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  “We have our stuff with us, mister. We didn’t have very much to bring,” Ross answered while Walter turned his face into the blonde’s skirt.

  She quickly kneeled down in front of the boy. “Oh, Wally, don’t you worry. This nice man is going to take you and your brothers home with him. I bet he has some lovely horses he’ll let you help him with. Isn’t that right, mister?” She broke off as their eyes met. Charles let the silence drag for a moment as he almost got lost in her bottomless gaze.

  That silence was broken as the youngster still clinging to her asked, his voice plaintive, “But aren’t you going to come with us, Miss Cassie?”

  Chapter Three

  C assie felt as though her heart was being wrung right out of her chest with Walter’s question. The silence stretched for an uncomfortable moment before she kneeled down in front of the boy.

  “My dear, you do realize that you’re going to stay with Mister—” there was a pause while she digested the fact that she didn’t even know the man’s name. She quickly carried on. “You’re going to go stay with this nice man. I bet he’s actually a real, live cowboy. You are going to love it at his house.” She bit her lip, willing her tears to stay away, praying that she was not lying to the little boy.

  “But I want you to come, too,” the little boy insisted, his tone starting to become a bit querulous.

  The only thing Cassie could do was pull him into her arms and give him a tight hug. “I know, my darling, but I can’t come to stay with you.”

  When he pulled back from her arms and looked at her with tears welling in his eyes, Cassie’s heart cracked, and she looked at the cowboy in desperation. She didn’t know what to do about the fact that he merely gazed back at her, showing no reaction to her plight or the child’s distress. Now Cassie had another thing to worry about. Will these dear boys be in good hands with this man? I never should have volunteered at the orphanage, she thought in despair, but it was far too late for that, she already cared too deeply for the children. She would have to stay in town long enough to ensure they were well cared for. While she had grown closest to Walter and his brothers, Cassie was concerned for all the children they had brought with them.

  With that determination, Cassie stood and turned to the taciturn man watching her. A part of her wanted to turn on her heel and sweep from the building without ever giving the man a second thought, but if he was going to have the care of the boys, she would have to swallow her pride and make peace with him.

  She tried for a conciliatory smile and put her hand out to shake his. After a brief hesitation, he engulfed her small hand in his warm one. The sensation was distracting, but Cassie ignored it. “My name is Cassandra Morley. I fear I was so caught up with the children that I failed to introduce myself.”

  Cassie was surprised to see that the man looked as though he wished to ignore her introduction, but he must’ve been raised properly and his inborn manners won out. “I’m Charles Ainsworth.” He kept his response as brief as possible.

  Swallowing back her ire, Cassie was sure her smile was slipping and did her best not to grimace at the uncommunicative cowboy. “Would it be acceptable with you, Mr. Ainsworth, if I were to visit the boys a time or two before I leave town? It might help them adjust to their new surroundings” —she paused for a moment before admitting in a rush— “and I’ve grown rather fond of them and find I cannot yet bear to say goodbye.”

  She was surprised to see him appear to soften toward her but then thought it had been all in her imagination as he began to frown. She thought he was going to refuse her request and was preparing to argue when he again surprised her by agreeing. “There shouldn’t be any harm in you stopping by. Anyone in town will be able to give you directions.”

  She dipped her head in acknowledgement, not bothering to say anything as the man was obviously not overly fond of words. Instead she kneeled down next to Walter once more.

  “See now, Wally my dear, it is settled. You go with your brothers with Mr. Ainsworth, and I will come and see you. You will have so much to tell me and show me when I come to visit you. Won’t that be lovely?”

  Walter didn’t look completely convinced, but he finally let go of her and followed his brothers as they were being ushered out by their new guardian. Cassie had to turn away so she wouldn’t give way to tears. She didn’t know how she would be able to enforce it, but that man had better treat her boys well or she would figure out a way to make him pay, she thought with a fierce protectiveness she had never felt before.

  Struggling to maintain her composure, Cassie turned away, not able to watch as the boys left with their new guardian. She was grateful to see Mrs. Parker approach. Hopefully she had an assignment for her. She could use the distraction.

  ~~~

  Charles breathed a sigh of relief as soon as they were away from the lovely blonde. It had been obvious to him that she was distressed about saying goodbye to the children, but she had been valiantly trying to hide her feelings. He did not want to find her attractive and had to fight the urge to comfort her. Maybe he should have allowed the boys longer to say their goodbyes to her, but he doubted drawing it out would have made it any less painful. And he had been correct about why she had looked familiar to him. He was fairly certain he had met her father. It wasn’t likely there were too many rich Morleys in New York City.

  “So do you have horses, Mr. Charles?” the little guy asked him. What was his name? Oh yes, Walter.

  “I have lots of them, Walter,” he answered, startled when he felt a small hand slipping into his. He didn’t think he had ever held a child’s hand before. It made the strangest sensation spread in his chest. Instinctively, he wanted to let go but knew that would hurt the boy’s feelings and damage their chances of developing a relationship. Charles rather thought the boy was a little old for wanting to hold hands. Even his twin brother was hurrying along, trying to swagger like the older boy. On further consideration, though, Charles thought that the loss of his parents might have made him more emotionally fragile. He was going to have to think about how to help the youngsters deal with their loss and settle into life here on the prairies. Maybe he should have talked with the young woman a little longer. She was probably more in touch with feelings than he was.

  But she was also a beautiful, young woman from the city, and she would have no idea how to ease these boys into life on his spread. He was on his own with this challenge. He reminded himself that he was an intelligent, competent, successful man. He could manage these three youngsters just fine on his own. And he wouldn’t be truly on his own, anyway. There were all his hired hands that helped on his spread. Surely they would be of assistance. The boys would love them as much as he did, he was sure.

  He realized the boy was still gazing at him expectantly, and he thought back to their conversation. They had been talking about horses.

  “Have you ever ridden on a horse?”

  The vigorous shaking of the boy’s head lead Charles to wonder if he would be afraid of horses.

  “Have you ever seen a horse up close?”

  “No,” was the response, accompanied by more head shaking.

  “Do you want to?”

  Finally there was some nodding of his head. Charles felt relief spread through him. “Well now you’ll get your chance. We’ll have to ride in my wagon to get home, and it’s pulled by two horses.”

  “Will they like me?”

  Charles stifled a sigh. His misgivings were correct. The youngster had all sorts of negative feelings that would have to be sorted out, poor little mite. “I’m sure they will. They’re fairly reasonable nags. If you were to offer them a carrot or an apple, they’d probably be your friend for life.”

  “But I don’t have any carrots or apples,” Walter worried.

  “I’ve got plenty at home, don’t worry. Now come along, your brothers are going to get away on us.” Charles was relieved to note that this worked magically on the boy to hurry him along. Within moments, they joined Ross and Ton
y and reached the Smithy where he had left his wagon.

  All three boys were pretty excited about the horses, making Charles glad he had brought that particular pair. He had other, more excitable horses that would have found the attention a bit much. But the two mature mares took it all in stride, almost as though they recognized how young the boys were and thus their inexperience was tolerable.

  Before long they were all loaded up and rattling their way along the rutted road toward his property. The boundary of his property wasn’t too terribly far from the town, but it would take them a little while to get to the house. The laughter from the boys as they bounced around in the back of the wagon reminded him that he ought to do something about how rough the road was. He mentally added one more item to the long list of things he needed to do.

  He was content with his decision to add the youngsters to his household, no matter how much work they might be. He was tired of being alone out here on the prairies. He did not regret his decision to leave his old life behind and usually enjoyed the solitude this vast land offered, but he was glad that he would now have others to share his life with. And a man ought to have heirs to leave the fruitage of his hard work to, whether they were of his own blood or not. His parents would never agree with such a sentiment, but he couldn’t be bothered to care about their thoughts on the matter. He shook himself from the maudlin train of thought and tried to engage the boys in conversation.

  “Tell me about yourselves, boys,” he began. The silence that followed reminded him that this was too broad of a conversation starter, especially when dealing with youngsters. He glanced back to see how they were reacting.

  Charles had to stifle the urge to chuckle over their wide-eyed confusion as they nudged one another, urging the oldest to say something. He spoke up, focusing the conversation.

  “Have the three of you been in school?”

  Now Tony spoke for all of them. “Yes,” he answered briefly at first, but when Charles remained silent, the boy elaborated. “When I was little, our mother taught me, but then when we were on the street, after our parents died, none of us could go to school. We learned lots on the street, but it’s not what most would consider proper. Then Mr. Brace, the man who arranged for us to come on the train, is really big on schooling. He doesn’t have much care for anyone who doesn’t want to learn. He says learning’s the only way we’re going to get ourselves anywhere in life.”

  “He sounds like a wise man,” Charles commented. He thought he ought to comment on the loss of their parents but wasn’t sure what to say. While he was still debating with himself, the boy continued.

  “But look how far we’ve come, and I don’t see how it has anything to do with learning.”

  Charles again had to stifle his amusement over the boy’s reasoning.

  “Mr. Brace sounds like he must be a well-educated man. You came all this way because of his success. But you’re still youngsters. If you want to have your own success when you’re grown up, you’ll need an education for that.”

  “Miss Cassie says the same thing. She was pretty nice about it, but she still insisted we had to do our studies, even on the train. Even during the first couple days when Ross’ tummy felt poorly, Miss Cassie made us read to him. She said it was probably just the movement of the train making him sick and it was just his tummy, not his brain, so he could still learn.”

  Now Charles couldn’t hold back his laughter. The boy sounded so aggrieved by this strange adult behavior. But Charles wanted to learn more about the boys so he pressed on.

  “What have you been learning? Do you enjoy any of it?”

  Walter spoke up then. “I loved all of it when Miss Cassie was the one teaching.” This brought another chuckle from Charles, but he waited for the other boys to chime in.

  Tony went into more detail. “All three of us know how to read fairly well. The twins are still learning the bigger words, but they do pretty good. The numbers is where we have a bit more difficulty. We don’t really see why we need to know that stuff.”

  Ross finally made himself heard. “Miss Cassie said there’s any number of reasons why we’ll need to know how to add and subtract.”

  Charles responded, “I will have to agree with Miss Cassie. I need to know how to deal with numbers all the time. Mostly to make sure I’m not getting cheated by anyone.”

  Tony stared at him with an attentive gaze.

  Charles continued, “I’ll show you the next time we go to the store.” This produced three identical grins from the youngsters behind him. Charles laughed again. He hadn’t felt this positive in ages. He realized he was grinning back at the boys and tried to return to a more serious mien.

  After clearing his throat, Charles commented, “I’m glad to hear you aren’t completely averse to going to school. You’re all going to need at least a few more years of school.”

  This did not meet with any enthusiasm but Charles was glad he didn’t get much resistance from them either. But then Anton wrinkled his nose. “Didn’t you tell Miss Cassie that you needed help on your land? How are we going to help you if we’re off at school?”

  “Well school isn’t every single day, and it’s not all year round, so there will be plenty of time for you to lend a hand.”

  There was silence for a moment while the boys pondered his words. Then Walter piped up with another question.

  “How come you don’t got a wife, Mister Charles?”

  “Have,” Charles automatically corrected, shocking himself by it instinctively coming out of his mouth.

  “Hunh?” Walter didn’t understand.

  “You should have asked, how come you don’t have a wife,” Charles repeated, wondering why he had bothered. This wasn’t really the time for a grammar lesson. “Never mind. I don’t have a wife because there aren’t too many women out here in the wilds of Missouri, and I haven’t yet met one that I would consider spending all my days with.”

  “Miss Cassie isn’t married. She’d probably be a good wife,” the little boy persisted.

  “I think Miss Cassie would be too much work. Besides, she’s going back to New York. I don’t think she’ll stick around these parts much longer than it takes to book a ticket on the next train headed east.”

  After glancing at the troubled expressions on the boys’ faces, Charles realized he should not have said anything less than positive about the youngsters’ friend, so he quickly changed the subject.

  “We’re just about home, boys. You’ll have to figure out which bedrooms you’ll want to use. We’ll get you settled and have our supper. I think a tour of the place will have to wait until tomorrow.” This certainly did the job of distracting them. It became apparent they were undecided about the thought of having separate bedrooms.

  After exchanging uneasy glances with his brothers, Anton spoke up. “Your house is so big that you have extra rooms?” he asked with surprise.

  “Out here there’s plenty of space. There’s no need to be crammed together like you’re probably used to from the city.”

  “Are you rich?” The boy sounded suspicious.

  Charles laughed. “Having a house with more than one bedroom does not necessarily mean a man is rich, Tony.”

  The boy, despite his rough background, had the grace to realize his question was probably not a polite one, and color could be seen flooding his cheeks. Charles laughed again. “Don’t let it trouble you. We’re going to be family. I want you to be comfortable to ask me whatever you want.”

  Tony ducked his head in an awkward nod before getting to the crux of the issue. “We’ve never slept anywhere but together pretty much since my brothers were born. They probably won’t be able to sleep if I’m not with them. And there’s only one of me, so maybe it would be better if we still share.”

  Charles managed to keep from laughing at the boy’s serious tone. Of course, he would never admit that he might not be able to bear the separation either. But to spare all of their feelings, Charles merely nodded. “I never thought abou
t how much you’ll have to get used to out here since nearly everything will be different than you’re used to. Why don’t we start out with the three of you sharing the room next to mine, that way I’ll be able to hear you if there are any problems in the night. Then, if you change your mind, we can always change it around later.”

  All he got was solemn silence after his words, so he was glad when, at that moment, they rounded the bend in the road and his homestead could be seen through an opening in the trees. Quiet gasps came from the boys. Charles was a little nervous about their reactions after the conversation they had just had, but when he turned to look at them all he could see was their wide grins.

  “I think we’re going to like living with you, mister,” Ross quietly said as the three brothers stared around with wide eyes, trying to take everything in, even as the light was beginning to fade.

  Charles pulled his pair of horses to a standstill near the barn. “We just have to look after these ladies before we head in to get ourselves settled. There’s no time like the present for you three to start learning how to look after our animals.”

  Chapter Four

  C assie tried to keep a smile pinned to her face while Katie hovered over her. It wasn’t that hard to do, actually, when one considered how funny it must look for the tiny little widow to be trying to hover over her when Cassie was at least half a head taller than Katie. But she appreciated the sentiment behind the actions, so she refrained from laughing.

  Gazing at her friend, Cassie shook her head in wonder. “How could you bear to do this trip more than once? I can’t believe this is your third time to escort a train full of children away from the city.”

  Katie’s eyes softened as she took in her friend’s distress. “I know it’s hard to say good bye to the children, but I am absolutely convinced that they will have a far better life out here than they would as gutter snipes in New York. What future would there be for Wally if he had stayed in the city?”