Cowboy Homecoming. Louise Gouge M.

must be tired from your trip.”

      Every instinct told him to force his way back into the sickroom so he could see for himself how his father fared. But instinct had been his worst enemy while he grew up, getting him into more scrapes than he could remember. Old Reverend Harris in Boston taught him to be more thoughtful and to take more time to make decisions.

      “All right.” He turned away from the now-closed door. Didn’t Mother even want to see him? To welcome him home with more than a brief embrace?

      He walked down the hallway to his bedroom and opened the door.

      “Shh.” Rita, the family housekeeper, rose from a rocking chair and hurried toward him. “The little ones are sleeping, Senor Tolley.” Whispering, she waved a hand toward two small heads at rest on his pillow and a cradle holding a red-haired doll that must be Rand’s new daughter. “Senora Northam uses this room as the nursery now. The children often come here.”

      Tolley’s knees threatened to buckle. So he couldn’t even find refuge in his old bedroom. Even his belongings were nowhere in sight. “I see. Very well.” He backed out into the hallway and made his way downstairs to the front parlor, where the others had gathered.

      His brothers had made no move to bring his trunks inside. In fact, the moment he entered the room, they traded guarded looks. Nate cleared his throat.

      “This all happened very suddenly, Tolley. Last night, when we heard about the Colonel’s...illness, Rand and I agreed we needed to move our families here so we can run the ranch and our wives can run the house. Then Mother won’t have to worry about a thing. We moved here this morning and, as you can see, it sort of makes for a full house.”

      Rosamond, always the protective big sister, came over and looped her arm in his. “We expected you to stay in Boston for another year.” Compassion filled her voice, making him uncomfortable. “To finish your schooling.”

      “I did finish.” He lifted his chin defensively and continued before they could ask questions. “I wrote to the Colorado attorney general in Denver. Judge Thomas sent me the paperwork, and based on my performance at Harvard, he’s accepted me into the Colorado judicial system. That’s more than a whole lot of so-called lawyers achieve all over the West where there’s no accountability. A lot of men hang out a shingle without even having any training.”

      Why did he always feel the need to defend himself, despite being twenty-two years old? It didn’t seem to matter how much he’d accomplished; they still treated him like the baby of the family. Wouldn’t they ever let him grow up? “I wrote to Mother about coming, but I asked her not to say anything. I wanted to surprise everyone else.”

      Silence filled the room. His brother-in-law, Garrick, joined Rosamond and took her hand. “Sweetheart, let’s have Tolley stay at the hotel until everything returns to normal.” His English accent no longer irritated Tolley, but his suggestion needled him. Moving to the hotel would be another way to separate him from his family during this terrible crisis.

      “Maybe Mrs. Foster has an empty room.” Marybeth spoke up. She’d lived in the widow’s boardinghouse before she married Rand. “It’ll be much homier than the hotel.” The pretty Irish lady gave Tolley a warm, sisterly smile, and the red curls around her ivory face momentarily reminded him of Laurie Eberly. Right now, he’d appreciate having Laurie around. At least she’d welcomed him home.

      Because Marybeth meant well with her suggestion, Tolley couldn’t fault her. Yet he remembered both she and Susanna actually employed deceit with the entire family when each one first came to Esperanza. Of course, after considerable turmoil in both cases, they’d ended up marrying his brothers, but not until after each one asked for forgiveness. Why could they be forgiven for their wrongdoing, but he couldn’t? Why was he always the one on the outside?

      “Sure.” He infused his voice with as much energy as he could. “I’ll go into town right now and see if Mrs. Foster has a room.” He headed for the back door, where he’d dropped his carpetbag. He’d saddle Thor to ride to town and leave his trunks for the cowhands to bring later. For now, he couldn’t wait to get away. No matter how his heart ached over his family’s rejection, he’d do what was best for 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