Sierra's Homecoming by Linda Lael Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

are? Of reconnecting with Sierra, I mean?”
    â€œThe truth?”
    â€œThe truth,” Meg said, without enthusiasm.
    â€œZero to zip. Sierra’s been pleasant enough to me, but she’s as stubborn as any McKettrick that ever drew breath, and that’s saying something.”
    â€œGee, thanks.”
    â€œYou said you wanted the truth.”
    â€œHow can you be so sure Mom won’t be able to get through to her?”
    â€œIt’s just a hunch,” Travis said.
    Meg was quiet. Travis was famous for his hunches. Too bad he hadn’t paid attention to the one that said his little brother was in big trouble, and that Travis ought to drop everything and look for Brody until he found him.
    â€œLook, maybe I’m wrong,” he added.
    â€œWhat’s your real impression of Sierra, Travis?”
    He took his time answering. “She’s independent to a fault. She’s built a wall around herself and the kid, and she’s not about to let anybody get too close. She’s jumpy, too. If it wasn’t for Liam, and the fact that she probably doesn’t have two nickels to rub together, she definitely wouldn’t be on the Triple M.”
    â€œDamn,” Meg said. “We knew she was poor, but—”
    â€œHer car gave out in the driveway as soon as she pulled in. I took a peek under the hood, and believe me, the best mechanic on the planet couldn’t resurrect that heap.”
    â€œShe can drive my Blazer.”
    â€œThat might take some convincing on your part. This is not a woman who wants to be obliged. It’s probably all she can do not to grab the kid and hop on the next bus to nowhere.”
    â€œThis is depressing,” Meg said.
    Travis got up off the bed, peeled back the plastic covering his dinner, and poked warily at the faux meat with the tip of one finger. Talk about depressing.
    â€œHey,” he said. “Look on the bright side. She’s here, isn’t she? She’s on the Triple M. It’s a start.”
    â€œTake care of her, Travis.”
    â€œAs if she’d go along with that.”
    â€œDo it for me.”
    â€œOh, please.”
    Meg paused, took aim, and scored a bull’s-eye. “Then do it for Liam.”

Chapter Four
    1919
    D oss left the house after supper, ostensibly to look in on the livestock one last time before heading upstairs to bed, leaving the dishwashing to Tobias and Hannah. He stood still in the dooryard, raising the collar of his coat against the wicked cold. Stars speckled the dark, wintry sky.
    In those moments he missed Gabe with a piercing intensity that might have bent him double, if he wasn’t McKettrick proud. That was what his mother called the quality, anyhow. In the privacy of his own mind, Doss named it stubbornness.
    Thinking of his ma made his pa come to mind, too. He missed them almost as sorely as he did Gabe. His uncles, Rafe and Kade and Jeb, along with their wives, were all down south, around Phoenix, where the weather was more hospitable to their aging bones. Their sons, to a man, were still in the army, even though the war was over, waiting to be mustered out. Their daughters had all married, every one of them keeping the McKettrick name, and lived in places as far-flung as Boston, New York and San Francisco.
    There was hardly a McKettrick left on the place, save himself and Hannah and Tobias. It deepened Doss’s loneliness, knowing that. He wished everybody would just come back home, where they belonged, but it would have been easier to herd wild barn cats than that bunch.
    Doss looked back toward the house. Saw the lantern glowing at the kitchen window. Smiled.
    The moment he’d gone outside, Hannah must have switched off the bulb. She worried about running short of things, he’d noticed, even though she’d come from a prosperous family, and certainly married into one.
    His throat tightened. He knew she’d been different before he brought Gabe