Doors of Promise

A Promise of Redemption
“I love you,” Sonny whispered to her, and her mother smiled, her frail hand fluttering next to her heart and Sonny knew what she could not say.  
Tucking her more firmly into her arms, she wrapped the blankets more snuggly around them, and in one last desperate attempt to save her mother, she tried to will her energy to go into her, to bring back the woman of the past that she barely remembered.  But as she woke in the wee hours of the morning, Mama did not stir, and Sonny knew her mother would never sing again.
A Promise of Grace
“I’m sure we’re almost there.  Just a few more minutes and we should be-.” Her words were cut off abruptly as the carriage jerked to a halt and loud voices could be heard outside the window.  Ian heard his mother’s sharp intake of breath, her body slamming back and forth on the seat, and glanced over to see her face strained with pain as she clutched the fabric beneath her.  
His heart rose in his chest and he turned back out the window to ask the driver what had happened when he heard arguing and then shouts, followed by the crack of a pistol and the burning smell of gunpowder.  There was a thud as something fell from the top seat of the wagon and hit the ground, nearly completely covered in darkness, and then strong, dirty hands yanked open the carriage door.  
Rain had begun to fall in soft droplets, spattering the hard, dry earth with welcomed moisture as two more shots rang out into the night and the sounds of terrified screams filled the air.  The gunmen, carrying two saddle bags filled with ammunition and provisions, as well as some coins and a few trinkets harvested from their victims, unharnessed the horses and rode away, disappearing within a sheet of rain, leaving behind them the dead and dying, blood mixing with the rain that soaked into the thirsty earth.
A Promise of Mercy
He wanted to run; he wanted to turn back the hands of time to that moment when he had felt that push to go, so he could ignore it.  And yet he found himself kneeling beside the woman on the ground, checking for a pulse, and seeing if she was breathing.  She was, but her breaths were shallow and far between, each sounding like the last, and her pulse was almost non-existent, but it was there nonetheless.  He had left his horse not far from here, and he knew he should go for help, but something made him wait.  He didn’t know why, or what for, but he waited…and waited.  After ten minutes next to the dying woman he stood and brushed his pants off, prepared to go for the doctor, when she moaned and reached for him, causing her to whimper in pain.  His pulse doubled as her eyes shot open and focused unsteadily on him.  It was like looking into the eyes of death.