She saw the garden she had kept alive through years of loneliness. She saw the bedroom where she had held her husband's hand as fever took him. Everything she had fought to protect was about to burn. "I will not leave," she cried. Silas jumped from the roof and landed hard in the dirt.
He grabbed her shoulders. "You are leaving now. This ranch is all I have left." "No, Clara." He turned her toward the wagon.
Toby sat beneath the damp blanket, crying and reaching for them. "That boy is not made of wood. Neither are you. A cabin can be rebuilt, but I cannot replace either of you." Another burning branch crashed into the yard.
The horses screamed and pulled against the wagon traces. "We leave," Silas said. "Right now." Before they could climb aboard, wheels rattled through the smoke. Jedodiah appeared with an empty wagon.
His wife Sarah sat beside him with a wet cloth over her mouth. "Everyone is gathering at the Bitterroot River," Jedodiah shouted. "The Southern Road is still open." Silas lifted Toby into Jedodiah's wagon. Clara climbed up after him, but Silas turned back toward the cabin.
She grabbed his arm. Where are you going? He pulled free and ran onto the porch. Silas. The smoke swallowed him.
Toby saw his father disappear and screamed. Clara tried to climb down, but Jedodiah caught her around the waist. You will die in there. He promised he would not leave. Flames reached the porch steps.
One window cracked from the heat. Clara could hear wood breaking inside the cabin. Then Silas burst through the doorway. He carried her father's old Bible beneath one arm. In his other hand was Clara's sewing basket.
He stumbled across the yard, coughing so badly that he nearly fell. Clara reached down and pulled him against the wagon. Why would you risk your life for these? Silas pressed the basket into her hands. Inside lay the silver button Toby had held on his first night.
"I could not save the years we lost," Silas said. "I was not leaving your past behind again." Clara's eyes filled. But there was no time to answer. Jedodiah whipped the horses forward just as fire reached the cabin roof.
A hot ember landed on Clara's faded red dress. The cloth caught near her knee. Silas covered the flame with his gloved hand and crushed it before it could spread. The fire left a black scar across the dress. Clara held Toby against her chest while Silas wrapped one arm around both of them.
The wagon raced south through smoke so thick that Jedodiah could barely see the road. Burning trees fell behind them. Frightened cattle ran beside the wagon before vanishing into the dark fields. At the final bend, the horses suddenly pulled back. A wall of fire blocked the road.