Serendipity (41 page)

Ma sat in the shade of the sod wall, fanning herself. “There’s a fine line between faith in a mate and foolishness.”

Hands on her hips, Maggie demanded, “You’d best tell me this is some kind of Texas tall tale or jest.”

“I am serious as a heart attack, Margaret.” He flashed her a bolstering smile. “All you need to do is have the food ready.”

Pushing her hair back from her forehead, she watched him ride off on Axe and shouted, “That line Ma just mentioned? You’ve crossed it!”

Three hours later, she arched and rubbed her low back. “I bet there’s a special place in heaven for farmers’ wives who don’t strangle their men at harvest.”

Laughter surrounded her. Linette and her mama, and Sydney Creighton and Velma from Never Forsaken Ranch showed up as soon as they heard the news. Sydney tacked on, “It’s right next to cattlemen’s wives who don’t shoot their men during roundup!”

Every last pot, pan, kettle, and crock Maggie brought from Carver’s Holler now formed an arsenal next to the sod wall. Ma held Sydney’s baby and snapped out orders to anyone in earshot. Velma kept adding to a list of who would bring different dishes and what Maggie needed to do. Since Valmer Farm didn’t have a springhouse, Linette’s mama took home all the coleslaw, cucumber salad, and potato salad they’d made.

Pulling her nine hundredth loaf of bread out of the Sunshine oven, Maggie shot Linette a glance. “Don’t know why I bother with the oven – it’s so blessed hot out here!”

Velma fluttered the front of her bodice. “Days like this, I know just how a dumpling feels when it’s dropped into the soup. Sydney, I’m taking you and the baby home. Can’t risk little Rosie getting summer complaint.”

“Donnerwetter.”

Maggie wheeled around. “Todd! You surprised me. What’s a-wrong?”

“Donnerwetter. Thunder weather,” John translated from beside him. He kicked the dry ground in disgust. “All this humidity, and not a drop of rain.”

The men helped Sydney and Velma into their buckboard, though Ma didn’t want to give up the baby yet. “It is only right that I hold her while you put bread into some sacks and have Velma store them for us at the ranch. We have nowhere to put it.”

John gave Linette a stern look. “You’re staying here for supper.”

“Am I?”

“Yep.” He nodded.

“Well, since the place is turned upside down, there’s only a seat for one guest. It’s awful nice of you to let me take it.” Linette kept a straight face.

“You’re not.” John sauntered over to his horse and mounted up. “I’m taking it. You’re sitting on my lap.”

“John Toomel, I’m not that kind of woman!”

Taking a moment to adjust his eyeglasses, John seemed in deep thought. “You’re right, Miss Richardson. But since you’re familiar enough with me to use my first name, I suppose I’ll just sit on your lap.”

Maggie murmured in a conspiratorial tone to Sydney, “I haven’t had woman friends. Is there something I’m supposed to say right about now?”

“If you know what’s good for you, Magpie, you’ll let me take care of this.” Todd declared, “You’ll each have your own seat. Maggie is sitting in my lap.”

Both men left. Linette slid a flour sack filled with rolls into the buckboard and added another of bread loaves. Sydney got her daughter back, and they left. Plopping down on a bench, Linette wailed, “I’m doomed. I’ve eaten half the bread we baked today. If I ever sat on his lap, I’d break John’s legs.”

Maggie quickly handed her a handful of crumbs. “A man with a broken leg would be easy to catch.”

Ma pointed at a flash of lightning in the distance. “Two . . . three . . . four . . .” The air rumbled with thunder. “Four miles away. That is God laughing at us. Dry lightning.”

Another flash of lightning struck, so Maggie started pushing Ma’s chair toward the house. “We’d best get inside.” Halfway there, Maggie whooped as more thunder rolled. It covered the sound of the approaching wagon until it was nearly upon them.

“Fire!” Velma yelled, fighting to keep control of the horses. “C’mon!”

Linette and Maggie looked at an ugly bit of smoke in the distance. Without exchanging a word, they scooped up Ma and heaved her into the wagon. Sydney clutched her baby and reached down. Linette grabbed hold and jumped.

“Maggie!” Linette screamed as the wagon careened away.

“Maggie!” The sight of smoke way over on the other side of the Whites’ farm made Todd’s guts clench. Fire. On the prairie, fire was every farmer’s worst nightmare. Nearly impossible to contain, sparks jumped from one field to the next, one farm to the next, leaving entire communities as nothing but ashes. In no time at all, his farm would burn – but not until he sent Maggie and Ma to safety. Todd wheeled around and ran from the field to the sod wall.

Every pound of his foot, every beat of his heart drummed with desperation. As he rounded the wall, the buckboard clattered off. Ma was in the back, but what about Maggie? A breath later, he saw her on the other side of where the wagon had been. Instead of just standing there, she lifted her skirts up to her knees and sprinted toward the barn.

“Maggie!” Todd rushed alongside her. He swept her along, away from the fire. Nothing else mattered. Only his wife. He begged God with every shred of his being to save her. His stride was longer, but it had never taken so long to reach the barn. She’d never outrun a prairie fire, but a horse would carry her to safety.

“Ride Wrench!
Go!
”

Maggie had her fists fill of skirts, and she turned toward Wrench’s stall at once.

Assured Maggie would get away, he released Eve. Nuts and Bolts ran out, letting him know Maggie had to be mounting Wrench as he’d ordered. Adam didn’t need a crazy command. He bolted, too. Hammer ran through – but how had he gotten out? Todd bellowed, “Woman!
Raus!
Get out! GO!”

She had simple rope halters on Axe and Wrench. Todd threw her atop Wrench. “I love you!” He slapped the mare.

A well-trained gelding, Axe stayed just long enough for Todd to vault on. They followed Maggie, but only a short way. Turning for an instant, Todd saw the Whites’ fields going up in flames. Desperate after two dry years and poor crops, White had grown some of everything this year. And against all common sense and consideration, White worked his land right up to the fence. The extra-wide ring Todd plowed around his own fields to act as a firebreak wouldn’t be enough. One spark in the wind was all it would take, and there were millions. Spots of fire already began in areas of White’s cornfield – it and his wheat were all that stood between his and Todd’s place. In the distance, the church bells clanged wildly. Their sound would serve only as a warning. Men couldn’t put out a blaze of this magnitude.

My place next. Ours – Maggie’s and mine . . .
Every hope, every dream . . . But Wrench carried Maggie away. She was safe. So was Ma. That was all that mattered.

Todd found he couldn’t turn away from the sight. The fire moved fast. The sticky, heavy air of the day changed to almost blistering waves of heat. Smoke didn’t just rise – it sent a dingy cloud in every direction. Each second, the flames grew in intensity and scope, consuming more of the corn. White’s horses ran past in a blind panic. Todd prayed he’d gotten his wife and kids out.

The roaring wind would send countless sparks in a firefly-like plague. Valmer Farm was bound for utter destruction, even with the wide firebreak rings about their fields. It wouldn’t stop there, either. Fire would take John’s crops, as well. Then the next farm and the next, all with ripe crops that provided abundant, dry tinder and a landscape where wind would wreak havoc.

Todd said another prayer as he set into motion. There was no choice. He ripped off his shirt.

Speeding toward Maggie’s new stove by the sod wall, he scanned for something – anything that would work. One of the boards he used as a ramp to get Ma’s chair into the wagon – it would do. Todd grabbed it. Every heartbeat seemed an eternity as he opened the stove and wrapped his shirt around the end of the board. Knotting the sleeves to tighten it felt unbelievably difficult. He thrust the shirt end of the board inside where the fire was down to mere embers. How could time be so slow here, when in the distance the flames destroyed months of work in mere seconds? One bucket of water – he poured it over himself and his gelding, then a second. His bandana got soaked. Yanking it around, he covered his lower face. Scalding heat and smoke made it hard to breathe.

He’d never controlled a horse around fire. Everything in its nature – and his own – demanded flight. Todd gripped the rope with his right hand as his shirt caught flame in the oven. Firmly holding the board, he waited for a split second while Axe sensed his lead to veer to the right, then dug his heels in and shouted. His gelding tore off, carrying him on a mission of total destruction.

Lord God Almighty, keep Maggie safe, and help me!

Here, where Maggie brought him water so often, he touched down the makeshift torch and dragged it. All the way down the field, he set his own crops afire. Where Maggie spoke of the symphony of wheat, the wheat now caught and crackled with a sickening sound. Just a little farther . . . to the spot where he and John met for the first time. It was fitting. He’d give up everything he owned for his family and friends.

That was it. He shoved the remains of his torch into the stalks as behind him fire started licking at his barn.

Charred nothingness filled what had been an ocean of gold. Todd stamped out some glowing embers where his barn once stood. Tiny wisps of smoke spiraled into nothingness. From a distance, he could see Eve. It was a rare horse that would willingly go through ground still heated by a fire, but Eve would do anything for Maggie.

Raven hair tumbling down her back and looking like she wrestled a few dozen cougars, Margaret kept her shoulders back, her spine straight, and rode like a queen. She was the most unkempt woman he’d ever seen. And the most beautiful. Todd met her close to where the Sunshine stove still sat. Coated in ash, it would clean up and be perfect. At least she’d have that. And their cabin. Sliding off Eve and running to his arms, she chanted, “I love you. I love you. Praise Jesus.” She clung to Todd.

He smoothed hair back from her forehead. “I love you, too. We have each other. We do.”

“Yes. You’re okay. You’re really okay. Todd, we have each other. That’s all that matters.”

“But I have to tell you.” He inhaled deeply, his parched throat and aching lungs letting him know he’d survived only by God’s grace. “Margaret,” he rasped, “I did this.”

“I know. John and I saw.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Only the house is left. Everything, even the barn – ”

“You set it afire. ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ You risked your life and laid down our livelihood. My thoughts weren’t of what was to be lost – but of you.” Tear tracks ran down the ashy dust on her face. “My treasures are laid up in heaven, but my heart – ” She pressed her hand to the left side of his chest and patted. “My heart is here. As long as I have you, I don’t care.”

She knew he’d done it – and in her love, she looked past their struggles and saw only triumph. Everything they fought to achieve – he’d laid waste to it all. Todd did what he had to – and when she quoted the Scripture, he knew she understood. They were of one accord. The fire took away things – but it couldn’t touch them.

Jakob Stauffer and John walked up.

Todd extended his hand. They shook, but no words needed to be said. It was finished. But it had stopped on his land because of the backfire he created. His sacrifice meant the others would keep their lives, their homes, their livelihood.

“Ma’s fine. She’s with Velma, and they’ll take care of her for as long as you need.” Linette slid off Wrench. Disturbed by the scent and heat, Wrench danced a little. John grabbed her halter.

Big Tim had ridden alongside her. He thrust a canteen at Todd.

Todd gave Maggie the first sip, then took a swig himself. Finally, he rasped, “Your story, Margaret. This is a story for generations to come.”

His words drew everyone’s attention to her legacy. “God used the rose bed as a firebreak,” Linette said in awe.

“And the sod wall,” John said. “It funneled the wind.”

Linette grabbed Maggie. “You didn’t quit. You replanted, and it saved your home.”