The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

A blur of gray fur streaked out of the rubble straight toward Jamie.
“Bovril!” he shrieked.
The pasture lay beyond the rubble. I tried to run, but after three steps Fred
caught me. “He’s fine,” he said. “Your pony’s fine. He must have been on the
other side of the field when the bomb hit.” Tears were coursing down Fred’s
cheeks. “It’s you we were missing,” he gasped. “You we were digging for.
The sirens never went off last night. We thought we’d lost all three of you.”
Jamie bounced over to Susan, grinning. “We’ve been shipwrecked,” he
said.
Susan still looked stunned, but at Jamie’s insistence she stroked Bovril’s
head. Then she put her arms around Jamie and looked directly at me. “It’s
lucky I went after you,” she said. “The two of you saved my life, you did.”
I slipped my hand into hers. A strange and unfamiliar feeling ran through
me. It felt like the ocean, like sunlight, like horses. Like love. I searched my
mind and found the name for it. Joy. “So now we’re even,” I said.