Chapter 10 - A New Future
The following spring, Red Hollow was a different place. The Boon ranch was the center of the valley, and Eliza Mercer was no longer a woman to be bought. She was a woman who had built something from nothing.
On a warm afternoon, Caleb sat with her on the porch. The children were playing in the field, the sound of their laughter drifting through the air.
"You know," Caleb said, looking at the horizon, "when I bought you for a hundred and twenty-five dollars, I thought I was getting a housekeeper."
"And what do you think you got?" Eliza asked, smiling as she leaned back in her chair.
Caleb took her hand, his thumb brushing over the calloused skin of her palm. "I got the best thing that ever happened to this family. I got a reason to look forward to tomorrow."
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Eliza looked at the children, then at the man who had seen her worth when no one else would. She finally understood that her life hadn't been about what she was missing. It had been about the space she had created for others.
She was no longer the "barren woman." She was the woman who had brought life back to the valley. And in the high country, that was enough.
