Chapter 1 - The Leftovers
Eight-year-old Lucy Bennett stood beside the long picnic table with both hands hidden inside the sleeves of her faded red sweater.
Around her, wealthy guests laughed beneath strings of golden lights while ranch workers carried trays of smoked beef, roasted corn, and fresh bread across the courtyard of Hartland Ranch.
Lucy had not eaten since the previous morning.
Her four-year-old brother, Tommy, had eaten even less.
She watched a tall man in a black ranch coat push away a plate that was still half full.
Everyone on the ranch seemed to know him.
Men removed their hats when he passed.
Women lowered their voices when he entered a conversation.
Lucy did not know that Harrison Hart owned more land than she could imagine.
She only knew he had food he was not going to finish.
She stepped closer.
“Sir?”
Harrison looked down.
Lucy’s shoes were too large for her.
Dried mud covered her knees.
A purple bruise darkened the skin near her left wrist.
“Yes?”
“Are you done with that?”
Harrison glanced at his plate.
“I suppose I am.”
“Could I have it?”
Several nearby guests turned toward them.
Lucy lowered her voice.
“It isn’t for me.”
“My little brother is hungry.”
Harrison’s expression changed.
“Where is your brother?”
Lucy looked toward the stables.
“We have to leave soon.”
“Who brought you here?”
“No one.”
Harrison rose.
Lucy immediately backed away.
“I won’t cause trouble.”
“I only wanted the bread.”
“You are not in trouble.”
He wrapped the food inside a clean napkin and handed it to her.
Lucy whispered a thank-you and hurried away.
Harrison watched her disappear behind the western stable.
Something about the fear in her eyes would not let him return to the party.
He followed at a distance.
Behind the stable, he found Tommy crouched beside a woman lying beneath an old horse blanket.
The child tore the bread in half and pressed one piece into his mother’s limp hand.
“Mommy, please wake up.”
Harrison stopped breathing.
The woman’s face was pale and thin.
Blood stained the side of her dress.
But he recognized the small crescent-shaped scar above her eyebrow.
He had kissed that scar every night when she was a child.
Harrison dropped to his knees.
“Mara?”
The woman’s eyes opened.
She stared at him as if seeing a ghost.
May you like
Then she whispered the words that changed everything.
“Dad, they know I came back.”
