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N ine

“You are not getting married to some cowboy from California .” Ben slammed both hands on the table and shoved himself to his feet.

Thayne and Lock were eating fast, but they stopped gulping down new bites of food to stare at Ben Cabril as he erupted.

Lock swallowed before he said, “You’ll be our aunt now, Tilda, since you’re marrying Uncle Josh.”

“Really, Josh? You and Tilda are engaged? I’m so happy for you,” Annie weighed in.

Josh looked at her and saw an impish smile. He doubted she was all that happy about the speed of this decision. But she likely wanted to balance out Ben’s wild protests.

“I like weddings.” Caroline continued to eat her eggs, but she gave Josh and Tilda a shy smile.

No one else was around to announce the big news to. Michelle had left early for her invention shed, Zane was out taking the reins into his hands after going off for weeks, and Gretel didn’t come over until after breakfast, which Annie usually handled, along with Ellie when she was around.

Josh looked at Tilda, who scowled at her brother.

“I am marrying Josh. I don’t like the way you act. I’m not a bit sure I’m safe with you; you’re so madly determined to take me home. I want to stay here, and I want to be with Josh. Getting married is the best idea I’ve ever had.”

Josh grinned. “Me too.”

“As your brother, I have every right to ask you to come home. It’s what our father wants.”

“I admit we resemble each other, and the story you told about my scar has the ring of truth. But I can’t remember getting the scar, and you could have found out my name before you came here.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” Ben snapped.

Tilda almost jumped back.

Josh, sitting beside her at the kitchen table, leaned closer to her.

“I am saying I have no real idea if I’m the woman you’re looking for. And honestly, Ben, neither do you. You saw that picture, and I looked like the sister you haven’t seen in, what, fifteen years? But the truth is, we can’t know if I’m your sister for certain.”

Ben’s eyes flashed in a way that frightened Tilda. She was very glad she wasn’t alone with him right now.

“You ran out of here last night before I could finish telling you everything,” Ben said. His lips tightened as he glared at her. He leaned to grab something from his satchel, and while she couldn’t see what he was doing, she remembered that he’d produced that tintype the night before.

He straightened with something in his hand. That same picture again maybe? No, this was larger. And framed.

He turned it, and she saw ... herself.

Except not herself because in this full-length picture, the dress she wore was spectacular.

It was a painted portrait about a foot tall, oval and framed.

She wore a pink dress with elaborate embroidery on a neckline much too low-cut to suit Tilda.

It had ruffles and draped skirts that looked like silk, and she held an umbrella that dripped with lace.

Her hair was intricately pinned up with ringlets on her forehead and by her ears.

Bracelets on her wrists and an elegant cameo brooch centered on the neckline completed the ensemble.

This was no outfit she’d ever owned in her life. And she’d certainly never had her portrait painted.

A closer look showed the woman was frail to a frightening degree. Her skin looked ashen. Though she smiled, no happiness reached her eyes. Tilda wouldn’t say she looked like that, but beyond those details, this woman was identical to her.

“Who ... who is that?” She reached an unsteady hand toward the picture. Ben let her take it.

“I regret having to show this to you.” Ben frowned until his forehead wrinkled.

“I regretted telling you about Ma abandoning you. I hoped I could, um ... persuade you to trust me and come home with me. I didn’t mention Maddie before because it makes what Ma did so much worse.

” He looked from the painting to Tilda. “Father and I and Maddie—that’s who this is in the picture—all of us want to make things right.

We want to spend the rest of our lives making things right.

They couldn’t come with me. Father is elderly and Maddie is delicate or they’d be here.

“I regret it, but now I’ll have to tell you who Maddie is and the rest of the story that goes along with it.

It breaks my heart, but you would’ve learned it eventually.

I just hoped you’d find a familial connection to me, to Father, and to Maddie before I had to tell you more details of what happened to you. ”

He looked as if she’d stricken him with grief. For some reason that made her angry. None of this was fair. She didn’t want to bear the weight of his grief when she had her own confusion to deal with. And fear? What story broke his heart? She dreaded what he was going to say.

“This is your twin sister, Maddie. Madeline.”

“Twin sister?” Tilda gasped so hard she started choking, coughing, and fighting for breath until Josh patted her firmly on the back.

When finally she could breathe again like normal, she said, “You’re telling me my mother abandoned one twin and kept the other?

How could anyone do something so monstrous? ”

Ben shook his head. “The drink was on her, as it often was. She wasn’t thinking right.”

“I’d say that’s a fair assessment.”

Ben pushed the picture toward her, then dropped his face into his hands and scrubbed as if he were washing, maybe washing the memories of such a cruel truth from his mind.

“You were Madeline and Matilda. Maddie and Mattie. But with your nicknames so similar, neither of you was learning your name, and you were answering to either.” Ben shook his head.

“I started calling you Tilda. I just think Ma’s mind was failing her, and one day she took you and, well, as I said.

But she took only you and kept Maddie. The two of us spent the rest of our time with her scared to death we’d be next.

I almost contacted Father then, but I had no reason to believe he cared about us.

In fact, I doubt he did. Later, when he came for us, after Ma died, he proved to be a decent sort, and we grew into a family.

I’ve done my best to forgive him for thinking money was enough to buy his way to a clear conscience.

But it was his neglect that ended in your being . .. lost.”

“Not lost.” Tilda’s voice nearly bit into his hide. “Thrown out. Treated with less care than someone would give a family pet.”

Josh’s hand was still on her back. He might not realize it, but he was holding her up. Holding her together.

Ben’s dark eyes burned with intensity. “You have to come back with me, Tilda. Father is tormented by losing you. And Maddie isn’t strong.

She didn’t come along because neither Father nor I thought she was in good enough health to take such a long trip.

While you seem to have forgotten her, she’s never forgotten you.

She acts as if half of herself is gone, just torn right away from her heart.

I want you to come home with me and help me end their suffering. ”

She had a twin. It was almost more than she could take in, but the picture was undeniable proof.

“Why do you think my coming with you will somehow make everything right for you and your family?”

“Your family too, Tilda.”

Shaking her head, she said, “I didn’t even know you were out there. It’s too soon for me to feel like you are family. Not in my heart anyway.” Tilda turned to Josh. “You’re my family now.”

He smiled and jerked his chin down and up. “That I am, Tilda.”

Then she tried very hard to make a serious point to Ben. “And that’s why I am not going with you.”

He opened his mouth to reply.

“Stop.” She raised her hand and shoved the flat of her palm right at his face. “I. Am. Not. Going.”

Ben narrowed his eyes and glared. He didn’t look like he’d given up, not one bit.

“Instead,” she went on, “have Madeline write to me. Have Father write. I promise I’ll write back.

We can get to know each other. They think they know me because Madeline remembers me and Father’s been told about me.

But they are strangers to me. What’s more, I’m a stranger to them.

I’m not able to just miraculously become the missing sister Madeline has longed for and Father has felt such guilt over.

Father was able to make up for his years of neglect by taking you both in, but he’s made nothing up to me.

I have a life I like and will not give it up.

Go home. If Madeline ever feels strong enough, maybe she can come and visit.

But I am not returning with you. Is that clear? ”

Ben shook his head. “Father is trusting me to bring you home.”

Tilda stared at him. There was something in his voice. Was it fear? As if he’d never denied his father anything and he wouldn’t start now?

“I’m not going home.” There was an edge to his voice and a glint in his eye.

Tilda had to wonder how many times the man had been told no.

“However, I will write home and tell my family I found you. In fact, I’m going to write this morning and take the letter to town.

I expect I’ll be writing daily for a while.

But I want to get to know you better. Is it all right for me to stay here on the Two Harts for a while? ” His eyes shifted from Tilda to Josh.

Josh leaned closer to Tilda. “You can stay as long as you don’t make a nuisance of yourself. I don’t like the way you talk to Tilda, but she’s doing so well at speaking her own mind that I won’t insult her by pretending she’s not handling this on her own just fine.”

“Thank you.” Tilda leaned her head on Josh’s strong shoulder for just a few seconds, then straightened.

Josh wasn’t finished. “But she’s under my protection, and she has the protection of every member of my family and every cowhand on the place. You’ll treat her well or you’ll be shown the trail. Is that clear?”