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Quint just smiled, fully aware that Trey could poke fun at his twin sibling, but nobody else had better. He stood to one side while the two exchanged an affectionate hug.
“It’s good to have you home again, sis,” Trey said, and meant it, then teased, “Although that’s some carriage your ladyship arrived in.”
“It is, isn’t it?” she agreed, then declared with typical airiness, “But, since Tara chose to leave us all that money, I decided to take a page out of her book and charter a jet. Eliminate all that security and terminal nonsense you have to deal with when you fly commercial. It cuts a lot of travel time.”
“I imagine it does,” Trey conceded.
“Besides, this way we could stop over in New York and break up that long flight.”
“You were in New York in that coat?” Trey said. “I’m surprised somebody didn’t throw paint on you.”
“Don’t be silly. We stayed at The Pierre. I saw more extravagant coats than this one there.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said and stepped back as she moved to greet Quint with a hug.
“You beat us here,” she chided in mock reproof. “I thought I’d be the one waiting to welcome you.”
“We landed about fifteen minutes ago,” Quint told her. “I’ve already dropped Dallas at the house. They’re all just waiting for you now.”
“I can’t wait to see everybody again.” The earnest words were barely out of her mouth when she noticed the pickup and stock trailer and arched an accusing look at Trey. “Is that your idea of a joke? A stock trailer to haul all my luggage in? I know you think I pack way too many things, but I’m never sure what I’ll need.”
“I wish I’d thought of using it for that,” Trey began, only to be interrupted by the calf letting out a bellow.
“The trailer’s already occupied,” she realized.
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“I don’t think your luggage would fare too well, sharing the space with Jake’s Christmas present,” Quint remarked.
Laura looked to Trey for an explanation. “Gramps bought him a registered Longhorn calf that’s going to grow up to be a bad-tempered, bondy-shouldered, speckled bull with horns wider than Old Captain’s.”
“What was he thinking?” Laura mirrored Trey’s earlier astonishment.
“Damned if I know,” Trey admitted. “It’s too cold to keep standing out here talking about it, though. Come on,” he said to Quint. “Let’s start unloading her luggage. Lord knows, it’ll probably take two trips to get it all.”
With the two families arriving so closely on the heels of each other, it created a noisy, confusing scene: everyone talking at once, luggage stacked everywhere, coats temporarily piled on chairs to be collected later. The initial flurry of greetings and chatter had barely subsided when it all started again as they attempted to sort through the stacks and carry everything upstairs to the proper rooms.
Any semblance of normalcy didn’t return until they all gathered in the dining room for the noon meal. But the conversation was much more lively than usual, with questions and answers flowing back and forth as each tried to catch up on the happenings in the others’ lives. It wasn’t until the meal was over and the women were carrying the dirty dishes to the kitchen while the men lingered at the table over the coffee that anyone noticed the snowflakes drifting past the window.
Trey nudged Quint’s arm and nodded to the snow. “You’ve been in Texas so long you’ve lost your Montana weather eye. The White Wolf moved faster than you thought.”
“Not much of a wind yet,” Quint observed.
“What’s that?” Chase asked, missing the first part of their low exchange.
“It’s started snowing.” Trey saw the way Chase snapped his head around to look outside. “It isn’t heavy yet.”
“And not much of a wind either,” Quint added, “judging by the way those flakes are falling.”
“But it’s coming,” Chase stated grimly and grasped his cane to push himself up from the chair and walk over to look out the window.
When Cat re-entered the dining room, she immediately noticed his chair was vacant and saw him standing at the window. Guessing he was about to retreat to his den, she asked, “Would you like me to take a pot of coffee to the den for you, Dad?”
When he failed to respond, she walked over to his side, thinking he probably hadn’t heard with everyone else talking. She touched his arm, drawing his glance. “Coffee in den?”
“Might as well,” he replied with marked indifference and turned to stare out the window again. That’s when Cat noticed the white flakes.
“It’s started snowing already,” she murmured.
