AUGUST 9, 1861

Jewel was upset about the whole wedding fiasco. She went over different scenarios in her head about how she could possibly get Jimmy back and to get Lee out of the picture. What if she could get Meg to back her up about Lee not being pregnant? No, that probably wouldn’t work. What if she could figure out a way to have Lee lose the baby? But how? Maybe a doctor could give her some advice on that without even realizing it. So on finally making that decision, Jewel saddled up Justice and started on her way to Meg’s.

Melissa saw Jewel leaving and decided to follow her. She thought it best to keep her eye on her conniving sister. There was no telling what she might do next. So Melissa saddled Braids and stayed about a quarter to a half a mile behind Jewel without her realizing it.

As Jewel approached the Saunders’ place, there was smoke rising into the sky and flames bursting out of the windows. The place was on fire. It stunned her. She just watched as in a daze while her horse kept walking down the lane. Suddenly the realization that there might be people inside the house horrified her. They could be burned alive. She spurred her horse into a gallop. Arriving at the house, she ran inside. There were fires everywhere but it wasn’t very bad yet. She could still see some. She hollered, “Is anybody here?” There was no answer. She searched the living room but found no one. As she retreated out of there, Melissa came inside. “Melissa, what are you doing here?”

“I want to help.” She replied.

“Alright, I’ve checked the living room. You check the other rooms. I’ll check upstairs.” Jewel hurried up the stairs after Melissa nodded.

Jewel ran into the master bedroom. It was really smoky in there and the flames were all around the room. She saw Meg and Serena lying on the bed unconscious. "MELISSA!" She yelled hoping that her little sister would hear her, but afraid that she didn't, Jewel turned around and went into the hallway and yelled as loud as she could. Then she returned to the bedroom. She wasn't sure which of the ladies she should try and get out first. She decided on Meg because Meg was younger and was a mother. Mother! Jewel glanced over at the cribs. She ran over to them but there weren't any babies in them. Thank God! But where were they?

Jewel moved quickly back to the bad and started lifting Meg up. She stopped and dropped Meg back onto the bed. She then moved Meg's feet over and dropped them down on the floor. Then again she lifted Meg's upper body up. A smile crossed Jewel's face as she saw Melissa. Melissa grabbed Meg by the other side and they quickly got Meg out of the house. They left Meg on the ground and returned to the house. It registered in both the girls' minds that the staircase would be gone soon, so they both raced up the stairs and into the master bedroom.

They couldn't get close to the bed from Serena's side, so Jewel and Melissa pulled Serena across the bed. Melissa pushed Serena's feet to the floor and then her and Jewel grabbed her around the waist and left the room. But as they arrived at the staircase, Melissa and Jewel looked at each other with a frown. The bottom four steps were completely gone and the fire was inching its way upward and taking out the other steps as it came.

"Let's go back!” Jewel coughed a few times and then rasped out, “Find another way," and Melissa nodded. The smoke was getting really bad now and they both could hardly breathe, so they barely could talk, and every now and then they would have coughing fits because of the thick smoke.

They retraced their steps and at the end of the hallway there was stairs leading down. It was the back staircase. It probably led to the kitchen. They started down, but as they rounded the corner Melissa almost fell. She had to swing her other arm around and grab a hold of Serena. She was dangling in air, but she managed to swing her body back over to the ledge of the staircase. She was breathing hard and not only because of the fumes of the fire but because she had been frightened that she was going to fall down into it.

Jewel had to stand firmly, leaning back and gripping Serena tightly to hold all three of them on the last step. It was hard for she wasn't that strong, but she willed herself to do it. Thankfully she didn't have to do it for long because Melissa had got herself back on the steps. They rested a few seconds from the exertion and fright, and then they backed up the steps. It was a slower process going backwards up the stairs, but finally they made it. Looking down the hallway, they saw that the fire had already engulfed half of it. There was no escape that way. Turning around Jewel saw the window and underneath it was the roof of the back porch.

"Hold her." Jewel told Melissa as she left Serena in her little sister's arms. Melissa braced herself as best she could. Jewel ran into the master bedroom and grabbed a chair. Running back, she slammed the chair into the window. She poked out the rest of the window with the legs of the chair. She sat the chair down and resumed her position holding Serena. They went over to the window. "Go through Melissa and then will get Serena through. Melissa obeyed. Then with Melissa pulling and Jewel pushing they got Serena through the opening. The weight was too much for Melissa as Serena hit her. It sent Melissa to her rump with Serena in her arms. Jewel stepped through and helped Melissa. They headed to the edge of the roof, but some of the roof had been burnt and some of the roof wasn't stable any more. Melissa's left foot went through the roof.

Meanwhile at the front of the house, Meg was awake. She was a little dizzy and her head ached, but when she realized that her home was on fire, she stumbled to her feet and ran into the house. Horrified that there were no steps to take her to her babies, she screamed. The back steps, there was no way to get there either. The back way, maybe she could get in the back way, through the kitchen and up the back steps to her babies. She scrambled out of the house and ran around back, up onto the porch and into the kitchen. Thank God, she had left the kitchen door unlocked earlier because she had been out in the garden collecting some fresh vegetables for lunch.

But as Meg entered the kitchen, she couldn't see a thing. It was too engulfed in flames, too much smoke. There was no way she could get through to the stairs, even if the stairs were still there. She screamed in agony again. Her babies could be up there. She backed out of the house. Maybe she could get a ladder to get up there. As she backed out, she saw a leg dangling through the roof, but in a second it disappeared.

Melissa had to let go of Serena when she went through the roof. Jewel had the full weight of Serena then and when she saw why, she laid Serena down and carefully went over and helped Melissa.

Meg ran off the porch and into the yard where she stared up at the roof. Her mouth fell open as she saw her stepmother and Melissa with her sister. Melissa was the first to see Meg, and she shouted down to her, "How can we get down?"

Meg thought about running to get a ladder, but then she hollered at them, "Where's my babies?"

"We don't know. They weren't in the cribs." Jewel shouted back at her.

"Thank God, thank God." She squeezed her hands together.

"Meg, we need a ladder." Jewel shouted down to her while still trying to hold Serena up.

Meg heard her and ran to the barn to get a ladder. She brought it back and leaned it against the house. That is what was left of the house. Soon there wouldn't be anything left.

Michael had been out riding and he had seen the smoke over at the Saunders' place, so he hurried over to see if he could help. As he was riding up to the house, he saw Meg running from the barn to the back of the house, so he followed.

Melissa was on top of the roof. It scared him to see her on the house with the flames getting closer. Soon the whole house would be destroyed. He quickly got off the horse and held the ladder. "How are we going to get Serena down?" Jewel shouted down to them.

Meg realized that they would have to lower Serena down. "I'll get a rope." Meg ran back into the barn and quickly returned with a rope. Meg carried the rope up to them and all three of them got the rope around Serena and started lowering her down. As Serena got within reach, Michael grabbed her. As soon as Michael had a hold of her, Meg went down the ladder. She had to stop a couple of times because of her aching head. She almost fell off the ladder as dizziness overtook her, but Michael grabbed her and helped her to the ground. He laid her down by Serena.

Melissa threw the rope to the ground. "Go on Melissa, your next." Jewel watched as her little sister descended the ladder, and then she followed.

Michael waited anxiously as Melissa came down the ladder. As she planted her feet on the ground, her left foot failed her, and she fell to the ground. When she had slipped through the roof, she had hurt her foot, but she had tried not to show it. She didn't have time for a hurt foot. So she had gritted her teeth and put up with the pain for the time being.

"Melissa, what's wrong?" Michael stooped beside her.

"I hurt my foot." She replied.

Michael took off her boot even though he could see that it pained her. Her foot was swollen and red. Michael took off his bandana and wrapped it around her foot. "We'll get some ice on it as soon as we can. But right now we have to get away from here."

Jewel went over to Meg and Serena. Serena was beginning to stir, and Meg was sitting up now. "Serena can you walk?" Jewel asked. Jewel helped Serena to her feet, and Meg stood up and helped Jewel with Serena. They headed for the front of the house.

Michael picked up Melissa. She was a little heavy, but he managed. As they walked by Michael's horse, Melissa reached out and grabbed the rein and the horse followed them. The three girls collapsed about twenty feet in front of the house, and Michael sat Melissa down. He unwrapped his bandana and took it to the trough where he soaked it. He then replaced it around Melissa's ankle. It felt good to Melissa and she was glad that Michael was here. She smiled at him, and he returned the smile.

He turned and looked at the other three. Meg and Serena were holding on to each other mumbling something about babies. Jewel was just staring at the house. "Do you think the fire will spread? Should I go for help? Shouldn't we try to put it out?"

Meg saw no reason to put it out. The house, their beautiful house, was gone. She just wanted to know where her babies and her father were. Serena also wanted to know where her baby, her husband and her grandchildren were.

They heard a loud boom, and all four looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were rolling in. It hadn't rained for weeks, but now it looked like they were going to get a lot of rain. That was good. It would put out the fires.

Well, at least the rain was something good. It would vanquish the fires and they wouldn't have to fight to get the big bonfire put out, Melissa thought.

The rain came pouring down, and they watched for a little while as the goodness destroyed the evil.

Finally, Meg voiced what everybody else was thinking, "Where are the babies? Where's my father?"

"You don't know." Michael inquired. He feared that Meg had amnesia like Jimmy had not very long ago.

"No, I don't know. If I knew, I wouldn't be asking. The last thing I remember is getting hit on the head with something. I was heading up to see what was wrong with the babies."

"I got hit with something, too. I think it was a candlestick." Serena stated. "There was a man in the house."

"He stole my babies." Meg wailed.

"No Meg, we don't know that for sure. Your father isn't here. He might have them." Serena didn't want Meg to be upset, even though she was. She feared the worst for her child and Meg's babies, but she didn't want Meg to know it.

She had been silent long enough, so Jewel stated the obvious, "We need to get help.

Jewel went on home to inform Jacy and Cody what had happened. Michael and Melissa had to give Meg and Serena a ride into town because Meg's horses had disappeared.

When Meg, Serena, Michael and Melissa showed up at the barbershop with soot on their clothes and faces, Luke looked up and immediately knew something was wrong. “Meghan, what happened?”

“A man was in the house, hit me and Serena over the head, house burned down, babies gone. Luke, he took our babies!!!!!”

“Meghan, I told you your father might have gotten them out and away from that man! Let’s not jump to any conclusions, let's just find your father and the babies.” Serena said.

“Daniel’s missing, too?” The three women and Michael nodded their heads in the affirmative. “Meg, calm down, Serena’s right. You know how your father is. He won’t let anything happen to those babies. He’ll protect them. He probably has them or went after them himself. Corey, watch the shop, I’m leaving for the day.” Luke said trying to be calm for his wife. 

He walked over to the Silver Spoon. “I can’t believe this! Our babies are missing and you are going to eat!!!” Meg shouted.

Luke turned around, grabbed his wife’s face, “I’m getting help!” He said through clenched teeth. He knew Meg was just worried, and he was trying to act like he wasn’t worried too much just to try to calm her down, but truth was he was terrified.

A few minutes latter, Ian came out of the restaurant with Luke. The next stop was the jail. They explained to Teaspoon what had happened. The first person Teaspoon thought of to track was Buck, but he was out on a ride and wasn’t due back until tonight. He sent Michael to the Pony Express station to get some of the riders. They would meet at Willow Manor.

While it devastated Luke to see that his home was burned down to the ground, he was more worried about the babies. The rain had washed away all of the tracks and there was nothing for them to follow, so they divided up into separate groups and went off in different directions. Michael escorted Melissa home, and then went home to inform his family of what was taking place.

Luke, Meg, Serena, and Ian had hit Omaha by nightfall and still nothing. Luke spotted a new building. Pinkerton Detectives is what the sign said. He walked in. He explained what had happened and they agreed to try to find the babies. They settled on a price, and Luke gave them the money.

“When do we ride?” Luke inquired.

“Mr. Saunders, I know you want to help. But you and your family and friends would only be in the way. Go back home and get your whole town to pray with you. We will do God’s legwork. Pray that we hear what God is telling us. Prayer is a very powerful tool, and we can’t be successful in a case like this without it.” The chief said as easily as he could. While he thought that they really didn’t need God, prayer would never hurt and that way these people felt like they were doing something to find their children.

Luke led the detectives to where their house used to stand, and they got to work while Meg and Luke went to the little church to pray. No, it wasn’t Catholic, but it did have an alter. They prayed together with Serena. The detectives were also looking for Daniel who still hadn’t turned up. Sean and Charity spread the word about the kidnappings, and the town showed up that night for a prayer meeting. They all took turns praying for the safety and quick return of those missing.