“I Thought Nobody Would Come,” She Said. The Cowboy Had Ridden All Night to Find Her
Chapter 8
They reached the Whitmore farm before noon.
Thomas was already there.
He had brought two men.
One carried a musket.
The other stood beside the barn with a pistol.
Thomas held a folded document.
“The magistrate has signed.”
Clara stared.
“He cannot have.”
“He did.”
Samuel took the document.
The seal looked genuine.
But something was wrong.
He examined the ink.
“This was written recently.”
Thomas smiled.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It does.”
Samuel pointed to the date.
“The magistrate was not in the village.”
Thomas’s smile disappeared.
“You think you’re clever.”
“I think you are desperate.”
Thomas raised his pistol.
Clara stepped between them.
“Stop.”
Thomas looked at her.
“You will marry Harrow tomorrow.”
“No.”
“Then you lose everything.”
“I already lost my father.”
Thomas’s face tightened.
“You don’t understand what it takes to keep land.”
“I understand what it takes to steal it.”
The words struck him.
Thomas lowered his pistol slightly.
Samuel took advantage of the moment.
He moved forward.
The two men beside the barn raised their weapons.
A shot cracked.
Samuel pulled Clara behind the wagon.
Wood splintered.
The horses screamed.
Thomas shouted:
“Take them!”
Samuel fired from behind the wagon.
One man dropped his weapon.
The other fled.
Thomas ran toward the house.
Clara followed.
“Samuel!”
He grabbed her hand.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Clara.”
“I know this farm better than you.”
She pointed toward the barn.
“There is another entrance.”
They ran around the side.
Thomas was trying to escape through the back.
Samuel caught him.
The two men struggled.
Thomas struck Samuel across the face.
Samuel staggered.
Then Clara shouted:
“Behind you!”
Thomas turned.
She had picked up a fallen musket.
She did not fire.
She only held it.
Thomas stopped.
His expression changed.
For the first time, he saw the little girl he had once controlled.
She was gone.
“I won’t let you take my home,” she said.
Thomas lowered his hands.
But before Samuel could bind him, a horse thundered down the road.
A messenger arrived.
“The Harrow men are coming!”
Samuel looked at Clara.
“How many?”
“Ten.”
Samuel’s face hardened.
“Then we have one night.”
