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His slim shoulders raised, and his voice tightened with impatience. “They just are. I felt the wood and heard what it should be. This one said it should be yours. It’s Duchess.”
I examined the carving again, admiring the precision he’d achieved. I thought the legs and the mane would be the hardest, but the detail wrought in that wood was stunning. And when I studied the horse’s conformation and stance, I could see what he meant. It did resemble Duchess. “When did you meet Duchess?” I asked in awe.
“M-Miss Morgan showed me her picture. I asked her what your special horse looked like. She said everyone has one, and Duchess is yours.”
“I guess she’s right. This is incredible. I’m going to keep it on my office desk where I can look at it all the time. Thank you, Dustin.” I tucked the box under my arm and put my hand out. Dustin didn’t like hugs, but he would fist-bump.
He put his knuckles up and hesitantly rapped mine. “Okay, bye.”
I chuckled a little. His mission accomplished, Dustin was ready to leave. “Well, wait, I’ll walk you up. I want to put this somewhere safe.”
He waited for me, but we didn’t talk on the way back to the barn. He did grin at me briefly, then he walked off to his car without looking back. Inside the barn, I found his mom, Meg Truman, talking to Luke and Evan. She waved when I approached, and I took my hat off. “Ma’am. You have a nice kid there.”
“Thank you, Dusty. He’s been working on those for over a month for you guys.”
I held up the carving so my brothers could admire it. “He’s got a real gift. I hope he keeps at it.”
Meg laughed. “It’s getting him to stop that’s the problem! You should see the legs on my table and chairs.” She turned to smile at each of my brothers, then once more at me. “I really appreciate all of you. Thank you again.”
“Our pleasure, ma’am,” Evan said, tipping his hat. Luke and I echoed him as she left.
“Lemme see that thing,” Luke said after she was gone. He whistled. “Looks like Duchess.”
“That’s because it is. I didn’t know Dustin was into wood carving.”
“Yeah, I guess he’s pretty good at it. You takin’ that to your office?”
“I thought I would.”
Luke jerked his head in that direction. “I’ll follow you up.”
I kept glancing back at him as we walked up the stairs, confused and more than a little amused at the business-like way he was marching after me. He wouldn’t make eye contact. “What’s with you?” I asked.
“Nothin’.” He shoved his hands in his coat pockets and kept climbing.
I sighed and opened the office door when we got to the top. I kept my desk reasonably tidy, so it wasn’t hard to find a spot for the carving on the left side of the monitor. Right where my eyes would land on it. “Looks good, doesn’t it? That was really thoughtful of him. Did his mom say where he learned to do that?”
Luke was pacing the floor and rubbing his jaw. “Dusty, there’s somethin’ you oughta know.”
“I figured. You’re acting weird.”
He stopped. “I’m not being weird.”
“Okay,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Just keep pacing, then. Tell me when you’re done.”
He sighed out a long breath. “Bro, it’s like this. Uh… why don’t you sit down?”
“Oh, good grief. Do you think I’m going to faint or something?”
Luke shook his head and dropped into a chair, so I drew mine up. “Are you going to tell me what’s got you so spooked?”
“Yeah. Um, so you know Meg took a second job after work, right?”
“I don’t even know what her real job is.”
“She’s a second-grade teacher. She, uh… she used to be Emma’s teacher.”
“Oh.” I closed my eyes briefly. Emma, Evan’s daughter who’d died with her mother in that car wreck two years ago, taking the light of my oldest brother’s life along with her. “I guess that explains how Evan knew her.”
