everyone.
He strode across the barnyard toward the weathered barn. A tiny figure in a blue gingham dress stood outside the main corral. Little Lizzie peered through the slats at the horses milling about. At least Lizzie had given Tolley a heartfelt welcome when he arrived.
“Hey, sprout, what’s up?” He started to tousle her hair, but that would mess up her perfect blond braid. Instead, he patted her head.
She looked up at him, her face streaked with tears. “Uncle Tolley, is Grampa going to die?”
Tolley swallowed hard. “Naw. He’s too tough. Say, have you learned to ride yet?” He grabbed her waist and lifted her up to sit on the top rail, which brought on a bout of giggles, just as he’d hoped.
“No, sir.” Lizzie’s blue eyes turned sad again. “Mama says I’m too young.”
“Too young?” Tolley stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Aren’t you about twenty-five?”
“Uncle Tolleeeee!” She giggled again, as he’d hoped she would. “I’m seven.”
“My, my. All grown up.”
“Besides, nobody has time to teach me.” She sighed and looked at him with those big blue eyes.
“You little rascal.” Tolley laughed for the first time since he’d gotten off the train, a true belly laugh. “Maybe I’ll have time to teach you.” Especially since his family didn’t seem to need him for anything else.
“Would you please?” Lizzie launched herself off the rail and flung her arms around his neck, almost knocking him to the ground.
He laughed again and managed to catch her up in a firm hug without falling down.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” An angry male voice accompanied the thump of boots on the hard-packed yard.
Still holding on to Lizzie, Tolley turned to see Seamus O’Brien, Marybeth’s brother and the Northams’ ranch foreman, stalking toward him, fists bunched at his sides. As Tolley set Lizzie down, Seamus stopped and blinked.
“Tolley? Well, of all things. I’m glad to see it’s you. I was worried somebody was about to carry off our little Lizzie.” He reached out and shook Tolley’s hand.
“Uncle Seamus, you’re so silly.” Lizzie spied one of the barn cats and danced away to catch it. “Here, kitty.”
“How’re you doing, Tolley?” Seamus gave him a respectful smile, no longer looking at him as if he were a troublemaking youngster. Which, of course, he had been, driving all the cowhands crazy with his pranks and dragging a few of them into trouble with him.
“Not bad.” He couldn’t exactly tell this man his family had just the same as run him off. Being Rand’s brother-in-law, he’d deny it...or make excuses for them. “I thought I’d saddle Thor and ride him into town.”
“Um, I see.” Seamus’s face crinkled up with perplexity.
“What’s going on? Has something happened to my horse?” Tolley’s stomach turned. He doubted he could stand any more bad news.
“Nothing like that.” Seamus shrugged. “Last month the Colonel sent him over to the Eberly place for stud purposes. George wants some of that Thoroughbred blood in his herd.”
Tolley sagged with relief. The Colonel and George Eberly had settled here at the same time with plans to help each other build their large spreads. The Colonel made it no secret he wanted Nate or Rand to marry one of the five Eberly girls. When they’d married other ladies, all such talk ceased, of course. Once again, the idea that he should marry Laurie crept into his thoughts. Of course, he could only offer her a marriage of convenience, but—No, he must stop such foolish thinking, even if it would give him one more way to impress the Colonel when...if...he recovered.
Tolley forced his thoughts in another direction. “Seamus, if my old saddle is still in the barn, I’d like to ride over and visit Thor.” And Laurie. But he wouldn’t say that out loud. “You tell me which horse I should take.”
“How about Gypsy?”
Tolley winced. He owed the bay mare a big apology. Maybe he could make amends to her today. Did Seamus remember what Tolley did to her? “Gypsy’s fine.”
The Irishman grinned. “You remember how to saddle a horse?”
“I think I can manage.” If Gypsy would even let him near her after the last time he put a saddle on her.
* * *
Laurie tried to peel the potatoes, but the dull kitchen knife sliced too deeply. She dried her left hand and reached for the whetstone on the shelf beside the table.
“Now, now.” Ma grabbed the slender stone and gently took the knife from Laurie. “You gotta take care of those hands, darlin’. I can peel the vegetables.”
Laurie hid her quiet sigh of frustration. In the two weeks since she’d returned home, if she worked here in the kitchen or dusted the parlor or washed her laundry, either Ma or Georgia moved her aside and took over. Why did they pamper her as though she were a delicate doll who needed protection?
At least she’d been allowed to drive into town and fetch poor Tolley from the train, but only because she and Pa were the only ones around when Nate arrived with the sad news about the Colonel. Pa hurried over to Four Stones Ranch to see his friend while Nate helped her hitch up the team. She’d had no trouble driving. True, her hands still ached from wearing cotton gloves instead of leather, but they weren’t really hurt.
How could she keep from boredom for the entire summer on this busy ranch if she wasn’t permitted to lift a finger to work? In Denver, the ladies with whom she’d socialized did charity work when not engaged in teas or parties. At the least, they sewed for the poor, another thing Ma wouldn’t permit. “Why don’t you go practice piano?”
The perfect diversion. Laurie loved to play and looked forward to giving concerts when she returned to Denver. Seated at the piano by the parlor’s front window, she found the simple act of practicing her scales helped to work some of the ache from her fingers. Then she thumbed through her hymnal and practiced her favorite hymns to refresh her memory in case Mrs. Foster asked her to play for church.
A movement outside the window caught her eye. To her surprise, Tolley rode down the lane toward the barnyard. What could he be doing here?
Her heart skipped, then dropped. Did he bring bad news about his father? But wouldn’t they send a cowhand instead of a family member if Pa’s dear friend had died? Wouldn’t the family want to gather together and comfort one another?
Laurie dashed through the house to the back door, seeing through the glass that Tolley had dismounted and tied his horse to the back hitching rail. Her heart pounded, no doubt from the short run. After all, in Denver she’d never run. Ladies didn’t, after all. And of course her haste accounted for her inability to breathe as Tolley approached the house.
She flung open the back door. “Tolley! Is everything all right?”
He gave her that dangerous smile, which surely gave other girls palpitations. Not her, of course, because she knew him too well. As he came
