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The church services were much as Emma remembered them.

The pastor was different from the one she’d known as a child.

In fact, the church was changing pastors, as the pastor they’d heard today was ending his time there.

Reverend Bright was to take over, and everyone seemed quite enthusiastic about the man.

The congregation had grown considerably since Emma had attended.

The little white church was full to overflowing.

There were already plans being drawn up to build a larger church on the same grounds.

Emma supposed she would be a part of that new church.

Maybe she’d even help pay for the building now that she had plenty of money.

Wouldn’t that be something? Tommy would have laughed but told her to do what she liked.

He didn’t have a problem spending money on things like that.

Money had meant very little to him, except as a means to have fun.

“Sure good to see you here,” her father said, coming to give her a hug outside the church.

“I sometimes wonder if Mama knows how I’ve changed.” Emma looked heavenward. “I hope she does.”

“I figure she does.” He looked upward as well.

“What are you two doing gawking up into the sky at?” Charlotte Hamilton asked.

Emma lowered her gaze and smiled. “Just enjoying the day.” She had little desire to explain, lest Charlotte think her odd. She noticed the man at Charlotte’s side. “Micah?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled. “Haven’t seen you in ages, Emma. Sure sorry to hear about all you went through in Texas.”

Emma glanced down at the black dress she wore. Perhaps she should stop wearing mourning clothes. It only served as a reminder of what had happened. “Thank you. I must say it has been a lot to undergo.”

“Well, I’m glad you were able to move back to Cheyenne. I know your pa missed having you here.”

“He’s got that right.” Emma’s father nodded. “A man ought to be able to have his family close around him.”

“Emma Johnson?” a woman asked.

Emma turned and met the stern gaze of a matronly woman. She knew the woman well. She was the mother of the young man Emma had once been engaged to marry. She had broken the engagement without thought or concern to the plans being made for their wedding or to her fiancé’s heart.

“Mrs. Stevens, I’m glad I ran into you.” Emma decided there was no time like the present. “I owe your family a big apology.”

This took the woman by surprise. “I ... what is that, now?”

“I owe you a big apology for the way I acted in the past. I owe Thane one as well. I can’t believe how thoughtless and cruel I acted.

I am so very sorry. I wasn’t walking with the Lord back then.

In fact, I was running from Him as fast as I could.

Still, it’s no excuse for hurting people.

I hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me. ”

The older woman stared at Emma for a long moment, then looked at the others, who were trying hard to seem otherwise occupied.

“I never figured to hear those words from you, Emma.” The woman straightened her shoulders.

“You did cause a powerful lot of hurt. I wasn’t sure my Thane was ever going to get over it, but he did.

God gave him another woman to love, and she’s been the best of daughters-in-law. Gave me two grandchildren as well.”

Emma smiled. “I’m so glad. Thane deserves the best. He is a wonderful man.”

Mrs. Stevens nodded, clearly still stunned by Emma’s words.

She narrowed her eyes a bit, then relaxed her expression.

“I’ve known God to work a wonder of miracles in my life.

I guess this is just one more. When I saw you, the pain came back despite the happiness God has given.

I guess I let the devil get the best of me.

I was all set to give you a piece of my mind, but now I find myself compelled to offer you forgiveness instead. ”

“Thank you. I know I don’t deserve it, but I cherish it.”

“This is gonna be a surprise to Thane, but I’m thinking he’ll be glad to hear it too.”

Emma found her heart just a little lighter. “Hopefully, I’ll have a chance sometime to seek his forgiveness too.”

Rosie was surprised when Robert Vogel stopped her outside of the church. She didn’t know where Emma or her brother had gotten off to and wasn’t at all sure how to act with this man who was very nearly a stranger.

“Rosie, I’m so glad to see you here at church. Did you enjoy yourself?”

“I did.” She frowned but said nothing more. Rob seemed like a nice enough man when they’d shared dinner at his folks’ house.

“I hope you liked the preaching. We’ve only had this pastor for three months. I kind of thought he’d stick around a while, but maybe we’ll get more time with the new one. I’ve heard good things about Reverend Bright.”

“Have you always gone to this church?” Rosie asked.

Rob smiled and gave a nod. “I have. My ma and pa started here when they first came to Cheyenne. I was actually born in Cheyenne.”

“It’s a nice town. I like how cool it is at night. In Dallas, where I lived, it was always hot. Well, sometimes it got cooler. There were a couple of times when it snowed—not very much, though. Your sister told me about a time when the snow here covered up the windows.”

He laughed. “It’s true. We’ve had quite a few bad snows. And the wind is hard on us too. Blows nearly all the time, and when you combine that with the snow, you get terrible blizzards. Everyone goes inside and stays put until the storm passes.”

Rosie smiled. Rob was so easy to talk to, and she really liked the way he laughed. “I had tea at your house last week. I really like your sister.”

“She’s very nice. I like her too. I have another sister who’s older than me. Her name’s Carrie. She’s back east right now. My brother, Daniel, can be ornery, but he’s a decent sort.”

“Greta and the others didn’t seem to mind my being slow. They didn’t make fun of me.”

Rob frowned. “Why would they make fun of you?”

“People do that sometimes because I don’t think as fast as they do. They sometimes call me names. That’s why my brothers made me stay home and wouldn’t let me go anywhere.”

“You never got to go anywhere?”

“Well, when I was younger, I went to church with my aunt Clementine. My mama died, and Aunt Clementine took care of me. There were some mean boys at church, and they called me all sorts of names. My aunt told me to pay them no attention, but I wish people wouldn’t think bad of me just because I’m different. ”

“I think you’re wonderful.” He smiled and gently reached out to touch her hand. “I really like you, Rosie. I hope we can be good friends.”

She couldn’t contain her smile. “I’d like being your friend. You are very nice. I really like the way you laugh.”

Rob grinned and started to speak again only to be interrupted by a tall dark-haired man who punched him in the arm.

“Hey, Robbie, are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Rob didn’t seem at all upset that the man had hit him, so Rosie figured they must be friends. She’d seen her brothers act that way when they were with their friends.

“Rose Benton, this is my best friend, Michael Decker. We were born on the same day in April and have been friends ever since.”

“Glad to meet you, Rose Benton.”

“I’m glad to meet you too.” Rosie felt a little awkward but kept it to herself. Emma had told her many times that she didn’t have to tell everyone everything she was thinking and feeling.

“Where’s your sister?” Michael asked. “I’ve been looking for her.”

“She was supposed to help put together the widow packages after church. I’m not sure where she’s at now.”

Michael shrugged. “Guess I’ll go on searching.” And with that he took off in the same direction from which he’d come.

“He’s sweet on Greta,” Rob explained. “He finished up with college early and is working with his father at the Decker School for Boys. He loves science, especially chemistry. He’s really nice once you get to know him.”

“He seems nice. Does your sister like him?”

“Oh yes, she’s been in love with him since she was about twelve years old. I figure they’ll marry before too much longer.”

“My brother married Emma. It was a pretty wedding until that terrible woman killed him.” She bit her lower lip. That was probably one of those things she didn’t need to share with people.

“I heard about that. It must have been hard on you to lose your brother that way. Seein’ it happen and all.”

“It was. Tommy was so good to me. Colton is too, but Tommy was fun. He would play games with me and make me laugh when he’d tell me stories about places he’d gone. Colton said he needed to work more, but...” She fell silent.

“Work’s important. A fella has to make a living.”

His comment caused Rosie to shake her head. “Not Tommy. He was rich. He gave all his money to Emma, so now she’s rich.” Rosie put her hand over her mouth, then pulled it away. “Sometimes I say too much. I’m trying to learn not to be so honest.”

“Never do that, Rosie.” Rob took hold of her hands. “You’re perfect the way you are. It’s wonderful that you’re honest.”

“Emma thinks so too, but she said we have to be careful because sometimes what we say can cause trouble.”

“I suppose that’s true. The Bible does say we should guard our tongues.”

“Yes! Proverbs twenty-one, twenty-three. ‘Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.’” Rosie smiled. “I memorized that one.”

“It’s a good one to know.”

“I had to memorize it because I can’t read. But Emma’s trying to teach me.”

“I didn’t know you couldn’t read. I would be happy to help you too. I could come over in the evenings and work with you on your reading.”

“That would be nice,” Rosie replied, knowing that she would truly enjoy having Rob come over and see her.

“Rosie, Emma’s looking for you.”

Rob dropped his hold on her hands, and Rosie looked over her shoulder to see Colton frowning. She didn’t know why he was frowning, but he looked mad. She waved him over.

“Remember Rob Vogel? He’s going to help me learn to read.”

“Go on and see Emma,” Colton said, his gaze never leaving Rob’s face. “I need to have a little talk with Mr. Vogel.”

Colton waited until Rosie was well out of sight before punching Rob square in the nose. “Stay away from my sister.”

Vogel landed on his backside, and blood immediately poured from his nose. He grabbed his handkerchief to stave the flow but didn’t bother to get up.

Colton stared down at him. “You know she’s na?ve and simple. You can’t be sweet-talking her and taking advantage of her. She’s not smart enough to know when people are taking liberties with her, but I am, and I won’t tolerate anyone trying to trick her.”

“I wasn’t trying to trick her. I happen to like her very much, and when she said that Mrs. Benton was teaching her to read, I told her I’d be happy to help. I think she’s probably smarter than you give her credit for.”

“You want me to hit you again?”

Rob got to his feet and held his bleeding nose with one hand and dusted off his trousers with the other. “I didn’t want you hitting me the first time.” He looked Colton in the eye. “I think your sister is wonderful, and I’d like to know her better, but all of my intentions are good.”

“I don’t want you to have any intentions toward her. She isn’t able to judge such things, and I won’t have you hurting her.”

“I have no desire to hurt her.” Rob took a step closer. “I’m not some dandy who wants to dupe your sister and steal her innocence. You really should get to know a fella before you go judging him.”

“What’s going on here?” a man asked.

Colton turned on his heel ready for a fight.

It was Edward Vogel. Colton forced himself to relax, but before he could speak, Rob answered.

“Nothing’s going on, Pa. We were just having a discussion.”

Vogel continued to look at Colton as if to force the truth from him. Without even glancing over at his son, he continued to pry. “What happened to your nose?”

“Ran into something.”

His father’s lip gave just a hint of a curl. “Or someone?”

“Everything’s fine, Pa. Don’t make something out of nothing.”

Vogel held Colton’s gaze a moment longer, then nodded. “We’re heading home.”

“I’ll be right there.” Rob waited until his father walked away and then started for the front of the church.

Colton frowned. “Just leave her be.”

He watched Rob go, wondering exactly what had transpired between him and Rosie.

He seemed sincere enough regarding his thoughts toward her, but Colton didn’t want to encourage his interest. He hoped Emma would decide to move back to Dallas, and Rosie didn’t need to be caught up in the complications of romance.

As he made his way to find Emma and his sister, Colton was troubled by what had just happened.

He’d never considered that a man might show interest in Rosie.

She was quite pretty with her petite frame and dark brown eyes.

He could understand a man being attracted to her looks.

It posed yet another set of problems. The men outnumbered the women in Cheyenne, just as they did in Texas.

It wouldn’t surprise him at all to find a collection of suitors vying for not only Emma’s attention but Rosie’s as well.

He should have known by the way Robert had acted at the dinner they’d shared that first night in Cheyenne. He was very observant of Emma and Rosie, but especially Rosie. Colton had been too tired to see that the man’s interest had been more than polite tolerance.

I won’t let him take advantage of Rosie.

She won’t recognize his toying with her emotions—doing whatever he can in order to take liberties with her.

But alongside these thoughts came ribbons of guilt.

Wasn’t he here to take advantage of Emma?

He cared about her—had lost his heart to her when he’d first met her.

All of that was true, but his brothers had also sent him on a mission to win her hand in order to safeguard the family interests.

“You look upset,” Emma said as he rejoined her and Rosie.

“Did you have a talk with Rob?” Rosie asked. “I told Emma that he’s going to help me learn to read.”

Emma met his gaze. Her brow raised slightly. “Perhaps it would be best to talk about it later ... after lunch. Rosie and I made you something special. An apple pie. We baked it after the cookies you seemed to so enjoy last night.”

Colton did his best to put on a smile. “If the two of you made it, I know I’ll enjoy it. Let’s go home. I’m starving.”