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“Finn.” She breathed out the word, and pure joy filled him at the sound of her voice.

“You’ve got to get to high ground,” he said. “The river is flooding.”

“I know,” she clipped out. “We’ve been up all night sandbagging.”

“Edith,” he said calmly. “I don’t think the sandbags are going to hold.”

Pure, horrible, chilling silence came through the line.

“Edith?”

“We live in a one-story farmhouse, Finn,” she said. “Where are we supposed to go?”

“A barn?” he guessed. “Get in your truck and get here. We’ve got three levels at Courage Reins.”

“I can’t—” she sobbed into the phone, and she said more, but Finn couldn’t make it out. His heart tore for her, and he wished he could get in his truck and go collect her and her brother.

“Edith,” he said again. “Calm down, sweetheart. It’s going to be okay. Can you and Alex come here or is that impossible?”

“It’s impossible,” she whispered.

“I’ll be there the first chance I have,” he promised.

Someone shouted on her end of the line, and she said, “We’re going up into the loft of the barn. I have to go.”

“Go,” he said. “Edith, stay safe.”

“You too.”

The call ended, and Finn sighed as he bowed his head. “Lord, bless that woman and her brother, please.” He lifted his eyes toward the ceiling, toward heaven. “Please protect them. Put a barrier around them somehow. And their land and animals and loved ones. Please. And please do the same for us here at Three Rivers Ranch.”

His phone rang, and his heart leapt. It wasn’t Edith’s name on the screen, calling him back. But his Daddy’s.

Finn reached up and pressed the button to sound the siren. The shrieking wail of warning started out low and rose in pitch and volume as it revved up, and just when he thought he’d go deaf, it started to wane again.

His daddy’s text filled his screen, in all caps. EVACUATION MANDATORY ASAP. MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE THIRD FLOOR OF COURAGE REINS. TEXT UP YOUR CHANNEL IF YOU NEED HELP.

Finn had no idea who was in his channel, but he grabbed his phone as the wail started to gain strength for the second time. He intended to leave it on, but Daddy texted, Stay for another five minutes, if possible, Finny. Then turn off the siren and get across the street. I love you.

“Five minutes.” That felt like an eternity in that moment, and Finn reached down deep for his military training. Five minutes was three hundred seconds. He could do anything for that long, and he took a long, deep breath to steady himself.

If it’s not possible to stay, turn it off and go, Dad texted next. Finn moved over to the window, trying to judge how much water he’d have to wade through to get across the street. Because of the powerful lights, he could see cowboys with backpacks moving steadily toward Courage Reins. He saw families, with men, women, and children. Dogs and cats too.

The siren wailed and wailed.

The sky sobbed.

When he reached three hundred, he shut down the alarm system, flipped up his hood, and stepped out into the flood, his prayers streaming out loud from his mouth.

Chapter Five

“We’ve got to go, Edee!”

Edith spun from the window in her bedroom and took in the three animals on her bed. There was no way she could carry both dachshunds and her grumpy, fifteen-pound cat. The electricity hadn’t gone out yet, and all six pairs of eyes locked on her.

“Come on,” she told them. “Frankie, Otto, you stay right by me.” She grabbed Gumbo, who meowed at her, and ran out of her bedroom. “Frankie! Otto! Come on!” Down the hall and in the kitchen, she found Alex wearing two jackets, with leashes in his hands.

“Come on, guys,” he called, and the dachshunds ran toward him. He leashed them up, looked at Edith, and said, “We’re not letting go of one another, no matter what. You got that?”