Jed offered to stay for as long as was needed, and a couple of his friends agreed to as well. "Tim, and Edgar," the taller of the two big burly men from nearby Millcote said.
"But first we have to help Caleb. He's going to be devastated at the loss of Jenny."
"What happened?" Jed asked.
"They shot and killed her. She's out back."
"Oh Lord. We'll take care of her," Mr. Evans promised, fishing his Bible out of his pocket, and putting a comforting hand on Caleb's shoulder.
After some hasty introductions, she left Tim and Edgar to keep an eye on Alexander upstairs, while she looked around downstairs to survey the damage and supervise the clean up.
In no time at all, the men had rigged up a sturdy new back door out of some old timber from the barn, and fastened a new latch. By morning they had new shutters on the insides of all of the windows, and an impressive array of armaments. Several men patrolled outside the vicarage with their guns, and Jed's sister Sally had arrived to help with the meals and housework for both Sarah and Caleb at his own cottage.
Sarah was anxious to leave for the north, but she couldn't leave Caleb in his hour of need. She also couldn't let her brother and Pamela come back to a wrecked home.
She went from room to room in the house like an army general, looking for ways to keep them all safe. She couldn't help but jump every time she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.
Jed looked at her thoughtfully as she tried to get the drawing room back into some sort of order. "It's broad daylight, Miss. I doubt they'll try much now."
When she continued to look nervous, he gave a shrug. "All the same, I'll keep the men on the alert. We'll hide in the trees. If we see anyone suspicious, we'll challenge them," Jed told a weary Sarah, who had barely slept a wink all night.
When she was finally persuaded that the drawing room was once again in mint condition, she allowed herself to lie down with an exhausted Alexander. They had spoken little, merely labored side by side scrubbing and setting the house to rights.
She knew he blamed himself, could sense his palpable grief and fear. From his silence, she could also tell he was trying to work out some way of keeping her safe. She wondered how much he really remembered. If the attack, if any of those men, had jolted some memory from the past.
In a way she hoped it had, for at least they could know who to be wary of. But she was terrified he might try to exact revenge for the death of Jenny, which he also blamed himself bitterly for.
Even if he didn't go off like some sort of vigilante, she was sure he was going to insist upon leaving her. He would try to convince her it was for her own good, but Sarah knew better. They had sinned, it was true, but he was the other half of herself, and she could never rest if they were apart. Would never be able to stop worrying, fearing for his safety.
She lay in his arms, but found herself unable to sleep for all she was so bone-achingly weary. She watched over him as he slumbered, cradling him tenderly against her. He was her lover, husband, the father of her child, the man who completed her in every way.
Yet she had few clues as to who he really was. All she did know was that she was willing to fight to the death for him, though she had no idea what would happen to him if she were killed.
She simply had to get him to safety. He was relying on her, and she knew she certainly couldn't live without him. If he were killed, her life would be a barren wasteland she wasn't sure she could ever survive.
The afternoon passed by in a haze of pain as Mr. Evans buried Jenny in the nearby churchyard. Everyone in the district turned out for her funeral, for despite her sharp tongue she had been a kind woman.
Caleb wept on her shoulder throughout the ceremony, and Sarah felt woefully inadequate as she patted his back and tried to reassure him that Jenny would be most certainly saving a place for him in Heaven.
Sarah nervously scanned the crowd every so often, but none of the men from the night before did she see. She forced herself to go back to Caleb's to partake of the funeral baked meats, but after only half an hour Alexander stated near her ear, "You sound as though you're about to swoon. Come, my dear, it's time to go home."
Jed and his two friends escorted them back to the house, and organized the patrols for the night in conjunction with the men Geoffrey Branson sent.
Amongst them was tall, dark haired Malcolm, the magistrate's own son.
"I'm sorry to intrude upon you in your time of grief, Sarah, but I need to take depositions from you and Mr. Deveril." His gray eyes flickered over Alexander with evident curiosity and interest.
"I know. It's fine, Malcolm. Better you should ask us than bother Caleb at a time like this."