For a Sister's Love

by Paty Jager

  Hand in hand they set a fast pace to the church on the side of the hill. Maggie kept her eyes trained on the stalwart steeple, slipping her gaze every few feet to the door of the church. They climbed the steps carved in the rock the church sat upon, and Ty gripped the door handle.

  He opened the door and motioned Maggie ahead of him. She swept into the church and cast her gaze around the empty building. The echo of Ty’s steps were the only sound.

  “It’s empty.” Her words reverberated through the vacant space. Loralei couldn’t possibly be married—that wasn’t in her plan. Dismay slapped her euphoria down a rung.

  Ty wrapped his arms around her. “Shh… She’s here somewhere. We’ll go look around town. You don’t need a preacher. You have me.” He captured her hand and led her to the door.

  They walked toward the stone stairs. Footsteps behind them caught her attention. Maggie grasped Ty’s arm and turned to the sound. A preacher, dressed in black with a starched collar walked around the side of the building.

  “May I help you?” he asked.

  Neither she nor Ty had a chance to respond before another voice sounded behind them.

  “Bancroft?”

  Ty spun about. “McDonald.”

  Maggie swung around anxious to see the man working for Ty’s grandmother. The young woman by the stranger’s side captured her full attention. Lavender eyes sparkled with unshed tears. The shy smile and beautiful chestnut hair was the spitting image of their mother.

  “Lora Beth!”

  “Maggie?”

  She stepped forward her arms open wide. Lora Beth ran into her embrace. Ty stepped forward hugging them both and Maggie knew her world was complete.

  Epilogue

  Ten years later

  Portland, Oregon

  Maggie shouldered up next to Lora Beth, balancing six-month old Ruth on her hip. “Are you nervous?”

  “Heaven’s no,” Lora Beth answered, glancing once again to the long driveway separating the pasture of thoroughbreds and the field of cucumbers. “Sam’s mother has visited us every year since Thomas was born.”

  “But this is the first time his father joined her,” Maggie reminded, her belly a veritable bucket of worms.

  Lora Beth nodded. “Yes, but we’ve visited them several times since we all went to New Orleans.” She patted Ruth’s chubby cheeks. “Are you nervous? About Ty’s Grandmother coming with them?”

  Maggie shook her head and her nerves dissipated. She and Ty’s grandmother had become friends. After all, they both loved the same man.

  “No. In my eyes, she’s never lived up to the tyrant Ty described.” Taking a seat on one of the rocking chairs on the porch, Maggie continued, “Yes, her business was a bit colored, but once she discovered Ty’s gambling halls are legitimate and profitable, she’s listened to his guidance of hiring the right people. I’m happy she’s coming. I’m excited to show her, her grandson’s success.”

  “Well”—Lora Beth nodded—“Papa always said, expect good things, and they’ll come your way.”

  A tiny quiver tickled between Maggie’s eyes. “I thought you didn’t remember much about Mama and Papa.”

  “I didn’t for years. But Elisabeth reminds me so much of you, that the older she gets the more I remember.” Lora Beth smiled. “And they’re good things. Things that I’d buried years ago.”

  “I know what you mean. Some days I am so happy, I forget what we went through after Mama and Papa died.”

  “Even before the Baumgartner’s died, all I thought about was finding you. Now…” Lora Beth glanced around her sprawling horse ranch and cucumber fields. “I never once dreamed I’d have all this.” Her eyes stalled on Maggie. “And you.”

  She nodded. “I know. I love my life. My children. My husband. Our business.” Maggie nodded toward the plate of cookies on the table beside her. “My cook.”

  Lora Beth laughed. “Cooking is not that hard. I have plenty of reci—”

  “Stop.” Maggie interrupted. “I’ve always enjoyed ciphering, and when Ty realized I’d be an asset to the business, he asked me to help. And I like being there.”

  Giggles filled the air, and they both turned to the children running across the groomed lawn. Her eight-year-old twins, Thad and Tyrone, as well as Lora Beth’s seven-year-old Thomas and five-year-old Elisabeth, bore down on the porch like a herd of wild horses.

  “They’re here!” Thad said, breathless. “They’re here!”

  The next chaotic hour of greetings, hugs, laughter, and love filled Maggie’s heart to overflowing with love and pride. The merging of their families into one large one brought a smile to her face and fulfillment to her soul. The family she’d craved while nursing Mrs. Freeman was a reality. She embraced all the extended members who’d arrived from New Orleans for the christening of her new niece, Holly, just a month old.

  Shortly after Sam offered thanks for the table full of an array of food, including her sister’s prized pickles, a knock sounded on the door. All of the expected family members and guests sitting in the dozen chairs around the table glanced at one another. Maggie caught the confused frown tugging on her brother-in-law’s face.

  “Excuse me,” Sam offered and rose.

  She glanced to her husband. Ty shrugged his shoulders, but his gaze followed Sam’s actions of pulling the front door open.

  Maggie reached over and grasped Ty’s hand. A man—an Indian—dressed in a three piece suit, spoke to Sam, and then walked through the open doorway.

  Lora Beth gasped and leaped from her chair. “Two Moons!”

  Chairs toppled as the others jumped to their feet, but no one was fast enough to stop Lora Beth from running into the open arms of the Indian.

  “What are you doing here?” her sister asked, still hugging the Indian. Maggie’s fears of Indians had lessened after being saved from drowning, and she’d heard Lora Beth’s stories of Two Moons.

  He waved a hand behind him. Two more Indians, also wearing a ragtag assortment of white man’s clothes, strolled in through the door. They plunked two large leather bags onto the floor.

  “What’s that?” Sam asked, not looking upset by Lora Beth’s behavior or their guests.

  “You’re share,” Two Moons said.

  “Of what?” Sam asked.

  “Your Colorado gold mine.”

  “Gold mine?” Maggie asked, staring at Ty. He shrugged before moving to the two bags. After untying the top, he lifted out a handful of shimmering flakes.

  Sam and Lora Beth started laughing.

  Frowning, Maggie said, “Lora Beth, I don’t think you told me everything about your life in Colorado.”

  Her sister laughed harder and fell into Sam’s arms. “My life is so wonderful. I completely forgot about the gold mine.”

  Maggie knelt beside Ty. Both bags were full to the rim. “Forgot?” She glanced up at her sister, and then to her husband. Ty wrapped an arm around her, pulling her snug to his side. Her life was so wonderful she barely remembered life without him. Laughing, she admitted, “I can understand that.”

  Ty placed his lips on hers, and Maggie forgot the room was full of people.

  About the Authors

  Lauri Robinson lives in rural Minnesota where she and her husband spend every spare moment with their three grown sons and five grandchildren. She’s a diehard Elvis and NASCAR fan, and loves to target shoot pistols. Her favorite getaway location is the woods of northern Minnesota on the land homesteaded by her great-grandfather. Stop by and say hi to Lauri at www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com

  Wife, mother, grandmother, and the one who cleans pens and delivers the hay; award winning author Paty Jager and her husband currently farm 350 acres when not dashing around visiting their children and grandchildren. She not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

  You can learn more about her and her books at http://www.patyjager.net

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