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“Then the wheat crop got hit with hail. Lightning killed half the cows. A fire destroyed the hay crop. Pa couldn’t make the payment that year and asked for leniency. He came home so angry. A new banker had come to town. He cared not for missed payments, no matter the reason. He gave Pa two weeks to come up with the money or the bank would take the farm. Pa said he’d get the money by hook or by crook. And he did. He robbed the bank that threatened to take the farm. Paid the entire amount of the loan. I think he meant for that to be the one and only time he turned to crime, but then we needed feed. Cyrus decided he needed a fancy riding horse. Pa thought Ma would enjoy a new buggy.” Brand shrugged, though he felt anything but indifference.
Sybil’s hand tightened on his arm. “Let me guess. Your pa had discovered he didn’t have to wait for things. He thought he’d discovered a ready source of funds.”
“’Fraid that’s exactly what he thought. They were wanted men. Someone was killed in their third bank heist. After that, they were wanted dead or alive. I wasn’t yet twelve and Ma took me and moved. We always tried to distance ourselves from the Duggan name.”
“Why didn’t you go by a different name?”
“We did for years. Then someone noticed my likeness to members of the Duggan gang. So we moved on. After that I never bothered telling anyone my name. Made it easier.”
“Is Brand your real name?”
He smiled for the first time all day. “I have Cyrus to thank for that. When I was born, he wanted to know if Pa was going to brand me like they did the calves. Pa thought it so funny he said they’d settle for calling me Brand.”
She laughed. “That’s sweet.” Her gaze held his, caring and searching, delving deep into his thoughts.
He tried to bank his emotions, but her probing went clear through his defenses. He blinked back the sting of tears. No way would he cry.
She reached up, touched the corner of each eye with her gloved hand. “I’m glad you have good memories to cherish.”
He caught her hand and pulled it to his chest, so lost in the depths of her gaze that his head spun. “I will prize this moment.”
She didn’t blink. Didn’t withdraw. “So will I,” she whispered. “The moment when I met the real Brand Duggan.”
He considered her words. Who was the real Brand Duggan? He wasn’t sure he even knew. But one thing was for certain: he hoped reality included more times like this.
“Where do we go from here?” he asked, hoping she didn’t think he meant to ask if they should go to the house.
She smiled so sweetly his throat constricted. “Wherever we want, I suppose. How about you finish filling in the grave. Say your final goodbye to a brother you loved, then we’ll join the others for church.”
He nodded in agreement and filled in the hole, smoothing the dirt into a mound. He stood at the fresh grave, head bent, Sybil at his side. “Goodbye, Cyrus. I like to think of you in heaven, your sins forgiven. You did plenty of bad things, lots of them against me. You even hurt Sybil here, and whether or not she forgives you is up to her, but I’m forgiving you. I’m sorry you ruined your life. But that’s over. Goodbye, my brother.” He was about to step back when Sybil caught his hand.
“Wait. I want to say something, too.” She stood by the fresh dirt, looking down as if speaking to Cyrus. “I vowed I would make you pay for how you treated me. But justice belongs to God. I forgive you. Rest in peace.”
She took Brand’s hand again and led him down the hill to the cookhouse, where the church service was held.
He didn’t realize until he stepped inside that he’d agreed to attend. By then it was too late.
Chapter Fifteen
She dropped his hand as they entered the cookhouse, but not before she felt him shudder, and guessed the cause. She might be wrong, but she believed it would be the first time he’d darkened the door of a building filled with others, especially for a Sunday service, in many years. How would it feel? Frightening, most certainly, but she hoped it also offered a breath of hope to a man used to being so alone no one even knew his whole name.
Several of the cowboys shuffled their feet as if uncertain how to react to a Duggan in their midst, attending a church service.
