The man nearly fell from the saddle.

“Mr.

Pierce!”

Nolan ran outside.

“What happened?”

“Raven Hollow.”

Nolan’s blood turned cold.

“What?”

“Mrs.

Bell was hit over the head.”

Maribel came to the doorway holding Matthew.

The ranch hand looked at her.

Then at Nolan.

“

Grace is gone.

”

Nolan Pierce did not shout.

That frightened Maribel more than if he had.

He simply mounted his horse.

“I know where he’s going.”

“How?”

“The railway spur.

Midnight freight stops at Harlan Junction.”

Maribel handed Matthew to the ranch hand.

“Take him to Mrs.

Bell.”

Nolan stared at her.

“No.”

“I am coming.”

“No.”

“Nolan.”

“You just got your son back.”

“And Vale has Grace.”

“You could lose both.”

Maribel stepped closer.

“Then we don’t lose her.”

Something passed between them.

Six weeks of grief.

Six weeks of Grace sleeping against Maribel’s heart.

Six weeks of Nolan watching her become the center of his daughter’s world.

He nodded.

They rode.

Snow began again.

Harlan Junction was little more than a platform beside the tracks.

They saw Vale immediately.

He stood near a waiting carriage.

Grace was hidden beneath his coat.

Maribel heard her crying.

“GRACE!”

Vale spun.

He pulled a revolver.

Nolan stopped his horse.

“Put her down.”

Vale laughed.

“You have no idea what you’ve stumbled into.”

“I know enough.”

“You think those children were wanted?

Half came from women who couldn’t feed them.

Families drowning in poverty.

I placed them in good homes.”

“You sold them.”

“I saved them.”

“You stole Matthew from his mother.”

Vale’s eyes flickered toward Maribel.

“That boy would have grown up in a bakery behind a widow’s skirts.”

Maribel’s face became stone.

“Better there than in the arms of a monster.”

Vale lifted the revolver.

A distant whistle sounded.

The train.

He began backing toward the tracks.

Nolan dismounted.

“Nolan,” Maribel whispered.

He kept walking.

Vale aimed at his chest.

“One more step.”

Nolan took one.

Vale cocked the weapon.

Then Grace screamed.

Vale looked down.

Only for a second.

Maribel ran.

Vale fired.

The gunshot ripped across the snow.

Nolan staggered.

Maribel reached Vale.

She slammed into his arm.

The revolver fell.

Grace slipped.

Maribel caught her.

Nolan tackled Vale.

The two men crashed into the snow.

Vale clawed for the revolver.

Nolan reached it first.

He pressed the barrel against Vale’s forehead.

The doctor froze.

The approaching train thundered closer.

“Do it,” Vale whispered.

Nolan’s chest heaved.

“Go ahead.”

His eyes flicked toward Maribel.

“You think she won’t thank you?”

Nolan looked at Grace crying in Maribel’s arms.

Then he lowered the weapon.

“No.”

Vale laughed.

“You’re weak.”

Nolan grabbed him by the collar.

“No.”

He hauled him upright.

“

I’m going to make sure you live long enough to hear every mother testify.