put up a valiant chase. I couldn't let the dogs have him. I can't let him fight alone.""Oh, dear," Rosalyn worried, understanding. She knew what it was like to struggle alone and feel no onewas on her side... but she didn't realize Colin could empathize with that battle, too.

And it made her love him all the more. A love that she wasn't certain he wanted."Your fox is welcome here. Of course, you'd best behave yourself," she told the creature.As if in answer, the fox jumped off the back of the phaeton. He leaped over her flower beds, winding his way past the rosebush they'd planted, and headed for the shrubs that formed the boundary of her yard.

Just when she thought he was returning to the wild, the fox stopped. He looked back at them, one foot poised in the air. Silently, he communicated his appreciation before he disappeared into the undergrowth with a flick of his red bushy tale.

Colin faced her. "Thank you."

She searched deep in his eyes, wishing she could tell what he was thinking. "I couldn't see him rippedapart either.""I know." Colin smiled, and it was as if the world stopped. The connection between them was there. It hadn't been something relegated to a single place and time. The early unease between them melted

away...

The front door opened. "We've been so worried about the two of you!" Covey said. She had Cook and Bridget with her. They helped the older woman down the steps. "I was so surprised when, after days of waiting, I looked out the window and here you were. Where have you been? What has happened?"

Rosalyn's mind went blank. "I wrote a note..."

But what had she said? Or had it been nothing more than Colin's announcement he would take care of her?

"I worried," Covey answered as if it explained all. Cook hovered over her, and Rosalyn could see her

friend had not been well.

"You shouldn't be standing out here," Rosalyn said. "Let us go inside."

"Nonsense, I've never been better," Covey vowed. "Now what of you? Do you have news?"Colin had jumped to the ground. He came around to Rosalyn's side of the phaeton and said proudly, "We do. Let me introduce you to my wife." He placed his hands on Rosalyn's waist and swung her down to the ground.

Covey held out her arms to receive Rosalyn. "I had so hoped such would be the case. Come and let me

hug you, my child. This is joyous, joyous news!"

Rosalyn accepted the embrace. "Does anyone else know?"

"Lady Loftus has sent a messenger every day to discover if you have returned," Covey said. "We shall

send John to her immediately. She will be so happy for the two of you."

"Have you heard from my brother?" Colin asked.

"No," Covey answered, "although I am certain he knows. Information like this never stays a secret long,

not in Clitheroe."

Colin made a small groan, and Rosalyn knew he was upset about his brother's reaction. His troubled

gaze met hers. "I should have said something before I left. I need to go see him now before he learns of our return through rumor."

"Do you wish me to go with you?" Rosalyn asked.

"No, I think this is one interview I'd best do alone. Matt can be funny about some things." Colin climbed

back up in the seat of the phaeton. Oscar's ears flattened. The horse had obviously been hoping theirtraveling was done."I'll return shortly," he said, "and then you can give me a tour of the house. I've yet to have one."Rosalyn laughed. "I will, and Cook will have a special dinner waiting."

"Good, I'm hungry." With a wave of his hand, he turned Oscar down the drive.

Rosalyn watched them until they were out of sight. She loved him so much. But was congenial companionship enough?

Covey's arm slipped through hers. "Everything will be fine," she promised, and Rosalyn prayed she was right.

Colin drove first to the rectory. Matt wasn't there, but Val was-and her reception was cold.

She answered his knock on the door, took one look at him, and turned away, leaving the door open for him to follow. She walked into the kitchen, where she'd started preparations for dinner.

Emma sat at the kitchen table rolling extra pastry dough into little pies of her own. Val often let her do that. The child looked up at him with big eyes and whispered, "Hello," and Colin knew he was in trouble. He gave Emma a secret wave in return.

"You've heard the news," he guessed as Val picked up a dressed hare by its legs and whacked the meat into pieces on a cutting board for their dinner.

"I've heard rumors," she threw over her shoulder. "Are we to wish you happy?""Yes."Without showing a speck of interest in the news he was married, Val said, "Your brother isn't here. He's at the church."

"Then I'll go find him there." She could have told him this at the door, but he guessed trailing after herwas a penance of sorts. He started to retrace his steps, but her voice stopped him."I think it a shame that you cut him out of something so important, Colin. He deserves better.""I didn't cut him out. I'm here to tell him the news.""Yes, finally," she said sarcastically."I'm not a child, Val. I didn't need his permission.""Oh, Colin." Her eyes softened. "That is the most foolish thing you have ever said."He wasn't certain what she meant. "I'm going to see Matt." This time when he left, she didn't stop him.Outside, he went down the street to the church. The late-afternoon shadows were lengthening across the graveyard. A robin eyed him as it hopped across the grass beneath the cherry tree, which was now fully

bloomed in all its glory.Colin opened the church's heavy, narrow door. All was quiet. The air still smelled of the incense used forspecial ceremonies. Light filtered through thick medieval stained glass, giving the sanctuary the air ofanother world. The heels of Colin's boots sounded loud on the stone floor.

He expected to find Matt busy fiddling with something or other. Instead, his brother sat in one of the back pews facing the altar. His hands were clasped in his lap, as if he were lost in deep prayer. Colin slipped in beside him.

They sat quietly a moment, and then Matt asked, "So you decided to return home, did you?" There was a beat and then he added, "Again."

This was going to be a difficult conversation.

"Well, I got married and there wasn't anyplace else to go but home," Colin answered, attempting to put a light note on the subject, and failing.

"Nice of you to think of us."Colin bristled at the implied criticism. "I'm a grown man, Matt. I don't need permission."His brother faced him. "Don't need permission? Is that all I am to you? A substitute for our parents?" He shook his head in disgust. "I had hoped there was more between us. After all, you slept under my roof.

You played with my children and ate the food my wife made.""I didn't meant to slight you, brother," Colin answered, feeling an uncomfortable pang of guilt. "I gotcaught up in the moment. We were eloping and, since I haven't had to answer to anyone for years, I didn't think of it." Which wasn't completely true. He'd known Matt would not approve of an elopement.

"I didn't expect you to 'answer' to me, Colin. I expected you to include me."

His words hit Colin hard.

For a moment, he couldn't speak. His own selfishness stared him in the face, and he was ashamed.

"I should have told you my plans," Colin agreed. "But I feared you would be disappointed, and you

know I was never good at handling your disappointment.""Disappointed? Colin, I was hurt. You didn't want me at your wedding.""I eloped. There was no wedding.""There could have been." Matt shook his head as if attempting to rein in his anger. "All right," he admitted, "I know you think I'm the fool for answering a calling to the church. I know you feel I failed inyour eyes by choosing a country parish life to the politics of the Church. But I never thought you wouldnot invite me to see you wed. Of course, why did I think that?" he said rhetorically. "You've kept me outof most of your life. I'm surprised you even came back to Clitheroe. Or did you want to show me howsuccessful you had become?"

Matt's accusation took Colin by surprise. "I returned because Clitheroe is my home."

"Is it?" Matt snorted his thought on the matter and rose to his feet. He started to push past Colin's legs to get out of the pew.

Colin blocked his exit by placing his hand on the pew in front of them. "Explain yourself," he challenged.

"I'm bigger and stronger than you are, Matt. The days when we wrestled and you won because you arethe oldest were over long ago, and I'll prove it right here if I must. Now, answer me? What imagined sinhave I committed that has you so set against me. Yes, I eloped, but I'm a man full grown. I have thatchoice."

"Then why are you even here?" Matt returned. "Go. Make your own way. You married the lady, you get the Commons seat, of what importance is family?"

Another direct hit.

Colin pulled his arm back, and his brother exited the pew and walked toward the pulpit to retrieve some papers lying there. Silently, Colin watched him. Matt was not as hard-hearted as he wished to pretend.

His hands shook, rattling the papers.

"Family is very important to me," Colin managed at last.The muscles in Mart's jaw tightened. He did not speak.Colin rose. "This is about Mother and Father, isn't it?""Is it?""I sent money.""Yes, you did," Matt agreed, not looking at him.Colin gripped the edge of the pew in front of him. "Was it not enough?"At last his brother confronted him. "Do you think they appreciated the money more than they would have appreciated seeing you?"

"I was away fighting, Matt. I couldn't leave whenever I wished."

"But when you did return, you never came back. We heard you were in London. The Ribble Valley isn't that much of the back country. People write letters, and we knew when you'd come and gone."

"I had commitments. Matters I had to attend to." God, the excuses sounded weak to his own ears! "When I returned-which wasn't often- the War Office usually demanded my time."

"Really?" Matt questioned with quiet disbelief. "You are a brave man, brother, but a coward in what is really important."

Guilt made Colin angry. He came out from the pew. "You're jealous. You chose your calling and your direction, and now you see what I have and you are questioning your decisions."

Mart's fist came down on the pulpit. "Nothing could be further from the truth!"

"Oh, come now. You had a great future ahead, Matt. Father Ruley had plans for both of us. I followed his advice. You chose your own course, and now you are wondering if perhaps you hadn't made the wisest choices. Well, you can't blame me for that. You are the one who fell in love with Val. I had nothing to do with that."

"You believe Val is the reason I'm here?" Matt asked incredulously.

"You were on your way to London before you met her," Colin reminded him.

"I was on the way to a devil of my own making until I met her," Matt lashed back. "I know the dangers of unbridled ambition, Colin. And I've learned Father Ruley was an intelligent man but he didn't know the first thing about life. To him, it was titles and money. He wanted me to dedicate my life to service in the Church but a Church of his own devising. He valued hierarchy and politics. It took Val's love for me to see God and hear Him. I'm in this parish of my own choice. I like my work here. I'm a part of these people's lives. I want to watch my children grow and know their father." He leaned forward on the pulpit. "I would never have wanted my parents to die alone. I was even by Father Ruley's side when he passed on. There was no one else there, Colin. He'd helped dozens of lads like us, and none of them were beside him except Father and me."

Not even Colin.

"I understand a bit of how you think," Matt continued, "because I knew Father Ruley, and I knew you wanted more than I did. It was always that way between us. I was content and you were restless. So, now, let us bring home to roost some other truths, brother. Has it dawned on you yet that you didn't receive your precious knighthood for service to the Crown during the war not because of your willingness to speak your mind but because the world doesn't always believe the end justifies the means? You run roughshod over people, Colin. You've trampled on your family. You married Lady Rosalyn for the basest of reasons- prestige and fortune. You've done everything without any true conviction other than your own gain. And now, you are here and wanting me to wish you happy?"

Matt shook his head. "I can't. I won't. I would have preferred true and genuine affection. I would have liked the banns to be announced and time taken for the two of you to consider what the vows you would be making before God would mean. But then, it doesn't matter, does it? Because you'll have your life in London and she will be here. Eventually, you'll be too busy on 'important matters' to return to Clitheroe, and so the circle continues."

Colin took a step back. The earth no longer seemed beneath his feet. The truth of his brother's words shook him deeply.

Matt gripped both sides of the pulpit, his face tense from emotion. He stood as Colin's judge, and Colindidn't like it one whit."You know, I would like to plant a facer on you right now," Colin confessed.His words broke the tension a bit. "Why don't you?" Matt asked, the condemnation gone from his voice."Because," Colin started, his eyes burning. "Because some of what you said is right."He didn't wait for a response but turned on his heel and walked out of the church. It would be a cold, dark day before he returned, he silently vowed.

Joseph and Thomas had found Oscar and had led him and the phaeton down to the church. They pulled up grass in the yard and fed it to the starving horse. Colin mumbled something appropriate about their