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one seemed to pay any attention. She had always tried not to draw attention to Jared’s leg, while keeping him busy with the things he could do. The Randolphs had apparently done the same with Jeff’s arm. She wondered if he rode a horse or was limited to a buckboard. He didn’t have the look of a man who avoided hard work. She wondered how he did it. Maybe Salty would tell her.
    She was reassured a moment later to see Salty and Jared return. More important, he had a look of happiness on his face. Salty allowed Jared to settle back in his chair before handing him the tin.
    â€œJared is going to parcel out the doughnuts,” Rose said. “He has my permission to penalize anyone who tries to take more than two.”
    â€œYou’d better watch Monty,” Zac warned. “He likes doughnuts better than girls.”
    â€œI don’t like anything better than girls,” Monty said, “but Ellen is too young and I’m afraid of her mother.”
    Sarah raised an eyebrow, but Monty only winked at her.
    Zac jumped in front of everyone else, but the brothers kept picking him up and passing him back to the next person in line. Even Jeff entered into the fun. Zac made it known that he thought it was unfair that he was the last one to get his doughnuts, but when he looked in the tin and found there were only three left for him and Jared, his attitude changed. He took one doughnut, broke a second and handed half to Jared.
    â€œI don’t mind sharing.” He cast an evil glance at his brothers. “The littlest kid never gets treated fair.”
    That brought an outcry from his brothers who promptly offered him part of their doughnuts. Zac ended up with twice what anybody else got, but he was generous enough to share his bounty with Jared. And Jared was greedy enough to accept.
    Watching the whole exchange brought tears to Sarah’s eyes. She had never imagined families could be like this. There were differences of temperament and inequities all around, but their love for each other bound them together. She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but that’s what she wanted for her children.
    â€œIs anything wrong?”

Five
    Sarah had forgotten that Salty had been watching her closely since she and Walter entered the parlor. She wiped away a tear. “No. I’m just a bit emotional. I don’t think I realized how tired I am.”
    â€œThen you’ll go straight to bed,” Rose said. “If your children want to stay up a little longer, I’ll make sure they get to bed.”
    â€œI couldn’t ask you to do that.”
    â€œIt’s no problem. Jared is going to share a bed with Zac. I’m putting Ellen in the room I’m saving for the baby.”
    â€œWhose bed am I taking?”
    â€œI offered up mine, ma’am,” Monty said. “I don’t mind sleeping in the bunkhouse. That way I don’t have to listen to Hen snore.”
    â€œHen doesn’t snore,” Zac said, “but you do.”
    This time Monty caught Zac before he could take refuge behind Rose or George. Monty tickled him—Zac shrieking he was going to pee in his pants—until Rose asked him to stop.
    â€œNext time I’ll catch you when neither Rose nor George is around,” Monty threatened.
    â€œI’ll hide in the henhouse.”
    â€œBehave,” Rose said. “What will Sarah think of you?”
    â€œJust that I wish I’d had brothers like them.”
    Much to Sarah’s surprise, that embarrassed the men so much they scrambled to get ready to leave.
    â€œMen don’t handle emotion well,” Rose explained to Sarah as she was showing her to her room. “They show their affection for each other by verbal abuse and wrestling. Don’t ask me to explain it. Men are strange creatures, my men probably strangest of all.”
    â€œI hate to force Monty to sleep in the bunkhouse.”
    â€œYou’re giving him a