As darkness fell on the desert, the lights of the town came on. It wasn't all that far. Surely they could make it to town in a few hours.

"Should I start a fire, Mom? The kids are cold."

Carmen resisted a smile at Jonathan's reference to the kids. "No. A fire could be seen for a long ways and we don't know who might show up."

"I could build it by those boulders over there." Jonathan indicated some large rocks.

Did they dare risk it? Maybe it would be a good idea to let the children sleep for a few hours until the moon was high.

Destiny hugged herself and looked up at Carmen. "Please, Mommy. I'm so cold."

Carmen sighed. "We'll gather some sticks - but be careful."

"I know," Jonathan said. "There could be snakes. Gosh, you'd think we didn't have snakes back home."

They had snakes in Arkansas, but the kids weren't out at night gathering sticks, either. She looked at Destiny. "You stay here with Natalie and Matthew."

Carmen and Jonathan gathered enough sticks to make a small fire. Carmen tended the horses while Jonathan built the fire. She stood looking down at the desert. Somewhere out there Alex was struggling to stay alive so that they could get over the mountain pass to safety. They needed to keep moving.

Part of her felt the urgency to keep moving and the other part felt the need to stop and give Alex the opportunity to catch up with them. He said he would join them if he could. What was he doing right now?

Natalie and Matthew began crying. She turned and walked back to the area where Jonathan was building the fire. It was tiny, but it gave off some warmth and comfort.

"What's wrong?" she asked the twins, as if she didn't know.

"We're hungry," Natalie whimpered.

Carmen sat between them and put an arm around each of them. "I know, but we don't have anything to eat." She pointed at the lights in the distance. "See those lights? That's a town. When we get there, we'll get something to eat, okay? Right now I'll give you some water to drink and you rest for a little while. When the moon comes out, we'll ride down there and get something to eat."

She gave them each some water and held them until they fell asleep. She was their mother and she couldn't give them what they needed. She had always felt compassion for starving families, but she had never experienced the agony of not being able to provide for her children before.

She gently laid the twins close to the small fire and moved so that she could see the slope to the valley. Where was Alex? He probably thought they were in town by now, getting help. Tears stung her eyes. The sooner they got down to the town and made a call, the sooner he would get help.




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