Rocky Mountain Dreams & Family on the Range Danica Favorite (warren buffett book recommendations .txt) 📖

always did. At some point, Slade was going to get impatient for the silver. And if he found dynamite, and the rocks exploded around them, they surely wouldn’t survive.

Lord, please. Help me find a way to get us out safely. We can’t have come this far for nothing. My faith is so lacking, but the Bible says that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed... Surely I have that much in me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be calling on You now.

Annabelle wasn’t sure what else to say, so she cuddled Nugget closer to her and tried peering around in the limited light. If Nugget had faith that her papa would come get her, there had to be another way in if the way they’d entered was too small for a man.

“Nugget? Will you tell me where the silver is?”

The little girl sighed. “You won’t tell the bad men, will you?”

“I won’t tell them.” Please God, let me not break this promise.

But Nugget seemed to know Annabelle was weak. “Yes, you will.”

So Annabelle continued her search, shining the light and running her hand along the surface of the cave walls. She stumbled over a pile of rocks.

Could this be it?

She started digging among the rocks, moving them aside in hopes that they would lead to a passageway. Each rock seemed heavier than the last, but it didn’t make a dent in the pile.

“It’s not there,” Nugget said, moving to stand beside her.

Great. Annabelle let out a long breath. She’d been working to get them out of the cave, and Nugget was still trying to protect her father’s silver.

“Then where?” She tried keeping the exasperation out of her voice, but she was running out of options.

Nugget looked at her with big, watery green eyes. “I promised my papa.”

“Then at least tell me how he got in.”

Shadows crossed Nugget’s face, and she’d liked to have thought that it was because Nugget was carefully considering the idea. That meant there had to be another way.

“Papa came in from the big rock.” Nugget pointed, and when Annabelle swung the lantern, her heart sank. The big rock was bigger than the two of them put together.

“Some other bad men came for Papa once, and he told me to stay in here until it was safe.” She walked to the spot where she’d found the blanket, then pulled out a canteen. “The food’s gone, but Papa left us water and this lantern.” Nugget held up the lantern that illuminated the cave.

This was not what she was looking for. But maybe, if she got Nugget to tell more of the story, she’d find out something that could help them. “How long were you in here?”

“Ages.” Nugget let out a long, dramatic sigh. “But then Papa pushed the big rock out of the way and he saved me.”

“Annabelle!” The echo through the cave reminded her that they didn’t have ages. They had only as much time as the men had to bring dynamite in from town. Which, if they rode hard, only gave them a couple hours.

She turned toward the opening from which they’d come. “We’re still looking. It’s all a bunch of rocks.”

“You best find me some silver.”

If only Annabelle and God had been on good enough terms that He would listen to her prayers. But maybe...

Lord, please help us. Help me find a way to save us. To save Nugget. You saw fit to save me when all of these good people died in spite of all my prayers. Why did You have to take Joseph, too? And now to leave me in this situation where only You can save us? This time, if You have to take someone, let it be me instead of a little girl who hasn’t done anything wrong.

Because that, of all things, was her greatest fear. That somehow, God would once again take someone she loved and leave her behind to regret.

Annabelle took Nugget in her arms. “They’re not going to be patient much longer. Please, if there is silver, tell me where to find it.”

The little girl looked up at her with tears in her eyes. “You don’t believe me?”

But this...breaking a child’s heart, was probably the worst of all her sins. Faith was supposed to be about believing in things unseen. These men had never seen the silver. Joseph had never seen the silver. But they were all willing to fight for it. How much so should her faith be?

She couldn’t even believe in silver when she was supposed to believe in God.

“I just...” Annabelle hated the way her heart churned. “I’ve seen no evidence...no...”

A voice inside the back of her head asked her if she hadn’t seen evidence, or if she hadn’t seen the evidence she’d wanted to see.

Annabelle took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Nugget. If you say there’s silver, then I believe.” She had to choose to believe.

Annabelle looked Nugget in the eye. “I know your father said to wait here for him, but what did he say to do if he didn’t come?”

The uncertainty in the child’s eyes didn’t give her any comfort. But Annabelle had to do something. Otherwise, sitting here, thinking about the men after her... Men who’d killed Nugget’s father. And Joseph... No, she couldn’t think about him. Not now. Otherwise, the pain might completely immobilize her.

Nugget’s voice piped up. “Papa said for me to sing some songs so I wouldn’t miss him so much while I waited for him to come. I could sing one my mama taught me.”

The earnestness in the small child’s voice gave Annabelle the strength she needed to keep fighting. “That sounds like a great idea.”

As Nugget began singing “Rock of Ages,” Annabelle looked around for something to use as a lever. If the rock moved one way to get Nugget out before, surely she could find a way to make it work again.

Joseph slowed his horse just before the turnoff for the cabin. Maybe his pa had left more clues there. Something to tell