The Long Trail (The McCabes Book 1) by Brad Dennison (books that read to you .txt) 📕

time to find your own way, and where you fit into the family. And I guess it’s our job to give you that time.”

“So, you do believe me, then?”

“At first, I wasn’t so sure. But the more I think about it, the more I suppose I guess I agree with Aunt Ginny that it’s obvious.”

Dusty nodded. “All right. I’ll promise not to push too hard.”

She gave a little grin. “And I promise to give you some time.”

“I might also need a little help. I don’t know much about what it means to be a part of a family.”

“I think this might be a learning experience for all of us. What we might need to do is help each other out. That’s what families are for.”

TWENTY-THREE

Johnny McCabe stepped into the kitchen to the smell of freshly brewing coffee. Josh was by the stove.

Josh said, “Coffee’s on. Want a cup?”

“Always,” Johnny said.

Josh poured two cups, set one at Pa’s customary place at the head of the table, then pulled a chair to one side and dropped into it.

Pa sat and took a sip of coffee. “You sure got mad this morning.”

“Yeah,” Josh said. “I owe everyone an apology for storming out like that. Aunt Ginny, especially. But I just don’t know about Dusty. I just don’t like him. And I don’t understand why Aunt Ginny accepts him so easily.”

“Well, there are a lot of things about your aunt that I’ll never fully understand. But I’m coming to think she’s right. I think he is who he says he is.”

“Pa,” Josh started, raising his voice, but Pa held up a hand to silence him, and continued.

“I don’t think he can expect us all to accept him as family overnight. That wouldn’t be fair to us. But it wasn’t fair to him to be deprived of a family all of his life, either. You know, it could easily have been you born in that mining town, and him born and raised here amongst the family. You were both born about the same time.”

“I wonder which one of us is older?”

Johnny chuckled. As one who was born second, Johnny didn’t quite understand what it meant to be the first-born, but his older brother Matthew had told him once it was something special, a sort of extra responsibility you have when you ‘re the oldest child. Sort of like the unofficial leader of your parents’ offspring.

“Let’s see,” Johnny said, trying to remember things he had all but forgotten over time. “If my memory serves me right, if I’m remembering the time frame right, I’d say he’s about two months younger than you. Maybe three. So, you’re still the first-born.”

“Well, at least there’s that.”

“It’s going to take time, Josh,” Johnny said. “This sort of thing is new to us – we don’t get a new family member every day – but it’s new to him, too. We’ve got to allow some settling-in time, for us and for him. Then, we’ll see what happens. But we’ve got more pressing problems right now.”

He told Josh of seeing the fire the night before. “I spent most of the day riding the ridges, picking up their trail.”

“Damn it. I should have been there with you, not storming off, having a temper tantrum.”

Johnny shook his head. “No. At first, I did think I would have wanted you with me, but there are times when the fewer the riders, the better. I left Dusty here to take care of Aunt Ginny and Bree, and I knew you’d be back soon.

“Anyway, I rode through the hills cutting for sign and I found it, and it surely is the same riders. I followed them to the site of last night’s camp. They had pulled out by sunrise or thereabouts, and I followed their trail, which wound its way first south, then southwest, then north, then northwest. Kind of snake-like, through the mountains.”

“What do you think they want?”

“I think they’re raiders, just like we’ve been speculating. And I think we should all go with that assumption until we know otherwise for sure. These men are good. Better than most. I think they knew I was there. They had left behind guards to watch their back trail, and I only knew because I was downwind from them and Thunder caught their scent before they saw or heard me.”

“What’d you do?”

“I turned Thunder, then dismounted and led him quietly to a place maybe a quarter mile back, changed into my moccasins, and doubled back on foot. But the wind had shifted, favoring them, and I couldn’t not get too close.”

He took a sip of coffee and continued. “I figure there were two of them, and their horses either heard me, or caught my scent, which alerted the scouts that something was out there. I waited close to an hour, playing cat-and-mouse. A couple times, one of ‘em would throw a rock into bushes, trying to get me to jump at the sound, but I wouldn’t fall for that. After a while, they mounted up and rode on.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“We prepare for an attack.”

McCabe took another sip of coffee while Josh sat silently, letting those words settle in. He had helped defend the ranch against an attack by Sioux renegades five years earlier. He had been fifteen, perched on the roof, using the peak for cover and firing a Winchester. They had been in serious danger; the renegades had outnumbered them by three to one. But Josh had been filled with the thrill of adventure, and the thought of losing the battle had never occurred to him. The years between fifteen and twenty, however, can be big years, and Josh now saw the world more as a man than a boy, and he realized just how much he had to lose - the family had to lose - should the raiders overrun this place. And he found himself afraid.

“There’s one more thing,” Pa said. “I believe Dusty is who he says he is. But