A Noble Groom (Michigan Brides #2)(94)

“The deer are in a hurry, aren’t they?” Gretchen bent to retrieve the apples that had fallen but in the process dumped more on the ground.

Annalisa looked up through the thick covering of trees. The sky had turned gray—the same dirty color as her washing water on laundry day. The heat was as stifling as it had been all summer. At least in the glade, the shade had provided some coolness.

“More story, Mama?” Gretchen straightened and followed Annalisa’s gaze to the sky.

Unease shimmied up Annalisa’s backbone.

But she peeked at Sophie asleep in her sling, then forced her attention back to the apple picking and the fairy tale she’d been telling Gretchen.

Suddenly the brush crackled again, this time with more force. And before she could grab Gretchen and run away, a hulking bear lumbered into the glade.

The words of the story died on her lips, and her heartbeat plummeted to a bruising halt.

“Don’t move,” she whispered to Gretchen.

The girl glanced up from the apples. At the sight of the bear she froze. Her face paled and her shoulders shrank, but she was obedient. She didn’t make a sound.

Annalisa had no doubt the bear was the same one that had tried to get her sow in the spring. She’d seen it a couple of other times from the distance when it had been fishing in the river, but she’d never been so close as now.

It lifted its black nose and sniffed the air. Then it tossed its enormous head, gave a grunt, and plodded away from them, in the same direction the deer had gone, as if there were a road winding through the woods that only the animals knew about.

Not until the crashing among the brush died away did Annalisa dare to breathe.

In the distance, above the wind rattling the dry leaves, she could hear Snowdrop barking. The dog’s yaps were urgent, almost angry.

Again the sense that something was wrong made a shivering trail up her back. And when a skunk waddled nearby, followed by four young ones, their tails up, their heads lifted high, each in perfect imitation of the other, an urgency pressed down on Annalisa.

She held herself motionless until the animals had disappeared. Then she sprang into action. “Come. We must hurry.” She grabbed the basket of apples, which was only half full. “We must go see what’s bothering Snowdrop.”

“Why are all the animals headed to the river?” Gretchen asked breathlessly, trying to keep up with Annalisa as she pushed her way through the thicket. “Are they having a party there?”

At Gretchen’s observation, Annalisa nearly tripped and fell. The girl was right. The animals were all heading south in the direction of the river. But why? What was happening?

She broke through the dense foliage and stumbled into the field of potatoes that was only half harvested. The air was thick with smoke that hadn’t penetrated the woods yet.

Had the barn caught fire again?

Her gaze darted to the new barn and then the cabin. Neither of the buildings were ablaze. In fact, the wind had died down. And except for the heaviness of the smoke, everything was calm. Too calm.

Except Snowdrop.

At the sight of her and Gretchen trudging across the open field, the dog broke into a new frenzy of barking. He strained against his frayed rope, pawing the ground, and jumping in the air.

Annalisa was almost to the cabin when a dusting of ashes floated down on her. She stopped and peered into the gray sky, curious at the strange precipitation. It wasn’t until she glanced over her shoulder to the west that her heartbeat stopped altogether.

Black billowing clouds were rolling across the sky, heading toward her farm.



For a long moment she couldn’t think, couldn’t move, couldn’t make sense of what was happening.

More ashes sifted down on her shoulders and arms and onto the ground. They covered the dusty brown with a thin layer of white.

The dark clouds weren’t the black smoke clouds that rose from fire, were they?

She wanted to shout a denial, but the evidence around her screamed the truth. The fires everyone had been talking about over the past week had spread. And they were now headed her way.

“Ach, Gott help us,” she whispered. What should she do? Where should she go?

She glanced in the direction of Vater’s home. Dirk and Vater had started harvesting Vater’s corn. Should she grab the children and head there? He’d know what to do to keep them safe, perhaps in his big underground root cellar. Or should she try to make it to the river with the animals?

The darkness was spilling in. The black smoke high above her began to cover the sun and cast a deathly pall over the farm.

A gust of wind blew smoke and heat into her face, stinging her eyes. She covered her nose and mouth with her hand to keep from breathing in the fumes.

She didn’t know how much time she had left before the fire spread to her land. And she couldn’t take the chance of making the trek to the river. She’d have to go to Vater’s. And they’d need to run.

“Let Snowdrop loose,” she yelled to Gretchen, starting toward the barn. She would free the animals from their stalls, but then they would have to find a way to survive on their own. Hopefully, like all the wild creatures they’d seen, their instincts would drive them to the river.



In the sling, Sophie began to fuss. “Your meal will have to wait, liebchen,” she murmured as she ran toward the barn.

The door was already open, and as she stepped into the calm she drew in a deep breath of the familiar scent of hay and horses. But then she stopped short.