Patience had never experienced this kind of belonging before. She'd always felt like an outsider, even in her own family. She could see now—especially after talking with Jonah that first night on the trip—that her father's rejection had left a deep wound, one she'd tried to fill by marrying Michael, then with the thrill of gambling and the fierce independence of making her own way in the world.
But surrounded by the warmth andcamaraderie of the Coulter family, she’d found something she'd never dared to hope for—a place that felt like home.
When they finished cleaning up the meal, she started to exit the cabin with the others heading back toward the main house. When she realized Jonah wasn’t beside her, she turned to look for him.
He lingered at his cabin, his brow furrowed as he studied the wall behind the stove. "You all go on ahead. I'm going to seal around this pipe again, make sure it's good and tight."
"I could stay and help. If you’d like." She wanted to, but would that be overstepping the bounds of decorum? They’d been alone together a great deal while traveling, but that was before they’d been officially courting.
Jonah shook his head, his gaze meeting hers with an off-kilter grin that made her heart pick up speed. "I've got it. It's dirty work, and I don't want to mess up your pretty dress. I'll be at the house in an hour or so."
“Okay, then.” She looked away quickly, hiding the blush that heated her cheeks from his off-handed compliment. She’d worn the green paisley that set off her eyes.
She followed the others, stealing one last glance over her shoulder at Jonah's broad back as he knelt by the stove. She couldn't quite name the sensation that washed over her, but it felt suspiciously like the roots of love taking hold in her heart.
Back at Dinah and Jericho’s cabin, she helped the others put dishes and leftover food away, then swept the main room before peeking outside. Where was Jonah? Surely, an hour had ended by now. The sun stayed out so late in these summer months that it was hard to tell how much time passed in the evenings.
What else could she do while she waited?
Everyone else had drifted to their own rooms or gone outside to tend to chores. Maybe she should go to the barn and see if she could help. She wasn’t above mucking stalls or doing whatever else needed to be done.
When she stepped outside, the sky had grown duskier than she’d expected.
A scent tickled her nose.
Smoke.
She glanced up at the chimney. They’d not had a fire in the main fireplace since she and Jonah arrived back from Fort Benton, and they’d not lit one in the cookstove because they ate at Jonah’s new house.
No plume of smoke rose from either opening now.
Which meant…
Her heart thumped as she scanned the forest.
There. From the direction of Jonah’s cabin, a cloud of smoke hung low over the trees, acrid and heavy. A sudden, awful certainty filled her. Panic clutched her throat.
"Fire!" She spun and jerked open the cabin door again. "Fire at Jonah's place!"
She didn’t wait for a response—she’d yelled loudly enough to wake a hibernating bear. Instead, she turned and screamed as loudly as she could toward the barn. "Fire at Jonah's place!"
Then, she gathered her skirts and ran, her pounding heart matching the frantic rhythm of her feet. Behind her, shouts rang out as the Coulters sprang into action.
She didn’t wait for them. Every second mattered.Please, let him be okay. Please, let him be safe.
The smoke grew thicker as she neared Jonah's cabin, stinging her eyes and choking her lungs. Flames licked at the roof, the crackling and popping of the fire drowning out all other sounds. The heat hit her like a physical blow, stopping her yards away from the structure.
Several of Jonah's brothers had passed her on the way and reached the cabin before her. They circled the inferno, shouting Jonah's name, searching for any sign of him. But the flames had engulfed the entire cabin.
The walls collapsed with asickening crunch.
"Jonah!" She screamed, her voice raw with desperation. "Jonah, where are you?"
But there was no answer. No movement from inside. Nothing but the roar of the flames and the anguished cries of his family.
Then Jericho charged forward, just as Dinah screamed. “No! Jericho, no!”
He slowed as he neared the mass of leaping flames. The heat from them must be like a solid wall. Jonah’s oldest brother stared inside, raising his arm to his forehead, maybe to protect his eyes from the smoke. With the walls crumpled, he could likely see most of the space. He moved to the left, peering hard as he stepped around a flaming chunk of log. When he reached the corner, he turned and jogged the other way, still straining to see into the cabin’s skeleton.
