Will stood out on the porch, wondering where she would've gone for so long. The sun's light was becoming fainter behind the mountains, leaving just enough illumination to guide Will around the ranch.

He made his way to Hell's Fire but the spirited gelding was calm and standing on three legs. Calm until he scented Will. The gelding bolted toward the fence and Will backed up. He peered through the thickening darkness but there was no Tessa in sight.

He turned his head and saw the barn. He jogged to the building and eased open one of the doors. The large, two story barn was well lit with automatic lights but it was empty of humans. He bit his lip and wondered where else the girl could be.

Merlin stuck his head out and Will absently scratched his horse's chin. He walked down the row of horses and noticed that Summer's Hue was not coming to the door. He stopped at her stall and a smile touched his lips.

Tessa had fallen asleep and Summer's Hue had curled around the girl like she was a new-born foal. Will was hard pressed to disturb the two but dinner was going to be ready soon and she couldn't sleep out here all night, anyway.

Summer's Hue lifted her head and eyed the intruder of her stall. Will opened the door and eased into the small space but Summer's Hue layed back her ears and surged to her feet, disrupting the sleeping girl. Summer placed herself over Tessa and Will scrambled backwards, tripping over his feet to get out of the mare's reach.

When Summer felt the boy was no more of a threat, she stepped away from the now groggily blinking Tessa and nudged the girl's head with a tender muzzle.

"What's going on?" Tessa asked, her voice thick with sleep. "What's wrong with Summer?" Tessa shook her head and then rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. When her eyes had focused and cleared, she looked at Will.

"What's wrong?" she asked, in response to the shocked look on his face.

Will blinked. "Your guard horse here just charged me for trying to get you up." He eyed the mare and took a step closer to the stall. Summer, too, took a step forward but it wasn't friendly and it was Will who retreated.

He watched as Tessa placed a hand on the dun's neck and quieted her with a word. She slipped from the stall and shut the door. Summer hung her head over the edge and reached her muzzle towards Tessa's hand. The girl scratched the mare up and down her neck one last time and then followed Will out into the night.

"How long was I asleep?" Tessa asked.

"An hour or so. I thought you were just going out for fresh air and then it started getting dark so I figured I'd go find you for dinner." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Tessa worried her lip and looked anxious. "Is Mother worried? She likes to keep a close eyes on me since Dad died."

"No, I didn't really tell them that you'd been out for so long because I didn't want to worry them needlessly. I figured you'd be out by that hellion of a gelding." He shrugged again.

They walked to the door and Will stopped so Tessa did too. She began to chuckle. "Did- did Summer really charge you?" Her lips were twitching to keep from laughing and Will scowled.

"That dang horse! I don't know what she's got against me but. . . Agghhh! She's the only horse on this whole spread that's so darn picky! And don't you laugh at me, missy," he warned menacingly, shaking his finger at her.

Tessa raised her hands to mollify Will and smiled innocently. "I didn't mean to laugh at you. I just didn't think that that sweet little dun had it in her. . . That's all."

Will snatched open the door and Tessa entered, feeling Will's presence behind her like a storm. She walked straight to the kitchen and the smell of her mother's meatloaf enfolded her.

"Mmmmm, how'd you talk her into it, Aunt Merri? She hardly ever cooks it anymore." Tessa sat down at the table and her mother pointedly looked at the girls hands and hay covered clothes. Tessa followed her mother's eyes and looked abashed. "I fell asleep in the hay?" she offered. Kelly nodded her head toward Tessa's room and her daughter took the hint. "If you'll excuse me. . . " and left the kitchen.

"Where was she, Will?" Merri asked as she tested the meatloaf.

"She was visiting with Summer's Hue; they've really hit it off." Will watched Merri Bruntman's face as he said this and saw the same shock in her eyes that he had felt that morning.

"Summer gets along with Tessa?" she asked softly.

Will nodded his head. "She's the one that Tessa rode this morning to the Field. The mare loves her and treats her just like she did Kent." A wry smile tweaked his lips. "And she's very protective of her chosen rider! That dun almost took chunk outta me tonight when I went to get Tessa."

Merri's mouth hung open. "But she hasn't let anyone on her back since Kent! And she charged you?!" Merri was incredulous. "She's never done that before."

Kelly watched the exchange and her eyes grew wide. "Is she a safe horse? Will she try to hurt Tess too?"

Will turned to Kelly. "Ma'am, you've nothing to worry about. In fact if anything were to try to hurt your daughter and that mare was able to move on her own, she'd protect Tessa, not hurt her. She only charged me because she felt that I was a threat to 'her' human." Will snorted. "Dang protective mare!"

"Yeah, but Will, she's never charged anyone before. Well, well, Kelly looks like you own a new horse. No one's gonna be able to ride her now. When she was Kent's she wouldn't let anyone on her except Kent, and she would become very stubborn if you forced her."

Kelly's eyes became even wider. "What? A horse feels possessive so we get to keep her? Where are we going to keep her? In California? Merri, there's no way!" Kelly shook her head for emphasis but Will could tell that she was at a loss.

"Mom, maybe we'll just have to stay out here, then, huh? So we can have land for a horse?" All heads turned to the freshly scrubbed girl standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Tessa had changed and looked clean and refreshed.

The room became quiet and Tessa looked crestfallen. "Or maybe not. . ." she mumbled. Slow steps took her to a seat between Kelly and Will and she sat heavily in the chair.

The room remained quiet.

A cleared throat broke the silence. "If'n you'll excuse me, I'll follow Tessa's example." Will rose and stepped out of the kitchen, leaving Tessa alone with the two women.

She squirmed in her chair, wishing that her mother would say something.

Soon she did. "Tessa, what would make you suggest moving out here? Our lives are back in California."

"But what's holding us there? A house? Why couldn't we move? Your work can be done from anywhere! Right over the computer." Tessa's voice rose with excitement as everything seemed so clear. But her face fell as she saw her mother's face harden.

"Tessa, I don't want you to bring it up again. Do you hear me?" Her voice was cold and Tessa flinched back from it.

"But Dad isn't-" she began but Kelly would hear none of it.

"I said, do you hear me?"

Tessa looked from her mother to her aunt but Merri was pointedly studying the meatloaf. She lowered her eyes and mumbled, "Yes, Mother."

At that moment Will entered the room but Tessa didn't seem to notice. He sat next to her and his brows drew down in a frown. "What's wrong?" he whispered.

Tessa mutely shook her head and blinked rapidly to keep the tears back. "It's nothing," she mumbled.

His hand reached for hers but she slipped it into her lap, still not looking at him. Will glanced at the two sisters and his eyes demanded answers of them. Merri evaded his stare and pulled the meatloaf from the oven, placing it in the middle of the table. Kelly met his gaze and he turned from the pain in them. His eyes rested again on Tessa but she was withdrawn and he might as well not even be there.

"Mark, Shelley! You kids wash up now! Dinner's on the table!" Merri called through the door, hoping that where ever they were they would hear her. She began to pull plates out of the cupboards and filled them with corn and potatoes. Her two children filed into the kitchen and sat down across from Tessa and Will. Merri placed a steaming plate before each person and then seated herself.

"Sister, would you serve first?" Merri asked.

Kelly drew the meatloaf toward her and cut a portion. It passed around the table until everyone had served themselves. Mark and Shelly were oblivious to the silence between their guests. The siblings chatted and squabbled through out the meal; the four others at the table were less than talkative.

Leaving most of the food on her plate, Tessa asked to be excused first. Kelly seemed about to protest but her sister caught her eye and shook her head slightly.

"Go on, Tessa. You're excused," Merri said to her niece with a warm smile.

"Thank you, Aunt Merri," Tessa murmured. She shot a quick glance at Will but pointedly ignored her mother. Kelly's lips tightened into a displeased line as her eyes followed the girl's stiff back out of the room.

"I just don't understand her," Kelly exclaimed to no one inparticular. "She wasn't exactly jumping for joy to be brought out here but now she wants to move out here! All of her friends are back home and so is her-" The woman bit her lip and tears shone in her eyes.

"Children, you're excused. Make sure you wash up before going to bed, though," their mother advised.

Mark and Shelley traded a confused look, frowning at their half empty plates. "But, Mom, I'm not-" Mark began.

A sharp look cut him off and sent the siblings scurrying out of the hostile room. Will looked uncertainly from his boss to Kelly, shifting uncomfortably in his chair.

"I think I'll take my leave, too, ladies. I hope you have a nice evenin' and I'll see y'all in the morn." His hand went to his forehead as if to mime the tipping of his hat and he left the room, not wanting to be caught between the two headstrong sisters.

Tessa didn't know what words were passed between her mother and her aunt. Her ears were filled with the sounds of her own sobbing against her pillow instead. Her tears abruptly stopped when she heard a tentative knock at the door. Wiping the tears off her face and grimacing at her red rimmed eyes in the mirror, she asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Will, Tess. May I come in?"

Briefly, the girl closed her eyes, trying to get herself under control. Finding her efforts in vain, she got up and let the ranch hand in.

As he stepped through the threshold, his eyes roved the room, taking in the neatly folded clothes on the desk and the rumpled bed. When his eyes met Tessa's, she was the one to look away first.

With a sigh, she plopped down on her bed, trying to surreptitiously rub away the remaining tear stains on her cheeks.

"Don't worry about it, Tess. I could hear you crying in the hall."

She threw him a black look, which quickly faded to one of deep unhappiness. Will was tempted to move to the bed beside her but he still wasn't exactly sure where they stood with each other. Unsure, he perched on the chair by the bedside, leaning his elbows on his knees.

Tessa cast her guest a quizzical look, as if to ask why he came but when Will remained silent still she asked, "Did you want something or did you just come to sit?" The words sounded spiteful and childish in her ears and she grimaced, staring down at the floor.

The man seemed nonplussed though and continued to gaze at her, a ghost of a smile dancing across his lips. There was nothing mocking in his eyes, only genuine concern over her well being.

"Will, you know, it's been a hard night and-" she began wearily but he halted her words with a gesture.

"That's why I came. I just wanted to see how you were doing." He gave her an odd look. "Tess, I don't want to be judgmental but perhaps you should remember that your mom is going through a hard time too. I know that your father is - back - in California and from what your mom said, the thought of leaving him there while you stay out here doesn't sit too well with her. Everything your mom has made is in California and then she hears you say that you want to move out here. What do you expect her to think?" His tone never rose above a soothing rumble and was never anything but gentle. It annoyed Tessa to no end.

"What you don't know is that Dad was cremated so we can take him wherever we go," she spat. "And why should I care what she wants? She hasn't even begun to consider my idea." She turned eyes burning with anger upon Will, anger that had built up since her father's death. "She hides behind his death and uses it against me. You wouldn't understand."

His first urge was to shake her and make her listen but he knew that that was the last thing he should do. Instead he just used reason. "Tess, I've known death and I know what it feels like to loose a loved one. I can sympathize with Kel- your mom and her using your dad's passing as a shield. It's easy to do when you're so filled with pain that nothing else matters." His voice was colored with rueful nostalgia and Tessa's face softened, for once really listening to the man at her side.

"So why won't she let us move out here?" she finally asked, her voice no longer sullen or stubborn.

A grin creased Will's handsome face, his good humor lighting his eyes. "I can't claim to understand a woman anymore than I claim to understand horses. What I do know is that your mother would never intentionally hurt you or turn you away. You're all she has left right now."

Tessa looked toward the door and her eyes glazed over with thought. Will sat back in his chair, easing his booted feet out in front of him. He'd worked with fractious colts; he could easily deal with a confused and stubborn girl. A few moments passed and the girl's eyes regained their focus, turning to Will's open face.

"So my mom just doesn't want to leave the place that she's grown comfortable in because she might have to face the pain of my dad's death again? By having to become comfortable again? Why didn't she just say that?" Tessa pleaded with Will.

"Why didn't you tell her why you wanted to move out here? It's for the same reason isn't it?" He'd taken a stab in the dark but by the way her face fell, he'd guessed right. "I think she'd understand, Tess."

"It's Tessa," she scolded absently, but Will knew that her heart wasn't in it. She was finally thinking things over instead of just reacting and assuming.

Will could tell when the pieces fell into place in Tessa's mind. Her eyes grew wide and a strangled sob choked her throat. "God, will it ever go away?" Tessa demanded. "Two years and the pain still comes when ever I think of him. It must be the same for Mom." The last was accompanied by a single tear, which trailed a salty path down the girl's fair cheek.

"I was kinda hoping you could tell me," Will said, "because the pain never leaves. At least it didn't until you came."

Tessa looked at Will sharply but could find no levity behind his eyes. A smile broke through her stormy visage and she wordlessly thanked him. It had taken this country hand to show her something that she should have seen from the very beginning. Her smile took on a hint of awe and a faint red hue crept up Will's neck.

"Are you feeling better now, Tess. . .a?" he added belatedly.

"Yeah, I am. Thank you, Will Henkley. I'm not sure that I would have come to that conclusion without help." She smiled self-deprecatingly. "And I'm sorry about being so mean earlier. It's just Tess; that's what everyone calls me at home." Her cheeks flushed with a shy innocence and Will's heart beat quicker.

"Well, now that you're feeling better I'd better git. Brownie will be waiting bright and early tomorrow." He rose and stepped to the door but before his hand touched the knob, Tessa was at his side.

"Can I still help you?"

A smile creased his face. "It'd be an honor, Tess. What time are you willing to wake up?"