either.
He brushed both horses and gave them each a ration of oats, though Gray didn’t need a lot. The Hardings kept all their stock in good shape.
He was trimming the mare’s hooves when he heard the sound of approaching horses. He finished the task, closed the gate to the pen and crossed to the barn to wait for Pa and Levi. They’d have questions and he’d sooner answer them out here than in front of Willow.
They led their horses into the barn.
Levi halted at the sight of Johnny. “I thought you were going to stay at the cabin until you got it ready to live in.” His voice deepened. “For you and Thad.”
Johnny couldn’t undo the past, nor mend the hurt his younger brother felt at the drowning of Thad’s sister, Helen. Levi and Helen had loved each other since they were fifteen years old.
“Plans changed.”
“Again?” Levi no doubt referred to how plans had changed at Helen’s drowning. At the time of her death, Johnny and Thad had already formed a partnership for the purpose of breeding horses, training them and selling them. Broken by his sister’s death and the shock of learning of his girlfriend’s unfaithfulness, Thad had left along with his family, and the partnership had dissolved. Now Thad had healed enough to return, and Johnny meant to do everything he could to help him regain the confidence and enthusiasm he’d known in the man before those dreadful incidents.
Or Levi might be referring to the fact that Johnny’s wedding plans had changed abruptly. Or any number of things. It didn’t matter.
“A person learns to roll with the punches.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Levi didn’t sound the least convinced.
Pa had unsaddled his horse and now joined them. “You finished the repairs? Or changed your mind?”
Pa wasn’t too keen on Johnny moving into the cabin even if he would be sharing it with Thad. “Like I said, no need for you to live up there when you have a perfectly good home here.”
“Thad needs to start over.” As did he. There was no sense in dwelling on the past. Perhaps they’d both find healing in the future. “I’m still going to fix the cabin. Just got delayed a bit. That’s all.”
The two riders brushed down their horses and fed them.
Maisie rang the supper bell and when the men left the barn Levi noticed the wagon. “We got company?”
“Yeah.” Johnny told them about finding the young widow with her son. He told them everything except how good it felt to hold the little guy and how he figured he needed to take care of Willow and the baby.
What was he thinking? He didn’t feel that at all. That was a runaway thought that had no place in his head. Except it remained.
Big Sam patted Johnny’s back. “Son, you did the right thing.”
That explained it. The boys had been raised to do what was right even if it cost them. Making sure Willow and Adam were safe fell into that category.
They continued to the house, washed up at the stand outside, then entered. They trooped by Maisie, who waited at the doorway, each of them planting a kiss on her cheek.
Willow had brushed her hair into a tidy roll, though Johnny thought maybe it suited her better escaping to hang about her face. Adam wore a new little shirt and pants.
He let Maisie make the introductions.
As soon as Adam spied Johnny among the newcomers, he held out his arms to him.
Willow shifted him to her other side so he couldn’t see Johnny, but the baby squirmed around and reached for him.
“I could hold him,” Johnny offered, hoping no one would hear a hint of eagerness in his voice. He’d discovered something very satisfying about holding a baby.
“If you don’t mind.”
He took the child and grinned inwardly when the little guy buried his face against his shoulder as if expecting him to protect him from those other men. But as he sat next to Willow, Johnny could not meet Levi’s eyes across the table. Let him think what he would. This changed nothing.
They passed the food and filled their plates.
“I’ll feed him,” Willow said, and Johnny shifted the baby to her knee. She tried to persuade him to eat, but he turned away from the food. “Maybe when you’re feeling better.”
At the worry in her voice, Johnny wished for a way to make life easier for her. That, however, was not his responsibility. It would be her husband’s if he were alive. Being as she was a widow, he supposed it was God’s job to look after the details of her life. Even though she said she figured God wasn’t doing a good job of it.
As she did every evening, Maisie asked about their day, starting with Big Sam.
“I dragged a cow out of a mud hole down on the flats. It looks like we’ll have to move the cows away from that area.”
Maisie turned to Johnny next.
“You all know what I did. I brought Mrs. Reames and her son here.” He didn’t care to add to that. Not the disappointment of delaying his journey to the cabin nor the unexpected joy of holding young Adam.
“Willow,” she whispered. “Please call me Willow.”
Maisie asked Levi next.
“I saw Tanner. He says everyone is well.”
Maisie turned to Willow. “Tanner is the oldest of the Harding boys.” She got a distant look in her eyes. “I can’t believe he’s twenty-one and married. And now I have four grandchildren.”
“My brother married Susanne, who is raising her brother’s four orphaned children,” Johnny explained. “Now they’re a new family.” He’d never before thought how nice it sounded. Blame Adam for making him realize he might be missing something by shutting his heart and life to the possibility of experiencing the same kind of joy and belonging. But his experience taught him he could not expect to fare as well as his big brother had.
Maisie sighed. “I can’t believe how time has flown. When I married your pa, you—” she looked at Johnny “—were eight and you—” she looked at Levi “—were seven. And now look at you. All grown up at twenty and nineteen.” She emitted another deep sigh.
Levi chuckled. “But every minute of it has been fun, right?”
Maisie’s face became wreathed in a smile. “It has indeed.” She turned to Willow. “My dear, tell us about your day. Where are you from and where are you headed?”
Willow repeated the story she’d told Johnny, of being widowed three months ago and now expecting her sisters to join her in Granite Creek.
Maisie patted her hand. “I’m glad you’re getting a chance to start over. I firmly believe in new beginnings.” She then gave a report of her day—how the garden progressed, the birds she’d enjoyed. “And best of all, having Willow and Adam here for a visit.”
