Free Texas Blue by JODI THOMAS Page A

full of people. She’s even thought of organizing a small band so we can dance. If Beth is in the room, everyone always has a grand time.”
    Back to singing Beth’s praises. Lewt was starting to wonder if something wasn’t wrong with the girl if her big sister had to keep pointing out her good side.
    “And”—Rose beamed—“this afternoon, we all gathered round the piano and sang songs. You should have heard Mrs. Allender. She has a voice angels would envy. Boyd joined us for a few minutes, then spotted a book on horse breeding he hadn’t read. We didn’t see him for the rest of the afternoon.” Rose giggled. “Just between you and me, I’ll bet he was sitting just outside the door listening.”
    “Did Davis and Emily join in any of the singing?”
    “Davis did, but Emily said she’d be our audience while she sewed.”
    Lewt leaned back. Apparently, he’d missed nothing. He would have had a hard time not looking bored, and the only songs he knew were not proper for anywhere but saloons. This act of being a gentleman wasn’t as easy as he thought.
    Rose tugged at his sleeve. “Tomorrow, if it doesn’t rain, we’re going riding and plan to have a picnic on the summit of the hill the Apache named Whispering Mountain. Did you know there is a legend that my ancestors used to believe that says if a man sleeps on the summit of Whispering Mountain, he’ll dream his future? My papa tells a story about how his father climbed to the summit when he was just married and settling here. He dreamed his death in a battle beside a mission. He spent the next twelve years of his life building the ranch and preparing his three sons to take over when he died.”
    “I’ve heard that story.” Lewt smiled. “Duncan talks about how three little boys, his father one of them, took over and held the ranch against raiders.”
    “My papa was twelve when his father was killed at the Battle of Goliad. Teagen McMurray had to become a man the day they learned his father was dead. My mama, when she met him years later, said he was hard as granite. She was a widow with three tiny girls who saw his heart from the first. Even today when she looks at him, anyone can see the love in her eyes.”
    Lewt lowered his voice. “So Teagen McMurray isn’t your real father?”
    “He’s our real papa and he’d shoot anyone who questioned it. Our ‘real father’ lived in Chicago and was given to drink. I don’t remember much about him except that he liked to yell at my mother. When he died of pneumonia one winter, Mama brought us here. She married Teagen and we became a family. Sometimes Papa grumbles and complains that it took us too long to get here. He says he was lonely for a long time waiting for us to come.”
    Lewt felt an ache deep down, as if a wound had bruised his heart. He didn’t know Teagen, the head of the McMurrays, but he knew what the man meant. When he’d been a boy he used to dream that he belonged someplace else, with other people. He’d dream that somewhere there was another world where people cared if he was warm or had food. Once in a while he’d almost believe that if he stepped sideways or jumped around a corner that world would be waiting for him, welcoming and warm.
    Only it never appeared, and survival left little time for dreams.
    He smiled down at Rose as she handed him a slice of pie. He had to marry one of these women. They knew how to build that comfortable loving world he’d never known. He told himself he wasn’t using them. Whichever one he married, he’d be good to. Better than good, he’d be caring. He never make her sorry she’d married him. Somehow, he’d figure out how to be the kind of man who’d marry a lady.
    As they left the dining room, shy Emily took his arm. “We thought we’d all play cards tonight, Mr. Paterson. Do you play cards?”
    The day’s exhaustion vanished as he said, “Now and then.”
    Playing cards with this group was like fishing with a shotgun. Lewt offered to