but the red spikes of his hair stuck out from under the brim like straw.
“I’ll finish up the washing if you want to go inside and tend to Lucy.”
“You’re a thoughtful boy, Red.” She had to reach up to pat his cheek. At the beginning of summer he’d been no more than half a head taller than she was. “It would do Matt good to get out of that room and get a breath of air.”
With each step across the yard, she said a prayer that Lucy would be better, that the pink would be restored to her cheeks and the water in the glass beside her bed would be empty.
“Company’s coming!” Red hollered.
Emma whirled on the top step of the porch. Company or a killer?
She shaded her eyes from the glare of the morning sun and squinted at the line of dust approaching the homestead. After a moment the painted wheels of the Sizeloffs’ wagon rolled into view.
Her heart rolled in her chest. Just behind Rachael, cradling baby Maude in her arms, Charlie jumped and waved.
Praise and glory! At the back of the wagon, a horse was tethered.
“Pearl!” Emma shouted. She raced down the steps without feeling them.
Red dropped his stirring paddle and ran past her. He whooped and whistled, running and waving his arms. His hat blew off his head and bounced in the dirt. The screen door banged closed, but she didn’t look back to see who had come out.
From a hundred yards off Pearl lifted her nose in the air and whinnied.
“I’m here, Pearl! I’m coming!” Emma’s skirts tangled about her ankles. She grasped the hem and yanked it up to her knees. Decorum had no claim on her when her beloved Pearl had come back from the dead.
Charlie untied the lead securing Pearl to the wagon. “Go on girl, you’re home,” he called out.
Free of the fancy-wheeled wagon, Pearl trotted in a circle. She lifted her nose to scent the air, then pranced toward Emma.
“Oh, you wonderful horse.” She touched Pearl’s neck with splayed fingers. When she didn’t find any burns or injuries she hugged tight with both arms. “You good, brave friend.”
“Her mane’s singed a bit,” Billy announced, squeezing between Emma and Red and running his fingers through the dirty mass. “Her tail took the worst of it, but she seems whole enough.”
“God be praised!” Emma heard Rachael declare, climbing down from the wagon. “We didn’t know what to think when your horse showed up at the livery alone and singed.”
“It was past dark when she wandered in,” Joseph Sizeloff said, hurrying after his wife. A smile of relief shone out from under his mustache. “Jesse searched every shop and decent place in town.”
“When Lenore Pendragon told him that her father had left you to perish out on the road we all thought the worst.” Rachael gathered her tight in one arm. Little Maudie squeaked between them. “Praise be is all I can say.”
“Poor Jesse is out there searching the burned areas right now,” Joseph said. “Woody Vance, too.”
“The town’s abuzz over the matter, and that’s a fact,” Charlie stated, wiggling and hopping, apparently eager to be a part of Emma being found safe at home.
Princess and Fluffy bounded out of the corral. They ran in circles barking at one thing, then another. They spotted Charlie, charged and toppled him with their jumping.
He began to wrestle, rolling on the ground and laughing when suddenly he looked up with a frown. “Where’s Lucy?”
“She’s inside with Matt,” Emma said. “She’s not feeling well.”
“Been heaving her stomach all night long.” Red yanked a pup off Charlie and pointed for it to scoot back to the barn.
“I’ve never tended a child so sick of a stomach complaint.” Pearl chuffed at Emma’s ribs. She stroked the horse’s long jaw. “We’re about to send for the doctor.”
“Come on, Pearl.” Billy took her tether. “Let’s get you something to eat and give you a good look over while the women see to Lucy.”
“Would you look at her, Rachael?” Emma asked. “I’m worried that this is no common ailment.”
“Can I come, too, Ma?”
“Not this time, son.” Rachael handed the baby to her husband. “You wait here with your pa until we know what ails Lucy.”
A shiver of unease crept up Emma’s spine. Rachael Sizeloff, an experienced mother who had prayed at the sickbeds of many people, didn’t want Charlie to come near Lucy.
Oh, mercy! Emma led the way up the steps to the house and across the porch. She prayed that the