Great snapshot of a woman’s defiance and strength for her child. The whole scene really builds up a sympathy for your protagonist. I might have a shot at a sequel later, if you don’t mind. It’s a brilliant set up for a proper series!
Abby x

I feel like the last line is an anticlimax! You should end with just, “No.” That is final.

I love it though. I can feel that love, even though I have never felt it.

Well, the true story is about a Cherokee Indian woman who hid from the U.S. soldiers in the in the icy river in the 1830s when President Andrew Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act and sent troops to capture the tribes and force them to walk the ‘Trail of Tears’ to the new reservation land. So I wanted to include that she did run, she did hide in the freezing waters, and she was not captured. :)