Chapter 1 – The Journey Home
"Are we there yet, Pa?" Benny Maverick badgered his father for about the eight hundredth time since they left Baton Rouge.
His twin sister just sniffed the air and made a face. "We must be getting close," Abigail Maverick remarked. "All I smell is . . . manure."
"Abigail, mind your manners. Refined young women do not make remarks like that," her mother stated firmly.
Over in his corner of the coach, Beau Maverick almost snorted. They were within ten miles of Little Bend, Texas, and he still hadn't been able to convince his beautiful wife, Danielle Louisa, that they were no longer in Baton Rouge and things were different here. "Dani, honey, this is Texas, not home. Abby's pronouncement was quite well placed. And accurate. There was nothing refined or unrefined about it, and it wasn't inappropriate." He looked at the woman he'd chosen to spend the rest of his life with and smiled. "And the air is full of cattle stink. Best get used to it."
Dani gave him a devastating smile back and pulled up a glove. "I know that, Beau. I don't think that should change the way we live or believe, do you? Abby is a young lady and should behave as such, no matter where she is."
Beau sighed. After all these years, he still loved his wife with a passion he hadn't thought possible. Danielle Louisa Montrose had come into his life when he was floundering, and saved him from God-only-knows-what. Small and fine-boned, he'd been afraid to show her how much she meant to him at first. Dark chocolate hair and sparkling green eyes, she was unlike anyone he'd ever known, and he fell hard and fast. They were married quickly, and the birth of their fraternal twins followed within a year. He never questioned why there were no more children, and both of them seemed content with Ben and Abby.
He was glad the stagecoach ride itself was almost over. Constant confinement for several hundred miles with two fourteen-year-olds was not his idea of great fun. He couldn't wait to get 'home,' however, to see just how much things had changed. It took him a minute to realize that Dani was talking to him.
" . . . it certainly is pretty country, even if it's so very different. Look, there's a whole herd of deer." She pointed out the window, and everyone turned to watch. The deer didn't seem to mind in the least.
"To answer your question, Benny, yes, we're almost there. Another hour, I would think." Over the years of living in Louisiana, Beau had lost the accent he'd acquired while residing in England, and sounded now like a well-educated southern gentleman. Benny nodded and went back to staring out the window.
Dani reached across the coach to take Beau's hand in hers. "Tell me again about your family."
"Beauregard is a cantankerous old soul," Grandpa Bentley suddenly came to life. "He'll drive you to drink if you're not careful, and then chastise you for the same thing. Don't pay any attention to him, he's got the softest heart on the planet. He just wants you to think he's a scalawag." Bentley was Beau's father, brother to Beauregard Maverick and uncle to Bret and Bart. He'd taken the majority of the trip to catch up on his sleeping, but something inside told him he was getting close to the land he'd called home for a significant portion of his life. He'd named his only child after his brother and raised his son here, and in all the years he'd spent in Texas he'd never looked back.
"He can't be that bad, can he?" Dani asked innocently.
"Yes," Ben and Beau answered in unison.
"And what should we call him?" Abby inquired.
"Everybody just calls him Pappy," her father informed her.
"Good, then I shall call him Uncle Pappy." Abigail smiled sweetly.
Beau and his father exchanged looks. "Oh, dear," was all the younger Maverick could say.
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Bart fidgeted nervously. It was bad enough that the stage was late, but all Pappy had done so far was complain, and that always made Bart fidget. He looked over at his brother and wished fervently that he could look as calm and steady as Bret did. Bart had been a grown man for a long time, but Pappy could still drive him to distraction. What he didn't know was that Bret felt the same way, he just didn't show it.
The three men were waiting with the buggy for their relatives and a wagon to haul luggage back to the ranch, and all three were anxious for Bentley and his family to get here. Maudie had desperately wanted to make the trip into town with them, but she'd slept too late and wasn't dressed to go in time. Everyone else was content to wait at the ranch.
Pappy pulled out his pocket watch and rechecked the time. "Same time as last time, plus five minutes," Bret informed his father. "Ain't gonna go any faster if you keep lookin' at the timepiece."
"Thank you, Breton. I didn't know that."
"Behave, Pappy," Bart 'warned' his father. "You two fightin' ain't gonna get us nowhere."
Bret grinned and threw a piece of straw at his younger brother. "Might help us pass the time better."
"Are you nervous, Pa?" Bart asked.
Under normal circumstances, Beauregard would have begun ranting and raving about Bart's question, but these were far from normal circumstances. Truth be told, Beau was nervous, and anxious, and couldn't wait to see Ben and his family. It had been a long time since the brothers were together, and even longer since he'd seen his namesake nephew and family. That, however, was the last thing Beau was about to admit to.
"Me? Nervous? Whatever gave you that idea?"
"You're lookin' at your watch again," Bret pointed out.
"So?"
Not wanting to start a fight, Bret let it go this time. He turned to his brother, instead. "Can you just imagine how big the twins must be?"
"Thirteen, fourteen years old," Bart shot back immediately. "Mine are ten, and Doralice and me weren't married when Benny and Abby were born. Wait till Beau sees all the little ones here. Who would have believed it? Especially Daddy Bret's brood."
"Mine?" came the indignant reply. "You're the one that just keeps havin' 'em like baby chickens. How many you got now, twelve?"
"Only five."
"Five's enough." Before the older brother could say anything else, the sound of the stagecoach could be heard coming into town. "There she is, only an hour late."
"Just be glad they're here in one piece."
Pappy spoke up. "That remains to be seen."
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"We're slowin' down, Pa." The voice was excited, happy, scared, and belonged to fourteen-year-old Benny Maverick. "Finally."
Beau reached out and ruffled Benny's hair. "That's because we're here. This is Little Bend, Texas, everybody."
"Don't look nothin' like it did when I left." Bentley didn't sound surprised; it had been years since he was here last. There were new businesses and houses; the town appeared to have doubled in size. There was even a new school, and Bentley seemed suitably impressed. That was nothing compared to his son's reaction.
Little Bend was an insignificant dirt water town when Beau left. He couldn't comprehend the growth he saw everywhere; they'd even built a new jail. Nothing seemed familiar to him, and he was as wide-eyed as his son.
Abby sniffed the air delicately, and a small smile appeared across her face. The smell of cattle was considerably reduced compared to what had lingered like a blanket in the air on their way here.
Her mother was impassive. Danielle had not been raised to deal with dirty, dusty streets, cattle everywhere, and the odd looking people that apparently populated the entire state of Texas. She kept the smile on her face, however . . . this visit to her husband's relatives had been a long time coming, and she was determined to make the best if it. She loved Beau too much not to. She'd been listening to him talk about his cousins, and growing up with them, since before the twins were born. Of all the people that populated his stories, the one she wanted to meet the most was the woman that had practically raised him after his mother died unexpectedly, Lily Mae Conners. Lily Mae was so many things to all three boys – mother, teacher, cook and housekeeper, sounding board, confidant, co-conspirator in their high-jinx, disciplinarian, and the steadiest influence in their lives. If his cousins turned out anything like the man she married, Lily Mae had done an extraordinary job.
"There's the Wells Fargo office. We're here." Beau caught his breath at the sight of the three men standing out front, waiting for the stage they were on. He was finally home.
