Final Debt. Western Promise: 1823, #1

The lie becomes the truth. Five years pass in a long, unbroken stretch of brutal, honest work. John Reynolds (formerly Big John) and Beth Ann build a true home: a solid cabin of cottonwood logs, a thriving field, and a small herd of cattle. Michael, now ten, is a true prairie boy-lean, capable, and knowledgeable of the Osage and the land. They receive no letters, no visitors, and no markers. The silence of the prairie is their sanctuary.
John, however, has a new ritual: every spring, he travels miles west to leave a small, unmarked wooden cross where a traveler might see it-a subtle, calculated offering to the silence, a nod to the fact that Big John is indeed dead. He and Beth Ann never speak of Natchez or Price, but the rifle is never far from the door.