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Sarah couldn’t take her eyes off the white curtains that billowed in the early morning breeze, like clouds on a spring day. That was how her heart felt—floating, light, and free. Hatred, which had burdened her for so long, had fled. Now love filled her, love for God and Thorn.
She loved Thornton MacPherson. At last, she had found a man she could trust. Somehow, she’d help him find a way to solve whatever it was that kept him from her, and she’d trust God to help him accept the fact she couldn’t give him a son. Love casts out fear. She’d trust.
God was good. With arms wrapped around her middle, she danced around the carpet that covered the wooden floors, humming one of the songs her mother used to sing.
At last, winded from all her flitting about, she pounced on the bed. Never, never, never would she have thought that this would happen. Sarah Rose Hollingsworth Greer MacPherson loved...no! The past was the past. Today starts her new life. The old has passed away, the new begins. Rose Macpherson loves Thornton MacPherson. Rose and Thorn. Miss Rose loves Mr. Thorn.
She giggled, then stopped. When was the last time she actually giggled? She waved her hand. That didn’t matter. It was in the past, too. Another giggle burst out of her. She couldn’t wait until Thorn got home. She wanted to make the marriage real. Thorn and Rose, a true husband and wife.
She flung herself back on the bed. Warmth rushed through her as the feel of Thorn’s lips on hers filled her thoughts, the look in his eyes the other night, the touch of his fingers on her neck. They’d make their marriage into the beautiful thing it should be.
She rested her hand on the small table beside the bed as she sat up. Her fingers brushed the Bible Helen had loaned her. She picked it up and crushed it to her chest. Dropping to her knees beside the bed, she bowed her head.
For several long moments, she knelt there on the floor as memories of the past flowed around her. The joyful look on her parents’ faces when they held each other under the apple tree in the twilight. The tender glances they exchanged. The little winks they gave each other when they thought no one else was watching them, even though Mama told her it wasn’t polite for a woman to wink.
Raising her head and with eyes closed, she came before God. “Dear Father, please bless our marriage. Help me to be a good wife to him, a loving and true wife. Help him to understand my fears. But more than that, dear God, help me to understand him, to truly accept him with love and faithfulness. I ask this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
She started to stand, but dropped back down and grabbed the Bible even closer. “And Father, please help me to forgive Grandfather and Alfred.” She paused for a moment, then continued. “And Stanley, too. Help me to look forward and not backward. Please God, help me continue to fill my heart with Your love and forgiveness, and not let back in the anger and hatred that has controlled me for so long. This too I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Sarah smiled as Emma’s babbling floated in the air. “Commitment made. Now to live it out.”
She set the Bible on the table and hurried to check on her daughter.
“Good morning, Emma. How is Momma’s girl doing today?” She tickled her daughter under to her chin.
“Momma, Momma!”
“That’s right, Emma sweetie, and Daddy should be home today.”
“Dada, dada, dada.”
Sarah’s laughter caused Emma to laugh. She picked up her daughter and swung around, which caused them both to laugh even more.
“All right, sweetie, let’s get you cleaned up and ready for the day. We have lots to do before your daddy gets home.” Sarah changed Emma’s clothes.
Before they went downstairs, Sarah remembered her locket. She had worn it the day before, and Emma had pulled on the chain and broken it. Maybe the jeweler could fix it. She took it from the top of the dresser and slipped it into her pocket, then headed to the kitchen with Emma in her arms.
By the time breakfast was over, Judith and Sally arrived. With Sally taking care of Emma, Sarah and the Nelson children crowded into the buggy while Dougal rode alongside.
Sarah and Linda left the children at the home of a widow who had agreed to teach the children and continued to the bakery. They walked in the back in time to spy the newlyweds pull apart, giggling. Sarah shook her head. Well, wasn’t this what she wanted for her brother—happiness, love, and a good life?
Once most of the customers left in the early afternoon, Helen picked up her shopping basket, gave Drew a peck on the cheek, and turned to Sarah. “I think I need a few things from the mercantile. Would you like to come with me?”
Sarah didn’t need a second invitation, although she caught the lopsided grin Drew gave them.
She grabbed her reticule and motioned to Dougal, who sat at a table watching everything going on. He stood and followed them out, but stayed a few feet behind while they walked to the mercantile.
Helen was glowing. Sarah wondered if she would look like that after she and Thorn made their marriage real.
A little while later, they stepped out of the mercantile. Sarah looked for Dougal, but he wasn’t in sight.
Joy oozed out on the breeze while the stink Sarah hated surrounded her. Stanley slipped in between them and grabbed Helen’s arm. He shifted his hand. Sarah looked down.
He pushed a gun against Helen’s side. “Let’s step around the corner, ladies.”
Sarah bit back a scream as Helen’s eyes grew huge in her pale face.
In the narrow space between the buildings, Sarah almost stumbled when she saw Petey Waller kick Dougal, bloody and groaning, as he lay on the ground. Another man leaned over Dougal and stuck a piece of paper in the pocket of his shirt.
“Now, MacPherson’ll know where to come looking for you.” Stanley grinned as he glanced at Sarah. “Too bad he won’t make it there.”
Stanley’s sister, Cynthia, pranced up on her horse. The young woman smirked. “You probably thought you’d never see me again.”
She pulled a blanket from the bundle in her arms.
Emma blinked three or four times in the bright sunshine, then cried out when she spotted her mother.
Sarah gasped at the sight of her daughter. She moved toward Emma.
“If you take another step, Cynthia will ride out of here, and you’ll never see the child again.” Stanley nodded when Sarah stopped.
Suddenly she realized these people had been in her house. Sarah looked at Stanley. “Judith? Kerr? Sally?”
Stanley nodded toward the corner, where two men dragged Kerr from behind the horses. They dumped him beside Dougal.
Stanley snickered. “You are too trusting. Judith has been in my employ from the time she started working for you. As far as that cowboy, two or three men can easily overpower one, as you just witnessed. The other girl—we just left at your house.”
He tightened his hold on Helen. “Now before you get any idea and your dear sister-in-law gets hurt, take that gun from your bag and put it on the ground.”
Sarah tightened her fingers on the ties of her reticule as she looked at Cynthia.
Stanley chuckled. “It was so good of you to tell my sister about your little toy. Too bad you discovered who she was before you could have shared more of your secrets with her.”
Very slowly, Sarah opened her bag and wrapped her hand around the gun, her finger on the trigger.
The click of Stanley cocking his pistol sounded in the alley.
Sarah slipped her finger from the trigger and did what she was told.
Stanley nodded to the men. “Let’s get out of here.”
A man stepped over and took hold of Helen’s arm. Her face grew even paler than before, making the scar on her cheek stand out. Her lips trembled. “Jim?”
He touched Helen’s scar which ran from temple to chin. “Didn’t mean to hurt you, but you shouldn’t have fought me.” He set her on a horse, then tied her hands to the saddle horn. “Ready, boss.”
Stanley led Sarah to another horse. “Here, let me help you up.”
A shudder ran through Sarah at the thought of Stanley wrapping his hands around her waist, but then she looked at Emma in Cynthia’s arms. She’d do whatever it took to protect her daughter.
She allowed Stanley, whom she had asked God to help her forgive just that morning, to assist her onto the horse.
A few minutes later, Sarah rode out of town with her baby, her brother’s wife, and the outlaws who were stealing her dreams.
***
Thorn, not Mac.
Mac was a freighter who hunted a man from mining camp to mining camp. Mac had turned away from God in anger. Mac had left the family he loved on a quest that was now finished.
He was Thorn MacPherson. He rolled his shoulders, liking the feel of the skin he lived in, much like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon and stretching its wings, ready to live a new life. He chuckled at the comparison. It sounded like something his sister, Gavenia, would have said.
After taking care of his wagon and team, Thorn climbed the steps to the back porch of the house in Central City. Rose’s house, for now. Once he convinced her he loved her, and hopefully won her love in return, he would take her and Emma back to the ranch to live with the rest of his family.
He stepped inside and listened. Nothing was on the stove. No sounds. No voices. Strange. Judith wasn’t in the kitchen or anywhere else downstairs.
Uneasiness filled him as he checked the parlor, then upstairs. The feeling grew stronger as he went to the nursery. The rocking chair was overturned. Emma’s crib was empty.
His heart pounded as he searched for any clues to what had happened.
Something thudded in the small room off the nursery. He shoved the door open. The sound grew louder.
He raced to the large wardrobe and jerked open the door.
Sally lay in the bottom, bound and gagged.
With his knife, he cut the ropes around her wrists. “What happened? Where’s Emma? Who did this?”
Once Sally’s hands were freed, she pulled the cloth from her mouth while Thorn severed the ropes binding her legs. She rubbed her hand over her lips. “A man pointed a gun at me while Miss Snodgrass tied me up. Then...then they took Emma and left.” She grabbed Thorn’s arm. “Did they hurt Judith? She never came up here.”
Black thoughts filled Thorn’s head as he remembered how secretive Judith had been as he was recovering from his beating, the way she had snuck out the back and given a note to the hotel owner’s boy. Now the house had been attacked and Judith couldn’t be found, and there wasn’t any sign of a scuffle downstairs. With the Snodgrass girl involved, was Judith in the pay of Stanley? Had she let the men steal Emma?
His heart squeezed so tightly he couldn’t breathe. He shot down the stairs. He had to find Sarah and rescue Emma. He had to find his family.
He rushed to the barn, saddled his horse, and raced away. Outside the bakery, he leaped off his horse and slapped the reins over the hitching post.
With a big grin, Drew stepped out. “Good to see you back.” He glanced sideways for a moment. “Did you see Helen and Sarah? They went to the mercantile a while ago.”
Thorn gripped his brother-in-law’s arm. “We have to find them. My cousins have disappeared, and Snodgrass kidnapped Emma.”
Drew’s face lost its color. “No!”
A rider barreled down the dusty street. “Fire! There’s a fire at the other end of town. It’s starting to spread.”
The people on the street yelled as they ran to where the smoke was rising.
Drew yanked the bakery door open. “Linda, stay in here. I’ve got to find Helen and Sarah.”
Something caught in Thorn’s gut. Something didn’t feel right. He headed for the mercantile, while Drew raced to catch up with him.
Before they arrived, his friend, Adam Lone Eagle, stepped out of the narrow alley between the mercantile and the next building. A deep frown marked his face. “Thorn, come.”
Thorn didn’t have to ask what Adam was worried about. Halfway down the alley, his cousins lay in the dirt. Dougal had blood smeared across his face. His lip was bleeding. His arms were wrapped around his middle. When Thorn knelt beside him, Dougal opened his swollen eyelids.
“Snodgrass...got...your Rose...Helen...”
Dougal’s eyelids fluttered and closed.
For just a moment, Thorn watched to make sure Dougal’s chest continued to rise and fall. Next, he moved over to Kerr. Someone had tied him up. He had a knot on the back of his head.
“Kerr was at the house.” Drew’s face paled. “With Emma.”
“Judith’s gone. They tied up Sally.” Thorn pounded his fist against his leg. He thought he’d provided enough protection for his family, but he was wrong. Rose, Helen, and Emma would not pay the price for that failure. He’d get Snodgrass and that cur would never hurt his family again.
The store owner joined beside them. “Adam told me what happened. I sent my oldest boy to get the doc. We’ll take care of these men. Go get the men who did this.”
“Thanks.” Thorn started to turn away when the store owner called him back.
“There’s something stuck in the man’s shirt.” The man held out a piece of paper.
Thorn bit hard on his lip. He had just come to peace with the last note that had been left for him. He unfolded the paper. I’ve got them. Bring Drew. Go to the bend between old McGruder’s cabin and Jacobson’s mining site. You’ll be met and brought to me. Bring five thousand dollars.
That location was a pretty broad area to the east, with several places for ambushes between there and Central City.
Thorn looked at Drew and Adam. “They’re baiting a trap, and with that fire, we’re on our own.” He ripped his hat off and rammed his fingers through his hair, then shoved the hat back on his head. “I’m going after the cur that has them.”
Adam nodded. “I’m with you.”
“Good. I’ll need a tracker and another gun.” Thorn turned to Drew.
“Of course.” Drew nodded. “Let me tell Linda and the others, then gather what supplies we need.”
“I’ll get the horses.” Adam headed for the livery.
“I’ll get some guns and ammunition.” Thorn started for the mercantile. “Meet back here in fifteen minutes.”
In less than twelve, they headed out of town.
After they’d traveled several miles on the road to Denver, they veered onto an overgrown path. Adam dismounted. Drew started to get down, too.
“Stay on your horse. Let Adam read the signs. He’s the best tracker in these parts. He’ll find their trail.” Thorn stayed mounted, but never took his eyes off Adam.
After a few minutes, Adam turned. “Looks to be seven riders. Three of the horses are carrying light. Must be the women.”
Thorn nodded. “So it looks like we have four men to deal with.”
Adam led the way. Way too soon the sun dipped behind the mountains.
The farther they went, the drier Thorn’s throat got, the tighter his hands gripped his reins. With the darkness, they wouldn’t be able to follow the trail. Even Adam wasn’t that good. Keeping his eyes on the trail, Thorn prayed. God, please help us. Protect Sarah and Emma and Helen. If we can’t get to them tonight, please stand their guard.
They kept on for a while longer until Adam called a halt. “We’ll stop here, rest the horses. If there’s going to be an ambush tonight, this’ll probably be where they do it.”
Drew started to object, but Thorn shook his head. “They’re gonna be coming for us. Let’s fight it on our terms.”
The men unsaddled the horses and gave them some feed. Drew brought out the sack Linda had filled at the bakery. He pulled out sandwiches, then something bulky in a towel. He unwrapped it.
Even in the dimness, Thorn could see Adam’s grinning white teeth.
“You two can have the sandwiches. Just let me have that pie.” Adam pulled a large knife from the sheath at his side and cut a large chunk out of it. “Your wife make this?”
“Yeah.” Drew stared at the pie.
“Good thing you married her first, or I would’ve.” Adam chuckled, then took another bite. “When we get her back to Central City, I’ll expect another one of these.”
“When we get Helen back, you can have a dozen.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
Thorn wasn’t sure he was going to be able to swallow a bite.. He couldn’t lose Rose now. Or Emma. Both of them were so deep in his heart, he wasn’t sure he could survive the loss.
Adam stood and gathered wood. “We need to make a fire.”
“Won’t we make a good target for Snodgrass and his men around the fire?” Drew shoved the remains of their meal back into the sack.
“Yep, if we’re around the fire.” Adam dumped his armload of sticks. “Me, I plan to be far enough back, I’ll be able to shoot any varmint that gets too close.”
By the time the full moon lightened the darkness, the men had bedrolls spread out and stuffed with dry brush around the raging campfire.
***
Darkness shrouded the abandoned barn. Highlighted in the tiny shafts of moonlight slipping between the rotting wall boards, dust motes danced in the dusty air, teasing Sarah with their freedom. Helen, with Emma by her side, slept on a ratty blanket nearby.
Sarah glanced around the barn for what felt like the thousandth time. Had Thorn returned to Central City? Did he know they were kidnapped? Was he coming for them? What about Dougal and Kerr? Were they all right?
She swallowed back hot tears and dropped her head into her hands. Oh, God, please take care of Thorn and Drew, Dougal and Kerr. Protect them and guide them to us. Please, God.
As the minutes passed, Sarah stared through the dimness and tried to figure out a way of escape. If only they could push out the rotten boards and escape through the back. Sarah jiggled the hand shackles Stanley had clamped on her wrist. He had attached a chain to them, then wrapped and locked the chain to a post that held up the barn roof. He had done the same thing to Helen. Oh, poor Helen. Sarah’s heart ached for her sister-in-law and her brother. Their family was being torn apart.
Sarah had tried a couple times to loosen the pole. But every time she did, dirt and parts of the roof fell down on them. What was the good of getting the chains off the pole if the roof collapsed and trapped them? What would happen to Emma? What if Helen were hurt? That couldn’t happen. Drew deserved his future with Helen. And no matter what, she would see that they got it.
Voices filtered in from outside the barn. Sarah strained to hear but couldn’t make out what the men were saying. Then, the voices stopped, replaced by the sound of a horse’s hooves pounding, coming nearer.
Grasping her chain so it wouldn’t rattle, Sarah stepped over the litter-filled barn floor and leaned against the wall. In the faint light from the outlaws’ campfire, she saw four men standing. The men kept their voices low, then two of them mounted their horses. As they left, Stanley said something to Waller about somebody being dead before sunrise.
All at once, the muscles in her legs gave out. She dropped to the ground and bowed her head. Oh, God, help us. Please save us. You are our only hope. Please wrap your arms of protection around us. Please protect Thorn and Drew.
She rubbed the fingers of her right hand over her left, which had once been wonderfully bare, but now was surrounded by the ring of the man she loved. She closed her eyes. Maybe with morning, salvation would come.