Within a few minutes, several more carriages, wagons, and horses had shown up at the Adams Farm, and many of the women were helping Margaret set the food out and make sure everything was in place, including Cordia and her best friend, Susannah. The men were sitting around, several smoking pipes, sharing news about their families. Finally, someone dared to bring up the topic of Fort Sumter and even secession. It seemed that, just like the county in general, those attending the party were split down the middle, fifty-fifty, half for Missouri leaving, half against. Jaris and Carey, who had arrived shortly after Cordia, looked at each other, wondering if this would be a good idea to announce their enlistments. Carey’s mother had died when he was born, but his father, an older, more rigid man, was present, and was sure to support his son in his decision to go off to fight. Just as Jaris began to open his mouth, his father stood up, looking over his shoulder toward the road.

Two riders came into view, making their way toward the hitching post. “Who could that be?” Arthur Adams asked. “I believe all of the families that we invited are here.”

His mother had also noticed and had walked over to where the men were gathered. She was staring intently while wiping her hands on her apron. “Why, that looks like Julia and one of the boys, come down from Vernon County.”

Arthur stood, and he and Jaris started walking toward the unexpected visitors, Margaret just behind. Though his cousins were certainly welcome, they seldom came to visit, since the trip was rather long, and they had little time for such things since their folks had died. This was a clear indication that something must be wrong.

Sure enough, as they drew nearer, they could tell that it was in fact Jaris’s cousins, Julia and Will. But why wasn’t Nolan with them?

“Julia?” his mother called. “Why, tarnations, whatever are you kids doing here?”

The looks on his cousins’ faces should have been enough to tell them that all was not well. As they each dismounted, Julia looked near to collapsing. It was quite evident that she had been crying and both of them were streaked with fresh dirt. “Oh, Aunt Margaret!” Julia cried, running toward her aunt and throwing herself into her wide-open arms. “It was just terrible. I can’t believe we are finally here. Those awful men!” Then, she began to cry.

Jaris could hear his mother’s soothing voice repeating, “There, there now, it will be all right child,” as she held his younger cousin in her arms.

“We were attacked by raiders, early this morning. We rode out quickly, trying to put some distance between the guerrillas and us,” Will was explaining. Though he did not appear to have been crying, he looked exhausted, worn, covered with dirt, and relieved to have finally reached his destination.

By now other visitors had come over to see who the strangers were. There was a crowd of people standing around. Jaris glanced back to see only a few women still standing behind around the table. “Where’s Nolan?” his father asked. At these words, Julia’s wailing grew even louder, and the question was answered before Will could even reply.

But he gave a brief explanation anyway, apparently all he could muster. He removed his filth-covered hat, smoothed back his hair and said, calmly, almost matter-of-factly, “He’s dead. They shot him.”

Jaris’s head fell. He knew that Nolan had done so much to help raise his younger brother and sister after his parents had been stricken down so young. His cousin had been a very good man. Sadly, he was probably the first of the good men he knew who may not survive the impending war. “I’m so sorry,” he and his father said, almost simultaneously.

Will nodded, clearly not able to think of any sort of reply to their remarks. “We took him up to the cemetery, buried him by our ma and pa. Then, we thought we should head out of there right quickly, before any of the raiders’ friends made their way back to our home. On the way, we saw two of our neighbors’ houses, burned to the ground, and no sign of any survivors. We were lucky to make it out of there alive.”

Before either of them could even ask, Margaret generously extended their home to her niece and nephew. “We have plenty of room for both of you. Now, let’s get you some clean clothes and you’ll probably want to freshen up. You both are just covered in. . . .” she paused, realizing the dirt must have been from the grave they just dug, “Well, we need to get you all cleaned up. Follow me into the house, and we’ll get things sorted out.”

Both Will and Julia, who was still sobbing on her aunt’s shoulder, made their way into the house. Though Will was still in a state of shock and not thinking too clearly about much of anything, the image of a beautiful long-haired girl rounding the corner of the house with a bucket of water in her hand, did register in his mind as he entered the home. But he had no time nor need to think about anything right now except for the welfare of his sister and the sort of governors who would let men maraud around burning down the homes of perfectly law-abiding citizens.

Cordia had gone back behind the house to get a bucket of water, with Susannah tagging along behind, and had missed Jaris’s cousins arriving. She noticed two strangers accompanying Margaret into their house. For a brief second, she caught the dark, haunting eyes of the man, and blinked in surprise. “How could someone just a few years older than her have that much sadness in his eyes?” she wondered.

“Who is that?” Susannah was asking her husband, James, who was walking toward them, followed by Jaris, Carey, and several other men.

“That was Jaris’s cousins,” James explained. “They were just attacked up in Vernon County somewhere. Their brother was killed.”