“I haven’t confirmed that yet,” Luke simply said, without elaborating further. Madelaine carefully felt underneath the thick layers of blankets for the leather binder in the hidden pocket in her skirt. It was still there. So, Luke truly didn’t know for sure who she was. “As for now, they will stay here until they feel better. She suffered a pretty bad fall, and there was a small wound. Evelyn tended to her; it didn’t seem serious, but we called for the doctor, nonetheless. You can never be too careful with head wounds. Maybe she suffered a concussion.”
“Have you spoken to Timothy yet?” James asked. As soon as Madelaine heard the name, she listened more closely. “Didn’t you say the shooting occurred near his ranch?”
Which Timothy were they talking about? Madelaine strained her ears to pick up as much as she could. Was it at all possible that this Timothy was her father’s childhood friend?
Luke didn’t reply.
Madelaine didn’t know what was happening there, but then Caleb spoke again, “I’ll go and check it out. We can’t be too careful after everything that keeps happening. This gang is getting more and more brazen. We need to be more vigilant.”
Madelaine’s head was spinning. Had she already found her father’s childhood friend? She needed to speak to him urgently.
“Maybe you can try and find out more about the girl before you get too attached to her,” suggested James. Madelaine’s patience with this obnoxious man began to boil over. She would have loved to jump up and tell him straight, just so he would stop accusing her of whatever it was that he wanted to accuse her of, but the current situation didn’t allow that. She literally had to bite her tongue not to burst out with an angry comment, which would immediately expose her as an eavesdropper. She didn’t like that, either.Please God, give me the strength to remain steadfast.
“You don’t need to worry about her, James,” Luke said with a firm tone, and in her imagination, Madelaine pushed a fist into the air for Luke defending her. “She is not your problem. She is mine. Her and the two little ones. They are safe here. I would never, under any circumstances, send a woman and two small children in the middle of winter out there without a roof over their head. They were attacked. Brutally. So, they are welcome in my house until they feel the need to leave.”
Madelaine appreciated the underlying warning in his tone, and James seemed to have understood it as well.
“It’s your house. I just don’t want you to get hurt. Let me know if I can help in any shape or form. I’ll be there, if you need me.”
“Thank you,” was all Luke replied.
Then, by the sound of the creaking door, Madelaine assumed that they were closing it again. She heard footsteps disappearing into the other room, and the voices were muffled again.
Madelaine carefully listened a little longer before she cracked one eye open.
They were gone.
Processing all this information, Madelaine began to think about making a plan, what she would have to do, and how to go about it. There were several different scenarios she could imagine, but the blazing headache made an appearance again, hindering her thinking. She massaged her temples, careful not to move the gauze where they had bandaged her head.
All of this was so exhausting.
Looking down at Belle and Simon, who both slept so peacefully next to her, Madelaine couldn’t help but want the same thing—to just fall asleep and not have to think for a while. To sleep through her banging headache.
Her hand wandered down to the pocket in her skirt, and she touched the leather binder containing her most precious belongings once again. She felt proud to have come up with such a simple way to hide it, and that it had actually worked, so far.As long as she had all the paperwork, everything else should just fall into place.
Simon stirred, mumbled something in his sleep, and turned around again, slinging his tiny arm around Madelaine’s waist. She pulled him closer and put her nose into his soft hair. Belle was still fast asleep on her other side.
Feeling their warmth seeping into her, she felt exhaustion take hold.
Maybe, just maybe, if she closed her eyes for just a moment, she would be able to relax a little bit and lose her headache. She needed a clear head to be able to come up with a good plan. She needed God’s guidance, so she prayed silently.
Heavenly Father, please help me find a way to handle this situation. Give me strength and courage to face these obstacles. Please, protect Belle and Simon from harm. Dear God, I need Your guidance, Your wisdom, and Your help.
Not long after that, she fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter Six
By the time Madelaine woke up a second time, she was alone in the bed. Simon and Belle were gone, and their empty spaces felt cold and barren.
Panic gripped her with full force, her eyes flew wide open, and she struggled to lift herself up off the bed. The pain in her head seemed to have subsided a little, so she shook her muddled head to clear the fogginess in her brain. Then she heard Belle and Simon cackle.
Madelaine saw a woman sitting in a rocking chair by the window, with both children on her lap. It appeared that she was reading to them in a quiet, gentle voice from the Bible about Noah’s ark, listing all the animals. Seeing Simon’s and Belle’s rapt faces, Madelaine was reminded of her mother, how she used to read to all of them. She missed her so much.
Madelaine swallowed the anxious sob that had crawled into her throat. The noise made the woman raise her head. Her beautiful face immediately broke out in a huge smile.
“Miss Peterson! How are you feeling?” she asked as she put the book aside. She gently put Simon, who was protesting loudly, back down. She rose and held Belle in her arms, bouncing her on her left hip.
Seeing the way she handled the children, Madelaine took a good look at this woman. She was pretty and appeared to be of a similar age, maybe slightly older than herself. Her long auburn hair was tied up in a thick braid, which casually fell over her shoulder, and her bright brown eyes expressed nothing but kindness.
