and stepped back. “There. Looks like a nice home for us.” He reached out to drape an arm across Lonnie’s shoulders.
Lonnie shrank away.
Wyatt closed his eyes. It hurt like crazy to be treated this way by Lonnie. “We’ll move on after Fanny’s foal is born and it’s strong enough to travel.”
“How long will that be?” Lonnie asked.
“I expect a month or so.”
“A month!” Lonnie stalked away to the bank of the river, mumbling under his breath. “What if they find out?”
“We’ll make sure they don’t.”
He wanted so much for Lonnie to feel safe with him. To feel safe around other people.
During his days in prison, Wyatt’s only consolation had been reading his Bible and praying. Prayer was unhindered by bars. He’d promised himself to trust God every day and in every way. If he meant to keep his vow, he had to believe they’d been led to this place. Seemed the Bells were the kind of people to extend hospitality for the sake of his animals.
Could it be they would also accept a jailbird? But he wasn’t ready to cast aside his doubts and caution. Not until he’d had a chance to see what sort of folk they were. Even then, parts of his past must remain a secret. But he wanted Lonnie to feel at ease with them. Lonnie’s constant nervousness would surely make people suspicious that something wasn’t right.
“The Bells seem like nice people.” The thought of Cora laughing brought a smile to Wyatt’s face. “You didn’t meet the twins.”
Lonnie turned, an eager expression on his face. “Boys? Are they my age?”
“Girls. And they’re about as big as Cora.”
“Oh, well.” Lonnie moseyed over to Wyatt’s side and sank down beside him. “How old you figure Cora is?”
“I don’t know.”
“You could ask me.” At the sound of a lilting voice, Wyatt jerked about to see Cora standing nearby. “You said you were out of supplies so I brought you some things.” She held up a sack.
Lonnie jerked to his feet and hurried over to the horses.
Wyatt did his best to hide his disappointment at Lonnie’s retreat and turned back to Cora with a smile that didn’t chase the throb from behind his eyes.
At the way her gaze followed Lonnie, he knew she wondered at the boy’s sudden withdrawal.
“He’s shy,” he said by way of explanation.
“Lilly is much the same way.”
“So how old are you?” He hoped it was the kind of question that would divert her from following any suspicions she had about Lonnie’s behavior.
“Twenty,” she answered, her gaze still on the boy. “And you?”
“Twenty-one.” He felt a lot older. Old enough to be weary, though that was as much the result of a year in prison as from being on the road for weeks. “Lonnie’s sixteen.”
She took a good look around. “You’ve got a pretty good setup here.”
“It suits us.”
She nodded. Her gaze came to him and she gave him serious consideration.
What did she see? He banked every thought but survival. She must never guess his secret. “Care to sit a spell?”
She sat on a log to his right.
“I’d offer you cookies and coffee, but I have no cookies and haven’t built a fire yet, so I don’t have any coffee.”
She smiled, sending golden light through her eyes. “Maybe I can help.”
She opened the sack she carried and pulled out new potatoes and carrots so fresh he could smell them. She held up a jar of milk, then set it by him. She unwrapped a generous piece of cheese and set down a half-dozen eggs.
Despite his practice of hiding his feelings, he felt his eyes widen with pleasure at such delights. He swallowed a rush of saliva. He hadn’t seen food such as this in so long it was but a hungry memory.
Then she removed another packet from the sack and unfolded the paper. “Cookies. Ma said you looked hungry.” She grinned with such innocent happiness that his heart twisted into a knot.
Her smile would not be so warm and welcoming if she knew the truth about him.
She would never know.
His gaze clung to the cookies. They’d had nothing but hard biscuits and jerky for three days. “Lonnie, she brought milk and cookies,” he called. “Come have some.”
“What kind?”
Wyatt almost laughed. As if it made any difference. Lonnie was every bit as hungry as Wyatt. “Cow’s milk.”
Lonnie snorted. “I mean the cookies.”
“Oh.” He knew what Lonnie meant but he went out of his way to force his brother to talk to him.
“Oatmeal and raisin,” Cora said. “Ma made them, and she’s a very good cook.”
“Your favorite, if I remember correctly,” Wyatt added.
Lonnie still hesitated.
Wyatt pulled three tin cups from the supplies and held them out to Cora. She unscrewed the lid from the jar and poured milk into each cup. He handed her one cup and took a long drink from another.
“This is so good. I haven’t had fresh milk since—” He smiled as Lonnie moved closer and sat down as far away from Cora as possible and took the cup of milk Wyatt offered.
Cora passed around the cookies. “Have two.” They needed no urging.
For a moment they enjoyed the snack without need for words.
Cora, who only ate one cookie, finished before Wyatt and Lonnie. “Where do you plan on going?”
He’d answered the question when her pa had asked and she knew it. And her quiet tone didn’t make him believe she only made conversation. She wanted to know more about him. And he couldn’t blame her. Two strangers camped so close to their home posed a risk. But not the sort she probably imagined.
“We’ll know when we get there.”
“I suppose. When did you leave your home? Where did you say it was?”
“Didn’t say. We’ve been on the road a couple weeks.” Give or take. He didn’t intend to offer any more information. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Lonnie’s leg bouncing and shot him a look of assurance.
“You have any other family?”
Wyatt choked back the mouthful of cookie, suddenly as dry as dust. He took a sip of milk to wet his mouth.
Lonnie grew as still as the log on which he sat. Wyatt wondered if he even breathed.
“No other family,” Wyatt said softly.
“No ma and pa?” She sounded shocked.
“Ma died a couple months back.” Wyatt figured she’d hung around just long enough for Wyatt’s return. Long enough to make Wyatt promise to take care of Lonnie. Even without Ma’s admonition, he’d have made sure Lonnie was okay. He’d been Lonnie’s guardian and protector since Ma had put the tiny baby, only one day old, in Wyatt’s arms. She’d hugged them both. Wyatt had put his finger in Lonnie’s palm and the baby’s tiny fingers had curled around it.
It probably wasn’t manly to say it, but it had been love at first touch.
He loved his troubled little brother even more now.
“I’m so sorry.” Cora’s voice thickened as if she held back