"Put me down, you goddamn, overgrown horse!" Abe bellowed into her back.

"Hush up, Abe, my ma's lookin'."

Immediately Abe quieted, and as Caroline walked down the stairs she paused before her mother. "He'll

never gamble again, Ma," she said solemnly.

"That's true, Miz Tucker," Abe said. "Caroline done showed me the light. Leah! That you just standin'

there?" he hissed from his upside-down position. "You fergit I'm your brother? You oughta help me."

Leah was trying very hard not to laugh. "Hello, Abe. Fine day, isn't it?"

After giving his sister a dirty look, he began caressing Caroline's backside. "Caroline, honey," he said

sweetly, "you oughta have more respect for me than this."

"I think I'll take Abe home now, Ma," Caroline said. "And I'm going to have a word with Doll Stark about that boy of his leading my man into sin." "Me?" came a voice from behind them. Standing on the porch leaning heavily against the rail, was a pleasant-looking young manor had been. Now one eye was about to turn black, and blood was pouring from his nose. Holding an already soaked handkerchief to his nose, he glared at Caroline. "That precious Abe of yours started this game. It weren't my fault."

"Hah!" Caroline snorted, her nose in the air as she walked away regally, bearing Abe across her shoulder.

Abe's words floated to them on the wind. "You sure were pretty in there, Caroline. I sure liked the way you punched Lincoln all them times. You sure we gotta wait for the weddin' 'fore we?"

"Hush, Abe," Caroline commanded. "Don't talk dirty."

"Yes, sweetheart," Abe said, his hands moving up and down the backside of her.

Wesley was the first to erupt as he removed his hat, slapped it across his knee, and broke down with

laughter.

Leah wanted to stop him for fear of offending Wilma, but Wilma put her arms out and fell against Wesley, the two of them barely able to stand for laughing so hard.

"They been like that ever since they met," Wilma said between gasps. "Abe seems thrilled she wants

him."

"And Caroline's wild happy 'cause somebody wants her," Wesley finished. "They are a pair."

"I'm bleedin' to death and you two are fallin' apart laughin'," Lincoln Stark accused.

Leah, still so shocked by the whole scene she couldn't yet laugh, looked at Bud and Cal and saw they

were grinning from ear to ear, so she went to Lincoln. "Let's go in the house and I'll see if I can get the

bleeding stopped."

It was sometime later when Wesley came into the house, still smiling. "There are some people out here I want you to meet. They're the twins' parents, Linnet and Devon Macalister."

The Dancer, Leah thought, washing out the bloody cloth she'd been holding to Lincoln's nose. Now was when she'd be exposed as a thief.

Chapter 26.

As Leah left the little house she prayed that Wesley wouldn't let his temper show, that he'd be cautious and not blurt out what he felt about a man who'd planned robberies for years. But what greeted Leah was not what she expected.

Wesley was talking to the man as if they were the best of friends, smiling at him, his eyes alive. Macalister was tall, lean, dark-skinned, and very handsome. His black hair had bits of gray in it and his eyes crinkled against the sun, all of which added to his sharp good looks. Beside him was a pretty little woman with a delicate-featured face, big eyes, dark blonde hair and a curvy little body. She didn't look a day over twenty-five, but she had to be quite a bit older if she was the mother of Slade and Cord.

"You must be Mrs. Stanford," said the woman in a pretty, crisp accent. "I'm Linnet Macalister. And this," she pulled a little girl from behind her skirts, "this is my youngest daughter, Georgina. I believe you've met my sons."

Instantly Leah liked this lovely woman and she wondered how much Linnet knew about her husband's illegal activities.

The little girl gave Leah a shy smile, then ran to her father, tugging on his pants leg until he picked her up.

"Leah, honey," Wesley said, "come here. I want you to meet Mac."

Right away Leah knew it was going to be difficult to dislike Devon Macalister. "How do you do, Mr. Macalister."

The man looked at his wife as if sharing some private joke. "Mac will do," he said in a deep, pleasant voice. "Wes says you like to weave. Lynna has some patterns for weavin', and Miranda spins wool."

"Miranda's our eldest daughter," Linnet explained. "This morning she was visiting Corinne Tucker's eldest daughter and she should be back fairly soon. Perhaps you and I could leave the men to their talk and I could show you Sweetbriar."

"That's very kind of you, but I'd hate to take so much of your time." Truthfully Leah wanted to sit in the back of the wagon with a blanket over her head. That way she'd be sure no one recognized her.

"Go ahead," Wesley said. "Linnet knows everybody a lot better than I do." He gave her a hard look of warning that only she could see.

"What about Bud and Cal?" she asked quietly. She felt much safer with the men near her, as if they could protect each other.

With a sigh Wes looked down at her. "The boys will go with us, and Mac and I will protect them with our lives. If any children hurt your boys we'll string the kids up right there. No trial or nothin'. And if any."

"Stop it!" she hissed, but she was smiling. "They're just* you know."

"Delicate," Wesley said seriously. He leaned back toward Mac. "She's talking about those two bulls over there. Leah's afraid somebody will laugh at them and hurt their feelings."

Mac gave a snort of disbelief.

"You just go with Linnet," Wesley said, "and I'll meet you at Mac's store about noon." Bending, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "And we'll take care of your boys."

Leah felt a little lost when Wesley and Mac, followed by the towering Bud and Cal, walked away, but Linnet soon put her at ease.

"Everyone in town is dying to meet Wesley's new wife. We've known Wes for years and seen him work hard on his farm, so of course everyone is curious about who he was doing all the work for," Linnet said. "I wouldn't be surprised if nearly everyone in Sweetbriar came to town today just to see you."

With a laugh at Leah's grimace, Linnet continued. "You'll have to get used to this town. There's no such thing as a secret to them. It's not that they're nosy, just that they're* concerned, I guess. When I first came here twenty years ago."

"Twenty years!" Leah said in disbelief. "You don't look much over twenty now."

"How kind you are. My eldest daughter is nineteen. Here comes Agnes Emerson. Her husband died a few years ago and now her son Doyle runs their farm."

What followed for Leah was a confusing array of names and faces. There were people who'd only been in Sweetbriar for a year or two, but that special light in Linnet's eyes was reserved for the parents and children of people who, Linnet said, had been in the town for years. Leah found it impossible to keep all the people straight. She met Nettie and Maxwell Rowe and was told their youngest daughter, Vaida, was the town schoolteacher and their eldest, Rebekah, was married to Jessie Tucker who was now a state senator.

"Everyone seems to be very proud of this Jessie Tucker," Leah said.

Linnet smiled. "Jessie would inspire pride in the people around him no matter what he did. How many of the Starks have you met?"

"Quite a few," Leah said with a laugh. "How many are there?"

"New ones every year. Gaylon Jr. went to Boston last year to attend school. He's a very intelligent young man and we all hope he'll become governor or even president."

As they walked through the town, stopping in stores and meeting people, Leah became aware of the strong sense of community. In Virginia, no matter how many times she reminded herself that she had become a Stanford, she still thought of herself as a Simmons. The swamp seemed to pull her toward it, and Regan and Nicole, for all their kindness, always seemed as if they'd been created in another world that was far removed from Leah's.

But here in this little town with all the people wearing clothes of homespun cotton or wool, often patched garments, she began to feel as if she belonged. In spite of what Wesley had accused her of, of wanting Stanford Plantation, Leah had never wanted to be rich. Her dreams had been about safety, a place where she was sure she wasn't going to be beaten. Stanford Plantation had been safe, but the delicate dishes, the silk clothes that made her constantly worry about tearing them, the manners she had to memorize, all the things that came naturally to Regan and Nicole, all made Leah nervous.

This town was safe and it wasn't formal. Most of the people she met slurred their words and made no pretense at talking in the way Nicole had taught Leah, a way that was sometimes difficult for Leah to remember. Linnet, for all her plain cotton dress, seemed to exude a ladylike air that reminded Leah of Nicole.

Linnet's daughter Georgina soon lost her shyness when she saw an older woman walking beside twin girls, and Georgina ran ahead to meet them.

"That's Justin and Oliver's mother, Esther," Linnet said with some sadness in her voice as they approached the woman. "Doll's nearly worn her out with having so many children. The twins are her granddaughters. Their mother, Lissie, died in childbirth."

Leah was introduced to Esther Stark and the six-year-old twins, and afterward Linnet led Leah to the Macalister store. "It's grown some in the last few years," Linnet explained, "and now I do the bookkeeping so Devon has more time off. It's all worked out quite well," she said in a dreamy way that seemed private to Leah.

Before the empty fireplace sat an old, thin man, idly whittling on a stick.

"This here the new one?" the man asked.

"Allow me to introduce Doll Stark," Linnet said. "This is Mrs. Leah Stanford."

Leah nodded to the man, all the while remembering everything Justin had said about his father.

Doll looked at Leah for a long moment and seemed to sense her dislike of him. "I think I'll go see to some things," he said, rising.

When they were alone in the store, surrounded by shelves of merchandise, Linnet spoke, a small frown on her face. "He's a very lonely man now since Phetna and old Gaylon died." At the puzzled look on Leah's face, she explained. "After Devon and I were married, Doll used to sit in here with his friends, Gaylon and Phetna, but when they died, most of the life went out of Doll. Devon has been trying to find someone to sit in here with Doll but no one nowadays seems to have quite such a capacity for inactivity. Perhaps it's all the travelers passing through here. Everything seems so much faster now."

Leah could hear all the love in Linnet's voice and it was the same as hearing another side to the story.

Justin despised his father for his laziness while others loved Doll for it.

It was while they were inside the store that they heard a woman's screams outside.

"That's Miranda," Linnet said with a gasp and started running.

Outside, tearing down the main street, was a runaway team of horses pulling a wagon that lurched drunkenly from one side to the other. On the seat, trying her best to hold on, was a pretty young girl with wild, frightened eyes, hair flying about her face.

"Devon!" Linnet screamed as the wild wagon ran past Leah and her. The next moment the two women started running after the wagon, Linnet's face a mask of terror.

Neither Mac nor Wesley was in the street to see the wagon, but Bud and Cal were. It was amazing that men so big could act so quickly. As if they'd planned their actions together, Bud ran to the back of the wagon while Cal spurted ahead to the front.

Bud jumped on the back of the wagon and agilely made his way to the seat and the frightened girl. With one hand he caught her about the waist while steadying himself with his powerful legs wide apart.

Miranda, with a little scream when Bud first touched her, turned and clung to him, instinctively trusting him with her life.

Meanwhile Cal ran in front of the horses, grabbed the harness, and used his big body to create resistance. For a few seconds he was pulled under, his heels tearing into the dirt, then the horses began to slow and Cal gained control.

Mac and Wesley walked out of the feed store to see Bud standing in the back of the wagon, Miranda clinging to him with all her might, while Cal gathered the loose reins and secured the horses.

"Miranda," Mac said breathlessly, and in one step was at the foot of the wagon. "Come here, princess."

He held up his arms to her.