"Thought you could handle them alone, sis?" Tim called out with a grin as he swung down from his horse.
"Got a little lost on the way," David yelled, tipping his hat.
"Looks like we're just in time," said a third, the group forming a solid line in front of the barn door, which was the only way to get to Deborah.
With the support of her kin and community bolstering her courage, Deborah straightened. She met the last man’s gaze once more, feeling the shift in the air. They were no longer alone, outnumbered and outgunned. They were backed by the very people who made their lives here worth fighting for.
"Seems you've got company," Deborah called down to the man, her voice steady.
"Looks like the odds aren’t in your favor any longer," Adam added, cracking his knuckles.
Even their pastor, her sister Hannah’s husband, was there. “On your knees!” he shouted to the last of the outsiders.
The outsider hesitated, glancing around as he took in the sight of the assembled defenders. All of his comrades on the ground around him. Deborah could feel the tide turning, the balance shifting as her loved ones stood ready to protect one of their own.
He looked at the pastor, and slowly dropped to his knees, his hands in the air. He knew he was beaten.
The air crackled with tension, the summer heat doing nothing to quell the fire that burned in each person's gaze.
"Law's here!"
Everyone froze, turning toward the new arrival. The sheriff, badge gleaming in the sunlight, sat atop his horse, a posse at his back.
"Alfred Kinkirk, you and your men are under arrest," the sheriff announced, his voice booming across the field.
A collective breath seemed to be released as the outsiders weighed their options, clearly outnumbered and now outmaneuvered by the law itself.
"Looks like we got here just in time," the sheriff said, tipping his hat at Deborah who was still in the hay mow.
"Seems so," Deborah replied, her chest heaving with the adrenaline of the moment. “I’m coming down.”
"Is this the end of your troubles, Miss Deborah?" the sheriff asked, eyeing the bruised and battered woman before him.
"I sure hope so," she said with a cautious smile.
