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“Did you hear me? Wait until we’ve checked to make sure it’s safe.”

Lillian nodded but said nothing. They’d already discussed all of this, and she figured he was just reiterating due to anxiety.

When the house finally did come into view, Lillian couldn’t help noticing the boarded-up windows. Woody had told her about it, but seeing it brought tears to her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and gave Jimmy a smile.

“It’s good to be home.” She squeezed his shoulders, but he didn’t acknowledge her in any way.

Her heart clenched. Maybe she’d come to call this home too soon. Gotten too attached. The Colton men would never
love her the way they had Rebecca. Doubts poured through her mind. What had she done? Had she made everything worse? Why had Woody even asked her to be his wife?

Sam and the others appeared and did as Woody asked. While they searched through the house, Woody stood guard with the rifle he’d bought in town. Once Sam reappeared at the front door, Lillian climbed down from the wagon and reached up for Jimmy. He didn’t move for a moment, but just stared at the house.

“They’ve checked it all out, Jimmy, and it’s safe.” She hoped her voice sounded more convincing than she felt.

“I still think you should have stayed in town.” Woody shook his head. “I’m not comfortable with this.”

Lillian threw him a look. “I’m sure it will be all right. Come on, Jimmy. I need your help to make something for us to eat.” Finally he stood and moved to where she could help him down.

Woody came alongside them. “I want you to stay inside and lock the door. I’m going to help Sam check the immediate area, and then I’ll come join you.”

Lillian nodded and ushered Jimmy into the house. The torment in Woody’s eyes made her want to cry. All her selfish thoughts tumbled back in—how could she even think about herself at a time like this? God had brought her here. She’d agreed to marry Woody because she loved him. She loved his son. So she would do the very best she could to help them both, for the rest of her life.

A rumble of thunder drew her attention back to the sky. It appeared a storm was working its way toward them. “I think we should go and check on Mr. Whiskers. You know I asked Harry to watch over him, but I don’t know if he’s had a chance these last couple of days given the situation.”

Jimmy took off at a run for the kitchen, and Lillian followed close behind, praying that the little rabbit was still alive. Mr. Whiskers proved to be just fine. Jimmy picked him up and held him close while Lillian began to search the cupboards for something she might prepare. Much of the food items they’d had prior to Mrs. Goodman’s attack were gone. She smiled. No doubt Harry had helped himself as she’d suggested, but there was no sign of him otherwise. A horrible thought crossed her mind. What if this Longstreet fellow had hurt him? After all, the sheriff had said the man killed his cousin and brother. She shuddered. All she could do was pray for Harry’s protection.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY

T
he rain poured down on Harry as he watched Jimmy’s pa from the trees. He and his men moved around the farm grounds. They acted like they were looking for something, but he didn’t know what it was.

As Harry turned his head, the bruises on his neck and face hurt. Darwin had gotten mad at him and hit him, even though he showed his brother where the bags were. Harry didn’t understand. Why was his brother so mean?

It scared him.

It also scared him that he’d overheard Darwin say that he wanted Colton and the kid dead.

Colton was Jimmy’s pa. So that must mean the kid was Jimmy. Harry couldn’t let Darwin hurt them. But he didn’t know how to stop it.

“Aren’t you Harry?”

Harry startled. He hadn’t been paying attention and somehow Mr. Colton managed to sneak up on him. Brother told him not to talk to anyone or be seen by anyone. But Harry knew
it was too late to run away. Besides, Miss Lillian said that Mr. Colton was a really nice man.

Slowly standing up with the rain dripping from his hat, Harry looked behind him. Darwin hadn’t followed him this time, so maybe he didn’t know where Harry had gone.

“I’m Harry.” He looked at the man, then lowered his head just a bit. “You’re Mr. Colton. Jimmy’s pa.”

The man smiled, but it was almost a sad smile. “Yes.” He stuck out his hand. “I wanted to shake your hand, Harry. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

Harry looked at his raggedy boots. He’d never thought of one of his feet being wrong.

“I know that night you were just trying to get Jimmy to come back home, but I frightened you, and I’m sorry. I’m grateful that you helped Jimmy that night.”

Harry perked up at this. “Jimmy’s my friend.”

The man nodded. “I know, and I’m glad. Jimmy needs a good friend like you.” He smiled. “Harry, I also need to thank you for all you did to finish the irrigation ditch. That was a lot of hard work, and I’d like to pay you for your time.”

Harry reached out and shook Jimmy’s pa’s hand. “Oh, no, no, no. You don’t have to pay me. I did it as a friend to help. Miss Lillian was out here digging, and I just wanted to be nice because she’s been so nice to me.”

Mr. Colton laughed. “I bet that was a sight, watching Miss Lillian try to dig.”

The tension was gone and Harry giggled. “Oh, she looked really funny. She was wearin’ . . . pants.” He whispered the last word, then spoke up once again. “But she really tried. She’s just not as strong as me.”

“I can imagine.” The man put his hand on Harry’s shoulder.
“You helped save my olive crop, Harry. I mean it. We wouldn’t have made it without you. Thank you.”

“You are very welcome, Mr. Colton. Yep, yep, yep.”

Mr. Colton frowned and Harry stepped back. Had he done something wrong?

“Harry, why don’t you come to the house and get out of the rain? I’m sure Jimmy would love to see you.”

“I . . . I . . .” Harry looked around, still anxious that Darwin would know where he was. “I can’t.”

“All right. But since you’ve been around here, maybe you can help me. Somebody broke into my house and hurt Mrs. Goodman. She’s in the hospital now.” Lightning flashed across the sky, but Mr. Colton acted like nothing was wrong.

“Who would hurt Mrs. Goodman? She gave me a hug!” Harry had a bad feeling in his stomach.

“Someone beat her pretty bad after they dug around in our attic. That same person broke my windows. They were looking for something—a treasure that they’d hidden in my house.”

Harry thought he might get sick and squatted down. Oh no, no, no. That meant . . .

Mr. Colton crouched down next to Harry. “Have you seen anything, Harry?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. He wanted to help his nice friends. In fact, he was hoping to live with nice people like them after Brother left. They might let him live in the barn, and that would be so much better than the dark cave. Maybe he could tell them the truth. Maybe it would help them. Maybe Darwin could go away for good. “I don’t know for sure, Mr. Colton.” Rain mingled with tears to blur his vision.

“It’s okay. You can trust me. Just tell me what you do know.”

“But I promised.”

“Sometimes you have to break a promise to tell the truth. Is that what you need to do?”

Harry nodded and bit his lip. Mr. Colton was right. It was a bad promise he’d made to Darwin. Because it wasn’t the truth. He stood up, and Mr. Colton did, too. “My brother must be the one who hurt Mrs. Goodman and broke your windows.”

Mr. Colton’s face turned really white, and when the lightning flashed, it made him look mad. “Is your brother Darwin Longstreet?”

Harry lowered his face. Fear crawled up his spine. “Darwin is mean. He was in your attic looking for his gold. He wants all of it so he can go to Mexico.”

“Where’s Darwin now, Harry?”

Harry looked around for a minute. “I don’t know. He said he was comin’ here when the sun set. He told me to be here, too. Maybe he won’t come with all these people here. Maybe he’ll stay away until the rain stops.” He pointed up the hill behind the pond. “He comes that way and ties his horse up there, then watches until it’s safe.”

Lillian was busy at the stove when Woody entered the back door. She paused momentarily to look into his eyes. “Woody?”

He entered the kitchen and glanced to where Jimmy was playing with Mr. Whiskers. “I need you to go to town right now, Lillian. Fetch the sheriff, and take Jimmy with you. I’ve saddled a horse for you.”

“What? Why?” She dropped the towel on the table and started to untie her apron. “Won’t it be dangerous?” She paused lest she worry Jimmy. “I mean what with the thunderstorm.”

“I can’t explain now, but I ran across Harry while I was check
ing the grounds.” He held up his hands when Jimmy jumped to his feet. “Don’t worry, he’s fine. And I think I’ve figured out the rest of the puzzle. But I need you to go to town now. As fast as you can.”

He could tell by the look on Lillian’s face that she was beginning to understand. She nodded very slowly, then smiled at Jimmy. “Go get your boots on.”

Jimmy nodded and ran from the room. Lillian turned back to Woody. “Did Harry see something? Did he see Mr. Longstreet?”

“Darwin Longstreet is Harry’s brother.”

She went pale. “Oh . . .”

He nodded. “Harry said he was supposed to meet him here at sunset. I’m going to get my men, and we’ll hide out around the property. I told Harry not to tell his brother that we’re here. I don’t want him spooked off. Harry said he always comes from the hill just beyond the pond. That should leave you and Jimmy safe to ride to town. Once you’re there, stay there.”

She squared her shoulders as Woody had seen her do on many a trying occasion. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard. “Ride fast and don’t stop for any reason. The storm’s nearly passed and hopefully the ground will soak up the water, since it’s so dry.”

Lillian looked into his eyes and kissed him again. “Please be careful.”

The hours ticked by. The storm was long gone and the sun moved across the western sky. Soon it would be dark. Woody and his men had taken up positions all around the grounds to wait for either Longstreet or the sheriff. But neither had come. Woody tried not to worry, but he couldn’t help it. He tried to
pray, but all he could get out was, “Please God, help.” He hoped it was enough.

After another two hours a real sense of fear set in. Twilight had fallen, and it wouldn’t be long before the skies grew dark. That would make it hard to see Longstreet and Harry when they came. Woody told his men all about Harry and admonished them to do nothing that would cause the boy harm. However, if it was dark outside, it would be almost impossible to know who was who. Not only that, but worse still was the growing sensation that something wasn’t right. Woody felt it all the way to his bones. The sheriff had plenty of time to get here. Where was he? More important, where were Lillian and Jimmy? Had they run across trouble on the way? Had Longstreet somehow fooled them all and come from a direction other than the one Harry had suggested?

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY-
O
NE

W
ake up, lady. It’s time to go.”

Lillian struggled to open her eyes. Then the pain hit her. Her head hurt as if someone had hit her with the trunk of a tree, and her body ached from lying on top of the rocky ground. She sat up and realized her hands were tied in front of her and a kerchief had been placed around her mouth as a gag.

“Now you’re gonna cooperate with me,” the fierce-looking man declared. He yanked her to her feet. “Understand?” He pointed to the crumpled body of Jimmy. The child had been bound and gagged just like she was, but also blindfolded. He wasn’t moving, and Lillian feared the worst.

She tried to protest and edged toward Jimmy, but her words were nothing but garbled moans.

“The kid is fine, lady. But he won’t be for long if you don’t do exactly as I tell you. Now the sooner you get that in your head, the sooner we can get to work.” He smiled and leaned in, nearly sickening her with his whiskey-scented breath. “And
the sooner we get what I’m after, the sooner we can get back here to the boy. Understand?”

Lillian had no idea if Jimmy truly was all right, but she nodded. She couldn’t remember what happened, but she remembered riding hard and fast with Jimmy. They were going after the sheriff. The rain had made the road slippery. The horse faltered, and Lillian lost her balance. She looked at her captor, all of a sudden realizing who he was.

Darwin Longstreet grinned back at her. “I think you understand real good. Now come on.” He pushed her toward the mouth of the cave.

Lillian looked around, trying her best to memorize where they were and how she might get back to Jimmy. Longstreet had made a fire and lit several torches, one of which was near the entrance to the cave—or was it a mine? Hadn’t Harry said he lived in a mine?

Longstreet hoisted Lillian up atop the same horse she’d ridden earlier. She gripped the horn tight, fearful she might very well fall off. She glanced back in the direction they’d come and realized it was difficult to make out the light from inside the cave. It seemed Longstreet had created the perfect hideaway for himself. She worried about Jimmy and worried about what he would think when he woke up alone, blindfolded and bound.