Jason made a point of not mentioning the project or the incident at school for the rest of the weekend, and when things started changing, he almost didn't notice it. His brothers were disappearing together every time they had a few minutes to spare, and being very secretive about the whole thing. He quickly stopped asking; all Joshua would tell him was that Miss Halliday had approved Jeremy's project, and that Jeremy had sworn him to silence. In the end, all that seemed to matter was that Jeremy's mood of the last few weeks was slowly lifting, and Jason could see a small glimmer of self-confidence in the boy's eyes now and again. By the time Family Night finally arrived, Jeremy was apprehensive, but not panicked; Joshua was practically bouncing with anticipation; and Jason was ready for pretty much anything.

They arrived shortly before the project presentations were to begin, and Jason looked around at the familiar faces in this unfamiliar setting. Bolt Brothers had donated timber to the building of the school and assisted in construction, but Jason had spent very little time here once it had been completed, mostly to pick up assignments for a sick brother, or occasionally to meet with the teacher about Joshua's methods of defending Jeremy. The whitewashed walls were covered with drawings and stories by the younger students, created both for this evening and for other assignments as well. The chairs had been pushed back against the walls to make space in the middle of the room for socializing; the desks themselves had been moved to Thompson's barn for the evening. As Jason stood near the entrance with his brothers, Joshua pointed to a figure across the room.

"Look, even Lottie came."

Jason smiled. "Well, let's go over and say hello."

"Um, you go ahead," Josh said, shooting Jeremy a conspiratory glance. "We'll catch up with you later."

Recognizing that his brothers were not-so-subtly trying to lose him, Jason gave in and left them, crossing to where Lottie stood at one side of the room, absently watching the families milling about. Stepping up beside her unnoticed, he leaned down close to her ear.

"Good evening, Lottie."

Startled, she jumped slightly, and turned to face him with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Jason Bolt! You're lucky I didn't have a cup of punch, or we'd both be wearing it!"

"Well, I saw you over here by yourself, and just had to remedy the situation at once."

The saloonkeeper looked slightly uncomfortable. "I know I don't have any children in this school, but Essie was kind enough to invite me, and I know so many of the parents – well, the fathers are regular customers, anyway. And since a lot of them are here instead of at my place tonight, I decided to leave Ken in charge and join the party."

"An excellent idea – and you're part of our family, and always welcome at family functions. Besides, if you hadn't come, I would be standing here alone, since my brothers have abandoned me."

"Uh-oh, sounds like trouble to me," Lottie smiled, knowing all the Bolt brothers well. "Where did they sneak off to?" Another idea came to her. "Is Jeremy going to get up in front of all these people?"

"I don't know, on both counts," Jason replied, slightly more somber than before. "As I understand it, he doesn't have to give a speech, but I don't know how else he would give a presentation. He and Josh have something in the works, though."

The conversation ended abruptly as Miss Halliday stepped to the front of the room and raised a hand for silence. There was a brief shuffling as everyone found their places, and Jason and Lottie stepped back against the wall to be out of the way. Across the room, Jason could see Jeremy taking a seat with the other students, and identified the Kinkade boy several seats away. Joshua was nowhere in sight, but Jason was at a loss as to what that might mean.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome," Miss Halliday called over the diminishing noise of the gathered families, and all conversations finally ceased. "Thank you for coming to visit with us this evening and giving us the opportunity to show you what we've been learning. Our younger students have displayed their work around the room, and if you haven't had a chance to view it, I hope you will do so later. Our five older students have prepared presentations on subjects that we have covered this term, and we'll begin those presentations now. Afterward, we hope you'll join us for some refreshments, and congratulate our students on the fine work they've been doing. Ivy Lawrence will begin this evening's program."

Miss Lawrence's presentation was on the geographic regions of France, complete with a handmade map and some questionable-looking hors d'oeuvres on the refreshment table. This was followed by three recitations, one on the Battle of Bunker Hill by Harry Kinkade, one by Jack Hiel on different types of animals found in the Seattle area, and then Violet Lexington's presentation of some Shakespearean sonnets. Joshua still hadn't turned up yet, and Jason was beginning to worry that he would miss Jeremy's presentation if he didn't appear. Jeremy didn't seem to notice that only one of his brothers was in attendance.

Miss Halliday took the floor again to introduce the next student. "Thank you, Miss Lexington. Next we have Jeremy Bolt, who has taken a somewhat different approach to this project, different enough that we saved it for last."

Jason heard snickering, and glanced over to see the Kinkade boy elbowing the boy beside him, only to turn in surprise when his father leaned up from the row behind him to swat the back of his son's head. Satisfied, Jason returned his attention to the teacher, who was continuing as if she hadn't heard.

"Last year, just before Christmas, we explored immigration. Everyone in Seattle immigrated from somewhere, or is the child of immigrants, and we took advantage of the holiday season to learn about our families' customs and traditions, and to share them with one another."

Jason remembered that project, and the constant questions from his youngest brother as he tried to learn as much as he could about parents he hardly remembered.

"Mr. Bolt's parents came here from Scotland, and this evening he is going to share some of the music they brought from their homeland."

As the import of this statement began to sink in for Jason, Jeremy rose uncomfortably and picked up his chair, taking it with him to the front of the room while looking expectantly toward the door. There Joshua materialized at last, working his way across from the entrance with two guitars – his own, and the one he and Jason had given Jeremy for Christmas. Passing Jeremy's instrument to him, he snagged a chair of his own and positioned it beside Jeremy's, both of them taking a seat. After a moment's pause to check their tuning and agree on a tempo, they began to play.

Jason was at first stunned, then impressed, and then simply mesmerized. He had never been able to sing like his brothers – some errant hereditary anomaly, since both of their parents could sing. Jeremy did all the singing, with Joshua only adding harmony occasionally and playing along with him. They performed hymns their mother had sung on Sundays, when they lived on the east side of Bridal Veil Mountain and couldn't come into town for church often, and ballads she sang while working around the house. They even sang one of the old Highland battle songs that their father had belted out while walking home of an evening. With the music to guide his words and Joshua beside him for support, Jeremy seemed like a different person, relaxed and confident, not worried about the people around him, or even aware of them. They sang and played for nearly half an hour, while the audience listened in silence or clapped along, depending on the selection. At some point – Jason never noticed when – Lottie slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, leaning against his shoulder to listen in fascination. Finally, both younger Bolts looked up in Miss Halliday's direction, and Jason realized regretfully that the concert was over.

As the audience broke into applause, Jeremy and Joshua rose and bowed self-consciously – they weren't accustomed to this part of performance – and Miss Halliday joined them at the front of the room.

"Thank you, gentlemen, for sharing your wonderful music. Let's give all our students another ovation for their excellent work."

Suspecting that not many of Seattle's citizens actually knew what an "ovation" was, Jason started clapping, and was quickly joined by the rest of the gathering. As the applause died away, Miss Halliday continued.

"This concludes the formal portion of our program. We hope everyone will be able to stay and enjoy some refreshments, and congratulate our young people in person. Thank you again for coming."

As the audience broke up into smaller groups, roaming the room and sampling the food, Jeremy and Joshua returned grinning to Jason's side, each receiving enthusiastic hugs from Lottie Hatfield.

"Oh, well done, boys!" she said. "That was beautiful! If I ever feel the need to hire entertainment, I know just who to ask."

"I couldn't say it better myself," Jason added, putting an arm around Jeremy's shoulder. "That brought back some wonderful memories for me. Did Josh teach you the songs?"

"Some of them. Others, I j-just needed the ch-chords."

"He came up with this on his own," Joshua said, beaming with pride nonetheless. "I was just along for the ride."

They were interrupted at this point by the parents of one of the younger students, who wanted to tell Jeremy how much they enjoyed his music. They were the first of many who stopped to speak, including the Kinkades, dragging their reluctant son behind them. Jeremy stayed glued to Jason's side through it all and gripped the neck of his guitar as if he were trying to strangle it, but he managed a smile and a nod for each person. Joshua smoothly intercepted any question Jeremy seemed uncomfortable in answering, not wanting anything to dim his brother's tenuous, hard-won self-assurance. The rest of the evening passed in a blur, and before they knew it, they were home in their cabin, getting ready for bed.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Joshua asked from his top bunk, seeing Jason settling into their father's chair by the fire with a book.

"Not yet. I thought I'd read for a while." Miss Lexington's sonnet recitation earlier had been quite nice, but she had left out some of his favorites, and he wanted to read through them again before he called it a night.

They passed a few minutes in silence, with the crackling fire the only light in the room. Jason though his brothers had fallen asleep, until Jeremy spoke up.

"Jason?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it okay that we k-kept it a s-secret?"

Jason lowered his book and looked up at his brother, barely visible in the dim shadows of the lower bunk. "Of course it is. And you did a wonderful job with it. I haven't heard some of those songs in years."

"Josh said you'd l-like it."

"Well, now and then, Josh makes some sense." There was a muffled snort of disgust from the upper bunk, and Jason smiled. "Now get some sleep. We have some catch-up work to do tomorrow, if we're going to finish that contract."

''Kay. G'night, Jason."

"'Night, Jason," Joshua added.

"Good night, brothers."