Lacy Williams Read Online Free

semester and received top grades, he’d been raring for more.
    Maxwell would’ve been the only brother Oscar felt close enough to tell about the deep loneliness that had followed him around the past few months. But without Maxwell around, he hadn’t told anyone.
    He shook off those melancholy thoughts, unwilling to go down that path with Sarah Hansen looking on. He’d get this one last job done and go home to his new little cabin and his herd of horses.
    “The rest of the boys are workin’ the land with my dad. Once a couple of us hit eighteen, we were able to file for the nearby land and increase the spread. It’s more work, but more land for the cattle to graze.”
    Her eyes had glazed over. Bored with life on a farm? She’d left tiny Bear Creek behind to go away to school, after all.
    She lowered her face and the flowers on her hat shifted forward. His hand tensed with the desire to tweak the ridiculous ornament. He looked away, and thought he saw a shadow move between two wagons.
    One of the saddle horses nearby whickered and Sarah’s head came up, bringing his attention right back to her.
    “If I remember correctly, your sister used to suffer from seizures. How is her health now?”
    “Breanna’s health is fine. She’s gone a good long spell without an episode and Penny—my ma—hopes they’re gone for good. My pa’s been dealing with the seizures since Breanna was born and he’s not so sure.” He couldn’t help smiling as his thoughts shifted to the last stunt Breanna had pulled before he’d left home this spring.
    “What?” asked Sarah suspiciously, using a handkerchief to blot her lips.
    “Just remembering. My sister wants to be a cowhand like the rest of us boys. It drives our ma crazy. This spring Breanna dressed in some of my brother Seb’s clothes and tried to sneak along on a cattle drive. Ma was busy with the toddler and almost didn’t notice.”
    Sarah’s scandalized look was similar to what Penny’s had been. “But that’s so dangerous! Why, she could’ve been trampled by the beasts or bucked from her horse, or what if rustlers attacked?”
    He shrugged. “Breanna’s a good rider. Speaking of riding—”
    He meant to ask her about her fear of horses, but another movement among the parked wagons caught his eye.
    “Excuse me a second—” He rose and strode over to where he’d thought he’d seen...
    There! Someone small darted between two wagons, and Oscar gave chase. They were close enough that the ground-tied saddle horses, like Oscar’s, were getting restless. He didn’t want the kid to end up hurt if they got too near the animals.
    “Hey!” He clamped a hand on the kid’s shoulder, surprising the young girl into a shriek.
    “Leave her alone!” Another child flew at him, surprising him into banging his elbow on a wagon. It stung, but he didn’t release his hold on the first child.
    A nearby horse whinnied. “Calm down,” Oscar ordered, voice as strong as he could make it. Just like he would’ve if he’d been at home.
    The girl beneath his hand froze, looking up at him with wide, scared eyes. A second girl, half a head taller and alike enough to be a sister, came and locked arms with the first girl. This child carried a baby on her hip. All three had dark, silky hair cascading down their backs, not in pigtails like the other young girls he’d seen at the picnic.
    “See those horses over there? You were scaring them with your playing and scampering around.”
    The girl with the baby lifted her chin. “We weren’t playing.”
    “Oscar. Mr. White!” He looked over his shoulder to see a pink-cheeked Sarah picking her way through the wagons, glancing often at the horses, though they were too far away to bother her.
    “I found these two—er, three sneaking around the wagons and upsetting the horses. I don’t suppose you’re acquainted with them?”
    She looked over the girls, and he took the time to take a longer look, as well. Their dresses were threadbare,