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  “You’ve been followed, and it might be a bit serious.”

  Pa leaned against the door, disbelief pouring from him like a swollen water hole.

  “Do you want to take a look at the tracks or blow a hole through me?”

  Serena held her breath. Chet spoke calm, quiet-like, causing her to shiver. He had yet to glance her way, but then again, she didn’t expect him to.

  Pa licked his lips. “You’d best not be lyin’ about this.”

  “I don’t have a reason to.”

  “All right, show me. Serena, get my rifle and boots.”

  She felt riveted to the wooden step beneath her feet, but a second look from Pa spurred her after his things. A moment later she emerged from the cabin to see Chet had dismounted and tied his horse to the hitching post. Still, he avoided her.

  “Let’s see those tracks and hear you out before you get going,” Pa said, reaching for the firearm and his boots. He glanced back at her and scratched his stubbly cheek. “You wait inside.”

  “Pa…”

  “Tend to breakfast, Little One. This ain’t easy for me either.” His gaze softened before he turned and ambled toward Chet.

  Resigning herself to obey, she allowed one glimpse of Chet’s face. She met his smile and saw the love she’d dreamed about every night since she could remember. Her spirit soared, and without a word, she whirled and walked inside.

  Ma stood in the cabin, still dressed in her nightgown, sleep etched on her face. “Chet’s here?” she asked, combing her fingers through tousled brown hair.

  “Yes, ma’am. He and Pa are talking outside. Not all of it about me. Chet said someone trailed Pa here last night and—”

  A rifle shot split the air. Serena’s gaze flew to her ma’s. Color drained from her face, and Serena felt her heart seemingly leap from her chest. They scrambled through the door. Fear for Pa and Chet ran deeper than anything awaiting them.

  Not forty feet from the cabin, Pa lay on the ground, one hand clutching his side and the other wrapped around his rifle. Blood oozed through his fingers, forming a crimson pool beside him.

  “James, no!” Ma’s screams pierced the air.

  Serena lost any thoughts of danger, and despite her ma’s and both men’s protests, hurried to his aid with her ma close behind. She and Serena bent behind his head and each grabbed under an arm to pull him from the blood-caked earth toward the cabin.

  With one hand on his rifle, Chet peered in the direction of the barn and helped drag Pa on to safety. Another shot clipped Pa’s leg.

  “We got you, Talbot,” a man’s voice called in a heavy Mexican accent, “right where we want you.”

  Raucous laughter rang from the barn, enough to tell Serena more than one man lay in wait. Terror ripped through her body. For a moment it paralyzed her thoughts, except for a need to help get her pa inside. She caught his dulled gaze before he closed his eyes with the pain obviously wrenching through his body.

  Chet snatched up a pistol then his gun belt and powder horn from his saddle. He fired again just before another shot zinged over his head. Stepping inside the cabin after Serena and her ma, he slammed the door shut.

  Ma gathered up clean rags and pressed them against Pa’s side. “It’s gone clean through,” she said, her features rigid and her hands trembling. “Good, I guess…no bullet to remove.”

  Serena lifted her pa’s rifle from his arms and laid it on the table. “His leg’s not bad, Ma. I’ll wrap it.”

  “Cursed bandidos,” Pa managed, biting his lower lip. “We should have chased them into Mexico and ended it.”

  “They’ll wish they’d stayed there by the time I’m finished with them,” Chet said, staring out the window. “I counted three of them, Cap’n.”

  Ma used her apron to wipe the sweat trickling down Pa’s face. She took a clean piece of muslin from Serena and dabbed at the blood running down his leg. “Who are they?” Ma asked.

  “What’s left of a murdering bunch we chased across the Rio,” Chet replied, searching the area between them and the barn.

  “We got two bloodthirsty Texans,” the unseen man called out, his boasting echoing around them. “You both come out and the women go free.”

  “Do they think we’re stupid?” Serena asked, picking up Pa’s rifle and toying with it in her hands. God, help us. I’m scared, real scared. Bloodstains on the wooden floor tore at her senses.

  “Give me my rifle,” her pa said, his words raspy and labored. He lifted his arm, but his strength failed him.

  “No,” she replied, feeling a strange mixture of anger and courage. “You aren’t in any shape to help Chet. Besides, I’m a ranger’s daughter, and I know how to use this.” She turned her attention to Chet and hoisted the rifle into her arms. “Pa knows I’ve beat him a time or two at target practice.”

  “Sere—” But Pa couldn’t finish. He’d passed out.

  “All right,” Chet began, still keeping watch through the window. “We can handle this. Mrs. Wilkinson, I need you to keep the guns loaded for Serena and me. Looks like three apiece.” He glanced about him. “Do you know how to measure the powder and load them?”

  “Yes,” Ma managed, not once taking her sights from Pa’s face. “I…I can keep them loaded.”

  “Serena, take the window in the other room.” He motioned to Ma and Pa’s bedroom. She grabbed a pistol. The two guns were heavy, but at least she knew how to use them.

  “What do you think they will try to do?” she asked.

  “Shoot at us until they get tired, then most likely set fire to the cabin.”

  Her gaze swung in his direction. “So what do we do?”

  “Prayer would help.” The look he gave her pointed to the seriousness of their position.

  Another rifle shot pierced the air and lodged in the side of the door. Thankfully, Pa had insisted on a heavy piece of wood.

  From her position, Serena saw Chet haul a chair across the floor to the window and balance one of the rifles on it and through the window. Snatching off his hat, he propped it atop the trigger.

  “I’m going out the back,” he said, grasping a loaded rifle and a pistol. “Keep ’em busy.”

  She nodded while a hundred warnings darted in and out of her mind. She tried to pray, but all she could muster was a plea for deliverance.

  Serena’s mind raced. Lord, I’ve never shot a man before. It’s killing, but if I don’t, they’ll kill us for sure. Meeting her ma’s gaze, she saw fathomless sorrow. Regret. Fear. Both of them had jobs to do. Help us, she prayed repeatedly. Pa looks terrible, and he’s losing blood. Ma’s as scared as I am. Lord, keep us safe. I can’t do this without You.

  “Go, Serena,” Chet instructed, touching her arm. “Time’s wasting, and we don’t know what they will do next.” He followed her into the bedroom and pulled back the tiny flowered curtains she’d help Ma sew. “You have a clear shot of anyone coming out the barn. Don’t be afraid to hit them.”

  She swallowed hard. An attacking boar looked a whole lot different than a man. Serena and Chet bent beneath the window, so close she could feel his warm breath against her face. Another time, another circumstance, she’d have welcomed his nearness.

  “Serena,” he whispered, “we only have a few moments, but something needs to be said.”

  She tore her concentration from the barn and into the beloved face of her ranger. Biting her lip to keep the tears from overcoming her, Serena waited for him to speak.

  His finger traced her lips. “So many things I’d like to say, but I can’t. Pray without ceasing—like the Bible tells us to do. I love you. No matter what happens, remember that.”

  “I love you, too,” she murmured. “God will deliver us. I know He didn’t bring us together to die today.”

  He cupped her chin in his hand as if memorizing every feature about her. His ineffable glance spoke volumes. “Do not let them take you or your ma,” Chet said with deadly gravity. “I have an extra pistol.” He pulled the gun from his side. “If they g
et inside…use it on you and your ma. Don’t let them take you….Promise?”

  She hesitated. Taking her own life and Ma’s went against God’s commands. How could this man of God ask her to do such a terrible thing?

  “I’ve seen what they do to women,” he added, as though reading her frenzied thoughts.

  And she clearly understood his meaning. “I’ll do my best.”

  “You have a special strength, Serena, one God doesn’t give everybody. You are going to need it.”

  He touched her lips with his and offered a faint smile. Without another word, he left her alone to ponder what manner of sin she dare commit—murder those men in the barn or take her and Ma’s life. Confusion and fear raged through her, leaving her stunned and cold. Your will, Lord. Whatever You want of me, I’ll do.

  She watched the empty barnyard, blinking back the stinging tears. Chet loved her, and if she died this morning with him, the thought would help her take Jesus’ hand into eternity.

  The rooster took his station on top of the well, calling in a new day. Then it grew quiet, not like other mornings. Pa had always said the waiting proved to be the hardest. He’d spoken the truth.

  “We smoke ’em out,” a voice called, breaking the stillness, “kill rangers and have women for ourselves.”

  Chapter 9

  Serena aimed the rifle and fired into the dark shadows of the barn in reply to the Mexican’s threats. She laid the firearm aside and snatched up a loaded pistol. Glancing at the one left by Chet, she shuddered. For Ma and me. She refused to let it happen.

  Within moments, her ma had carefully measured the gun powder and slipped a bullet into the rifle. Laying it on the floor beside Serena, she stared at Pa, still unconscious.

  “How is he?” she asked, studying what she believed to be the figure of a man lingering close to the barn door.

  “He’s doing fine for right now. When this is done, you and Chet can help me get him into bed.” She sounded more optimistic than Serena knew Ma truly felt.

  “Good. Soon Chet will have them sprawled out there in the dirt.”

  “Serena, I’ve never heard you talk this way,” her ma said, shock edging her words, “but…in all the nineteen years your pa and I’ve been married, we’ve never had danger at our door, either.”

  Serena refused to let her emotions overrule good judgment. “All I know is we have to stop those men out there.” She stole a glance at her ma. Nothing else needed to be said, for reality cut deep.

  Ma nodded and paled again. “Praise God, your pa taught you how to shoot. I wish I’d taken the time to learn. Then I could do my share now.”

  Serena steadied the pistol. “Simply keeping these guns loaded is help. And please pray I won’t lose my nerve when the time comes, ’cause I’m scared.”

  Ma brushed an errant strand of hair from Serena’s face and tucked it behind her ear. “I will…I am, but you’ll do just fine. I’m sure of it.”

  “Thank you.” Serena waited for a wave of emotion to pass. “I love you, Ma. We’ve had lots of good times together, haven’t we?”

  Ma nodded, sorrow etching her smooth features, and her hand touched Serena’s arm. “And we’ll have years more. Someday your babies will crawl on my lap, and I will tell them what a beautiful, brave mother they have.”

  “And how I spent my eighteenth birthday? This isn’t how I pictured today.” She nodded toward the cook fire. “And would you look at breakfast? The eggs and bacon have burned.” She wanted to make light of their precarious situation, but instead tears stung her eyes, and she hastily wiped them away.

  “I’m proud of you,” Ma said, ever so gently. “We’ll make it through this thing…and work out your and Chet’s problem, too.”

  Before Serena could reply, movement from the side of the nearest corner of the barn caught her attention. At first she thought the figure to be Chet, but the man wore a sombrero.

  She stared at the far corner, where a second man, dressed like a Mexican but more closely resembling an Apache, studied the cabin. Chet had said three men followed Pa. Then she saw a third lurking inside the barn, near the entrance.

  Dear Lord, I’m so scared, but I can’t let them get to the cabin.

  She realized then what they planned. She figured while the two men rushed and covered the man in the barn, he would head for the cook fire and a burning log. In the dry heat, he’d toss the log through a window. A simple plan for three ruthless men who thought they dealt with one badly injured ranger and another single man. A lot they knew about the women inside. If only she knew what Chet wanted her to do. But what God wanted of her ranked even higher. The Indian raised his rifle.

  “They’re coming,” she said, wanting to shout. Her heart pounded more fiercely than before, and she clenched her fists in an effort to dispel her shaking hands. Every breath became a prayer.

  “We have God on our side,” Ma said, “and He does not forsake His own.”

  Serena refused to think of Goliad and the Alamo. The brave men who died at the hands of the Mexicans believed God had been on their side, too.

  “Yes, of course we do,” she replied.

  Raising the rifle, she took careful aim at the man wearing the sombrero, hoping Chet had his sights on the other. The Mexican stepped into the sunlight. He made a dreadful mistake.

  He raised his pistol. She held her breath and squeezed the trigger. The two shots fired simultaneously, but the Mexican fell. Still holding her breath, she wrapped her fingers around the pistol and moved to the other window, where Chet had leaned his rifle to look like another stood guard. It occurred to her then. Chet only had one rifle.

  Another shot fired, and the Indian fell. The third man stole around the barn entrance in the direction of the fallen Apache. Serena didn’t see Chet, and a new set of tremors raced up her spine.

  The third man stood in the clearing for a mere second before chasing around the side of the barn. Serena could wait no longer. Unlatching the door, she hurried outside. The man must have sensed her, for he whirled around, pistol aimed.

  With a loud groan, the man fell face down with a knife in his back. Chet raced toward her.

  “You crazy girl,” he said, his voice hoarse. “He would have killed you.” He caught her and pulled her into his arms.

  Serena could not hold back the sobs. “I was afraid he’d shoot you. And you lied to me; you only had the rifle. I couldn’t sit by and do nothing.”

  For several long minutes, he held her and stroked her hair. “It’s all over now, sweetheart.”

  Finally he released her and they looked behind them. The men were dead; no doubt entered her mind. Reality sickened her at what she’d done…they’d done. Chet stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the fallen men.

  “Let’s go see about your pa,” he said, slipping his hand around her waist and urging her to the cabin. “You’re still shaking.”

  She nodded, unable to speak until she garnered enough breath to calm herself. “I feel horrible, dirty, and yet relieved,” she said.

  He brushed a kiss in her hair. “I know. I feel the same way each time I finish a job. You did real well, Serena, but you have to put it past you. Think about what they’d done if you and me had not stopped them.”

  “Oh, Chet, I know, and I’m grateful God spared us.” She took another glance behind them. “Would you pray with me?”

  He turned her to face him and grasped both of her hands into his. They bowed their heads; even so, tears still trickled down her cheeks.

  “Thank you, Lord, for delivering us from those men,” Chet began. “They won’t be hurting any more folks. Lord, I still don’t understand the ways of war, but I know You protected us today just as You have done for me many times before. The cap’n is in bad shape, and we ask Your healing powers to mend his body. Amen.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, gazing into his treasured face. “I think we need to give them a proper burial.”

  “I will,” he said firmly, “right after we chec
k on your pa.”

  Hand in hand they walked into the cabin where Pa had gained consciousness. His head lay in Ma’s lap, and she held his face in her hands. His side had been bandaged, but his leg still needed doctoring. The agony of pain layered lines upon his face, causing him to look years older.

  “Go ahead and tend to my leg, Rachel. It won’t get any better like it is,” he said through a labored breath.

  She bent and kissed his brow, then glanced up at Serena and Chet. “Would you bind it? I don’t want to let him go.” Ma picked up his hand and wrapped her fingers around it, her lips braving a tender smile.

  Together Chet and Serena cleaned the wound and bandaged it. Pa said nothing but gripped Ma’s hand all the harder.

  “There, it’s done,” Chet announced. “What do you say we get you into bed?”

  “Not yet,” Pa said, wetting his lips. Perspiration dotted his brow. “Let me rest just a minute. Besides, there’s a thing or two I need to say.”

  Serena suddenly grew numb. Surely Pa would not run Chet off after he’d saved their lives.

  “Chet, you saved my family today,” Pa said, struggling with each word. “And I owe you.”

  “I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done for me.”

  “I know, but you and I haven’t been on the best of terms lately.”

  Chet kneeled on the floor beside him. “Just some misunderstandings, Cap’n. We can put it behind us.”

  “Guess we can.”

  “You’d be proud of Serena. She got one of them,” Chet replied, placing an arm around her waist. “I couldn’t have licked them without her.”

  Pa attempted a smile. “She’s a ranger’s daughter…and I reckon…” His face distorted in pain, and he paused before speaking again. “She’ll make a fine ranger’s wife.”

  Serena gasped as the words graced her ears. “Oh, Pa, do you mean it?”

  “Don’t think I have much choice. You already know how hard this life is; I won’t be disguising it.” He grimaced and sucked in his breath. “Both of you got the best, so I’m giving you my blessing.”