Hope Against Hope: The Hope Brothers Series (10 page)

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The sound of wailing sirens woke me up from a dead sleep. I jumped out of bed and looked out the window, my heart skipping a beat when I saw the county firetruck, its red and yellow lights lighting up the road as it made its way down our driveway. I scanned our property, and couldn’t see a thing out of place.

I raced out of my room and down the stairs, my bare feet carrying me quickly by memory through the dark house.

“Crit! Jesse! Seth!” I yelled, as I flung open the front door and ran out onto the porch, down the steps and into the yard. I looked back at the house, standing dark and peaceful amongst the chaos surrounding it. The firetruck passed me just as I was rounding the house to go to the back of our farm. I gasped when I saw our old tool shed was completely engulfed in flames.

“Oh, my god!” I exclaimed, as I stopped in my tracks. The firefighters jumped off the truck before it came to a complete stop and set to work putting out the fire.

“What the hell?” I said out loud, running my hand through my hair as I looked around for any explanation.

Jesse appeared at my side suddenly, startling me.

“Wow,” he murmured.

“I can’t believe this!” I took a step forward and winced in pain as my foot grazed a rock. Crit came barreling out of the house buttoning his jeans, and he was soon followed by Seth doing the same. I looked over at Jesse, and saw that he had somehow managed to make it out fully dressed. Luckily, I had on pajamas, because I hadn’t stopped to think about clothes when I jumped out of bed.

“What the hell happened?” Crit demanded.

“I don’t know, I just heard sirens and ran out to this,” I replied. I looked over towards the Haggard’s property and saw them all slowly emerge from their house. Beau walked out of his cabin behind his parent’s house and stood on his deck. Hank and Beau went back in, but moments later they came back out fully dressed. I watched as they made the short trek through the field to our house.

“What’s going on?” Hank asked as he neared.

“I have no idea,” Crit said, his voice full of bewilderment. The fire chief walked over to us finally, and began bombarding Crit with questions. All of which Crit had no answers for.

“So, you were all asleep?” he asked.

“Yes, like I said, we didn’t even know the shed was on fire till we heard the sirens. Who called you?”

“Well, son, that’s the weird part.” Randy Webster was the county fire chief, and old schoolmate of our fathers. “We received an anonymous call.”

“What?” Crit asked, confusion set into all of our faces. Crit looked over at Hank. “You didn’t call?”

“No, Crit, wasn’t me,” he replied.

“Me, either, Crit,” Beau said.

“Well, that is fucking odd. Any idea what started the fire, Randy?” Crit asked.

“Not yet. Looks like some hay nearby caught fire somehow. I’m just guessing at this point, but I’d say someone started it on purpose.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, who the hell would do that?” Crit asked.

“I don’t know, son. I’m real sorry, though. You’re gonna have to take a total loss for all those tools. You all paid up on the insurance policy?” Randy asked.

Crit looked over at me in alarm.

“We’re all paid up. I paid the bill just a few weeks ago.” Relief washed over Crit’s face and he nodded.

“Thanks, sis,” he said, coming over and putting his arms around me. I stared over his shoulder, watching the shed go up in flames, as I wondered if this was all a dream.

Why would anyone do this to us? Hadn’t we already gone through enough?

Crit let me go, but he stood beside me. Seth and Jesse stood on the other side of me, as we watched the flames come dangerously close to our crops. This farm was the only security we really had in our lives anymore. If anything happened to it, we’d be completely screwed.

“Who would do this?” I whispered.

“I can think of one person,” Crit said through clenched teeth. I knew he was talking about Lee, but I didn’t want to believe it.

If Lee had done this, then it was all my fault.

I shuddered when I realized just how close that burning shed was to our house, where moments ago we had been sleeping.

I said a silent prayer of gratitude to whomever that anonymous caller was.

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I watched helplessly as the Hope’s stood together, the flames of destruction reflected in their eyes. They were all confused, but it was the fear in George’s eyes that just ripped me apart.

Why the hell someone would come onto their property and cause this grieving family any more harm was beyond me. But as I watched the flames lick the wooden shed, charring the old wood until it began crumbling to the ground, the only face I could see was Lee’s.

‘I’ll burn this whole town to the fuckin’ ground!’
His words echoed in my head, like a bad song that I couldn’t forget. Surely he wouldn’t have done this. He had no reason to hurt this family - not anymore than he already had. Even if he didn’t remember. Even if he felt like he had been wrongly accused of such a heinous act, surely he wouldn’t stoop this low.

Lee wasn’t that far gone off the deep end. I shrugged off the thoughts of him as best as I could, and kept my mouth shut. The last thing I needed to do was to cast any more shadows on my brother than he cast himself.

He was good enough at getting himself in trouble, he didn’t need any help from me. I still hadn’t seen him since that day I confronted him, and for all I knew, hell, he had already left town.

Surely he was way too far away by now to have done something this stupid.

I was stricken by the urge to swoop Georgie up in my arms and carry her off somewhere safe, but instead, I quietly said goodnight and walked back to our farm. She was safe in her brother’s arms, she didn’t need me to comfort her, as much as I was yearning to.

That feeling was new. And it wasn’t going away, in fact, with each passing day, Georgia Hope was becoming more and more a permanent fixture in my mind.

And I had no fuckin’ idea what the hell I was supposed to do about it.

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Wet, burnt grass surrounded what was left of the shed the next morning. I led Cherokee around Crit and the group of workers he had assembled to haul away the remains. Luckily, it was full of old tools. All the expensive stuff was in the bigger barn. Our property consisted of four buildings - two barns, our house, and this little shed that was no longer a shed.

Dad built the first barn right after our family bought the property. Years later, he built a brand new one for the horses. We used the old one for storage, mostly, so that’s where all the new, expensive tools were. We had tillers, riding mowers, and everything else under the sun that made running this farm just a little easier.

“You headin’ out for a ride?” Crit asked as I passed by, taking his hat off and wiping the sweat from his brow with a red bandana. I almost felt guilty, but I had finished everything that needed to be done and all the other horses were grazing in the pasture and would be for hours.

“Yep, unless you need me to do something else?” I replied.

“You already asked me that three times, sis,” Crit said, grinning at me. “You go on. Be careful, though. You going over to old man LaCroix’s property?”

“Yep, I won’t be gone long,” I replied. “Hey, we should have a family dinner tonight or something. It’d be good to get us all around a table, catch up and all.”

“That sounds good, I’ll tell Seth and Jesse. Six o’clock?”

“Sounds good. I’ll make meatloaf.” Meatloaf was our favorite thing that our mom made and I needed a little comfort food. I was sure the boys did, too.

Crit smiled and nodded, and turned back to his work as I rode away. It was a hot day, and Cherokee’s gait was slower than usual as we meandered through the field that led to the creek. I couldn’t help but sneak a look over at the Haggard’s place. Beau’s truck was there, parked in front of his little cabin in the back, and I felt a little jolt of excitement in my gut when I realized I was hoping to catch a glimpse of him.

The look he had given me last night hadn’t gone unnoticed, but I was too stunned by the fire to react. After he and Hank had left, Jesse and I had made our way back in the house and left Seth and Crit to deal with the chief. It was almost dawn by then, so I made us breakfast and left plates out for Seth and Crit for when they came back in. I knew they’d be starving, and it was the least I could do.

I kept wondering what my mother would have done in a situation like that, and that’s exactly what she would have done. Keep the stress down, and energy up - with food. As I stood in her kitchen, using her favorite pans and the utensils that her hands had held just weeks ago, tears streamed down my face as I realized just how much I missed her. The fact that I would never learn another thing from her, never eat something she had prepared with love again, never hear her laughter again, or hear her say my name again…sometimes, when I thought about it all, it was just too much to bear.

I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep my chin up and not completely lose it. I caught a glimpse of Crit out the window, and took a deep breath. The last thing my brother needed was me breaking down.

I thought of Cherokee and all the other horses, waiting for me to bring them breakfast out in the barn, and I closed my eyes for just a second, and then dried my eyes.

I had no choice but to go on.

Anything else simply wouldn’t do.

So I had gone on and finished my chores, because that’s the only thing I could do.

I reached down and stroked Cherokee’s mane as we reached the creek, and as always he crossed it effortlessly and carried me up to the gate that led into LaCroix’s property.

It was open, which was unusual. I was sure I had closed it last time I was here, and as far as I knew, no one else came onto this property. I kept my eyes peeled for others as I rode through the trees, but I didn’t see anyone.