I introduced a couple of ideas in my previous story, Prodigal Sons, that were never really explored as they didn't need to be, but now they have been nagging at me and demanding to be written. This story will make a whole lot more sense if you have read that one first. The extra characters in that story seem to have come to life and are insisting I write the rest of their tale too. I'm still no romance writer so consider yourself warned on that front! Some of this will be in flashback format, in case you are wondering why Luke is suddenly alive. Hopefully I don't confuse you too much.

A Friend In Need

Harry sat at his desk and ran a finger up and down the length of the barrel of his revolver. He had finished cleaning it twenty minutes earlier and the bullets still sat on the desk in front of him. His mind was elsewhere and the action was almost automatic. He suddenly jolted back to awareness and frowned at himself. He did not have the luxury to lose focus and he quickly pushed each of the bullets into their chambers before standing up and pacing across the room.

It was well past time to go home and he knew his deputy was out on patrol somewhere. He should have left for the night, but the unease that had been building for some time would not allow him to. His thoughts kept tracking around the same well-worn path and yet he could not come up with any more answers. He shoved the pistol back into its holster before pouring himself another cup of coffee and he almost spat it out when he tasted the bitterness of it. Kennedy might be a good deputy, but he sure couldn't make a decent pot of coffee.

Kennedy.

Harry sat back down at his desk and forced himself to drink down the coffee as he thought about his deputy. Kennedy had been a deputy for a little over eight months and proven himself to be a reliable enough man in most ways. So why couldn't he shake the feeling that something wasn't right?

"You're gettin' old, Sheriff Collins! Old and suspicious!" Harry snorted at himself as he downed the last of the coffee. He finally stood up and made his way to the door. He needed to sleep and the bunk in the jail cell just wasn't as good as his own bed. Not that he expected to get a whole lot of sleep if recent nights were anything to go by. Every time he closed his eyes, it seemed he dreamed of Luke. His brother's laugh was the thing he missed most about him and if he could recapture that for a few moments in his dreams, he was grateful for small blessings. The reason he was suddenly dreaming about him again hadn't escaped him. It had been well over a year since his kid brother took on a losing argument and as the anniversary had rolled around, he'd found himself struggling with dreams that threatened to derail him. This time it was different. This time the threat seemed to be resurfacing and he had no idea how to deal with it.

"What are you doin' out here, little brother?" Hoss passed a cup of coffee towards Joe as he stepped down off the edge of the porch. Joe seemed lost in thought as he nodded in thanks and Hoss settled on the floor beside him. "These nights are startin' to get mighty cold."

"Hmmm."

"So how's about comin' back on inside, where it's a mite warmer?"

"Mmmm."

Hoss stared at his brother's profile as he sipped at the warm coffee and he smiled. Joe had been present in body, but often absent in mind for the past few days. They'd all noticed it and had their theories on why, but so far, nobody had actually asked him directly.

"Or o' course you could run off and join that circus troop that's headin' through to Carson City."

"Yeah." Joe took a mouthful of coffee while his eyes never left whatever he had fixed on in front of him.

"Or you could always paint your hair green like one o' them circus clowns."

"Sure."

Hoss burst out laughing and Joe suddenly turned to look at him.

"What?"

"Little brother, green may be your favourite colour, but I'm pretty sure Pa'd pitch a fit if you turned your hair green."

"Hoss, have you finally lost your marbles?"

Hoss slapped a hand on his brother's shoulder and laughed again. "Nope, but you might have."

Joe frowned at him, completely clueless as to why his brother was looking at him so intently.

"Joe, what's goin' on with you? Your head's been off somewhere else for days now."

Joe sat for a few minutes without speaking, as if weighing up what to say or if to even answer.

"I got another letter from Stacey."

When Hoss didn't answer, Joe stood up and paced a few steps before turning back to look at him.

"And?" Hoss barely smothered the question he wanted to ask.

"And … I don't know!"

"You dunno what, little brother?"

Joe scratched at the back of his neck before shaking his head again. "She confuses me."

Hoss laughed at the look on Joe's face. "Joe, that's the whole female variety ain't it? I mean, I ain't never figured 'em out half as well as you and Adam seem to do. But still, they're meant to keep us fellas guessin' ain't they?"

Joe smiled at his brother's description and nodded at him. "Well, I've never had this much trouble figuring them out before."

"Maybe that's 'cause this little gal's different."

Joe stared at his older brother and took in the comment. He suddenly sobered as he knew that once again, Hoss could see straight through him. "She is different."

"So, what's the problem?"

"Me!" Joe eventually sat back down beside his brother and sighed. "You have no idea, Hoss, what it was like … not knowing who I was. I was so busy trying to figure out who I was that I wasn't really paying attention to who she was. And then, that day with Nate when …" His voice trailed off and Hoss waited as his brother tried to rein in his thoughts. His own memories of that day still woke him at night sometimes.

"When I thought he was going to kill her, I just reacted. Afterwards so many things happened in such a short amount of time and it was all so crazy that I didn't really have time to think about her. Not like that anyway. And then before I knew it, she was gone."

Joe twisted the empty coffee cup in his hands and Hoss simply waited while he gathered his thoughts.

"I didn't figure on how much I'd miss her. But then I got to thinking and I wondered if it was just gratitude. I mean, she did so much for me and maybe I was just feeling grateful."

Hoss barely stifled a chuckle as Joe twisted around to glare at him.

"What?"

"Little brother … I've watched you charm every gal that's crossed your path since you was knee high to a grasshopper, but I ain't never seen you like this. So what was in that letter that's got you all tied in knots?"

"Harry … she talked an awful lot about Harry."

"Well he is pretty important to her, I s'pose."

"Hmmm."

Hoss smiled as he climbed to his feet. "I'm freezin' out here. Do you reckon we could do some of this figurin' out inside where it's warmer?"

As Joe began to stand up too, Hoss reached out a hand to pull him upright.

"I don't know that the green-eyed monster suits you any better than green hair, but …"

"I'm not jealous of Harry!"

"Course you ain't." Hoss nodded while keeping a straight face.

"Hoss … I don't want to … I mean, she only lost her husband last year."

"Yeah."

"Well, how soon is it … I … what's the right …"

"She's writin' to you, Joe. She opened the door."

"Yeah, but what if I got it all wrong? What if she is just being polite? Checking up out of obligation? I mean if I'm this confused … who's to say she's thinkin' straight?"

"Joe … go see the gal again! Stop tormentin' yourself …. and alla us!"

Hoss smothered a grin as he nudged his brother towards the door. There were times to tease and times to keep his thoughts to himself. If he pushed too hard, Joe was just as likely to do the opposite and Hoss didn't think he could spend the entire winter holed up with his ornery little brother if his stubbornness bit him too hard.

As they walked back through the door, Joe was oblivious to the looks his older brother and father shared with Hoss as his mind was elsewhere. He was already trying to figure out how to ask his father for time away for something that wasn't ranch business when winter was inching closer. There was simply too much to do to prepare for the long, cold months ahead and a flight of romantic folly wasn't at the top of his father's priority list. He sighed out loud as he climbed the stairs, totally unaware that three sets of eyes tracked his movement.

"Well?" Adam raised an eyebrow and looked to his younger brother for an answer.

"What you already figured. He wants to go and see that little gal, but thinks he's maybe crossin' a line with her bein' a widow and all."

Adam dropped his gaze back to his book and tried to keep a straight face. His conversation with Stacey, right here in the same room was still very fresh in his mind. He'd caught her out as she spoke her private thoughts to Joe while he was in a drugged sleep, not knowing that anybody could hear her.

"Well if he doesn't make a decision soon, he may just regret hesitating. He's going to be like a bear with a sore head all winter when he finds he can't get out of here." Ben noted Adam's slight head nod and Hoss' wide grin.

"That's fer sure!"

As Ben finally turned for the stairs himself, ready to turn in for the night, he found himself smiling. Never one to keep his emotions very far below the surface, his youngest son had been clearly distracted for days. Since riding out to Silver Falls with Adam over three months ago, he'd seen several letters brought in for Joe with the mail. Considering how rarely he received mail, Joe had endured the good-natured ribbing of his two older brothers, which Ben decided was only to be expected. Something had shifted in his son since the last one and he had debated asking Joe what was in the letter. He finally decided his son was old enough to tell him if he chose to, but Joe's distracted mood had begun to grate on all of them. He didn't think any of them wanted to face the winter period that kept them all locked in together if Joe was left regretting his actions or lack thereof. He laughed as he considered that having a grumpy bear in the house could actually be better than having his son housebound and frustrated.

As Ben stood in the empty hallway, he couldn't help but be drawn back to another time and another place. He'd traveled all the way to New Orleans to tell a young woman that she was now a widow and the circumstances behind it. He hadn't counted on falling in love with that same widow and he'd questioned himself more than once. The voice of doubt had crept into his mind and he'd had to argue it back into silence. As they made the long trek back home to his boys, he'd grown more certain that he had made the right choice. Over the few short years they had together, he had been so very thankful that Marie had loved him back, in spite of what she had suffered.

He could tell his young son that widows did, in fact, move on with life. He could tell him to seize what life presented before it was taken away. Lord knew how easily that things could change on the breath of the wind. He paused outside his youngest son's door, his hand raised to knock. Finally he changed his mind and made his way to his own room. Joseph needed to make his own choices, but he smiled to himself as he settled on a way to nudge those choices along.

It was another few days before Joe got his chance to head to Silver Falls, but it came about in a rather unexpected manner. He had a string of horses that needed to be delivered to the army and he had planned to send two of the hands on the run. Suddenly his father decided it was time for their newest ranch hand to take his first delivery run and he needed his mentor with him. As Joe tied his bedroll on behind his saddle, he grinned at the sight across from him. Glen had his gear all stowed and looked like a five-year-old with a bag full of candy he'd been told he couldn't eat yet as he waited impatiently to get going.

"Something wrong?" Joe asked innocently.

"No."

Joe laughed as he swung himself into the saddle. "Just eager to get going?"

"Well, yeah. It's just that … well nobody has ever entrusted me with a job like this before."

Joe grinned at the enthusiasm in the comment. He had spent the better part of the last few months working alongside the young man who had shown a real aptitude for horses. Joe had talked him through training the new black mare he was riding and he'd found a keen and eager student. Of course, it was still Hoss that drew the young man's attention, as the two of them seemed to talk the same language, but Joe and Glen had quickly developed a good rapport. It had been frustrating waiting for his body to heal enough for him to be ready to take on a wild horse again. He knew his family had held their collective breaths as he climbed onto that first bronc only a few weeks back and he smiled at the memory of that personal victory. His back still ached and he knew the oncoming cold weather would give him grief, but he refused to allow it to keep him down any longer. He shook off the chill that suddenly washed over him and he grasped at the lead rope that one of the hands lifted up to him. He grinned back at Glen as he grabbed the second string and the two of them moved out of the yard in unison.

"See you in a week or so, Pa!"

Ben waved a hand as the cloud of dust swirled around the retreating horses. "See you soon."

It would be a week later that a hand rode into the yard, clutching a piece of paper from the telegraph office. He pulled up short of the hitching rail and flung the reins over the timber, hastily making his way into the barn. He knew the boss had them working through grain storage tallies and would be somewhere in the general area. The rest of the family was around, but he figured that Ben would be the quickest answer for his son's whereabouts. Hank almost barreled into Hoss in his haste and waved the paper in his face, almost apologetically.

"Baker at the telegraph office tol' me to give this to ya brother Adam, as quick as I could."

Hoss recognised it for what it was and grasped it from the man's hand. He didn't like the urgent tone behind it.

"He's back there." Without waiting to say anything further, Hoss headed to the loft ladder and called his brother down.

Adam leaned his head over the edge and frowned at the interruption. "Can't it wait? We're almost done with this …"

"Nope! Baker said this was urgent."

Ben had appeared behind Hoss, obviously having spoken to Hank in the yard outside and curious to know what was wrong. Telegrams and urgency rarely meant anything good.