I stood in the street, trying to calm Daisy. Beau, who obviously sensed something was wrong, stood next to me and whined. I told him to get into the buggy, and we rode to the church. A big crowd was gathered there, mostly made up of women and children. I tied Daisy to a nearby hitching post and ran toward the assembled group. The food was still on the tables, but Lizzie was nowhere to be seen. I saw Belle talking to Callie and hurried toward them, Beau right on my heels. “What’s going on?” I asked when I got there. I grabbed Belle’s arm. “Levi said Lizzie and Noah’s house is on fire.” Callie nodded, her expression grim. “Someone set it on fire while we were all here for the funeral. After the service, Noah wanted to get Ebbie’s advice about some of the work being done on the house, so they decided to run over there. Noah said they saw the smoke from the road even before they could see the house.” “How bad is it?”
