"If trouble comes, I want to help. I don't want to hide while everybody else protects us."
Thomas looked at her differently.
"You would risk yourself for this place?"
"This is my home now."
Eleanor answered simply.
"Those are my children."
Then:
"And you're my husband."
Her eyes remained on his.
"Where else would I be?"
Something shifted across Thomas's face.
Surprise.
Then something deeper.
For one moment Eleanor thought he might reach for her hand.
Instead he nodded.
"All right."
He hesitated.
"But if things turn bad, if we can't hold them, you take the boys and run."
He looked directly at her.
"Promise."
"I promise."
The attack came 2 nights later.
Eleanor woke to shouting and gunfire outside.
For a moment, she lay frozen, hoping she had dreamed it.
Then Thomas's voice carried across the yard issuing orders.
Reality crashed over her.
She threw on a robe.
Ran to the window.
Dark figures moved near the outbuildings.
The rustlers had attacked the ranch itself.
Eleanor rushed into the boys' room.
Daniel was already awake, sitting upright and pale.
Samuel still slept, somehow undisturbed by the noise.
"What's happening?" Daniel whispered.
"Men are trying to steal the cattle."
Eleanor forced calm into her voice.
"Your papa and the ranch hands are stopping them. I need you to be very brave and help me with Samuel."
Daniel nodded immediately.
He began pulling on clothes.
Eleanor woke Samuel gently.
He started crying when the shouting outside registered.
"It's all right, sweetheart."
She lifted him.
"We're playing our hiding game. Just like we practiced."
During the previous days, Eleanor had turned emergency preparation into a game.
Teaching the boys where to go if trouble ever reached the house.
Now she silently thanked herself for doing it.
She led them downstairs.
The root cellar could be reached through a trapdoor in the pantry floor.
Eleanor had stocked it with blankets, water, and food while hoping it would never be needed.
She opened the door.
Daniel's face paled at the darkness below.
"I don't want to go," Samuel whimpered.
"I know."
Eleanor kissed his hair.
"But it is safe. Papa will come for us when everything is over."
She was about to climb down behind them when a crash sounded from the front of the house.
Someone was forcing entry.
Eleanor's blood went cold.
If attackers entered, the cellar might not remain hidden for long.
"Daniel."
She crouched.
"Take Samuel to the very back corner."
His eyes widened.
"Cover yourselves with the blankets. Don't make a sound, whatever you hear."
"Where are you going?"
Daniel's voice trembled.