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Matt looked out over the small hills from the far side of the pasture from atop his trusty horse, Mabel. He closed his eyes for a second, taking in the warm, humid air that was standard in south Texas even in February. Eighty degrees with a light northern wind starting to blow.

Then gazing back down, he focused on the creek that separated the two ranches, his and the one C.J. grew up on alongside him. He thought back to all the different times he would find her there. That first meeting there after school when he knocked her down getting to class still fresh as the day it happened. She stood there crying later that day, throwing rocks into it, angry and 9 years old.

"You know you aren't throwing them right." A ten year old Matt told her as he walked up to her.

She was startled and stopped for a second. Then, after wiping her eyes told him, "Says you...I'm throwing them just fine and I don't need any help from anyone."

He stopped to think about that for a minute. Then he said, "Well, I'm just saying if you want them to skip you have to throw like this." He then demonstrated by taking a smooth rock, and throwing it as the two watched it skip 4 times before slipping into the water.

C.J. just picked up another rock and then said, "I'm not trying to make them skip. I'm just throwing them. I'm mad and nothing the grown ups keep telling me makes me feel any less mad. They don't understand anything..." She threw another one. "They don't know, I do, and I can't..." Her voice trailed off and she started to try in vain to stop the tears.

Matt tilted his head as he watched her and then waded across the creek toward her. She was so pretty but so sad and he didn't know why. It almost reminded him of how he felt after being kidnapped a few years ago. He remembered being scared and mad all at once and not having anyone to really confide in. Maybe this little girl had something similar happen to her that none of the grown ups understood, but he did.

She looked up at him as he finally got across and said, "You got your boots wet."

Matt looked down and said, "Yep, I guess I did. It doesn't matter though, I got more boots. Why are you so sad?"

C.J. sat down then and told him, "I'm not supposed to talk about it much, but...my parents..." She started to get choked up, "They're gone. We had the funeral, both of them, and I...its just...they weren't supposed to be gone so soon. I got no family really now...I'm alone..." She started crying harder.

Matt sat down beside her and didn't know exactly what to say or do. He patted her back with one hand and said, "I lost my mom and never really got to see her so I kinda know." She kept crying and Matt almost couldn't stand it, he had to make her feel better. "Look, my name is Matt. Kids at school call me Houston and you can too. Its my last name. My family's kinda small, just me and Daddy. Maybe you can be a part of my family, you can come over any time, really. Except maybe when I'm doin chores. The hands really get on me if I don't get them all done by the time we have to leave for school or by sundown after. I can work harder so you can come to my house."

C.J. took a deep breath and stopped crying. She told him, "I heard about you, after you ran off this morning. Some of the other kids said your dad is some important man and that you were some big shot."

Matt smiled for a second and then said, "Yeah, Daddy's known around these parts. I don't know if that makes me a big shot or not..." She seemed to smile for a second and then said, "You didn't tell me your name though..."

She then nodded and said, "Its C.J...C.J. Parsons. The people that I'm staying with now are supposed to be cousins or something of my parents." She looked back down again, clearly still sad.

Matt then asked, "Supposed to be cousins? You mean you don't know?"

C.J. then told him, "No, I don't. I don't remember them or visiting them or anything. They weren't at the funerals either. I just met them last night when I got here, they don't feel like my family. This just seems such a world away from where I'm from. I don't know how to ride a horse or do half the things Floyd gave me for chores either." She looked at Matt and asked, "What am I supposed to do?"

He thought for a second and then got a smile on his face before he said, "Well now, I happen to be one expert rider. I work out here with the hands all day long and I'm sure I can show you anything you need to know."

C.J. raised an eyebrow and said, "Really...so you know everything there is to know about ranching?"

Matt thought for a moment and said, "Well, not everything, but everything that's important. I'm sure whatever Floyd told you to do, I can figure it out and help. I've never thought there was a challenge too big for me."

She smiled at him as he got up, dusted himself off and then reached out to her to help her up. She took his hand and did just that. At that point they heard Floyd call out to her and both turned back to see him ride up on a horse. "There you are...you can't be runnin off like that."

He was yelling and then grabbed C.J.'s arm hard as he led her back to his horse. Matt didn't see what the problem was and thought there certainly was no excuse for why he was handling C.J. as roughly as he was. So Matt said something, "Hey, you don't have to grab her like that. She wasn't doing anything but skippin rocks." Then Matt blocked their path to the horse and said, "Why don't you just let go of her and let her walk herself. She doesn't need any help walking." Matt knew he was only 10 and Floyd was a much bigger adult, but he didn't care. Something about seeing him handle C.J. that way just set him off as he stared the man down.

Floyd pushed past him, picked her up roughly and almost threw her on the back of the horse. Then he turned to Matt and said, "You better get on back to your Daddy and you don't talk that way to adults, boy...I'll make sure Bill hears about this. Ain't your place." Then he jumped on the back of the horse with C.J. who almost whispered 'Thank you' to Matt who nodded back, waded back across the creek, got on his own horse and headed in.

From then on out he took C.J. under his wing, at least for the first few weeks after that until she learned everything she needed to know. Matt was amazed at how quickly she could pick things up and was riding horses bigger than he was by the end of the year.

Now he sat out looking back at that same creek thinking about her again, his wife. He knew she was upset when he left, but had done his best to reassure her that, even though she still had not gotten pregnant, not to worry. He told her she didn't let him down or anything like that, all this meant was they needed to work harder, perhaps even more often. That thought brought a smile to his face and caused him to suck in his breath for a second. Even thinking about making love to her still had that affect on him.

The next thing he knew his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of horses behind him and his two ranch hands, Bo and Lamar.

Bo rode up and broke the silence, "I told ya we'd find him out here. This is where we always used to find him...talking to C.J...his best friend and only his best friend." The two men chuckled while Matt just nodded with a smile. This was more of the 'I told you so' routine he had been experiencing since he arrived two days ago.

So he looked at both men and asked, "So, you two didn't happen to wager on whether or not C.J. and I would end up married, did ya?"

The two looked at each other with smaller smiles on their faces and didn't say anything for a second, which confused Matt. Then Lamar told him, "Actually we did...but we went in together with your Daddy. He won."

Matt was a little startled but then smiled, "Well Daddy always did have a sixth sense about some things. He probably knew the both of us better than we do in some ways."

Lamar then said, "I know that's why he bought Floyd's place when he died years ago. Even though C.J. was off in Boston at that fancy school, he wanted her to still feel like this was her home too."

Matt then looked back at the creek and said, "Yeah...I don't really know how much it felt like home for her though. I think our place did that more for her than Floyd's. Didn't seem like he or his wife treated her like a daughter or anything."

Lamar and Bo looked at each other for a second and Matt caught on that there was something they knew that they weren't sharing. So he prodded, "What is it you two are hidin?"

Bo then stammered, "Uh...nothing...nothing really." They both knew Matt wasn't buying that and after looking at each other one more time Bo then said, "Ok, well, we don't know all the details or anything, but..."

Matt waited patiently for a minute before saying, "But what, Bo? Is it about C.J.? Floyd? The property? What?"

Lamar then answered, "Well, its just that Bo here grew up with Floyd and well..."

Then Bo interrupted, "Floyd didn't have any cousins or anything living anywhere other than here in Texas. I know for a fact. He wasn't related to any Parsons or anything either."

Lamar then said, "And I, uh...well...I remember walking in on Floyd talking to Bill one day. He was asking about adoption or something. Why he was asking your Daddy I don't know, but I remember Bill telling him rather strongly to let her keep her name, Parsons. That they shouldn't try to give her another one even if she wasn't related. Something about it being a part of her past and who she was."

Matt blinked more than once. He knew why Floyd might be talking to Bill about adoption, he was adopted. On top of that Matt had kept parts of his biological father's name. But all of this with C.J. just confused him so he asked, "What do you mean? Then why did C.J. come and live with them if they weren't family?"

Bo and Lamar just shrugged before Lamar said, "I don't know, but I remember those days. I remember Floyd flipping whenever he couldn't find her. Yelling at Bill, yelling at you, yelling at the other hands. That's why I called you. Someone's been on that property besides us. They've been in that little house at least twice in the last couple of weeks and I'm not the spring chicken I used to be. I can't just go confront someone like that. You know I'm not good at confrontations. If I was, I wouldn't have married Beulah again."

Matt then looked back at the creek completely confused now. "She wasn't related to them...then why did they take her in? Who are these people trespassing and what do they want? You sure they aren't just some kids looking for an old abandoned house to party in?"

Bo and Lamar nodded before Bo said, "Not unless the kids party a lot differently than they used to. They've all been real quiet. Only way we know they've been in there are the tire tracks and the cigar butts they left behind. And now...well...we got this in the mail a week ago."

He handed Matt a letter that read, Mr. Houston, We wish to purchase the property formerly owned by Floyd Garrison. We know it is not being utilized by your ranch and want to take it off your hands. Please contact our attorney to arrange a meeting. We are certain a lucrative agreement can be reached.

Lamar then said, "The next day one of the back fences was damaged on that far side and then the day we called there was a small fire in the house. Seems like someone was trying to get rid of the place if they can't buy it. I went through it a little bit, but didn't find anything. Just some old furniture and pots and pans, nothing of any value really, just stuff that never got cleaned out when Floyd passed."

Matt then looked at them from the note and said, "So whoever sent this either wants to buy the property or thinks there is something on that property that they don't want anyone finding." He folded the note up and then said, "Come on, I want to take a look at the house myself."