Wildest Dreams - By Rosanne Bittner Page 0,221

what's mine."

"Ty!" Lettie could hardly believe her ears. "What makes you think he could take your place, or that he would get more than his fair share? What makes you think he even wants anything from us?"

"Why else would he be here? When I ask him about it, he just says he'll talk to you and Pa, not to me." Tyler looked at his father. "You adopted him. He's been gone all these years, but he's still the firstborn son. By law he has every right to as much of the Double L as you want to give him, and I think it's damned unfair! He—"

"Now, just a minute, Ty!" Luke interrupted. "We haven't even had a chance to talk to him to find out why he's here. And give me a little credit for being a fair man. You know better than to think I'd favor one child over another, for any reason. How long has he been back?"

"Just a few days," Robbie spoke up. "He's been real quiet—stays in that little cabin Tex used to live in. He's hardly talked to anybody—just says he'll wait and talk to you and Mom. Nobody in town even knows it yet. We thought maybe we should wait till you came home to see what he wants. Maybe he won't even stay."

Lettie could not help feeling a wave of the old agony of remembering when Nathan was first torn from her arms, and how it felt when he ran away from them after they had finally found him again. How could she bear seeing him and then losing him yet again? Surely he was back to stay this time. Why else would he have come? But why? Why now? "You said... you talked to him. He speaks English now?"

Ty scowled. "Yeah, pretty well. He even dresses mostly like a white man, but his hair is still long, and he wears moccasins."

"We gave him food and some wood for the heating stove," Brad told her. "He seemed real grateful."

Lettie could not help the tears that spilled out of her eyes. She grasped Luke's hand. "He's twenty-two years old now," she said absently. Eighteen years it had been since her son was first taken from her. How could that be? Why was he here? She wiped at her eyes, glanced at Ty. "One day, when you have your own children, Ty, you will understand how I feel about this. You're all special, for so many different reasons." She looked at Robbie, Katie, back to Tyler. "You have been a loyal, hard-working, devoted son. Surely you don't think your father and I could forget that. The way Nathan was raised, I highly doubt he has much interest in the ranch. There must be some other reason he is here. Give him a chance, Ty. My being able to keep my son with me this time could depend in part on how all of you treat him. This could be the most important thing I have ever asked of any of you." She looked around at all of them again. "No matter how you feel about him now, he's still your brother. You all share the same blood through me, and no matter where Nathan has been these last years, he is still my son." She squeezed Luke's hand. "Our son. A MacBride by blood, a Fontaine by adoption, and because your father has the ability to love him just because he loves me. If he can love Nathan with no blood connection at all, surely all of you can learn to love him." She closed her eyes. "Thank God we came back when we did. He might have left again without our ever getting to see him."

"Lettie, don't get your hopes up," Luke warned. "You know what happened last time. Maybe there is just something he needs and he'll want to leave again."

Probably wants some money, Tyler thought. For his mother's sake, he would keep his opinion to himself, but he could not help believing Nathan was here for only one reason.

"Not this time," Lettie was saying. "I feel it in my heart. Nathan is here to stay."

Tyler, Robbie, Katie, and Brad all sat quietly in the parlor, watching their mother pace nervously. Luke had gone to get Nathan, and Tyler thought about how Nathan must surely be overwhelmed by the elegance of the Fontaine home, Oriental rugs, expensive vases and statues, silk-covered chairs and rich oak and mahogany furniture. He and Katie and Robbie