Chapter 2
Lou had given up pacing the porch of the ranch house while waiting impatiently for Adam's arrival. She made her way over to the corral where her husband and a couple of the ranch hands were selecting a few horses to be sold that afternoon.
She watched them for a while, admiring the stock. They were beautiful horses, the best in the area. Lou was proud of their ranch, proud of everything she and Kid had achieved since returning to Sweetwater some 22 years earlier. They had come a long way since then, created a successful business that afforded them a comfortable lifestyle, and raised their children. She almost forgot the early days of their marriage when they struggled to establish the ranch with their meager savings. They'd always been happy though, despite their hardships, and Lou knew things would be even better now that Adam was coming home for a visit.
In the corral Kid caught her eye and smiled, but she could barely return the expression as anticipation clouded her features. Kid slowly walked over to her, giving one of the ranch hands final instructions on which horses to ready for sale. He slipped his arms through the fence opposite his wife.
"Train's gonna be in soon, huh?" he said casually, knowing she had been growing more and more impatient for Adam's return since early that morning.
"Maybe," Lou replied with a hint of skepticism. "It could be delayed. Nate said it was more than half a day late last week."
"Jamie will get him here as fast as he can."
"I know. It's just it's been so long since we've seen him and these past few days have felt like weeks."
Kid exited the corral and slid his arm around her waist as he walked her back towards the house.
"It'll be nice havin' him home, won't it?"
Lou only managed half smile in response. She missed Adam terribly, for all that she was proud of his achievements. She hated that he was so far from home. She found it hard not to think of him as the small boy who'd always been by her side. Adam had always needed her more than her eldest son. Having almost lost him to illness as a boy, Lou had been especially protective of him. Now he was all alone in a big city and she worried about him, concerned that he wasn't taking care of himself because he was studying so hard.
The yelling of two boys broke her reverie and she looked over at the youngest of her children – the only two who were still children, really, as Jamie and Adam were no longer in their teens and Charlie, her only daughter, had just turned seventeen.
Jake and Ethan were nine and ten, born less than a year apart when neither she nor Kid thought there would be any more children. After Charlie there were no pregnancies and Lou was content with her small brood. The boys' arrivals had certainly stirred things up at the ranch. They were the best of friends and the worst of enemies, more like twins with their secretive play and methods of communication that their older siblings did not share or had exhibited growing up.
"Boys, come on in the house now," Lou called to them. "Your brother will be home soon."
"Aw, Ma, can't we keep playin' 'til Adam gets here?" Ethan whined.
"You're both a mess, you need to get cleaned up."
"Do as your ma says," Kid intoned.
"Yessir," the boys replied. Ethan managed to dump a final handful of dirt down the front of Jake's shirt before he ran inside, his brother at his heels and promising revenge.
Kid smiled to himself and shook his head. Jake and Ethan were by far the wildest of their children, and would no doubt prove to be even more of a handful as they grew.
"Where's Charlie? Ain't she back yet?" Lou asked, scanning the yard for their daughter.
"She's still out ridin', I ain't seen her since breakfast."
"I told her not to stay out long, she knows Adam is due in soon," said Lou, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Though she wouldn't admit it, Charlie had grown up so much like Lou that there was often conflict between mother and daughter. Charlie, having been raised with only brothers, had always been a tomboy. Even now as she entered womanhood she refused to conform to ladylike behavior that would certainly have allowed her to fit in more with the other girls in town. Lou had experienced a similar sort of ostracism during her days of riding for the Pony Express and, while she wholeheartedly supported and encouraged her daughter's independence, she also wanted her to have friends. Charlie was more at home with the horses than any of the girls she had gone to school with. Lou knew she was lonely.
"It's all right, here she is now," Kid said, nodding towards the rider cantering towards the house.
Within a few moments Charlie drew her favorite horse up at the hitching post and slid from the mare's back. She was completely disheveled and dusty, her dark hair sticking out messily from beneath Lou's old hat which Charlie had appropriated over the years.
"Is he here yet?" Charlie asked breathlessly as she looped the reins over the post.
"Not yet," replied Lou, casting a critical eye over Charlie's dirty pants and shirt that she always wore riding. She rarely wore anything else, at least while she was on the ranch. "You're plannin' to change, I hope."
"Of course, Mama," Charlie tutted. The last thing she wanted was to get into an argument about her clothes again. She was too excited about Adam's return to worry about such trivial matters.
"How was your ride, sweetheart?" Kid interjected, ever the peacemaker.
"It was wonderful, Papa, we made it all the way to the bluff and she was barely out of breath. Were you, Skydancer?" Charlie petted her mare's neck affectionately.
"I'll get her brushed down while you go change," her father offered.
"Thank you." Charlie grinned and kissed his cheek before running into the house.
"And put on a skirt, Charlotte!" called Lou after her, but she knew Charlie wouldn't.
Kid hid the smile that had formed on his lips when Lou sighed in exasperation at their daughter. It wouldn't pay to remind Lou that she had been just as stubborn about such things not so long ago.
"I'll see you inside," he said as he unhitched Skydancer from the rail. "And don't worry, Lou, it won't be long now."
"I know, he'll be here soon." Lou tried to smile but her eyes were busy watching the horizon for the first sign of a wagon. Only then, once she had seen Adam for herself, would she be happy.
