He pulled up hard and was on the ground before his Scout came to a full stop.

“How bad is it?” Martha called out to him, and Daniel’s hand came up to the small of her back.

“Let’s not give Jemima so much credit,” he said. “Ethan, what news have you got for us?”

Ethan said, “Best we go inside to talk, don’t you think?”

He accepted a cup of cold tea and emptied it in two swallows, and then he drew in a deep breath.

“First off, she calls herself Jemima Focht now. Brought her husband with her, a lawyer. John Mayfair has stepped in to represent your side of things, Martha. Our side.”

“And the boy? Ben said there’s a boy.”

“There is. She says she named him Nicholas Wilde, after his father.”

Martha wondered what Callie would make of that.

“What do they want?” Daniel’s tone was steady. “Do you know?”

Ethan said, “I’ll tell you what it looks like so far. Martha, Jemima is going to try to challenge the portion of your father’s will that assigns guardianship to Will Spencer and my uncle Nathaniel. They’ll claim that Liam Kirby had no right to make such provisions for you, as you are legally the daughter of Isaiah Kuick, which makes—”

“Jemima my legal guardian,” Martha finished for him. “And if the boy is who she says he is, he has a right to half Callie’s property. So that’s it; they’re after the money and property.”

She folded her hands tight to keep them from trembling.

“Can I just—give her everything? Let her have it, as long as she leaves me in peace.”

“If the courts rule in her favor, she’ll get everything anyway, and still have control over you. And there is a good chance that they will in fact rule in her favor. There was always the chance she’d come back to make such a claim.”

“You never said as much to me. Nobody did.”

“We saw no need to worry you about something that might never come to pass. Martha, there are strong factors in your favor. She abandoned you. Kuick admitted in writing that he wasn’t your father, and Liam Kirby claimed paternity. And there was that questionable episode with the deed to the orchard.”

A knot fixed itself in the back of Martha’s throat, and her gorge rose to meet it. She pressed her lips together and made an effort to gain control over her stomach and her mind both. Now was not the time to wilt. It had come, as she knew it must, but she would not have to meet it alone.

Ethan was saying, “John wrote this for Nathaniel’s signature, and there’s a letter too.” He pulled two sheets of paper, already much rumpled, from the same old battered leather bag he had been carrying for years.

The first, smaller sheet of paper was folded in half, with Daniel’s name written in a hasty hand across it.

“My father,” Daniel said.

He opened it and held it to the side so that Martha could read it too. The pen strokes were dark and hard enough to have torn the paper in places.

Son—ask the girl to marry you, and then go straight to Johnstown. Make sure Jemima don’t have men there watching for you and if there’s no trouble, go see Mr. Cady. He’s familiar with the history and he’ll be able to arrange a wedding straight away. That’s the quickest and safest way to put an end to Jemima’s scheming. If Martha won’t have you, then take her to Johnstown anyway and ask the Cadys to take her in and hide her until we can figure out a way to solve this. In any case don’t bring her back to Paradise unless she’s legally married and has got a husband to speak for her. I hope that’s you.

At the bottom his mother had added a few lines:

Dear Martha

The future is mysterious and frightening to you now, but in the end all will be well. There will be great happiness and great sorrow, you will have a family, you will find yourself capable of things you cannot now imagine. But you will persevere, and one day you will look around yourself and know that your life is good and that you are, in spite of all your early fears, happy.

We hope to see you next as our daughter. That would be true no matter the circumstances.

Martha folded the sheet carefully and tucked it into her bodice. It was a note she wanted to read again, in privacy and solitude.

The other paper was more formally written, this time in a stranger’s hand.

I, Nathaniel Bonner, legal guardian of the minor Martha Kuick also known as Martha Kirby, born in the village of Paradise on the west branch of the Sacandaga in New-York State on the 4th day of April in the Year 1805, do find her to be of sound and moral mind and of healthy body and competent to enter into the state of marriage, and therefore I grant my permission—

Martha had stopped breathing. Everything had stopped, it seemed, because the only sound she could hear was the rushing of her own blood in her ears. Daniel and Ethan were looking at her.

“I already asked you three times in the last couple hours,” Daniel said. “You never did give me a straight answer. I said I didn’t want to push you, and I meant it. I can get you settled safe somewhere in Johnstown, Martha.”

Her mother was in the village right now, putting one of her plans into motion. The thing was, Jemima’s schemes usually did work out in her favor.

Martha said, “Do we have to go right now, in the clothes we’re wearing?”

“Jennet packed a saddlebag for you,” Ethan said. “There’s money and a bill of credit and even some food. Birdie was very concerned that you two didn’t starve on your way to getting married. She begged to come along, but your ma wouldn’t have it.”