“Why did he look at you like that?”
Caleb had no answer.
That night, someone burned Caleb’s barn.
Flames erupted shortly after midnight.
Juniper screamed inside.
Caleb raced out barefoot.
Mae followed.
Together they opened the stall doors.
Smoke rolled beneath the rafters.
A burning beam collapsed.
Caleb shoved Mae aside.
The timber struck his shoulder.
He fell.
Mae screamed his name.
For an instant she froze.
Fire.
Smoke.
Men shouting in her memory.
Owen’s hand around her wrist.
You’re useless.
You’re weak.
No one is coming.
Then Moses began barking.
Mae moved.
She crawled beneath the smoke, grabbed Caleb under the arms, and dragged.
He outweighed her badly.
She pulled anyway.
One inch.
Then another.
Her injured ribs screamed.
The hem of her borrowed trousers caught fire.
She slapped it out.
“Caleb!”
His eyes opened.
“Juniper—”
“She’s out.”
He coughed.
Mae dragged harder.
They collapsed in the dirt outside just as the roof caved in.
Sparks erupted into the night.
Caleb rolled onto his back.
Mae lay beside him.
For several seconds they simply breathed.
Then Caleb began laughing.
Mae stared.
“What?”
He turned his soot-blackened face toward her.
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you laughing?”
“You saved me.”
“That isn’t funny.”
“Little bit.”
Mae started laughing too.
It hurt horribly.
She laughed harder.
Then suddenly she was crying.
Caleb stopped.
Mae covered her face.
“I thought you were dead.”
He reached toward her.
Stopped before touching.
Mae saw.
She lowered her hands.
Then, very slowly, she took his.
It was the first touch between them she had chosen.
And because it was chosen, it meant more than any kiss could have.
At dawn they found the bottle.
Kerosene.
Wrapped around its neck was a strip of paper.
LEAVE THE COUNTY.
Caleb looked at it.
Mae said, “We go to the ranch tonight.”
He frowned.
“Your ranch.”
“The Drayton ranch.”
“No.”
“The ledger is still there.”
“And they’ll be waiting.”
“Yes.”
“That sounds like a reason not to go.”
She looked at the burned barn.
“They’re not afraid of me anymore.”
Caleb said nothing.
“They’re afraid of what’s in that box.”
He looked at her.
“And whatever is in there is bigger than Owen beating his wife.”
Mae nodded.
“Yes.”
They reached the Drayton ranch after midnight.
No moon.
Mae knew the servants’ entrance.
Caleb knew how to move quietly.
Moses, against all reason, followed them.
They crossed the orchard and entered through the laundry room window—the same window Mae had used to escape.
Inside, every hallway carried memories.
The dining room where Owen mocked her appetite.
The staircase where he once dragged her by the hair.
The parlor where Horace told her good wives learned silence.
Mae paused outside Owen’s office.
Caleb whispered, “You all right?”
“No.”
“Want to leave?”
“No.”
The door was locked.
Caleb produced a thin piece of metal.
Mae raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged.
“Cowboy.”
The lock opened.
Inside, Mae went immediately to the desk.
The drawer was empty.
Her heart sank.
“No.”
Caleb searched the room.
Mae saw scratches near the floor.
The safe.
Behind a framed photograph.
She pulled it aside.
