lonely ranch.
“Why did you come here, Clara?” he asked.
She paused, wiping her brow. “Because I had nowhere else to go, sir. My mother passed last winter… and some men in town aren’t kind to women alone.”
Ethan said nothing, but something in his expression softened. That night, for the first time in years, he slept peacefully.
Trouble at the Gate
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