The men approached cautiously. They'd heard in town that this particular homestead was a family group, a tight group, and well-able to defend themselves. They'd come armed with numbers. But come they did.
They sat in the opening before the house and barn like avenging angels.
"We come looking for one of ours," the self-appointed leader told the two men he found splitting wood. He punctuated his words with a wave of his gun. "Where's everybody else?"
Daniel and Caleb shrugged. "We're here and there...abouts different places," Caleb said.
"Well, say you wanted to gather everybody up, how'd you do it?" another man snarled. He wore his gun like a gentleman and didn't seat well.
"I guess I'd send one of the older boys to callin'," Daniel drawled. "Want me to set my boy Devon to doing it?" he asked.
The men considered. "I'd send one of my men with him, understand, so you tell him not to cause any trouble. I'd hate for anything to get out of hand. We don't want to cause no trouble. We're just looking for somebody."
Daniel whistled and two heads popped out of the hay loft.
"You boys ride down through the valley. There's some gentlemen who want to meet the Pontipee clan. Tell everybody to gather up at Millie's place."
"Everybody, Pa?"
Daniel lifted his eyebrows to the first man who'd spoken. "You want just the men?"
The man shook his head and spat. "Fact is, we're looking for a lady. Young, nearly black-headed lady, to be exact. So best to make it everybody."
Daniel lifted his eyes to his son's. "You two saddle up Frisco and Beater and get everybody to meet at Adam and Millie's. You stick together, take care of each other, and just do as you're told."
"Where was Uncle Benjamin and them gonna be today?"
Daniel met the stranger's eyes. "Best way to get everybody here on the double is to fire up four shots. That means head on in, but it's not the emergency call."
"What's the emergency call?"
"Three shots. That means you need help. After the boys hear the four shots they'll shoot off pairs of shots to let us know they're headed in. Then the boys could just head up to the houses to round up the women and children for you. That how you want to do it?"
The man in the black hat nodded. "I guess that's the best way. Git on, now, Tom, James. You two go with those boys." His eyes glittered as he gave out the order.
In good weather they usually ate outside. There were three long plank tables to accommodate all of them. Millie's front porch held as many high chairs as rockers now and they could be dragged in or out to the lawn as needed. They didn't always eat together, but Sundays everybody gathered in and one of the men would read from the good book while the women sewed and the others smoked their pipes. After, the children played while their mothers entertained babies, set up the buffet, and filled plates. Stock still had to be cared for, but it was as much a day of rest as they got for the most part.
Millie was scrubbing tables as the unexpected group rode in, Daniel & Caleb at the forefront.
"Millie, where are Alice and Jules?" Daniel asked.
She looked worriedly from one face to another. "Jules was taking the baby in to change her. Alice is doing wash out back. That's where Jules will go, too, after she gets Belle down. Whatever for?"
"What about Hannah and Cameron and Gertie and Isaiah and the rest?" he asked. He could see the three eight-year-olds watching from the hayloft. He hoped Jacob and Neil and Sarah had the sense to stay put. The toddlers were playing in the grass behind Millie.
"The girls are supposed to be out back. The boys are probably getting their clothes dirty somewhere. Why?"
"I just didn't want to scare them none," Daniel said. He turned. "It'd probably be okay to fire off those shots now, mister," he said.
At the first sound Jules and Alice and the older girls dropped what they were doing to race around the house.
Jules saw the men and stopped as though struck. Fear showed in her eyes and she had to swallow it down. Alice gripped her elbow, always a timid mouse. Caleb approached the two women and gathered them quickly for a bracing hug. "Don't. Whatever you're thinking-don't. We'll stand for you," he whispered in Jules's ear. Then he moved back from them, looking for his own wife and children.
Ben scrambled down the embankment as quickly as he could. When he caught sight of the front of the house his heart started beating double time. His oldest, Cameron, had her brother's arm. At 13 the boy was damn near as tall as a man, built like a woodsman. Their little sister, dressed in her pretty frilled shirt and boy's trousers, was nowhere to be seen. His sisters-in-law, their houseguest, two of his brothers, and half the kids were grouped around the open space in front of the barn. The shots had rung out, eighteen in all, plus his own double taps, so he knew that Frank and Ephraim and Daniel and Caleb's boys must be out working, too, and were on the way in. Whoever rang the bell didn't have to answer for it. So one of his brothers or a brother's son must be out of luck or else was the one who called 'em in.
"What's going on here?" he asked, acting head of the household until Adam arrived. They'd been hunting further afield. It might be a while.
"These here boys are looking for some lady of theirs who's lost," Daniel told him.
Ben met Caleb's eyes and looked past him to where Jules closed her eyes and swallowed.
"Well, good luck to 'em. What does that have to do with all of us?"
"Seems they want to count up, make sure we're all accounted for," Caleb told him.
They'd family counseled months ago. Benjamin was sure he'd lay down his life to keep a woman safe, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice his children.
"They think we kidnapped one of their girls?" Ben asked.
The man in the black hat tipped his head at him as he went toward the children. "Looks to me like we got us a passel of redheaded men, plus their ladies, plus their brats. How 'bout we just round up all the dark haired 'uns and take 'em back with us?"
Ben stepped forward. "Over my dead body," he threatened. Only half of his family had the trademark hair. Both of his daughters were brunettes.
Caleb shook his head as well. "You can't have our children or our wives. You take a good look around, you see that we're not hiding nobody in our trunks or haylofts or outhouses, then you move on."
"Ignore my friend here," the seeming leader said. "He ain't got no sense. And truth is we're tired. Been on this search for damn near a year."
"Where are you boys from?" Millie asked.
"Boston, ma'am."
"That is a long way. Looking for a loved one, too. No wonder you're getting a little road weary and heartsore."
"That's the way of it, ma'am," the well-dressed man added, lowering his hat to his chest. "I'm just looking for my brother's bride. He was killed in an accident and we come to find her to bring her home. She left out of California, them'd meeting there and all before he came home the slower way with some new stock."
More children and wives pulled up in a pair of wagons from up by Daniel's way. His wife, Elzorah, ran to him, their child in her sling, and flung herself into his arms. "What is going on?" she demanded.
"Well, now, let's just get ourselves sorted out," black hat called. "Young'uns, you all go on and find your parents. Make sure to stand real tight so that we can see who belongs to who, now."
Children started to scatter as aunts and cousins scrambled down and went to stand next to each other.
The men on horseback shouted orders and directions as Benjamin helped the children down from the hayloft. Adam and Ephraim and Frank appeared in the middle of the chaos and it turned into a melee.
Adam's voice rang louder than thunder as Millie tried to quietly explain the situation as she knew it. Caleb approached and attempted the same and Adam reached for his gun.
Even in the noise the cold click of a pistol cocking was clear. Every head swung to the man foremost of the group.
"Now I appreciate that this is a difficult position you've found yourselves in. But let me tell you what's going to happen. We're going to look around. Some of my men are going to go up to your homesteads and look for our little runaway. And you're going to have to just grin and bear it. We won't take any of your purdys. We'll try real hard not to track muck through your little houses. But we will satisfy ourselves that everyone who belongs here is here, and that there's nobody extra hanging around. You don't give us no trouble, we don't leave you any reason to grieve. Are we clear?"
Adam nodded slowly, his face set in a grimace.
"Now, madames, partner up and straighten out those brats and let's see who we've got here."
Cameron turned to Jules. "Give me the baby," she whispered.
"What?" Her child reached out to the familiar arms, though, and she surrendered her rather than cause a fuss.
"I'm old enough to have one. I can pretend she's mine."
"No. That won't work. You can't take her-"
Ben trotted over, Sarah slung on his hip. "This is you they're looking for, isn't it?"
Jules nodded.
"Your husband's dead. Does that make you free?"
"Only if he's really dead. I've never seen the man claiming to be his brother before. In the portraits there are only three of them-he's not pictured anywhere."
"So it's a trick."
Ben's face was closed in. He was angry.
Alice was sobbing against Gideon's chest.
"Give me Belle," Jules said, fighting tears herself. "I won't do this to you."
Ben stopped her. He gripped her wrists. "What are you going to do?"
"How old's this one?" Black hat asked, slapping his gloves against his palm. He'd confronted Daniel's wife, who whispered sobbing responses. Their child was as blonde as the mother. It was a stupid accusation.
There was a thump from an open upstairs window.
"What are they checking for in there?" Frank's middle boy asked.
"Well, son, let me tell you," the man still atop his horse drawled. "What they'll do first is look in all the likely hiding places-cellars and attics and the like. A woman alone can hide, but a woman with a baby's got certain needs. Nappies and things. Then, when they find somewhere where it looks like maybe a woman's living they're going to check for all the stuff women think they need. Powders and creams and brushes and all. Nice respectable woman, she won't be living with a man not pledged to her in front of God. So if these fine women really are married to your uncles here they'll be able to tell-two pillows on the bed, his and hers wrappers and clothes in the closets. His socks in her sewing basket. That sort of thing."
Jules took a deep breath. Ben didn't have many clothes. What few he did were now scattered near and far, some on the line, some in bottom drawers, some in the children's rooms. She didn't have many things either. When she'd run she'd sold everything that might be of worth, trading beautiful fashions for durable fabrics in hide-me colors.
Sean eased closer to Ben. "I'm scared," he whispered. He'd been fishing, so his clothes were mostly still down by the crick. He'd stepped in his boots and pulled his suspenders back up over his shoulders.
Ben rubbed the boy's bare arm. "It's okay, son. It'll be okay."
Black hat stopped in front of his family.
"Mixed bag you've got there, pops," he told Benjamin.
"Mind your task and leave us alone," Ben spat back.
Cameron cuddled the baby. Sarah tucked her face into her father's shoulder. Jules thought it was a wonderful idea. Ben reached back to steady her, though, clasping her hand behind his back.
"Whose baby?"
"Mine," Jules answered. She put as much country in her voice as she could.
"Where you from, little lady?"
"Canada," Ben answered quickly. Jules fought a smile. It was as good as any other place. She wondered if he'd ever heard that particular accent. Or one of them, considering the scope of their northern neighbor's variety.
"And is she round about five, six months old?" he asked.
Sarah lifted her head and frowned. She worked it out on her fingers as Jules answered, her heart in her throat. "She's seven, close to eight months old."
"Kinda small, ain't she?"
Ben lifted an eyebrow. Sarah spoke. "Nope, that's right. She was born just before Christmas. So that's right."
"They all start out like runts," Sean offered, shivering in the cool breeze.
The man looked closely at Jules.
"And your name, ma'am?"
"Jules," she whispered.
"Juliana," Benjamin told him.
"Juliana, huh? Well, fact of it is that the woman we're looking for is called Jewel, like a ruby or a diamond."
"Well, my wife's a pretty little thing, but her people are simple folk. It's just Jules. I try to pick her a peony or daisy on the occasion, and get her something nice for her Christmas, but you can see we're not sophisticated enough for all the rest. Our names come from our gravestones and the Bible and that's good enough for us," Ben said.
Jules met Adam's eyes over Ben's shoulders. He lifted his chin at her, reminding her to stand tall.
"This is your daughter?" the man asked Jules, trying another tactic.
She nodded, taking Cameron's hand. The baby reached out to her mother and Jules clasped her to her breast, one arm slipping around the older girl's waist.
"How old are you, sweetheart?"
"Fifteen," she said, lifting her chin in defiance.
Her figure was full enough for the number to be higher.
"So how long have you folks been married?" He asked Ben.
"I guess it was, what? Sixteen years in August?" he asked over his shoulder.
Jules did the math quickly, counting up both the supposed years and his intent. "I...that would be about right."
The man moved on, slapping his hand. A child began to whimper. The stress was palpable. It was long that they stood there, older children supporting smaller ones when they were give out. Jules cried silent tears into her child's hair. Sean started shivering as the sun sank. Ben stripped off his shirt, covering his son's body, to stand in his undershirt.
Finally the men who'd ridden off returned. A hastily spoken conference led them all to mount up, turning away without a word to hustle down the mountainside.
Jules nearly collapsed. She wasn't the only one.
"Sweet Jesu," Adam complained. "Let's not live through that again anytime soon."
"I'm sorry," she whispered when Millie came to kiss the baby.
Ben put his arm around her and drew her close. Now she ducked her head and sobbed her thanks and her sorrow and her relief.
"Shush, now. What if they're still watching from somewhere?" Ben chided.
She wasn't the only one crying. It probably wouldn't have been an unusual reaction from innocent women.
"So, what now? Another wedding?" Daniel asked, clapping Ben on the shoulder later that night.
Benjamin shook his head, still carving at the wooden block that would be some sort of animal for the children.
"Aw, come on, big brother, anybody could see how worried you were. You care for that girl. Why else would you put yourself out on the line like that?"
"Did you think that if they found out the truth they'd have just ridden out of here with her? You don't think they'd have had some punishment for us for hiding her? I'd just as soon not have to look over my shoulder for the next thirty years and wonder."
"So instead you'll look at her and do nothing?" Daniel said softly.
"It's not that easy."
"It can be. You love her. Your kids love her. She's already sleeping in your bed. You share a closet, a home, and a life. Why isn't it just that easy?"
"I never said I had feelings for her," Benjamin bristled.
"You don't have to say it. She touches your shoulder when she comes around the table. You reach for her first when we call for music. You dandle that baby on your knee and..."
"Ya'll do those things, too. Besides, she's unattached, I'm unattached. Of course it works out that way."
"But it wouldn't necessarily have to if you didn't both enjoy each other. Think of all the wifely things she does for you."
"She's also gotten a place to live, food to eat, and people to help her. Of course she helps out."
Daniel shook his head. "The goods she gave us more than make up for that. Those cows are good stock, the horses, too. Thank God they're still up in the high pastures, eh?"
Ben nodded.
"Think on it, big brother. Think on taking that girl's hand."
Ben shook his head now. "It's not like it was with Beulah. It won't be that way."
"Doesn't have to be. It can just be...and be just as good but different."
"She's still married," Ben shot over his shoulder as his brother moved toward the door.
Daniel nodded. "That may be. It may not be. Or rather, some fancy city woman named Jewel may still be married. I know that there's a woman in that house named Julie who could use a good husband to show her that he loves her and wants her and can take care of her."