Chapter 4

Ethan leaned against the porch railing, sipping coffee while he waited for Jared and Jeb to get their sweet rolls and come outside. This early in the morning the grass was wet with dew but it was already warming up and by noon it would be too hot and humid to work outside. That was one thing he didn't miss about Virginia, he thought. He would rather have blizzards in the winter than steam baths in summer. Still, Jared had been right about making the visit.

It was time to deal with the past; to make amends - on both sides - and move on. He had his own life now and it was a good one. His father and Aaron would enventually come to realize that. Meanwhile, he was going to enjoy his time here, introducing Jared to family and friends, renewing old acquaintances and catching up on family news.

Jared and Jeb came out together, coffee mugs in hand, mouths full of cinnamon roll and he walked down to the stables with them. It was good to see Jared getting along so well with Jeb. Even though the young man was four years older than Jared, they seemed to have more in common than Jared did with the two his own age. That was the difference, Ethan realized. Jared and Jeb were both responsible young men; the other two, even though the same age as Jared, were still boys.

"What's going on?"

Jared's question interrupted his thoughts and he looked in the direction Jared was pointing. The stable hands, normally hard at work by this time, were clustered in an anxious group, apparently watching for them and bursting into speech as soon as the men were within hearing.

"Mr. Ethan, Blue Belle got cast in her stall. Come look." "Mr. Ethan, should I poultice Aisha's leg again? Come see." "Mr. Ethan, Sabir kicked Lige again and Lige won't go back in his stall." "Mr. Ethan, what should I--", "Mr. Ethan, how should I--", "When should I--". The grooms surrounded Ethan, Jared and Jeb as soon as they were close enough, each raising his voice and pushing forward, anxious for his question to be answered first.

"Whoa, whoa!" Ethan's clear baritone voice cut cleanly through the babble and the men immediately fell silent. "One at a time! Caleb," he picked the young man at random, "where's Hoke?"

"He's in bed with the rheumatism," Caleb volunteered. "He can't get up but he said Malachi would take care of things only Miz Alice May told him and Luke to work on the barbeque so they ain't here to do it."

"Did anyone tell Mr. Aaron that?"

"No, sir. Malachi tol' Mr. James and he said you'd take care of things when you got here."

Ethan took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, biting back the blistering words on his tongue. Damn it! Just when he thought things were going smoothly his father started playing these damned manipulative games again, pitting the brothers against each other to get his own way. Ethan wasn't falling into that trap again, though. This wasn't his responsibility and he wasn't dealing with it. He opened his mouth to tell them to saddle Phantom and take their problems to Aaron when he caught sight of Jared, patiently waiting for him to straighten out the mess so they could go riding.

What kind of example would he be setting for Jared - and for Jeb - if he walked off now? How could he teach Jared that the horses always come first if he announced it wasn't his responsibility? The answer was that he couldn't, and his father had known that when he chose his underhanded tactics. Still, Ethan had a few tricks of his own.

"Ben," he picked one of the older men, "take a message up to the house, please. Tell Mr. Aaron that Hoke is sick and he needs to come down and take care of things; that I'll help out until he gets here but I would appreciate it if he could hurry."

The man ducked his head in assent and hurried off as Ethan turned his attention to the next problem. "Jeb, do you think you can ride Phantom this morning?"

Jeb nodded, somewhat doubtfully. "I think so."

"Good. It looks like I'm needed here and he needs to have another rider anyway. Jared, take Sabir. Caleb, check Aisha's leg for me." He continued to rap out instructions, turning chaos into order as he waited for Aaron to arrive.

Jared shifted his weight and bit his lip as he waited for Sabir to be saddled and led out. He, too, was aware of James' intent and he didn't appreciate the man upsetting his partner. It hadn't taken him long to learn that, while Aaron ran the stables in name, Hoke ran them in fact and James ran them from behind the scenes. James no longer rode before breakfast or took an active hand in training, but he was well aware of everything that went on; he frequently overrode Aaron's, and sometimes even Hoke's, decisions. He could have come down and taken over, or given Aaron the chance. Instead he tried to manipulate Ethan.

Watching Ethan's rapid-fire dispersal of the stableboys, Jared tried to imagine his partner dealing meekly with the situation the way Aaron did. It was a good thing they weren't going to stay, he decided. Ethan wouldn't tolerate interference in his decisions, even by his father. He was imagining the fireworks that would occur the first time James countermanded one of Ethan's orders when Phantom and Sabir were brought out and the stableboy gave him a leg up.

"Take them around the Stony Creek trail," Ethan ordered. "Give them a decent workout, but don't dawdle or you'll be late for breakfast."

Both horses were fresh and fractious and the two young men spent the first few minutes of their ride fighting to get them on the bit and moving smoothly down the trail.

"They come from a long line of cavalry mounts," Jeb explained apologetically when things had finally settled down enough to talk as they rode. "The temper is in the blood and that makes them good in battle. We don't want to eliminate the trait but since the war we haven't had much outlet for them."

"Why don't you sell them to the army?" Jared asked practically.

"The *union* army?" Jeb's tone indicated exactly what he thought of that idea.

"All right, maybe not the army," Jared backed down hurriedly. "What about the U.S. Marshals? Or the Texas Rangers?"

"That's an idea," Jeb agreed thoughtfully, "but we would need to find an agent out west. It would be hard to manage from here. I'll mention it to Aaron and see what he thinks." He paused at a fork in the path. "Did Ethan say to take the Stony Creek trail or the Mill Creek?"

"I don't remember," Jared replied with a shrug. "What's the difference?"

"The Stony Creek trail is shorter but rougher. The Mill Creek trail is longer but it's smoother, wider and we can ride side by side. We can probably make better time on the Mill Creek trail even though it's longer."

"Ethan did say to watch the time," Jared remembered, and they turned onto the Mill Creek trail

At one time the trail had been a wagon road leading to an old flour mill built on the banks of the creek. Since the mill had been burned down during the war and rebuilt in a different location, the road had become overgrown and too narrow for a wagon. It was still wide enough to ride two abreast, though, and the young men unconsciously slowed as they conversed.

Jared liked riding with Jeb. So much of the life here was peculiar to him, from the room decor to being waited on by the servants to the sheer number of people in the house. While he enjoyed the luxury, he often felt uncomfortable and out of place, homesick for the ranch and their life there. Jeb was easy to talk to and they had a lot in common.

Jeb's first love, like Ethan's, was working with horses but, unlike Ethan, it wasn't something he could do for a living. This summer was his last vacation, his last chance to spend every day outside and on horseback. In the fall he would be returning to Richmond and going to work in his stepfather's banking and investment firm.

Meanwhile, he and Jared were both learning all they could from Hoke and Ethan and Jeb was willing to answer any questions Jared had about the family and its customs. In return, Jared told him stories about the west and the way it differed from what Jeb was familiar with.

Today their conversation centered around the upcoming barbeque. Jeb's stepfather would be arriving that afternoon to attend and Jeb was looking forward to his arrival.

"I'm glad you'll get to meet him," Jeb said. "He doesn't get away very often but he's coming for the barbeque and to see Ethan."

"What's the barbeque going to be like? Will there be a lot of people there?"

"Don't you have barbeques in the West?" Jeb asked in surprise.

"We have them but they probably aren't the same," Jared explained blithely, not bothering to add that he had never attended one in his life.

"Oh. I guess the best explanation is that it's like a big dinner party but it's mostly outside during the day instead of inside during the evening. We invite all the family and friends who are near enough to come and sometimes people from farther away come and stay for a few days."

"People are coming to stay?" Jared asked uneasily. How many more relatives did Ethan have, anyway? They had already encountered enough family and friends to populate the entire town of Solitaire, with a few left over.

"Not this time. My father is coming from Richmond but everyone else is from close by. There will be a lot of socializing; music and dancing and maybe some horse racing. Mostly people sit around and talk and eat, though. Eliza and the others have all been cooking up a storm.

"Uncle is roasting a whole pig with Luke's special barbeque sauce." Jeb licked his lips in anticipation. "Plus there will be chicken and turkey and beef. Then there are all the side dishes like potato salad and slaw and baked beans and the ladies all bring their special dishes to share. Then there are all the desserts. Just wait until you try Aunt Matilda's lemon meringue pie and Mrs. Partly's molasses pound cake. They're the best I've ever tasted."

They continued riding, sometimes talking and sometimes just enjoying the morning until the trail turned away from the heavily-shaded creek and into an open meadow.

"Jeb, are we running late?" Jared asked uneasily as he noted the position of the morning sun.

"Oh, damn!" Jeb exclaimed, following his gaze. "We've taken way too long this morning. Come on. We need to make up some time." He kicked Phantom into a trot and then a canter and Jared followed.

"Has Ethan gone up to the house yet?" Jeb asked anxiously as they dismounted in the stable yard.

"He and Mr. Aaron left 'bout fifteen minutes ago," the waiting stableboy replied as he took the reins from them. "Y'all better hurry or you're gonna be late."

"Damn. You'll have to unsaddle and walk the horses out this morning," he ordered. "We don't have time."

Taking only a moment to splash their hands in the basin of water kept for washing up before breakfast, they ran up the drive to the house.

"Come on, Jared," Jeb urged as they hurried up the back steps and into the hall. "We're going to be late."

Jared obediently followed as quickly as he could. The smell of bacon wafting through the hall reminded his stomach how empty it was and he didn't think he could bear the humiliation of standing outside while the others ate. Did the rules apply to guests as well as family members? He didn't even want to think about what Ethan was going to say about it.

They slid into their seats just as the clock finished striking the half hour and bowed their heads a second after James started grace. Jared squinted through half-closed eyes, trying to read Ethan's mood but it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

To Jared's relief, James' only reaction to their tardiness was a sharp glance at each of them before picking up the newspaper that was delivered, along with the mail, early each morning. While Aaron went through the mail James immersed himself in the newspaper, reading articles out loud and inviting his sons to join him in vilifying whoever had earned his wrath. Today they were discussing the Funders. Jared wasn't sure who or what the Funders were but all of the Montgomery men, including Ethan, seemed to be against them so they must have done something wrong.

Jared wondered how things had gone at the stable earlier but Ethan and Aaron didn't seem to be bickering any more than usual so they must not have come to blows about it.

At the other end of the table, the ladies engaged in quiet gossip about people he had never heard of and, across the table, Seth and Henry seemed to be eating with their eyes closed. Next to him Jeb shoveled in food as if he hadn't eaten for a week.

Jared was content to be ignored while he ate. He felt like he spent all his time talking to people as it was. For someone used to going days or weeks seeing no one but Ethan, all these people were overwhelming sometimes. He wondered how long this barbeque was going to last and if he was expected to be there for all of it. Maybe he could sneak off after a while and read or go for a ride or something.

He ate hungrily, lost in thought, letting the conversation wash over him until James put down his newspaper. "Aaron, do you have the papers ready for Silas Ames?"

"They're on my desk, waiting to be signed." Aaron laid aside the business letter he was reading as he replied. "I planned to take them over this afternoon."

James shook his head. "I'll take them over. Ethan, you'll go with me. He has been asking about you and he isn't well enough to attend the party tomorrow."

"Yes, sir." If Ethan objected to having his afternoon so autocratically arranged for him, he kept it to himself.

"Constance--"

"I'll have Eliza prepare a basket for him," she quietly anticipated his command.

"Very well." He pushed his chair back and stood, then turned a steely gaze on Jeb and Jared. "Breakfast in this house is served promptly at 8:30," he informed them. "You are to be seated at the table in a decorous manner before that time, not gallop into the room at the last minute like ill-trained colts. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," they chorused meekly, Jared ducking his head in embarrassment.

"Good. See that it doesn't happen again," he ordered before limping from the room, cane planted firmly with each step.

When Jared looked up again, Ethan had turned in his seat, eyes narrowed, to watch his father leave. "Is he in more pain than usual?" he asked Aaron softly.

Aaron nodded. "He had a bad fall last spring and it has been bothering him more since then," he replied quietly. "The doctor thinks the mini ball has shifted."

"But they still can't remove it?"

"No." Aaron shook his head, animosity forgotten as the brothers united in concern for their father. "He won't--"

"What are you two whispering about down there?" Aunt Alice May demanded from her place at the other end of the table. "Speak up so we can all hear you."

The family resemblance between Aaron and Ethan was even more pronounced as they turned identical expressions of vast irritation toward her and Jared caught his breath, sure that he was going to see more family fireworks.

"What do you boys have planned for today?" Constance intervened before either man could reply.

"We're going to take Robert and Jared to the old fishing hole this afternoon," Henry announced as he dropped his napkin on his plate. "We've been promising Robert since we got here."

"Stay away from the caves!" Aaron, Ethan and Margaret ordered in unison and Seth huffed in exasperation.

"We're not going to get hurt! We aren't children, you know," he protested.

"Children or not, the caves are off limits," Aaron warned. "I don't want to hear that you've been anywhere near them."

It must be something in the Montgomery blood, Jared decided. Every man in the family had the same autocratic, dictatorial disposition. Aaron was using the same tone James had used earlier and Jared couldn't count the number of times he had heard it from Ethan. No wonder they butted heads so much. They were all just alike.

"But, Aaron--"

"What caves?" Jared asked before Seth could dig his hole any deeper.

"During the war," Aaron and Ethan began in unison, then Ethan waved at Aaron to go on.

"During the war," Aaron repeated as the maids quietly began collecting empty plates and Joseph refilled their cups with coffee or tea, "the union army ravaged this valley. They fought up and down it and when they weren't fighting they were looting. They stole everything they could lay their hands on and burned anything they couldn't take with them. They didn't care what happened to the women and children trying to survive; when we managed a pitiful harvest from whatever seed they left us, they stole that and burned the fields so we couldn't glean what was left."

"They would have burned this house if it hadn't been for your mother," Aunt Alice May reminded them. She tucked her steel-gray hair more firmly into its bun as she continued the story, "I remember her standing out on the front verandah, facing down that yankee sergeant. She was scared to death but you would never have known it to look at her. Lord, she scolded him like he was one of the children, telling him he should be ashamed of himself, asking how he would feel if it was his wife or mother being burned out of her home and what they would say if they knew he was behaving like that."

"I remember that," Ethan said, his irritation apparently forgotten. "I was hiding under the porch when it happened."

"I remember it, too," Aaron told him in exasperation. "You were supposed to be helping me get the calf into the swamp and you had crawled under the porch for Bouncer's puppies instead. Mother should have beaten you for it."

"I thought he was going to shoot Mother right there in front of me," Ethan continued, blandly ignoring his brother's interruption. "Instead, he stuttered at her and then wilted. He rounded up his men and took off like his tail was on fire."

"I thought he was going to shoot you and Mother both," Aaron remembered. "And there wasn't a thing I could do to help. I couldn't believe he gave in so easily."

Jared looked from one to the other, seeing the affection they had for each other when their rivalry was set aside to deal with a common enemy, even one from twenty years in the past.

"You were telling Jared about the caves," Henry reminded them.

"Before the war," Aaron backtracked a little,"Father and Grandfather agreed that no matter who won the war or how quickly it was over, this valley was going to be a major battleground. They sent Hoke and some of the boys into Kentucky with the prime breeding stock."

Jared nodded. Ethan had told him about it their first day there.

"It was a move that was frowned on by our neighbors, who thought it was cowardly and that we should have donated every horse we owned to the militia--"

"We donated the majority of our horses," Ethan interrupted this time, "and only a handful made it through the war. We lost some of the best stock in the country and some damned good bloodlines."

Heads nodded in agreement. Even after twenty years, they resented the sacrifice; not the sacrifice itself, Jared realized, but the necessity for it.

"All of the other men, including Joseph," Aaron acknowledged the old man standing by the sideboard," went with Father and Grandfather, leaving only the women and children to protect the place.

"Where Stony Creek runs through limestone the sides are pockmarked with tunnels and caves. After the men left, Mother gathered up all of the valuables - the silver, the paintings, the jewelry, all of the family heirlooms. We packed them in crates and hid them in one of the larger caves. Then we collapsed the opening and planted briars over it. We filled another one with all of the supplies we could lay our hands on."

"The neighbor women complained about that, too," Aunt Alice May remembered grimly. "They criticized us for hoarding and said our planning for the worst showed a lack of faith in our men."

"Aunt Catherine told them it wasn't a lack of faith in our men, it was a lack of faith in the civility of the Yankees," Margaret shared her own memories. "And they were purely grateful for her foresight when their children were starving and we had food for them."

"Catherine always did care for people," Alice May remembered fondly, "even when they didn't deserve it."

"The caves," Seth reminded them again.

"We piled dirt in front of that one and planted more briars," Aaron picked up the story again, "leaving an opening just large enough for the youngest boys to squeeze through. Then we partially dammed the creek and created a swamp. When we got warning that the yankees were raiding again, we boys would drive what stock we had left into it and keep them quiet until the danger had passed. Because of Mother's planning, we were able to survive. Not well, there were some long, cold, hungry nights but we made it."

He paused to sip his coffee and it occurred to Jared that his mother had also lived through this war and had probably had similar experiences. Which side had she been on, he wondered. Probably the northern side, he imagined, since his father had met her on a visit to New England. His geography was still a little shaky but he knew that region was in the north. Did she have a father or brothers involved in the fighting or soldiers threatening her home/

"After the war was over," Aaron set his cup down and continued, "we opened the caves and diverted the creek back to its original bed but all of that ground is dangerously unstable now. There are mudslides after every storm and sinkholes open without warning, some of them big enough to swallow a sheep. Several people have been injured and the children are all forbidden to go near the area but they can't resist. They dare each other to run up and slap the opening of one of the caves."

"It's a very popular dare for boys to use on their younger brothers," Ethan remarked dryly and both Aaron and Jeb grinned.

"And the older boys pay for it when their fathers find out, which they always do," Aaron pointed out warningly. "So stay away from the caves."

"But is it all right if we go fishing?" Henry asked, elbowing Seth in the ribs when he opened his mouth to argue more.

"Jared has some things to do this morning but he can go this afternoon," Ethan told him.

The meal broke up shortly after that and Jared meekly followed Ethan up to their rooms.

"I'm sorry, Ethan," he said as soon as they were out of earshot of the others. "I didn't mean to be late. We just lost track of time."

"After I warned you not to," Ethan told him implacably.

He led the way into Jared's room and, as Jared stood nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot, placed the chair so that it faced the bureau with the clock on it.

"Sit," Ethan ordered.

Jared sat, not sure what was going to happen but happy that he was the one sitting, not Ethan. Ethan sitting down would have been a very bad sign.

"See that clock?" Ethan continued and Jared nodded obediently. "Watch it."

"Watch it?" Jared asked in confusion.

"Watch it," Ethan confirmed. "Don't take your eyes off of it until I tell you to."

Jared stared at the clock and fretted as the minutes slowly ticked away. He could hear Ethan moving about behind him, going into his own room and coming back but knew better than to try talking to him.

It was a beautiful morning, perfect for riding or working with the horses. Outside the window the sky was a brilliant blue with a few puffy white clouds floating through it. He could be outside doing something productive while the weather was cool and instead he was stuck inside staring at the clock. There was something wrong with that, he thought. He shouldn't be punished for wasting time by wasting time.

"Eyes on the clock, little boy," Ethan ordered.

Jared sighed. Life was hard sometimes. On the other hand, staring at the clock was much better than staring at the corner. Or the floor. Still, he was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists by the time Ethan spoke an eternity later.

"Do you think you know how to watch the time now?"

"Yes, Ethan."

"Let's go, then. I told Aaron I would meet him after breakfast."

"How did that go?" Jared asked as they walked down to the stables together.

"We didn't come to blows, if that's what you're asking," Ethan told him with a laugh and Jared flushed.

"I didn't think you would," he protested. "But you do-- argue-- a lot."

"I know."

Ethan sighed and Jared hurriedly changed the subject. "Is it still all right if I go fishing with Seth and Henry this afternoon?"

"It's fine but don't go to the caves, even if Henry and Seth dare you to, understand?"

"Yes, Ethan."

"I don't want to spank you while we're here," Ethan continued seriously, "but I will, if I find out you've been anywhere near them."

"I won't go near them," Jared promised solemnly.