After either seconds or minutes ticked by, Jules forced her feet to take her back to the window. She had to know where he was and what he was doing. It was worse to stand there, blind and clueless, than it was to risk him seeing her if he’d not moved from that spot.
Please don’t be there, she mentally pleaded, and then twitched the curtain aside. Her thundering heartbeat eased, and she took a long, relieved breath. Norman was gone.
Then she realized his truck was still parked in front of the house. Pushing the curtains farther apart, Jules frantically raked her gaze across the entire front yard. There was no sign of Norman. Her breath started fluttering in her throat as she hurried into the library. She ran to the window, not caring at the moment that he could see her through the gauzy curtains if he was there, and looked out over the side yard. It was empty.
If he wasn’t in front or the side, then he was in the back—where the kids were hiding. She ran for the kitchen as she pulled out her cell phone. Her hands shook as she tried to call, her fingers fumbling with too-small buttons on the cheap, prepaid phone. It slipped out of her grip and skittered across the wooden floor.
“Please don’t be broken,” she muttered, grabbing it from where it had come to rest against the hall baseboard. “Please, please, please…” Holding her breath, she pushed the send button and waited. When it rang on the other side of the call, she let out the air in her lungs in a woosh. Darting to the kitchen window, she caught a quick glimpse of someone rounding a corner of the barn before they disappeared behind the leaning structure. “Oh no…”
“Jules.” Theo’s gruff voice was the best sound in the world.
“Theo! Norman Rounds is here, and he knocked, but I didn’t answer, and now he’s roaming around, and the kids are out back, and—” She knew she was talking too fast, that Theo probably couldn’t even understand her, but she couldn’t seem to halt the flow of words.
“On my way,” he clipped, interrupting her. “Stay inside.”
“But—”
“Stay inside. I’ll be there in four.” He ended the call before Jules could argue again. It didn’t matter, though. Norman was out by the barn, and the kids were in the barn, so Jules couldn’t just stay inside and let the kids fend for themselves. Rushing to the back door, she started to push it open when she heard the rumble of an engine coming from the front of the house.
She hesitated for a second, but another glance didn’t show any movement from the barn, so she hurried back into the living room and peaked through the curtains.
The back of Norman’s pickup disappeared around the first bend in her driveway. Relief rushed through her body, leaving her feeling limp and noodley. Leaning against the wall for support, she watched for a couple of minutes, until she was sure he wasn’t coming back.
When the driveway stayed empty, Jules moved toward the back door again. It had taken so long that the kids were probably scared out of their minds, especially if they’d seen or heard Norman snooping around the barn. As she crossed the kitchen, her vision narrowed, growing gray around the edges, and Jules realized she was breathing in quick, short pants. She stopped by the back door, leaned her head against the cool glass, and took several deep breaths. She couldn’t let her siblings see her so obviously shaken up. Once she was breathing somewhat evenly and felt a little more under control, she shoved through the back door and took a step onto the porch.
There was a deep boom that Jules felt more than she heard, and the barn exploded.
She staggered back, her back bumping against the siding. Blinking, she focused on the barn—on what used to be the barn and was now a burning husk of a building. It didn’t feel real. Jules stared at the burning structure, unable to comprehend that it wasn’t a movie, that it was her barn that flames were eating, in her yard, with her brothers and sister inside…her brothers and sister…
Oh, God.
With a scream, Jules ran toward the fire.
She had to get them out. She had to save them. They were in the barn because she’d told them to go there, because Jules had thought it would be a safe place to hide, and now they were—No! She couldn’t allow herself to believe that. She’d get them out. She would save them. They would be okay. If they weren’t, if she’d torn them out of their previous lives, brought them here only to lose them all… Jules didn’t know how she’d be able to go on.
The heat was incredible. It reached out and pressed against her skin, but she still ran toward it. Every breath she took felt like she was setting her lungs on fire. The smoke was thickening, making her eyes sting and water and blur. As she ran, she blinked rapidly, trying to see, trying to make out any figures in the burning remains of the barn.