“Huh?” Robbie scrunched his nose. The wide look in his eyes gave warning that he was about two shakes of a lamb’s tail from seeking refuge behind her gray traveling skirt.
“Teach you everything there is to know. Not learn. And if you’re the sort of dunce who utilizes bad grammar, I doubt there will be much I can do on any account.” Her father swiped at a fly, the impatient flick seeming to dismiss Robbie as well as the insect. “Of course, I blame it entirely on your mother. She never was one to put much stock in education.”
Annie bit her lip. Suddenly, all she had done seemed like a terrible mistake. Leaving Galveston, the quiet gentility of life with Stuart’s mother, Mrs. Lawrence. Never mind that Galveston was a bustling city, giving Robbie no chance to run and play outside, as she’d done in her girlhood. But at least there her son hadn’t been ridiculed for the slightest misuse of grammar.
And if all she remembered about her father proved to hold correct, things were only going to get worse.
A young woman opened the ranch house door and hurried outside, crinoline swinging, fashionable coiffure already askew. A genuine smile appeared on Annie’s lips this time. With quick steps, she met her sister halfway and crushed her in an embrace, breathing in the rosewater and love that emanated from Josie Parker like a glow.
“You’re here. At last,” Josie whispered, still clinging tightly to Annie. “You don’t know how happy I am to see you.”
“Believe it or not, I do. I’ve been counting down the days, begrudging the hours.” A little laugh escaped as she repeated what the forever dramatic Josie had written in her last letter.
“And wishing every minute would skedaddle along just a little bit faster.” Tears spilled down Josie’s cheeks, but they were of joy, not sorrow as they’d been at their parting. She pulled from Annie’s embrace with a giggle. “Now, where’s the young gentleman whose acquaintance I have been longing to renew for such a great while?” Josie peered in Robbie’s direction with a welcoming smile.
Annie motioned her son forward. Robbie left his grandfather’s side with an alacrity that didn’t surprise her. Her son’s reluctance only reminded her of herself, twelve or so years ago.
“Are you my aunt Josie?” Robbie gazed at the beautiful young woman with eyes that flickered with hesitation only a moment, before warming to instant adoration. Little wonder. The word beautiful hardly did her sister justice. Golden ringlets. Warm blue eyes. Skin that seemed to stay forever the color of strawberries and cream, a blush in just the right places. The added years had only enhanced Josie’s prettiness. While Annie’s looks, on the other hand, had diminished. Painfully so.
“I am. And you’ll not find a lady in all of Texas happier to be an aunt than I.” Josie’s smile could have fueled a dozen candelabras.
“She likes me, Ma.” Robbie looked up at Annie, smiling shyly. Annie wrapped her arm around her son’s shoulders, hugging him close. Her greatest treasure, this boy of hers.
The only truly good thing that had come out of her marriage to Stuart.
Josie sent a furtive glance in their father’s direction, but Brock Parker was deep in conversation with Mr. Wade, the ranch foreman. She cut her voice low.
“Father didn’t give you much of a welcome, then?”
Annie raised her brow. “Did you expect him to kill the fatted calf for the return of his prodigal daughter?” Despite her best efforts, sarcasm wormed its way into her words.
Josie shrugged, her sigh all the answer that was needed. “Well, everyone else will be glad to see you. Especially Mrs. Miller. Her son stops by most every other day to ask if you’ve come back yet.”
“Is she still seeing patients?” Annie followed her sister toward the house. Though the siding had gained a coat of grayish-white paint, little else about the single-story building had changed. Still the same unkempt shrubbery growing ’round the foundation, the same splintered door frame. The same beaten-down look of disrepair, as if the house had lived too long, and was dead-tired of doing so.
“Yes, but she’ll be happier than a cowboy with his first Stetson for you to take over. She’s getting up in years, and babies are being born more and more these days. That’s the reason she invited you to return and take over her responsibilities. You can ride to town tomorrow and get a list of her current cases.” Josie pushed open the door and stepped aside to let Annie and Robbie into the blessedly cool entryway.
“Any news of Hartville that I haven’t already heard?” Annie drew in a breath of beeswax and freshly starched curtains. Her travel-weary body ached for a hot bath and clothes not covered in grime and dust.
Josie flashed a mischievous grin. “As a matter of fact, there is. Two of the Hart boys have recently tied the knot.”