Two guns went off at the same time. Caraway spun and fell to the floor, his gun falling from his hand. "Jarrod! Audra exclaimed, running to where her brother stood in the doorway leading to the kitchen.

"Are you alright, Audra?" Jarrod asked, letting his gaze leave Caraway for just a moment to look at her. He stepped forward and kicked Caraway's gun away.

"Yes," Audra said honestly. "Is Lucy alright?"

"Liam's with her," Jarrod said and then focussed on Caraway who was struggling up. "Can you let Marshall Doyne know he can come get his prisoner."

"A US marshall?" Audra repeated in surprise. She sent a flare at Caraway, who was clutching his bleeding shoulder. "You really were nothing but a liar."

"Audra," Jarrod said patiently. "There's no need to kick the man while he's down."

Kicking Caraway seemed like an excellent thing to do, especially given how he had hit her already. Still, Audra took Jarrod's advice and took a wide path around the man to keep temptation at bay. She stepped into the porch with her hands in the air.

Just in case.

"Marshall, you can come and get Caraway now," she called out. "He's wounded but I'm sure he'll survive. Unfortunately."

It took a few minutes for Caraway to get bandaged up before he was escorted to the sheriff's office between the Marshall and the sheriff. The two lawmen were having a disagreement as to which of them has more claim to the man. Audra just followed, her and looped with Jarrod's. She honestly didn't care which of the lawmen took charge of Caraway as long as the man ended up behind bars.

They were halfway to the jail, with a large majority of the town watching -whether from behind window curtains or from the other side of the street-when they met up with Liam. The fair haired young man was covered with dirt and dust, and had an equally dirty man in hand.

"Liam?" Jarrod called out.

"Marshall Doyne, I believe you know Walter "Squid" Hampson," Laim said, nodding toward the man he was keeping upright. "Seems he thought to take advantage of the distraction to make a play for the bank vault."

Caraway straightened. "What?" he demanded in outrage.

"Good work, Thomson," Marshall Doyne said with a nod. He let go of Caraway's arm to step forward. "Its been awhile, Squid. Two years, I'd say. There's a judge back in the city who will be pleased to see you."

"Idiot," Caraway muttered.

The sheriff gave him a rough shake. "You're one to talk, Caraway. You tried to abduct Audra Barkley. Not a very smart move."

While the marshall and sheriff escorted their prisoners, the Barkleys remained back. "You look a mess," Jarrod observed. "Good work."

Liam just shrugged awkwardly. Audra let go of Jarrod's arm and stepped forward. She threw her arms around her half-brother. "I'm sorry," she said. "I should have listened to you in the first place. Can you forgive me?"

After a moment, Liam's arms came around her. "There's nothing to forgive," he said softly.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but where is Lucy?" Jarrod asked.

"Here I am, Uncle Jarrod!" Lucy shouted, jumping up from the back of the wagon. She waved her hand. "See, Papa? I stayed right here."

Laughing, Audra released Liam who turned around. "Good girl, Lucy," he said.

"Let's get home," Jarrod said. "I'm sure Mother will want to hear all about this."

The next evening Heath and Nick returned with the horses they had been after. Nick gave a detailed account about where they had gone and the ranches they had visited on their way through Texas. It was only as Silas brought in the chocolate cake that Nick finally asked, "What about here? Any trouble?"

Jarrod and Liam exchanged glances. "No," Victoria said with a smile. "Well, no more than we usually do, I would say."

"Would you agree with that assessment, Audra?" Jarrod asked, lifting his wine glass.

"Well, I would hate to disagree with Mother," Audra said, raising her chin. "But Liam did capture a wanted criminal and prevented a robbery. I'd say that might warrant mention. Didn't Marshall Doyne mention the would be a reward coming for that?"

"Reward?" Nick repeated as Heath said, "Criminal?"

"I'm not taking that reward," Liam said immediately. "Stop bringing it up."

"Papa caught the bank robber," Lucy said, her eyes on the cake. "Can I have a piece of cake, Grandma? Please? A big one?"

"I suppose you could say we had an interesting time while you were gone," Jarrod said with a grin. "But as you can see, we're all in one piece."

"You say as if my reputation were still intact," Liam muttered, keeping his daughter from trying to climb across the table to the cake.

"Will someone explain what happened?" Nick demanded. "None of you are making a lick of sense!"

"Long story short, a man from San Francisco came into town who didn't have the best reputation," Victoria said, taking control of the conversation. "It's been handled and is in the past now. You were saying about a stallion you saw in Texas?"

Nick gave the group around the table one last suspicious look before launching back into his description of a pure black stallion. Heath leaned over to ask his twin in a low voice, "What happened?"

Somehow, Liam felt like it wouldn't be difficult to explain. After all, he'd already done it once. "I'll tell you about it later. Maybe whenever Nick isn't liable to fly off the handle when he hears the story"

"If you wait for that, you're going to be waiting a long time," Heath said in disbelief.

"Well, maybe a time when we're far away from other people and it would take him too long to get anywhere to cause any trouble." Liam held back a chuckle at Heath's bemused expression. "Tomorrow morning? In the north pasture?"

"Heath, tell them about the pretty little senorita who tried to sell the stallion," Nick said loudly.

Sitting back, Liam smiled to himself. For the first time, he really felt at home and he was glad he found them. Or had they found him? Then, since Lucy has a forkful of chocolate cake teetering dangerously, he turned his attention to her.