"Who's there?" she called out.
As Emma stood with her mouth agape, three children crawled out from behind a wooden crate. Emma was flabbergasted. What in heaven's name were three young children doing out at this time of night, hiding in a stranger's shed? They should be home in bed.
"You gonna shoot us?" the middle one, a boy, asked. "If'n you are, I'm not scared."
Emma felt her lips curl in a smile, but she realized the boy was perfectly serious.
"I'm sure you wouldn't be," she replied, noticing the slight quiver in the boy's voice. "But I'm not going to kill you."
"See, I told ya," the largest of the three said.
"Who are you?" Emma asked.
The oldest boy made the introductions.
"Well, Joseph," Emma said sternly, "what are you doing hiding here?"
"We was ... we got tired, so we stopped for a spell--"
"Where are you going?"
The boys gazed conspiratorially at each other, then took the youngest, a girl, between them, each of them with an arm about her shoulders. "It don't matter. We'll be moving on now. We didn't mean no harm, ma'am. And we didn't touch nothing."
"Oh?" Emma asked, her gaze sliding to the middle child.. She'd noticed a few crumbs of what could only be her apple pie crust on his face.
The boy’s head dipped and he kicked his foot in the dirt. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he mumbled. "We was hungry after all that walkin'--"
"Let's go," Joseph said, making a move to go past her.
"You children are not going anywhere tonight," Emma said.
"We have to--"
"Do I have to hold you at gunpoint?" She tried to ask the question as sweetly as she could. She didn't want to frighten them, but she needed them to realize she meant what she was saying. "Because I will if necessary."
Panic crept into the children's eyes, and Emma noticed Joseph's face pale. "Uh--"
"Not another word. Come with me."
Emma stepped outside and waited, ignoring the wind whipping through the trees and the rain slicing through her thin nightdress.
"Now!"
As if they were being led to their execution, the three children filed out, Becky first, then Nathan, and Joseph last, carrying a feed sack. Those must be their supplies for their journey, Emma surmised, trying to prevent the smile she felt from showing on her face. By the size
of the sack, they wouldn't get far.
The children stood in the rain, waiting until she'd bolted the shed door, then followed her across the yard to the house.
When they were inside, Emma instructed them to remove their coats and boots while she went to fetch blankets to wrap around them. Nathan's lips were blue from the cold, and Becky couldn't seem to stop shivering.
"Joseph, you're the oldest, right?" Emma sensed that if she could get through to him, the other two would follow.
He nodded.
"Do you have dry clothes in the sack?"
"Yes, ma'am."