“I can. My pa can.”
By which she meant he wasn’t as smart as them. Connor gritted his teeth as he led her toward the trail. He managed to find a sharp twig or a sharper rock with every step he took. This was going to be a long walk. He reminded himself he’d headed home to see his Colorado family. He flinched and hopped on his booted foot a few steps and tried to remember why he’d missed them so much.
Chapter
2
She’d missed Connor so much that she could barely keep from punching him in the nose.
He’d been her best friend while growing up together.
Then he’d up and left her. Left her as if she were dirt to be scraped off his boots, as if she meant no more than any other cousin of his. Which she’d finally accepted as the plain truth.
They’d run wild together in the woods, watched more babies come into the family. Learned at a young age to be sturdy little cowboys. Not that big a deal for Connor, a boy. But when Ethan Kincaid had become her pa, he’d also become her champion, letting Maggie go with him everywhere when many girls would’ve been kept to the house.
Connor’s ma was a big influence because she was a top hand, a tough cowpoke, and living proof that a woman oughta know how to take care of herself.
Aunt Callie also taught Maggie to punch. Considering Maggie was a little older than Connor and about half his size, Callie had thought it best that Maggie learn to hold her own.
Connor was a wild man part of the time, and sweet and protective all of the time—yes, even when he was acting wild—and he never punched back. It all added up to her being in love with him all her life, the backstabbing, abandoning rat.
And now here he was. Three inches taller than before, shoulders broad enough to bear any weight, his hair brown and messy, and with those wild blue eyes. Connor was the spitting image of Uncle Seth, funny and teasing and protective as ever, acting like he hadn’t been gone five long, dreadful years.
She’d broken herself of the bad habit of punching over the years, but she would’ve taken it back up in a heartbeat if Connor wasn’t about a foot taller than her.
Though he looked like Uncle Seth, Connor had a quiet toughness about him that was more like Aunt Callie, except when that flash of wildness popped out, which was his pa again. And a combination she found captivating.
And here he was saving her from a buffalo, although she would’ve been just fine without him. Pa would’ve come sooner or later, and she was sure that tree would’ve stayed standing and she would’ve been able to hang on. Pretty sure, anyway.
He walked along, wincing once in a while. She felt herself wincing, too, in sympathy, and hoped he didn’t notice. The trail they got on was wide and easy traveling on a horse—and even on foot, unless you wore nothing but a sock on one of them. There were twigs galore and plenty of pebbles.
And she was wasting probably the only time she’d have alone with him. She tried to think of family news to share.
“A neighbor boy’s been sparking Lily.”
A sharp look from Connor made her wonder if he was thinking overly warm thoughts about Lily. It was a very good thing that Maggie had given up punching.
“And our families are all gone except your folks?”
Did he really mean the whole family, or was he asking about Lily?
“They won’t be away long.” The asperity of her reply earned her another strange look. She squelched the desire to worry about what his looks meant. Then she realized she’d never told him about her brand-new life.
And then Maggie heard hooves on the trail. Connor caught her arms and dragged her into the trees.
“No sense being reckless. It’s probably your pa, but I want to see first.”
A tall, dark rider came galloping around a curve in the trail with two spare horses tied on behind his mount.
Connor glanced at Maggie. “The cavalry has arrived.”
They shared a smile, then stepped out onto the trail. Connor waved. “Uncle Ethan. Howdy.”
“Connor!” A laugh broke free, and Pa’s face broke into a grin so wide it lifted his hat. He rode right up to Connor, leapt off his horse right before Connor would be trampled, then dragged Connor into his arms.
The two of them started talking so fast Maggie couldn’t make out much of what they were saying. There was laughing and backslapping, then Pa turned to her and slid his strong arms around her and hugged her.
“’Bout scared five years off my life when your horse came in without a rider. Then I found another horse running loose. I’ve been riding at a tear to find you. What happened?”
Maggie patted Pa on the chest. He wasn’t her father by birth, though her earliest memories of a father—her only memories of a father—were of him. She loved him in a way that was deeper than blood.
“A buffalo was in the woods when I went in looking for mint and nettles.”
“A buffalo? Around here? In 1883?”
Connor and Maggie took turns telling their buffalo story.
Pa kept giving Connor’s foot worried looks.
“Let’s see if we can get your boot back,” Pa said, “then we’ll go on home. I left behind some chores.”
“All right, but we need to be careful.” Maggie figured that for an obvious statement.
Connor gave her a private smile, the kind they’d shared as children when their parents were doing everything wrong. Maggie had to fake a few with her very nice parents just so Connor wouldn’t feel like their fussing was all about his pa.
“Pa, do you have any advice about avoiding a buffalo cow should we happen to run into her again?” Maggie asked with sarcastic sweetness.
“I’ve heard they’ve got real bad eyesight, so they don’t exactly see you coming, they only see you when you get there. So they’ll stand around grazing as you get closer and closer. Then you decide they’re just tame, friendly critters. Until they see you. Then they gore you to death so fast no one can avoid it or dodge those horns.”
“Weren’t nothin’ tame about the one we found,” Conner said as they rode back to the spot where he’d been treed.
“I reckon I already had her all stirred up.” Maggie knew someone would get to where they were blaming her. She was just ahead of them. She really should have yelled, “Watch out for the buffalo!”
Connor rode side by side with her and Pa. He gave her that heart-stirring smile. “Long as we live through it, we’ll have a story to tell for the ages. Let’s get my boot and get out of here alive and then start polishing this story. It’ll make a great yarn to tell in the evening when the family comes back.”
Connor reined his horse to a halt. “Look there.”
Just heading around a curve in the trail, walking away from them, the buffalo and her calf vanished from sight.
“This is the spot.” Maggie dismounted. “I didn’t exactly notice it before, but now that things have calmed down, I remember something went flying when Connor was wrestling that buff. I know right where that boot went.”
“Don’t go in alone, Maggie.”
She was already going alone. Over her shoulder, she said, “I’ll be fine. I figure my excitement is over for the day.”
She shoved through the thicket and came back in seconds with Connor’s boot. He hadn’t even dismounted yet.
Maybe he thought they were going to talk things over for a little longer.
Maggie handed the boot to Connor, got back in the saddle as he pulled the boot on, and then she and Pa led the way home.
Chapter
3
Connor!” Aunt Audra screamed almost as loudly as her daughter . . . no charging buffalo anywhere. Then Audra threw her arms wide and charged. Something else that made him think of the buff.
Then he noticed her hopping, her left ankle bound with a thick wrap.
She landed, laughing and hugging him. “Connor, you’re home. I’ve missed you so much. Your ma will be so sorry she was gone.”
Audra was as slender and fine-boned as Maggie, hai
r white as the sunlight. Eyes blue and wide with joy. “Why didn’t you write? She’d have stayed home.”
Connor hugged her tight and lifted her right off her feet—or rather, foot—and spun her around. “Now hush, Aunt Audra. I’m home to stay, so a week or two makes no difference. I’m glad she’s getting to travel and show off her paintings and see a bit more of the world. What happened to your leg?”
Aunt Audra shook it off like it was nothing. “Sprained ankle. I’m hobbled up some. Maggie’s treating me.”
Maggie got a hug next. “You’re all right?” Aunt Audra asked.
Uncle Ethan started in on the buffalo and how Maggie ended up in a tree. Connor was mighty sure Aunt Audra could see Maggie and Connor both standing right here and healthy, and so, like a wise western woman, she didn’t get too worked up. She hopped back to her cast-iron stove and got to work cooking.
“I’ve made plenty of supper. You’re staying with us until your folks get home. I’m so glad you got to see Maggie.”
What did she mean by that?
Aunt Audra asked about the lone buff and her baby. They kept talking about herbs. Maggie had gone to gather them, it sounded like to treat Aunt Audra’s ankle. Connor’s ma had given him something—willow bark?—in a tea to fight sickness. Maybe that was the kind of thing Maggie hunted for.
He heard Maggie chattering about Indian mint, stinging nettles, black snakeroot, St. John’s wort. His ma’s brother, Uncle Luke, was good friends with Dare Riker, the doctor in Broken Wheel, and Connor had helped Dare some, so he knew a few things about medicine.
Connor quit listening and asked Ethan, “Do I need to ride home and do chores? I could go right now and get back for supper. I want to hear all about the little ones and about Ma’s painting and how the ranch is doing and the cave and—”
Ethan laughed and slapped Connor on the back. “I did a whole circuit of the ranches early this morning before I found Maggie’s horse. I’d much rather eat Audra’s cooking while it’s hot. You can ride with me tomorrow, and I can show you a few new stretches of land we bought. We want to keep growing so there’s land for all of you young’uns if you want to be part of the ranch. And I’ll show you how big the herd is getting. We’ve brought in a lot of Angus cattle and replaced most of the longhorns in the last five years. We sold heavy on the longhorns when we’d done cattle drives and held on to the black Angus to switch the herd over to Angus faster. Plenty of ’em crossbred, but no longhorn bulls on the property anymore. Angus cattle are beautiful critters.”
“Uncle Luke is breeding heavy with Herefords, and he’s got a few of those big black cows and a lot of what he’s calling black-white faces that are a cross between the two.”
“Maybe you can teach us a few things, Connor. It’s so good to have you back. Tomorrow, after our chores here and checking your place, we can ride over to Rafe’s to work a while.” Ethan’s eyes sparked with excitement. “Maybe explore the cavern a little. Without Julia here to talk all the time, it’s a mighty peaceful place. Not that I mind her talking. She knows things that are really a wonder and I like learning them. But a break from learning would give my brain a rest.”
“You’re going to the cavern tomorrow?” Maggie broke into the conversation. “I wish I could see it. I haven’t been down there in a while.”
“Come along,” her pa said. “I don’t blame you for wanting to go down one last time. You can take a later train. You’ll miss this place once you move away.”
Connor’s brain skidded to a halt. He turned to stare at Maggie. Words seemed stuck in his throat, and his mouth opened and shut like a landed trout’s. “Moving away? Going down one last time? One last time? That sounds like you’re moving away forever.”
“Not forever. Well, maybe not forever. I’ll come home when I can—just like I did the last few days. I reckon I can stay one day longer, but if I do, I oughta be helping you, Ma.”
“I always like having you here, honey, but I can manage now.”
Connor lit up inside, the inner part of him that was so much like his pa. His crazy side.
He’d felt just like this a lot of times before, and he’d heard about the look he got in his eyes—that wild blue flash. Some things he just couldn’t control. Worse yet, when he let loose his crazy side, he didn’t want to control them.
Maggie had seen that flash in Connor’s eyes too many times to doubt he was on the edge of one of his crazy streaks.
He’d never been able to control them. She really should’ve told him about Denver right away—he could’ve taken it out on the buffalo.
“When are you going?” He stalked right up to her. “Why are you going? Where are you going?”
And she’d never been able to figure out a way to calm him down.
“I guess we haven’t talked about this yet, Connor.” She tried to sound chipper, more for her parents’ benefit than his.
“I live in Denver now. I’m going to school there. I made a trip home when Ma got hurt, but she’s on the mend now and I’d planned on leaving in the morning. I was stocking up on medicine for her when the buffalo cornered me. You got off the train in Colorado City, but there’s one out of Rawhide, and it’s a short ride from here.”
Ma came up and hugged her. “You’ve been such a great help this last week. It was nice of your school and Dr. Radcliffe to give you the time away. We’re going to miss you so much.”
“As if you don’t have five more children to take all your attention.” It was difficult, but Maggie hung on to her easy humor—at least outwardly—again for her parents’ sake. If it’d been just her and Connor, she’d be tempted to kick him in the shin. How dare he come home after all these years and be upset at the choices she’d made?
“Hush,” Ma said and kissed her on the top of her head before going back to setting food on the table. “I’ll miss you, even if I do have plenty of children.”
Pa was quick to do all the work he could to get Ma off her feet faster. He paused to rest one of his strong hands on her shoulder. “And we’re so proud of you.”
“Hey,” Connor said, “stop with all the sweetness. Maggie can’t leave.”
For just one second she’d forgotten all about him.
“Let’s sit down. I’ve made a stew for supper and it’s ready. It’s a bit early, but I’d think Connor might be very hungry after his travels.”
“Aunt Audra, I am not gonna eat when—”
“Hush, Connor. We’ll tell you all about what’s in store for Maggie. It’s something she’s dreamed about for years.”
Talked about, but not dreamed. Not at first.
Maggie had figured on waiting until Connor came home before she decided what to do with her life.
And he hadn’t come.
And she’d started talking about nursing.
And he hadn’t come.
And her talking turned into thinking.
And he still hadn’t come.
And she’d accepted that he was never coming and got on with her life. That was when she’d begun to dream. She really, finally had. And now she wanted to follow that dream, and here came Connor home. She couldn’t give up the blessed opportunity that God had so graciously provided.
After shooing Ma into a chair, she and Pa got the meal on the table. With Connor chipping in too, they were sitting down to a fine supper in minutes.
Pa asked the blessing.
She could see Connor almost vibrating with impatience. Well, she could see him until she closed her eyes and bowed her head, of course.
Pa said, “Amen.”
“All right. What’s going on?” Connor’s words snapped like a bullwhip.
Ma gestured with her open hand to Maggie. “Tell your story.”
Pa started eating but kept listening. Ma at the foot of the table didn’t even pretend to eat. She watched, her eyes sliding from Maggie to Connor, who sat straight across from Maggie.
Maggie scooped up her first bite of stew but then put the spoon back down. She didn’t
think she could chew and talk at the same time, and Connor had his eyes aimed at her with a grim expression.
Which began to irritate her, so she told him the bald-faced truth with no interest in how he felt about it.
“I’ve been accepted into a nursing school in Denver. I started at the beginning of the summer. I wrote to Uncle Heath in New Mexico, and he knows a doctor who’s agreed to teach me beyond the nursing so I can safely practice medicine on my own. They’ve agreed to charge me no fee for the college because a town named Cutler in western Colorado is in desperate need of a doctor. They are paying the cost of my education and giving me money to live on, in exchange for five years of my service in that town.”
She swallowed and hoped she sounded calm. “I’m so glad I happened to be home when you got here, Connor. Of course, Denver isn’t far, and I’ll be there for a year at least. Cutler is impatient, but Dr. Radcliffe in Denver wants to make sure I’m fully trained. The folks at Cutler, well, they’ve talked of sending someone to check on my progress, and if they’re satisfied, I may go by the end of the school term. I’d prefer to wait, but I’ll abide by the wishes of the folks from Cutler. I’m taking an intensive course of study, so I won’t get home all that often. When I move to Cutler, though, I’ll be much farther away, and there are no trains that reach the town, although they hope one is coming so—”
“You’re going,” Connor cut in, “to some town where you know nobody? Going by yourself to a place so unsettled the train comes nowhere near it? And you’ll be moving and settling there for five years?”
“At least five years, yes. I’m hoping to stay the five years and then come back here, closer to family. There’s a doctor in Rawhide who said he might be ready for a partner in five years. Right now he’s not keeping very busy and he couldn’t make a living if he had a partner. If things work out well in Cutler, though, I might just stay.”
Connor swept that aside with a slice of his hand through the air, almost hitting his plate of stew. “How settled is this town? What if there’s danger? What if men accost you? What if outlaws—”