The Desolate Waif

In this 8th book in the SkyHawk series a young boy sees his mother die in the field as she labors to produce a crop. His father is a very abusive man and the boy is afraid to stay without his mother to protect him. The county sheriff sees the bruises on the dead woman and notices that the boy has several bruises also and takes the boy to a caretaker in town to stay until he can determine if the man had been abusing his wife and son. The boy is afraid that they will give him back to his fath...