Chapter 8 - The Night the Barn Burned

Maeve woke to smoke.
Gideon shouted from outside.
“Fire!”
The barn was burning.
Maeve gathered the children.
Gideon fought the flames.
Then Toby screamed.
“Tess!”
Maeve turned.
Tess was gone.
She had run back for her stuffed rabbit.
Maeve entered the smoke-filled cabin and found her near the bedroom.
She carried Tess outside.
Minutes later, part of the barn roof collapsed.
The animals survived.
Most supplies did not.
Gideon found footprints.
Human.
Someone had set the fire.
Amos.
Maeve expected Gideon to ride after him.
Instead he stayed.
“You're not going?”
“My family needs me here.”
My family.
Maeve looked at him.
He seemed to realize what he had said.
May you like
Neither corrected it.
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