Elias wanted Clara and Samuel gone before sunset.
Clara refused.
Nathan suggested taking them to Red Creek under guard.
Clara refused again.
“This cabin is where Wade expects us to be,” Elias said.
“And Red Creek is where half his friends live.”
“Nathan can protect you.”
Nathan grimaced.
“One sheriff against Wade’s remaining men isn’t exactly an army.”
Clara crossed her arms.
“Then we stay together.”
Elias stared.
“No.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
“Clara.”
“You told me I was family.”
“You are.”
“Then stop trying to send me away every time family becomes inconvenient.”
“That’s not what this is.”
“It feels like it.”
Elias exhaled sharply.
“I am trying to keep you alive.”
“And I’m trying to keep Samuel alive.”
Nathan wisely stepped outside.
Samuel watched from near the stove.
Elias lowered his voice.
“Wade killed my father.”
“I know.”
“He drove Rebecca into hiding.”
“I know.”
“He threatened you.”
“I know.”
“Then why are we arguing?”
“Because you think protecting me means making every decision for me.”
Elias stopped.
Clara’s voice softened.
“I spent years having people decide where I could sleep, what I could eat, what work I was worth, whether my body made me respectable, whether Samuel and I deserved space.”
She touched his sleeve.
“I won’t let Wade decide where I live too.”
Elias looked at her hand.
Then at her.
“You’re stubborn.”
She smiled faintly.
“Family trait.”
They fortified the cabin.
Nathan stayed.
The three adults rotated watches.
For two nights, nothing happened.
On the third, the temperature plunged.
Samuel developed a fever.
Clara panicked immediately.
“It’s just a cold,” Elias said.
“Mother said that about Father.”
Elias understood.
He heated water.
Clara stayed beside Samuel.
By midnight, the boy was sleeping more peacefully.
Nathan took first watch.
Elias sat near the stove.
Clara dozed beside Samuel.
At two in the morning, Nathan whispered from the window.
“Movement.”
Elias stood.
Three shadows crossed between the trees.
Then four.
“Wade?”
“Probably.”
Elias woke Clara.
She immediately reached for the pistol Nathan had taught her to use.
Elias frowned.
“I still hate that.”
“Noted.”
Samuel woke.
“Is he here?”
Clara touched his face.
“I need you in the cellar.”
“No.”
“Samuel.”
“I don’t want you to leave me.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“You did last time.”
She pulled him close.
“I’m right above you.”
Elias opened the cellar.
Samuel climbed down reluctantly.
The first shot shattered the lantern.
Darkness filled the cabin.
Nathan fired through the window.
Someone outside shouted.
A second shot struck the door.
Elias moved low.
“They want us pinned.”
Clara crouched near the stove.
Smoke suddenly seeped beneath the rear wall.
Elias smelled it.
Kerosene.
“They’re burning the cabin.”
Clara’s eyes widened.
Nathan cursed.
Flames climbed the back wall.
“Cellar exit?” Nathan asked.
“No.”
“What?”
“No second exit.”
Clara looked at Elias.
“You built a cabin with one door?”
“It seemed sensible when nobody was trying to murder me.”
The rear wall caught.
Heat spread quickly.
Samuel screamed beneath the floor.
Clara moved toward him.
A bullet ripped through the wall.
Elias dragged her down.
“No!”
“My brother!”
“We’re getting him.”
Elias fired toward the window.
Nathan kicked open the front door and fired twice.
The attackers scattered.
“Now!”
Elias opened the cellar.
Samuel climbed out.
Smoke filled the room.
Clara wrapped a blanket around him.
They rushed toward the door.
A man appeared outside.
Nathan struck him with the rifle stock.
The man fell.
Then Silas Wade stepped from behind the woodshed.
He aimed a revolver directly at Clara.
“Give me the letter.”
Clara froze.
Elias raised his rifle.
Wade fired first.
Elias felt something strike his side.
He fell.
“Elias!”
Clara screamed.
She dropped beside him.
Wade approached.
Nathan tried to move, but another man fired from the trees, forcing him behind cover.
Wade pointed the revolver at Clara.
“Your mother should have stayed gone.”
Clara’s fear disappeared.
She stood.
Smoke rolled behind her.
Samuel clung to her coat.
“You murdered my grandfather.”
Wade smiled.
“Your grandfather ruined himself.”
“You murdered him.”
“He should have understood what happens when poor men challenge wealthy ones.”
Clara stared at him.
Then, unexpectedly, she laughed.
Wade frowned.
“What?”
“You still think this is about the letter.”
His face changed.
Clara continued.
“The judge has copies.”
Silence.
“The federal marshals have copies.”
Wade’s hand trembled slightly.
“Everything Mother protected is already out of your reach.”
“Shut up.”
“You burned letters.”
“Shut up.”
“You killed people.”
“Shut up!”
“And you still lost.”
Wade raised the revolver.
Samuel screamed.
A gunshot tore through the night.
Wade’s weapon flew from his hand.
He collapsed, clutching his wrist.
Nathan stood twenty yards away, rifle smoking.
Federal marshals emerged from the lower trail.
Behind them were six riders from Red Creek.
Wade stared in disbelief.
Nathan smiled.
“I sent word yesterday.”
One marshal restrained Wade.
The remaining gunmen surrendered.
Clara dropped beside Elias.
Blood darkened his coat.
“No.”
Her hands shook.
“Elias, look at me.”
He opened his eyes.
“You’re loud.”
She laughed and cried simultaneously.
“You’ve been shot.”
“I noticed.”
“Don’t joke.”
“Wasn’t funny?”
“No.”
Samuel knelt beside him.
“Uncle Elias?”
Elias turned his head.
The fear on the child’s face hurt worse than the bullet.
“I’m all right.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’ve done that before.”
Clara tore fabric from her skirt and pressed it against the wound.
Elias winced.
“Gentler.”
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve heard.”
The cabin was burning too fiercely to save.
Nathan and the marshals pulled Elias onto a sled.
From the trail, Elias watched flames consume the roof.
Four years of solitude disappeared into the winter sky.
Clara stood beside him.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Your home.”
Elias looked at Samuel.
Then at Clara.
He finally understood something.
“That wasn’t my home.”
She stared at him.
“It was a cabin.”
Her eyes filled.
Elias reached for her hand.
“Home is coming with me.”