A Widowed Rancher Stopped for a Mother and Daughter in the Rain… She Said ‘Stay Back or I’ll Shoot
Chapter 7
They spent the night in a hollow beneath a fallen tree.
Lucy slept between Sarah and Thomas.
Thomas had never shared a shelter with anyone since Elizabeth’s death.
He found himself listening to Sarah breathe.
She was awake.
“You’re staring.”
Thomas looked away.
“Sorry.”
“Why did you stop for us?”
He thought for a moment.
“I saw my wife.”
Sarah was silent.
“In you?”
“No.”
“In the girl.”
Sarah waited.
“She was about the same age as my son would have been.”
Sarah looked down.
“I didn’t know you had a son.”
“I didn’t either.”
She frowned.
Thomas explained.
“He was born after I left to find a doctor.”
Sarah understood.
“I came back too late.”
She touched his hand.
Thomas stiffened.
It had been years since anyone had touched him gently.
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I should have stayed.”
“You were trying to save them.”
“Yes.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Then you did everything you could.”
Thomas didn’t answer.
In the morning, they continued west.
They reached a small settlement by noon.
Thomas knew the blacksmith.
Samuel Price.
He trusted him.
Samuel agreed to hide the horses.
But while they were inside, a boy arrived.
“Men are asking about you.”
Thomas frowned.
“How many?”
“Ten.”
“Where?”
“On the southern road.”
Thomas looked at Sarah.
“We need a different route.”
Samuel spoke.
“There is an old ferry.”
Thomas nodded.
The river would take them toward the county seat.
The judge was expected there in four days.
If they could reach him, the documents could be examined.
But Mercer controlled the roads.
Thomas needed help.
He went to the village chapel.
The preacher, Reverend Cole, listened.
When Thomas showed him the deed, the old man’s expression hardened.
“My brother lost his farm to Mercer.”
“Then testify.”
“I have no proof.”
Thomas opened the box.
The preacher stared.
“Good Lord.”
He crossed himself.
Then he looked at Sarah.
“Your sister came here once.”
Sarah stepped forward.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“What did she say?”
“She said if anything happened to her, I should tell you that the truth was hidden where your father taught you to swim.”
Sarah froze.
“My father taught us at Miller’s Creek.”
Thomas looked at her.
“There’s something else there.”
Sarah nodded.
They left immediately.
But as they crossed the village square, Thomas noticed something.
A man watching them.
He wasn’t carrying a weapon.
He wasn’t wearing Mercer’s colors.
He was an old farmer.
And he was crying.
