Page 94 of A Cowboy's Claim
The fire crackled low in the stone hearth, throwing a soft orange glow across the living room. Outside, October had taken a sudden turn into chillier nights, the kind that hinted at frost and early snow.
Inside, the warmth wasn’t just from the fire.
Declan sat with an arm draped across the back of the couch, Sydney leaning into him. The rest of the people in the room were those he called his family. Tansy and Jake shared the oversized armchair opposite, her legs tossed over his lap like it was their standard position—probably because it was. Jeffrey was sound asleep on a blanket in front of the fire, head resting on Dixie’s rump.
Aiden and Petra were tucked into the love seat, Jinx sprawled on the floor at their feet with a slightly lopsided scarf she was knitting covering her legs. Logan sat in the lone recliner, feet up as he thumbed through an old woodworking magazine.
The laughter between them all came easy. The comfort—they’d earned.
It had been a hell of a year since Declan and his brothers had made the move to Heart Falls.
They’d all been pushed to their limits. Threats from the outside, old fears, deep family wounds. And yet here they were, safe and together in the living room at High Water ranch.
“Oh, hey,” Jake said, glancing around the room to make sure he had everyone’s attention. “I’ve got an update.”
That pulled everyone upright just a little. Jake never announced something unless it mattered.
“I got word back from my friends in the fire investigation team on the hall destruction.”
A hush settled.
Beside Declan, Sydney stiffened slightly.
“Don’t know if I mentioned this before, but for a while, I was worried the fire at the community center was somehow connected to the gang stuff we dealt with.” Jake glanced around the room. “Seemed logical, considering the timing. But I was wrong.”
Logan nodded slowly. “Good to know, but what was it?”
Jake tilted his chin in Sydney’s direction. “Someone closer to home. Someone mad about a small situation that spun way out of control.”
The room held still.
Jake continued, “Turns out, the source of the ignition was oily rags spontaneously combusting. A few larger fragments were recovered from the scene including a uniform shirt with a logo printed on one of the pockets. An auto shop in Hillcrest.”
Declan tensed. That was a good forty minutes away from Heart Falls.
“My contact said they visited the shop to find out their protocol to deal with the flammable material. Once the shirts are trash, one of the staff packages them up carefully and then it’s all sent to a hazardous waste centre. Only the usual staff didn’t deal with them that week—Cindy did.”
“Cindy who?” Tansy asked sharply.
“Nora Yemen’s daughter.”
Sydney shot upright. “Cindy?” Her voice cracked slightly. “But…why?”
Jake shrugged, but there was frustration behind it. “Best guess? She got embarrassed after you convinced Nora to move to the senior’s residence. The video she posted online of the confrontation you guys had—the comments didn’t go in her favor. Her pride got dented.”
“I didn’t even know she’d posted it,” Sydney murmured.
“She said she thought shoving dirty rags into the bags in your shed would ‘make your stuff stink’,” Jake said, making air quotes. “She never meant to start a fire, but spontaneous combustion doesn’t care about intentions.”
“Unbelievable,” Petra whispered.
Declan checked Sydney to see how this news was hitting. The fire wasn’t her fault, but she was still learning to let go of trying to run the world.
Her eyes were wide, her jaw tight, but she exhaled slowly.
“These things happen,” she said quietly. “People lash out for reasons that have nothing to do with reality.”
Tansy wasn’t so calm. “I want to drag her to the town square and make her watch that entire building go up again in slow motion.”
