AN: I enjoyed writing that last Seven Brides for Seven Brothers story so much that I couldn't stop writing about them. It's scary posting this now as, unlike the previous story, this isn't finished yet. It's a work in progress. That means that there certainly won't be daily updates. Might be a week before there's a new chapter.

Hope this story will be enjoyed!

Chapter 1

"Damn it, Evan, how often do I have to tell you? Huh?" Adam threw his gloves down on the table.

Evan had been sitting at the kitchen table eating his afternoon snack and jumped to his feet as soon as he heard Adam yell his name, getting some distance between him and his older brother. "I…what did I do?"

"What did you do?" Adam slammed his fist on the table, immediately regretting it and cradling his hand, "Damn."

"Adam…," Brian appeared in the doorway, a wide-eyed Guthrie next to him.

"Adam said…" but before Guthrie could finish that sentence Brian had his hand over the boy's mouth.

"I know what he said, buddy, but that doesn't mean you should repeat it."

Adam groaned, "Sorry."

"Does that mean he gets his mouth washed out like we do?" Evan asked innocently, but both older brothers were well aware the boy didn't mean it that innocently. "Or does he have to wash his own mouth out?"

Adam looked to the ceiling, as if the solution to all his problems was to be found there, "You have bigger issues, buddy, than my cussing. And Guthrie, I shouldn't have said that. I'll put a dollar in the jar."

For Guthrie that was enough to start cheering. The jar was an old jar they had on the kitchen counter. When Adam or Brian swore they would put money in there and on the next trip to town the money would be used to buy candy. It didn't happen often nowadays because the two hardly ever swore anymore, that the younger ones knew about anyways. "When are we gonna go to town?"

"Not until Saturday, buddy, we still have more than enough leftovers from Thanksgiving. In fact, we could feed an army." Brian had to laugh at Guthrie's disappointed face. "Don't worry, it'll be Saturday soon enough." It was Tuesday, after all.

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere," Adam took a hold of Evan's arm just as the boy was about to sneak past him.

"But I didn't do anything, Adam, I even passed my test today. Did all my homework at school because Miss Landon was ill today and…"

"I'm not talking about school. I'm talking about this morning. I'm talking about the time Brian and I had to spend today getting all the pigs back in the pen."

"Oh…" slowly realization dawned on the 13-year-old. "I thought I…"

"Well, you thought wrong. You forgot to close the gate, didn't you? You were in a hurry because you wanted to spend some more time with Diablo."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave it open, honest."

Adam rolled his eyes (something he'd yell at the kids for), "If I had a penny for every single time one of you kids said the word honest when you're trying to talk your way out of trouble, we'd have money to buy that new generator. And maybe a new roof."

"But Adam, I really didn't mean to do it. I thought I'd closed it."

"I'm sure you did. But you didn't, Ev, and because of your rush to get to that colt, Brian and I spent two hours chasing pigs. And we didn't have two hours to spare. There was too much to do as it was. So guess what?" Evan looked anxious. Adam was notorious for coming up with the most horrible punishments. "You get to do our evening chores on top of your own."

On the worst-punishment-scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, this was actually a three, but still Evan balked. "That's not fair! It was an accident!"

"A costly accident," Brian added. "Look, it's simple, Evan, I need to get dinner started. We have to make sure everyone's done their homework. I still have to check the Jeep because it was acting up earlier. And you just admitted you already had your homework finished anyway, so you were probably gonna go play or hang around doing nothing. Now you can make yourself useful and make up to us for having to work extra."

"Brian the practical. I simply call it a fitting punishment," Adam looked at Guthrie, "Did you get everything ready to finish that science project?"

"Yeah it's in the living room, Adam. I was waiting for you to help me," Guthrie had actually been waiting since he'd gotten home. Homework wasn't his idea of fun, but this science project was an assignment he was actually looking forward to, mostly because it meant working together with his oldest brother.

"Good, I'll go wash my hands and will be with you. Evan, I suggest you get to it. Now." Adam didn't even look at his brother as he walked to the sink to wash his hands.

Evan was momentarily lost for words but then he stomped his foot and shouted, "No, I won't! I know it was stupid, but it was an accident. Why can't Daniel help me? Or Ford? If we do it together it goes faster. It's not fair that I have to do it alone."

"Daniel or Ford didn't leave the gate open," Adam dried his hands and turned to Evan. "I'm not telling you again, Evan."

"I don't care! I'm not doing it."

"Fine. You're not working with Diablo for the rest of the week."

"The rest of the week?" Evan's face betrayed the shock the boy felt. He'd expected a threat, maybe a swat, maybe being dragged out to do it, but not this. "I just forgot…you can't just…"

"I can and I will. I'm done arguing with you, little man."

Evan tried to fight the tears, but he was fighting a losing battle. Angrily he wiped at his eyes. "Why are you doing this? You're so mean."

"Adam…," Guthrie appeared at Adam's side, "Evan didn't mean it. He's crying. He really is sorry."

Adam put his arm around Guthrie's shoulder, "I'm not so sure he's really sorry for leaving the gate open. And he's certainly not sorry about his attitude and refusal to do as he's told. But don't worry about it. It'll be okay."

"Come on, Ev," Brian now made his way over to Evan, trying to get the boy out of the kitchen, "I'll show you what to do while Adam helps Guthrie." It may have looked like a comforting grip on his brother, but in fact, he was steering Evan outside with a strength the boy couldn't fight.

"It's not fair, Bri," Evan cried as they crossed the yard, "Why does Adam always have to use Diablo when he's mad at me?!"

"Well, Adam uses what works and this works well on you. But buddy, you had a lot of chances to do the right thing just now. Instead of apologizing as you should have, you started coming up with excuses. You forced his hand, buddy, and you know it."

"But three days of not working with Diablo…three whole days."

Even though Brian felt that Adam had been a little bit harsh, he knew that this wasn't the first time that Evan had made mistakes because he wanted to go to Diablo and it wasn't the first time Evan had defied Adam like this. "I know it's hard, but try to learn from it. How would you have felt if you had two hours of extra work because one of your brothers had been careless in his chores?"

Evan shrugged noncommittally. He knew Brian was right, but that didn't mean he had to admit it.

"I bet you would be mad. And I bet you would like some help to get everything done that had to be done. And you would have liked an honest apology. A heartfelt one."

Another shrug followed, but Evan avoided eye-contact and Brian knew the boy was listening.

"I think that if you had apologized right away to Adam and asked him how you could make up for your mistake, things would have ended differently. Don't you think so?"

"Maybe," Evan's voice broke and he wiped at his tears again, "I just never think about that when I've done something wrong. And now I'm in trouble again…"

"And you didn't have to be. I'm sorry, but you really have to learn to handle being in the wrong better." Although Brian was known for his hot temper, he was usually pretty good at admitting it when he was in the wrong. Usually. What the younger kids didn't know was that it had been a steep learning curve for him. "I was the same way and I usually made it worse for myself. And like Dad, Adam's good at finding what hurts the most. With you it's Diablo. For me it was being grounded from playing on the team. The threat alone was enough to get me to behave for a week at least."

"But that hurts the team too."

Brian nodded, "That's why it worked so well. And your punishment now hurts Diablo too. Which is another reason it works. We don't want others hurt because of our mistakes. Hmm?"

They'd reached the barn and Brian nodded at the stalls, "At least you get to be around him while you muck those out." He laughed at Evan's face. "Yeah I know…not my best attempt at a joke." He ruffled Evan's hair, "You'll get through it, kiddo. And maybe you'll be a little wiser now. I gotta go back to start supper."

With a deep sigh Evan reluctantly got to work as Brian made his way back to the house. Part of Evan was hoping Ford or Daniel would show up soon to start their own chores so he could somehow get them to help him. Another part was thinking that might not be such a good idea. Not only didn't he want to admit to them how stupid he'd been, but he also knew that if Adam or Brian found out, he'd been in even deeper. And very, very deep down, he knew that Brian was right. He should have handled it better. He could have avoided it. And yes, he had been stupid. He owed it to them. As soon as that last thought popped up all thoughts of unfairness and asking his brothers' help vanished as snow in the sun and he started working harder.

"Adam, how far is Mars away from us?"

"You have your book there. If you don't know, you look it up."

Guthrie got his book, but still gave Adam a puppy look, "Why can't you just tell me."

"You have to learn to look things up, buddy. What if no one's around to ask?"

"There's always someone!"

Adam had to laugh. The boy had a point. Being the youngest of seven meant that young Guthrie had never been left on his own. Partly out of protectiveness, but mostly it was just the way it was. "Still, at some point it'll happen. But don't you think we should paint the planets first before we put them at the proper distance?"

"Oh yeah," Guthrie hit his forehead in an over-dramatic gesture, "Duh."

"You know I don't like that word, buddy."

"But it's not cussing, is it, Adam?"

"No, it's not as bad as cussing, but it's a bit disrespectful."

"Why?"

"Because when you say duh, you're actually saying the other person is stupid, or that you yourself are stupid. And neither is very nice to say, isn't it?"

"But I was stupid."

"No, you are not stupid, you just didn't stop to think it through. You need some help planning things like this. Doesn't mean you're stupid. I don't ever want to hear you call yourself stupid okay?"

"Okay, Adam, I won't. And I'll never call anyone else stupid either."

"Good." Adam handed Guthrie the red paint so he could paint Mars, the boy's favorite planet. "Why do you like Mars so much?"

"Cause it's red."

"Oh…don't you think it's got to do with all the talk of Mars and Martians?"

"No, Martians are scary. They don't exist, do they, Adam? It's just make believe, right?"

"I think so, yes," Adam wasn't going to start a theological discussion, but he wasn't sure they were the only ones in the entire universe either. "Maybe elsewhere, but I don't think they're on Mars. There's no water on Mars, right? And all living creatures need water."

"Oh yeah, Miss Cindy said that. It's really cool there, with lots of mountains and canyons. Much more than we have. You think we could ever go there and go mountain climbing?"

"Well, you just looked up the distance….I think it's a bit too far to travel."

"Oh yeah. But I bet it'd be cool."

"I think so too, buddy, very cool."

Brian was listening to their exchange from the kitchen. He was sitting at the kitchen table peeling potatoes and as he worked he could feel his feelings turning negative again. He wasn't exactly angry at his older brother, but definitely disappointed. The accusation had hurt him more deeply than he wanted to admit. He'd brushed it off as Crane had come to him to apologize for putting him in that position. Brian's heart had gone out to the younger brother as he saw him standing in the kitchen when he and the kids came back from berry picking. He had to mentally correct himself, Crane was just as much one of the kids. That had been their mistake all along: treating Crane like an adult, when in fact he had been only a little boy. Not little anymore now, but Brian and Adam were very much aware of how much they'd let the boy down during his teenage years. And they were even more determined to make up for it. So instead of making a joke, Brian had pulled Crane into a big hug. Not one of their usual one-armed ones or the big bear hug Brian had given his brother when he'd stepped off the bus. No, a comforting hug and he could feel the difference in Crane's reaction to it. It told Brian more than any word Adam could have said.

"It's okay, kiddo," he'd replied, "You didn't put me in that situation. You did something foolish, you were punished, and now it's over. That's how it works, Crane. No hard feelings. Just don't do it anymore." Crane's promise had been sincere and heartfelt and Brian had nodded, "Good, that's all I need to know."

And he hadn't lied to Crane, he didn't hold it against the boy. But Adam was a different story. His older brother seemed to want to believe the worst in him. Of course, he'd jumped at Evan's and Ford's throat as well. But he'd apologized to the boys and made it up to them. There had been no apology to Brian. And that hurt. He pushed the hurt away again and put the potatoes on the stove before getting out the string beans. He'd made the meatloaf the previous day and cut it in individual slices now to fry in the pan. He'd learned to leave it overnight to have the flavors come out better. He hadn't known that when he first tried to make it. Of course, it had been dry as a bone then, never mind the flavor.

Outside he heard Ford and Daniel pushing each other around. He wouldn't interfere as long as they kept it playful. Another thing they had learned to recognize. The sounds between playful roughhousing and actual fighting were different.

"Hey Brian," Ford popped his head through the kitchen door, "Can we have some cookies?"

"May we," it was an almost automatic correction and Brian didn't wait for a repeat of his words, "And no you may not. Dinner will be ready in half an hour."

"So? You know I won't spoil my dinner."

Brian had to give him that. Ford could never seem to get full. It was a part of the teenage years with boys, it seemed. "I know, and the answer is still no. You had your snack after school and now you'll have to wait for supper."

"Did you make dessert?"

Brian had to grin now, "Yes, I made dessert. Or rather, we still have dessert left."

"yeah but that's pumpkin pie." It wasn't Ford's favorite. "I was hoping for something else."

"Well, you already had the last piece of the apple crumble. The blueberry pie was gone by Friday. Pumpkin pie is all that's left. And you can stop that sigh. You know you'll eat it anyway."

"Doesn't mean I like it."

"You could just have an apple."

"That's not dessert."

"For some people it is."

Another sigh from the 12-year-old. "Not fair."

"Hey, buddy, you get supper, you get dessert, you want for nothing, so no complaining. Or there won't be any dessert for you." It may have sound like an empty threat considering Ford's preference for other desserts, but truth was that Ford really liked every dessert possible, pumpkin pie was just at the bottom of that list of favorite foods. And so Brian wasn't surprised when Ford conceded right away.

"I'll stop…I'll go play."

"Chores finished?" Brian called after him.

"Of course!" He could hear Ford's answer just before the door slammed shut. He sighed, knowing he should get up to tell Ford off for not closing the door properly, but he'd had a rough day and was tired, so pretended he hadn't heard it. He was just glad Adam hadn't heard it or the guy would have yelled again. Suddenly Brian grinned. It wasn't unthinkable that Adam was pretending not to have heard as well. They were both tired.

"So did you finish your model, Guth?" Brian was loading up the mashed potatoes, his favorite potato dish, and glanced up at the youngest sibling.

"Uh huh," Guthrie had just picked up his glass of milk to drink.

"Take a couple of bites first, buddy, don't want you filling up on milk before you had any of the food." Brian watched Guthrie put the glass back down. "Will you show me after dinner?"

"It looks great," Daniel commented, making his youngest brother beam.

"Ya think so, Danny?"

"Yes, I really think so, Guthrie," Daniel reached over and ruffled Guthrie's hair, "I think you'll get a really high grade for this. Maybe even an A."

"Or an A+," Ford grinned, "At least Brian and Adam will have one more brother who gets the grades to go to college."

"It's a bit early to think about college with Guthrie yet," Adam took the bowl of mashed potatoes from Ford who had gotten it passed on after Brian, "but yes, we'd like all of you to go to college."

"Not me," Ford groaned at Evan's words, knowing they could easily lead to yet another discussion, "I'm gonna do rodeo. Don't need college for that."

For once Adam kept his cool, knowing this was far too soon to have this battle with this particular brother. "Just do well for now. It's a bit early for any decisions. Did you finish the chores?"

Brian held his breath, but was pleasantly surprised at Evan's answer, "Yes, sir….Adam?" Evan waited until Adam looked at him, "I'm sorry I caused you and Brian so much extra work. I'll try to be a lot more careful from now on."

It earned him a big smile from both oldest brothers, but it was Adam who reached over and squeezed his shoulder for a moment, "Thank you, Ev, apology accepted."

"How did your test go, Danny?" The boys wondered why Adam always had to spoil dinner by talking about school.

Daniel shrugged, "I never know until I get it back."

Something in the boy's tone made Adam think there was something wrong, but not only didn't he have the energy left today to actively go looking for trouble, he also knew that things always got out eventually. So he didn't press. "I would think you would have a better idea whether or not you found the questions difficult."

"Well, I don't. When I think it went okay, I get a low grade, and when I thought it was difficult I pass. So I don't know."

"Something we can maybe work on," Brian took over. "Maybe it's a matter of confidence."

"Doubt it. I'm just not smart enough to go to college. Besides, by the time I'd leave Crane's just coming back. If I went to college I wouldn't see Crane for 8 whole years."

"You've just seen him last weekend," Evan couldn't help pointing it out, despite the full mouth of mash and meatloaf.

"Evan, that's disgusting," Brian chided, earning him a cheeky grin from the boy, but Evan did close his mouth. "He's right though, Danny, you've just seen Crane, two weekends within 4 weeks, and one was a long weekend too. You're being a little over-dramatic. It's not like you never see your brother."

Another shrug from Daniel, "Feels like it." Saying goodbye again had been hard for the 14-year-old.

"He'll be back soon enough. Next month anyway, for Christmas."

"Maybe he won't. Maybe he never will again."

Daniel's morose thought caused the youngest of the McFaddens to look up in fear, "Crane's not coming home?"

"I wouldn't, if I were him," Daniel didn't look up from his hardly-touched plate.

Tears filled the sensitive 9-year-old's eyes, "But he has to!"

"Of course Crane's coming home," Adam glared at Daniel now, "Stop upsetting your brother. If you're gonna be this way you can finish your supper in your room."

"Fine!" Daniel picked up his plate and left the room, stomping up the stairs as he did. For once, the rest of dinner was a quiet and somewhat tensed affair.