A Widowed Rancher Stopped for a Mother and Daughter in the Rain… She Said ‘Stay Back or I’ll Shoot
Chapter 6
They reached the old chapel by midday.
The building had no roof over one side.
Wild vines covered the stone walls.
Inside, a cracked wooden altar stood beneath a faded cross.
Sarah held Lucy’s locket.
“Anna was married here.”
Thomas looked around.
“Where?”
Sarah pointed toward the old baptismal basin.
“There.”
A loose stone sat beneath it.
Thomas removed the stone.
Inside was a small cloth pouch.
Sarah opened it.
Empty.
Her face fell.
Thomas saw something scratched into the stone.
A simple mark.
A triangle.
Then another.
And another.
He recognized the pattern.
“Mercer’s clerk uses those marks.”
Sarah looked at him.
“What does it mean?”
“Direction.”
Thomas followed the marks.
They led outside.
Behind the chapel was an old cemetery.
At the far end stood a grave marked only with initials.
A.B.
Sarah dropped to her knees.
“Anna.”
Thomas stood behind her.
“She buried something here.”
Sarah touched the grave marker.
Nothing.
Then Lucy spoke.
“Mama said the flowers were important.”
Sarah looked at her.
“What flowers?”
“Blue ones.”
Thomas scanned the cemetery.
Most flowers had died.
Except one patch beside an old stone wall.
Blue wildflowers.
He knelt.
The soil beneath them was loose.
They dug.
A small iron box appeared.
Inside was the original deed.
But it wasn’t alone.
There were twelve more documents.
Thomas opened one.
A list of names.
All farmers.
All marked with amounts.
And beside each name was a date.
The same date Mercer had claimed he bought their land.
Thomas looked at Sarah.
“This could destroy him.”
She nodded.
Then they heard horses.
Thomas closed the box.
“We have to go.”
Sarah stood.
But Lucy was staring toward the chapel.
A man stood there.
Nathan Crowe.
Mercer’s clerk.
He held a pistol.
“You’ve been very difficult to find.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Let them go.”
Crowe laughed.
“You don’t understand.”
Thomas raised his pistol.
“I understand enough.”
Crowe looked at Sarah.
“Give me the box.”
“No.”
“Then the child dies.”
Sarah’s face changed.
Thomas moved before she could.
He fired.
Crowe ducked.
The chapel wall splintered.
Thomas grabbed Sarah’s arm.
“Run!”
They fled into the cemetery.
Crowe’s men followed.
But this time, Thomas had a plan.
The cemetery bordered a steep creek.
At the bottom was a narrow crossing.
Thomas knew the land.
He led them toward it.
When the riders reached the edge, Thomas fired at the ground beneath them.
The horses panicked.
Two men fell.
The others stopped.
Thomas and Sarah disappeared into the woods.
The box remained safe.
For now.
