“My Father Sent Me In My Sister’s Place,” She Said… “Get In The Wagon,” Was His Reply
Chapter 8
They escaped through the back of the chapel.
Riders surrounded the hill.
Samuel and Eliza ran into the woods.
Bullets struck the trees.
They reached a narrow creek.
Samuel pulled Eliza behind a fallen trunk.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“I’m going back.”
“Why?”
“To slow them down.”
“You’ll be killed.”
Samuel looked at her.
“Maybe.”
Eliza grabbed his hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
She looked terrified.
Not of Whitlock.
Of losing him.
Samuel sat beside her.
“We wait.”
They stayed hidden until darkness.
Then they returned to the ranch.
But the house had been burned.
The barn was gone.
The horses had been stolen.
Samuel stood in the ashes.
Eliza whispered:
“This is my fault.”
“No.”
“They did this because of me.”
“They did this because of Whitlock.”
“What will you do now?”
Samuel looked at the burned house.
“I finish what my father started.”
