Will looked up at her and asked, "Would you like breakfast? I have water for coffee too if you like." He sounded dubious about the latter even though he was nursing a mug between his hands.

Tessa ignored the question for the moment. "Is anybody else up?"

Will shook his head. "Naw, I’m usually the first one up. Sometimes Kent would," but he broke off and looked up at some invisible spot on the wall above Tessa’s head. "We have warm cereal and cold, bagels and the like. We also have hot chocolate if coffee doesn’t suit your taste."

"I’ll just have a bagel and hot chocolate. If you show me where it is I can do it myself," she added when Will made as if to get up.

The man smiled his thanks and pointed to the breadbox by the fridge. She pulled out a bagel and as she was putting the rest away, she looked a question at Will. He shook his head and she closed the breadbox. He told her where the knives were and then said, "Are you one of those really independent people?"

Tessa felt her spine stiffen and then visibly relaxed. He was just trying to make conversation. "Yeah, I guess so. My dad always said that to rely on someone is to give up some of your freedom. He told us that the only person that we could ever really rely upon was ourselves."

Will looked doubtful. "What about your mother. They rely upon each other don’t they?"

Tessa turned her back to Will and squeezed her eyes shut. "We asked him about that too. He said that when you loved someone and decided to marry that person then the whole theory changed. I didn’t much get that. . ." Tessa trailed off.

The man behind her was quiet and Tessa could almost hear him thinking. The next question rent her heart. "Why do you keep speaking of him in the past tense? Did your parents get divorced?"

The bagels popped up then and Tessa busied herself with buttering them before answering. She set them on the table and then found the hot chocolate. As she poured the hot water onto the powder, she answered.

"My father died two years ago. He had an. . . aneurysm and death was instantaneous." Her throat closed around the last word and she swallowed hard to keep the tears down. Two years and the ache was still there. Was this how it was for her mother?

"I’m sorry. I didn’t know. . ." Will bit his lip and averted his eyes when Tessa sat down at the table.

"How could you?" was all she said.

During the ensuing silence, Will excused himself and left the house. Tessa finished her breakfast alone.

While she was cleaning up, Kelly walked into the room. Her face was still red from sleep and Tessa knew that her mother was only awake because of her bustle around the kitchen.

Tessa apologized for waking her but her mother waved it away and sat down at the table. "Tess, would you mind making me a cup of coffee? I need something to get this taste out of my mouth." Kelly made a face and Tessa couldn't restrain her laughter.

The girl found the coffee next to where she had found the chocolate and made up a cup like her mother drank it: two teaspoons of sugar and enough milk to make the deep black light and creamy. Tessa added a few drops of liquid that she found next to the coffee machine, which supposedly added extra flavor. The bottle read Irish Creme.

Kelly had just taken the mug from her daughter when they both sensed a third presence in the room. Merrilin stood in the doorway, already clean and clothed. To Tessa's eyes her aunt looked healthy, her skin glowed, and she held herself with a soft dignity. And yet her eyes were different from those that once shone in Merri's eyes. Her almond-brown eyes used to shine with a love for life, gleaming with a quick intelligence. Now they were broken, the dull brown still quick but no longer holding that inner light which Tessa always loved about her.

Kelly Aumlin stood and Tessa barely caught the coffee cup that Kelly had dropped from loose fingers. Her mother was oblivious to everything but her sister, her own eyes locked upon the small form. The two sisters seemed to flow toward each other simultaneously, collapsing into the ready arms that offered support and comfort.

After the silent reunion Kelly and Merrilin left the room, the elder's arm cradling her baby sister's shoulders. Tessa watched as they turned down the hallway, going deeper into the house, away from their rooms. The girl was tempted to follow but knew that the two women needed the time alone to grieve and, hopefully, start the healing process.

Alone with the silence Tessa stood in the kitchen, still holding the previously rescued cup of coffee. She looked down at the cup and lifted it hesitatingly toward her lips. The first sip brought a disgusted grimace to her face but the thought of just wasting it made her shake her head. The second and third sips weren't as bitter and as she downed the last of the brown liquid, she told herself that she would have to try the vanilla flavor, since the Irish creme was quite pleasant.

Tessa found the bathroom on her own by experimentally tapping the doors open along the hallway. During her search, she found the spacious living room and five more rooms, not including hers and her mother's. The bathroom was located three doors down from her own and across the hall.

She ran back to her room, collected her shower things and scampered back down the hall. Tessa barely waited for the water to become lukewarm before jumping under the rejuvenating spray. She immediately shampooed her hair and reveled in the knowledge that all the dirt was being sluiced away and down the drain.

When she emerged into the steam enshrouded main bathroom area, she could hardly towel herself off for all the moisture in the air. Once she found the vent switch she kicked it on and left the bathroom wrapped in only her towel, her shower things and dirty underclothes filling her arms.

Much to Tessa's dismay - and utter humiliation - Will Henkley was walking down the hallway straight towards her. She looked from her room to the bathroom and back again. Too late. He had already seen her. Trying to salvage her pride, she threw her shoulders - bare and still slightly damp from the steam - back and began to walk to her room. Will drew closer and Tessa could feel his eyes on her, brushing over her bare legs and shoulders and finally resting on her flushed face.

An open smile was on his face and Tessa wanted to hit him. Instead she simply ground her teeth and kept walking, pretending to ignore his presence - which was becoming increasingly difficult as he was now within five feet of her.

"Could I help you with any of that, Tess?" he asked innocently. The smile was gone but Tessa knew that it was hard for Will, his lips tensing with the effort to remain straight.

She stopped a pace from her room and looked over her shoulder at him. "My name's Tessa, with an a. And no, I don't need help with any of this," she practically growled while surreptitiously tucking an errant bra strap back into the bundle in her arms.

The man shrugged, the mocking look in his eyes saying, I tried to help, and continued down the hall and into the bathroom. Tessa stood outside her room and clenched her one free fist. When she heard the door of the bathroom begin to open again, she shot into her room and locked the door, listening to the sounds of his footsteps become louder and then fade away as he neared the front door. She heard the main door shut and threw the things in her arms onto the bed, biting back vehement curses that would have earned her shocked looks from her mother had she heard.

The clothes that she had put on that morning were entangled among her shower things and as she pulled out the blouse and jeans, she decided to continue wearing them. Clean underclothes were found in the larger suitcase and Tessa dressed. She opened the one window and brushed out her hair, once again loving the feel of clean hair between her fingers. When dry, the auburn strands fell to just below her shoulder blades. Now, Tessa pulled her hair into a simple ponytail at the nape of her neck, swinging her head back and forth to feel the swish of hair against her neck.

Before leaving her room, Tessa felt obliged to clean it up and soon everything was in order. The girl was stepping through the door when she decided to unpack her suitcases. The next twenty minutes was spent filling the dresser and closet, arranging the room to be hers. She set her books, music and stationery on and in the desk, pleased with how well her things fit. It could have been her room in California.

Once outside Tessa could not keep from gasping. It was beautiful! On a good day in California, the skies were nothing compared to the stunning, endless, unmarred blue of these, the Colorado skies. White clouds drifted west toward the Rockies and a chill breeze challenged the warmth of the sun.

The goose bumps on Tessa's arm urged her to get a jacket but she wandered around the ranch instead. There were many paddocks and a few riding arenas. The barn held thirteen horses and Tessa introduced herself to every one by blowing softly into their nostrils, allowing the horse to learn her scent. One of the mares caught her eye. She was fairly young and her eyes were bright and intelligent. When Tessa had held her hand out to the mare, she had tilted her head in the most human-like mannerism that Tessa had ever seen a horse exhibit and placed her muzzle in the outstretched palm.

Tessa was tempted to saddle the little dun mare up but equestrian's protocol stopped her. Summer's Hue - as the placard above the mare's stall read - was not her horse to ride and without permission, she could not ride the horse. The girl sighed gustily and pet the horse one more time before leaving the barn.

After exploring for twenty minutes and walking from one side of the ranch to the other, Tessa came across a grassy paddock with one lone horse. She couldn't tell whether he was a stallion or gelding but it was clear that he was not a mare. If the horse was a gelding they had waited a while to castrate him as his ears were still slim and small. The horse was an amazing strawberry roan with excellent muscling in the haunches and shoulder. From his conformation, Tessa could already tell that his would be a smooth ride with long, easy strides.

A change came over the horse when Tessa called to him. Where once a quiet horse stood, a rearing squealing monster took its place. Tessa stepped back as the horse charged the fence and a scream escaped her throat. She had never faced a horse like this in all of the ten years of her equitation classes, her instructor leaving out the power and presence that an irate horse could project on a small, cowering human.

A hand on her shoulder made Tessa jump. She spun around to face an angry Will Henkley.

"Hah, hah!" Will shouted at the squealing horse and flicked his hands to shoo the horse from the fence. The horse spun on his hind legs and raced to the other side of the paddock. There he stood, his eyes showing white and his nostrils flaring, watching the humans that he felt were invading his territory.

"You shouldn't be here. He's dangerous," Will said heatedly. "If our best riders can't do nothin' with 'im, what do you think you can do?"

Tessa turned purple with indignation. "For your information, I'm the best rider in my class and have been riding since I was six years old!" she said just as angrily. "My room is hung with blue ribbons and first place trophies. I can handle myself around horses."

They stared each other down and Will just rolled his eyes in disgust at her childish display.

"I'm a good rider and just because you don't trust my abilities doesn't mean that-"

Will cut her off by shaking his head and grimacing. "It's not that I don't trust you," he said in his softly quiet voice, "I don't trust him." Now he gestured to the horse in the paddock. "Not even your uncle trusted that horse. He's mean as the devil and twice as devious."

Tessa shook off Will's hand, which still rested on her shoulder. "What's his name?"

Will stared at the horse for a few seconds before answering. "Hell's Fire. Call 'im Fire for short. He's a gelding that doesn't realize it. Was just castrated a few months ago. We had to separate him because he harried the mares in heat. Not to mention the stallion spirit is still in 'im.

"He was donated to us from this one couple. He was sedate when we got 'im. We later found out that that was because they had shot him up with a tranquilizer. And you know the saying 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.' From that day till now he's been nothing but a problem. It was 'im that. . . that threw Kent." Will looked away but Tessa saw his jaw clench and the veins stand out in his neck.

Tessa allowed Will to lead her from Fire and back to the noisier part of the ranch. The girl kept herself from glancing back over her shoulder to catch one more look of the gelding but she knew that he would still be standing where she had last seen him, marking their retreat with wild eyes.

For the rest of the morning until lunch, Tessa watched Will scare proof a new acquisition. Kent had bought a twelve-year-old quarter horse mare before his death for the camp. In order for the mare to be a suitable mount, they had to train her to be indifferent to distractions that most horses would shy from, such as wind swept bags or tarps, cars and horns, dogs and loud noises. Will had just started the training a few days ago.

Tessa sat on the rails while Will worked within the corral. The mare simply had a halter on and stood in the middle of the dirt area. Her head was low and her ears were focused on the present human. Tessa watched as Will picked up a common grain bag, now empty of its contents. He approached the mare with the bag in his left hand, holding a lariat in the other. When Will had gotten within two feet of the mare's head, he dropped the bag and praised her. Then he brought the bag even closer until he was lightly touching her face with it. Again, he dropped the bag to offer praise. Then he stepped back and started to flap the bag. At this stimulus the mare stepped back and prepared to run. This was what Will was watching for. As soon as the mare had exhibited signs of fleeing he dropped the bag and snapped the lariat at her haunches, urging her into a gallop around the corral.

Tessa almost fell she tried to jump off the rails so fast. Had she not she would have had her legs broken due to the speed of the running horse. Will made the mare change directions three times before allowing her to stop and move back into the middle of the corral.

The training continued in this pattern for the next hour or so. Tessa grew to respect Will for his horse sense and his competence with the mare. When the mare was showing signs of fatigue and her sides were lathered with sweat, Will attached a lead rope to the halter and Tessa opened the gate to let them out. She tagged along behind as Will led the mare around the ranch to cool her off.