"But--"
"I appreciate your help with them last night, but this is my business."
"That's the most ridiculous reasoning I've ever heard. It doesn't make sense."
"It doesn't have to. They're my children, and I'll do what I think is best for them."
"Even if it destroys them."
"You got children, ma'am?"
"No," Emma replied. What did that have to do with anything?
"Then I don't think you've got any business telling me how to raise mine." The rebuke stung as much as if he'd physically slapped her. At the same time, her anger doubled. Just because she wasn't a mother herself didn't mean she had no idea how much children could be hurt. In her pain, she couldn't help lashing out.
"You aren't going to raise your children. You're getting rid of them. It's difficult to keep them, so you're just disposing of them the same way you'd get rid of a horse or a dog that gave you trouble--"
For a moment, Emma thought she'd gone too far. Sam's face darkened, and a cord bulged in his neck. But she couldn't stop now, no matter what.
"I've given you an option, and you're too pigheaded to even consider it. I don't have children of my own, but if I did, I can guarantee you I'd mo
ve heaven and hell to keep them. Nothing would make me give them up. Nothing."
"You don't know--"
"You're right. I don't know what it's like to have someone depending on me, loving me without reservation. I do know those children need you, not strangers."
"I'm giving them a family."
"No, Mr. Jenkins," Emma said softly. "You're destroying the only family these children have."
Sam opened his mouth to speak, then apparently changed his mind. He moved to the door, flung it open and stormed outside. "Joseph!"
Joseph looked up, his mouth ringed with strawberry juice.
"Get Nathan and Becky and get in the wagon."
Joseph's gaze shifted to Emma. Nathan picked up the bucket of strawberries and picked his way through the patch to stand beside his brother. The question shone in their eyes.
Within a few moments, they'd realize Emma had lied to them. Why, oh why, had she told them they could stay with her? Why did she constantly jump into a situation without thinking?
"Now." Sam's voice was stern.
Emma shook her head slightly in a silent apology. Tears filled her eyes as she watched the children set down the half-filled buckets of strawberries, and trudge over to the wagon.
Emma couldn't let them go without a warning to their father. "I'd keep a very close watch on them until you get them on that train, Mr. Jenkins. Next time they run away, you might not find them until it's too late."
"Stay out of it," he warned. "This isn't your problem."
Chapter 2
Stay out of it.
That's what he'd told her.
But how could she? How could she forget the looks the children had sent in her direction when Sam Jenkins took them away? How could she rid herself of the guilt filling her heart?
She'd made a promise to those children. Somehow, she had to keep her word. Yet short of abducting the children herself, she couldn't come up with any way to prevent their father from putting them on that train. Now, three days later, with only one more day until their departure, and she was no closer to a solution.