A/N: Hello again everyone! I am pleased to bring you this sequel/prequel of Brothers. This is not going to be as long as War Treasure was, so I will be posting chapters once a week as is my usual schedule. I hope you all enjoy!

Prologue

Strawberry

"Heath Thomson! Boy, what do you think you are doing?"

The seven year old boy froze in his tracks for a moment and then slowly turned. "Nothing," he said innocently. He put his hands behind his back as the older, black woman hurried towards him. "I'm not doing anything, Aunt Hannah."

"Don't you give me that, Heath boy," Hannah scolded, grabbing his arm. She bent down and studied his face, which was streaked with dirt. His right eye was suspiciously bruised and swollen. "Have you been fighting?"

Heath's lower lip pushed out into a pout. "The older boys were teasing Libby," he protested. "I tried to help her. And then they were calling me names and wouldn't stop."

Shaking her head, Hannah gave his backside a slight swat. "You know better than to be fighting with the other boys," she chided. She shifted her hand down to his little one. "Now you just come on up to the house and get cleaned up before your Mama sees you."

As she lead the boy to the back door, Hannah happened to glance down and saw the teary eyed expression on his face. "Oh, child," she said with a sigh. She bent down and scooped him up. "You gonna have to learn to ignore it when other people talk."

"They said my pa didn't care about Mama and me, 'cuz he left," Heath informed her, his voice wobbling with pent up emotion. "They said Mama was a bad person 'cuz it's just me and her. That's not true, is it, Aunt Hannah?"

Hannah barely kept from sighing. Some folks in Strawberry minded their own business and left Leah Thomson to her own devices, but everyone else...Lord, they could be cruel and hateful.

"You know better than to ask a thing like that," she said gently, hoping to avoid answering the first part of Heath's grievances. She set the boy down on the floor of the porch. "You think your Mama a bad person?"

He emphatically shook his head. "But what about my pa," he asked. "Why haven't I ever seen him?"

"Heath, child, that be between you and your mama," Hannah hedged. "Now come here and clean your face."

It was while the woman was drying Heath's face that Leah Thomson came running in. "Oh, Heath," she exclaimed, dropping onto her knees by the boy. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug. "Someone said you were fighting with the other boys down at the stables. Are you alright? Why would you do something like that?"

"He be just fine, Miss Leah, now he got the dirt off of him," Hannah informed her, folding the towel neatly. "Other boys been talking bad and he decided he didn't want to hear it."

Pulling back, Leah met her son's bright, blue eyed gaze. "Heath, is this true?" she asked. She caught his head between her two hands and studied the black eye that was forming.

Guiltily, Heath nodded. "I'm sorry, Mama," he said sincerely. "I didn't mean to upset you. They were teasing Libby and wouldn't stop. I had to help her."

"I know, honey," Leah responded, rubbing her chapped hands along his arms until she grasped his hands in her's. "And I am so proud of you for defending a girl. Fighting isn't the answer, though."

"Miss Leah, you best get back to the hotel," Hannah urged. "That laundry won't wash itself."

"Mama," Heath spoke up, reclaiming his mother's attention. "Am I a bastard?"

Leah's eyes widened with shock. "Heath," she breathed out. "Is that what those boys said to you?" Her son just nodded, his eyes pleading that she refute it. "Now you listen here, your father was a good man. He loved me very much and I loved him. No child born of a union like that should feel inferior. You just ignore what anyone else says, alright?"

Again, Heath nodded. Leah kissed his forehead and stood up. "Now go back to the livery, and do your chores like you're supposed to," she urged. "I'll see you at supper."

The boy took off and Hannah groaned. "Miss Leah, you ought not be telling him things like that," she said.

Pursing her lips, Leah shook her head. "I only tell him the truth and what he needs to know," she answered, walking to the doorway. She sighed as she watched the blonde head vanish into the bushes. "I think about how lonely he must be without Liam."

Hannah flushed, guilt overwhelming her. "The child can't miss what he never had," she responded, making her tone practical.

Leah leaned against the doorframe. "I sometimes wonder how he is," she commented in a distant tone. "Do you think Liam and Heath still look alike? Do you think he's still as sickly as he was when he was born?"

"Miz McCauwin say she give Liam a good life," Hannah said, praying her words were the truth.

"Oh, I hope so."

"Miss Leah, Rachel won't be able to cover for you much longer, " Hanah warned, eager to change the subject. "Mister Matthew won't be happy if he find out you left."

Nodding, Leah went down the porch stairs and hurried towards the hotel. Hannah looked over to where Heath was studying something on the ground and sent up yet another prayer for forgiveness, along with a request that Katherine McCauwin be kind to young Liam.

Texas

"Liam Sawyer! Just what do you think you are doing?"

The seven year old boy flinched as he froze in his tracks. "I'm going to get cleaned up, Aunt Kathy," he answered, turning to face the woman. "I promise I won't get anything dirty."

Katherine McCauwin grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the light. "Have you been fighting?" she demanded in a horrified tone. "You wicked boy! How many times have you been told not to fight?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Liam wailed as the woman's hand connected with the seat of his pants. The grip on his wrist kept him from escaping the blows. "Mac kept pushing me!"

"It's always somebody else's fault, isn't it?" Katherine asked impatiently. "And to come through the house, while I am entertaining friends, all covered in mud like this...you've been warned, Liam Sawyer."

The boy's eyes brimmed with tears. "I'm sorry, Auntie!"

Releasing him abruptly, Katherine glared at him. "Go get cleaned up, and don't expect any kind of supper tonight," she decreed. "One way or another, you're going to learn to control yourself better. Just be glad I am not telling your uncle about this."

Going pale, Liam nodded, his eyes wide with fear. "I won't do it again, I promise!"

He scrambled for his room. A few moments after he arrived, Maria, the McCauwin's cook, came hurrying in. "Boy, do you think I don't have better things to do than to be watching out for you?" she demanded, pouring water into the basin. She caught him, and held him down to scrub his face clean. "Why you have to humiliate Miz McCauwin like that?"

"I didn't mean to make her upset," Liam protested as the rough towel was rubbed across his face. "It was Mac!"

Maria sighed. "That Mac is going to lead you straight into trouble if you're not careful," she said. "What was it this time?"

"He was pulling the kitten's tail," Liam explained. "He said he wouldn't stop unless I made him so I did."

The cook shook her head. "You best not worry about the little critters so much, and get back to weeding the garden like you're supposed to," she advised. "Mister McCauwin won't be happy if you don't get that done, and you know what will happen then."

Nodding, Liam cringed as he hurried away. As he crept past the parlor, where the ladies were gathered, he heard one of them say, "Really, you are an example to us all, Katherine. You've done such a fine thing in assisting those less fortunate, like that boy. Maybe he'll make something of himself with your guidance."

"A boy like that will never be worth anything and it's foolish to think otherwise," another woman responded primly. "After all, who knows what kind of blood runs in his veins."

"Well, his father was a no account rancher, but his mother was of good family," Katherine remarked. "I'm hopeful that he can be taught to stay on the straight and narrow, though heaven knows I've got my hands full. As you all just saw."

Liam balled his hands into tight fists. "At least he's nothing like that Baker family in town," the first woman commented. "The whole lot of them will come to no good end."

Ducking his head, Liam hastened out the door and started for the fence that protected the garden. A shadow fell over him and he looked up. His eyes widened and he swallowed hard. "Yes, sir?" he asked, his voice shaking with fear.

Jonathan McCauwin swung down off his horse and slapped his riding crop against his palm. "Just what do you think you're doing, Sawyer?"