Marcus looked toward the pasture. "You keeping the marked ones?"
"For now."
"Probably smart."
Norah almost dropped a piece of wood.
Marcus glanced at her.
"Don't look so surprised."
"I'm trying not to."
He walked closer to the porch.
"Your grandfather tell you my father traded in sinker cypress?"
"You did."
"He was better at it than me. Mean old man, though. Would've offered Eli fifty dollars and charged him hauling."
Eli laughed.
Marcus rubbed his hands against the cold. "I thought about that first morning a few times."
Norah waited.
"I saw the size and the skin. Saw the mark. Figured maybe old cypress, maybe not. If I'd told you exactly what I suspected, I knew you'd investigate or call somebody else. So I called it junk."
"I know."
"Wasn't illegal."
"I know."
"Wasn't generous either."
Norah studied him.
Marcus did not appear to be seeking forgiveness. That made the admission easier to respect.
"Would you do it again?" she asked.
He took longer to answer than she expected.
"I'd make a low offer again. That's business."
She frowned.
"But I'd tell the seller I thought there might be salvage value instead of pretending I was doing charity."
Eli nodded once.
Marcus looked at Norah. "You made me look foolish at the feed store for a month."
"I didn't say anything at the feed store."
"Didn't have to. Everybody else did."
"Sorry."
"No, you're not."
"No."
He laughed.
Before leaving, Marcus handed Eli a business card.
"If you ever decide to extract Number 1, I've got equipment that'll do it with less damage than most crews. Doesn't mean you have to sell it to me."
Eli accepted the card.
"That's a better offer."
"Learning late."
Norah watched him drive away.
"Do you trust him now?"
Eli looked at the card.
"Trust isn't a light switch."
"Would you hire him?"
"Maybe."
Norah groaned loudly enough for Marcus to hear if his window had been open.
Winter settled over the farm without much snow, only cold rains and mornings when thin ice formed over trough edges. The lower pasture rested. The old chute disappeared again beneath grass and damp soil, its shape visible only if Norah knew where to look.