A Widowed Rancher Stopped for a Mother and Daughter in the Rain… She Said ‘Stay Back or I’ll Shoot
Chapter 1
The rain had turned the road into black mud by the time the rancher saw the overturned wagon.
Thomas Hale pulled his horse to a stop.
Water ran from the brim of his hat and down the back of his coat. Lightning flashed beyond the hills, briefly revealing the wagon lying on its side beside the road.
One wheel was broken.
A horse lay dead in the mud.
And someone was moving beneath the wagon.
Thomas reached for the reins of his second horse.
Then he heard a woman’s voice.
“Stay back or I’ll shoot!”
The words were followed by the sharp click of a flintlock pistol being cocked.
Thomas froze.
He could barely see her.
A woman crouched behind the overturned wagon, soaked from head to toe. Her left arm was wrapped around a little girl who couldn’t have been more than eight.
The pistol in the woman’s right hand shook.
Not from fear.
From exhaustion.
Thomas raised both hands.
“I won’t hurt you.”
“Stay where you are.”
“I am.”
“Don’t come closer.”
“I won’t.”
Lightning flashed again.
Thomas saw blood running down the woman’s temple.
The child was barefoot.
Her dress was torn.
And the woman was trying desperately to keep the girl hidden behind her body.
Thomas lowered his hands slowly.
“You’re hurt.”
“That isn’t your concern.”
“No.”
He looked toward the dead horse.
“But your daughter is.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed.
“She isn’t my daughter.”
Thomas glanced at the child.
The girl clung to the woman’s skirt.
“Then who is she?”
The woman said nothing.
Thunder rolled across the valley.
Thomas looked toward the road behind them.
“There are riders coming.”
The woman went pale.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
Thomas could hear them now.
Hooves.
Far away.
But getting closer.
The woman raised the pistol higher.
Thomas took one step backward.
“You need to get off this road.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever you’re hiding from will find you.”
The woman stared at him.
“You’re one of them.”
“No.”
“How do I know?”
“You don’t.”
Thomas removed his coat.
He placed it slowly on the muddy ground between them.
Then he stepped away.
“Wrap the girl in that.”
The woman stared at the coat.
Thomas turned his horse.
He could have ridden away.
Instead, he stopped.
“My ranch is two miles north.”
“I didn’t ask.”
“No.”
Thomas looked over his shoulder.
“But I’m offering.”
The woman said nothing.
The riders were closer now.
Thomas mounted.
“If you want to stay alive, don’t remain beside that wagon.”
He rode toward the north.
After several seconds, he heard footsteps behind him.
The woman and the little girl were following.
The pistol was still pointed at his back.
Thomas didn’t turn around.
He only said one thing.
“Keep it loaded.”
He didn’t know then that the woman would become the reason he opened his heart again.
He didn’t know the little girl wasn’t merely running from danger.
And he certainly didn’t know that the men coming through the rain were searching for something worth killing for.
