The sky was a dusky blue as night was not far behind and marred by the smoke, meaning there was no time to waste. They'd all brought buckets and any other viable containers down from the house.
As they neared the barn, James said, "I'll free the animals and then we'll see if we can get it out."
"James, no!" Mary shouted, not wanting him to risk his life for the animals, but he ran into the smoky barn, heedless of her objections for once.
Ruth and Kids' horses, the mules, and the goats that all shared space in the barn came breaking out, the horses and mules especially in a nervous state. The men grabbed them and tried to calm them down, which was no easy task while the women got the goats. James came out last, pushing Ruth's wagon out that he had filled with the farming equipment that was on the expensive side. He seemed fine if a little breathless. They then proceeded to tie the animals up and pull the wagon as far from the barn as they could.
Mary looked furious with her husband, but there was no time to talk if they were going to put the fire out. They'd all seen fires before and knew how to fight them. They formed a line with the women closest to the creek and they passed the filled containers along. They passed water until their arms began to ache.
Just as it was beginning to feel useless and a lost cause, Robert shouted, "Fire's out!"
There were audible sighs of relief and the line dispersed as they all went closer to see the damage up close.
Robert, Kid, and James were sweaty and sooty and smelled like smoke having been the ones closest to the blazes. The structure was standing but the inside was completely gone. It was rather like a fish that had been gutted, and a stiff breeze was probably all it would take to knock the fire-damaged walls over. It would have to be pulled down and rebuilt completely.
A fire in the barn didn't just happen with no lightening or lighting/heating of any sort. This fire was no accident and everyone knew it.
"This is my fault," Ruth said.
By the look on Anna's face she agreed with her even if she didn't voice it. Everyone else was quick to add their protests though.
"No, it's them blasted witch hunters', and if I find the person or persons involved, they're going to be wishing mighty hard I hadn't," James declared.
For once, Kid couldn't have agreed more with him. His eyes fell on Mark and he wondered if the arsonist was not among them, of course, that could have been his jealousy talking, but he certainly had opportunity and maybe even motive if he'd taken losing Ruth harder than any of them had ever thought. Still, Kid wasn't going to say it out loud, not until he had positive proof. It was just as likely the men who had blocked the church doors and he had to admit they were the more likely suspects. He planned on paying them all a visit tomorrow without Ruth's knowledge to get to the bottom of it.
"Maybe we should go ahead and leave," Ruth said. "They won't bother you if we're gone."
"You're not going to cut your visit short because of some cowardly scoundrel," her mother said. "This or anything like it won't happen again. Your brothers and daddy are going to keep a close watch on this place and catch whoever did this."
"And I'm going to do what I can too," Mark added more to Ruth than anybody else.
Kid put his arm around Ruth both to reassure her and to let Mark know any designs he had to comfort her on a more personal level weren't going to happen.
With that out of the way, Mary turned to James, hands on her hips, and said to her husband, "And you, James Stuart McKenzie, if you ever risk your life over something so stupid again, I'll… I'll," Mary sought momentarily to find a proper punishment to convey her anger and let him know she meant it. "I'll never fix apple dumplings again."
Apple dumplings were his favorite dessert. James fought to hide a smile, knowing it wasn't meant to be an amusing threat. He hugged her and she hugged back until her tears were under control then she stepped back to find an escaped goat gnawing on her apron strings.
"You even saved these sorry, good-for-nothing goats," she fussed as she freed her strings, but then she patted its head, meaning the goats were safe from the stew pot for a while yet despite her constant complaining and her chewed up hat.
"I'm just glad we ain't bought the seed yet," James said. "We're fortunate I had time to save what I did."
"Well, I better go before Momma begins to worry about me," Mark said. "Just let me know when you're going to rebuild and I'll be here to help. I might be able to house a goat or to for you in the meantime."
James slapped his shoulder warmly, "Thank you, son. That's mighty kind of you, but my mother don't use her barn much anymore, all she keeps is one mule, we can keep them there. I will take you up on your offer to help rebuild though. I'll go see what supplies I can get from the store tomorrow, but then the next day is Christmas Eve and Christmas. I guess that means we're looking at Friday."
"I'll be here," Mark promised before leaving.
Kid, Ruth, her parents, and Anna went back up to the house while Clyde and Robert hitched the horses and got ready to herd the other animals over to their grandmother's.
They all sat down weary from the event. Kid coughed hard likely from taking in too much smoke. Ruth didn't like the sound of it at all and brought him a tall cup of water from the kitchen.
"Thank you, baby," he said as he took the red clay cup from her. She stayed standing beside his chair and stroked the dark tufts of his hair, which seemed to soothe his coughing better than the cool water she'd brought him.
"I don't know if Ruth should be in a room by herself," Mary said slowly.
"Anna could move in with her," James pointed out.
"She could," Mary agreed, "but I'd feel better if her husband was in there with her."
James couldn't reasonably argue that Anna would be of more help than Kid if there were a more violent attack, so he relented. "At least until we catch the culprit."
They didn't know he had already spent last night and the night before in her bed. Clyde must have known, but he hadn't given them away.
"Her mother and I are just in the next room," James added. "We can hear anything that goes on."
On the outside it sounded like a reassurance that they would be near if there was any trouble, but it effectively killed any romantic notions they may have had.
"Her brothers and I'll also be patrolling the house in shifts. I know you like sleeping in late but you think you can take the morning shift?"
"Of course." He didn't mention except for that one morning he was always the first one up. He stood up, eager to get to bed before Ruth's father caused him to say something he'd regret and he thought his mother-in-law shot him a fleeting smile. Maybe helping to put the fire out had raised him a notch in her estimation. Whatever the reason for it, he was grateful.
After putting the cup away, he moved to the bedrooms with Ruth right behind him. The first thing she did when the door closed was to get on her knees at the bedside and he watched her lips moving in silent supplication. No doubt she was praying for her family's safety, but knowing her, she was probably praying for the crazed witch hunters too, for them to come to repentance. He readily admitted he'd rather see them on the other side of his gun first, proving the Lord had a lot of work left to do on him, but he couldn't help it. It wasn't a comforting thought to think that someone wanted to hurt his sweet wife.
The moon was full and luminous, allowing his eyes to search the hilly landscape for any prowlers. They would quickly learn there was more to fear from him than their imagined sorcery. His gun went from his belt to his hand. This would be the old black magic cast their way if they tried anything else.