The black gelding was a good horse, and he'd come a long way from Oregon, carrying his new rider on a sad errand. The winter snows had caught up with them in Montana, and the two had stayed for a month in a secluded basin, a place called Blue Water. They had not been alone though, for Rin had gone there expressly to deliver Cai's things to his parents.

His brothers and sisters had all been there, along with the young man's father and mother. He'd come during a regular family gathering, and Temple wasn't sure if he felt that was for the best or just terribly tragic. Rin had stood there on the porch, hat in hand, and told them what happened. He left nothing out, telling the story without prejudice or judgment. He started from when he met Cai and ended with the burial of the young man. Lilli Ransom's eyes had gone wide and large but she'd swallowed back the tears for her son, putting a kind smile on her face.

"You must be tired and hungry, please come inside. We've got hot coffee and food enough for a small army." She'd offered him.

Missus Ransom would not accept no for an answer, and Rin found himself accepted into their family. No one had seemed surprised at his news, only sad that it finally happened. Though no one spoke his name again, Rin could tell that Mordecai was deeply missed. When he pulled out between storms some weeks later, Eli 'Ranse' Ransom, the dark half-breed patriarch had ridden with Temple to the rim trail that led outside the valley. The Ransom's had allowed him to keep the gelding, 'Cai would have wanted it so', they insisted.

"Thanks for bringing us the news yourself," Ranse told him quietly. "He was my wife's favorite,"

"Cai was a good man, he had the makings for it-" Rin had started, but the father's stern features stopped him.

"My son was too wild; he didn't have the discipline or the patience, a point over which we argued frequently." He had held out a large, calloused hand and Temple had taken it. "I'm glad it was a man who knew him that buried him. At least he didn't die among strangers."

Now, months behind him from that memory, Rin shook himself from his revere and sat up in the saddle. The country around him was looking intimately familiar, and he urged the black faster. Home was not far now, and Empire was not more than ten miles. White Rock, the nearest town when he was a boy, had died off many years ago, but progress had put Empire and Georgetown nearby, and Empire had fine hotels and excellent places to eat.

When he crested the last hill and started down the long familiar lush grasses of his home range, Rin was ready for what awaited him. He had stopped in Empire for three days, staying at the hotel there, resting the gelding. In town he'd washed and scrubbed, shaved and got his hair cut. He had gotten new cloths at a tailor's shop to replace his ragged and worn out ones. He wore dark gray trousers, a black shirt under a dark gray vest, and a hand stitched black waist coat. Temple now rode with his head up, eyes open, but slightly wary. His parents were not expecting him, and one didn't sneak up on his father and mother without keeping a sharp eye out.

"Rin?"

The call came from the trees, a low sweet voice, and he twisted in the saddle. A lovely girl of eighteen with strawberry blond hair came racing out to meet him, her large gray eyes sparkling with joy. She threw herself up at him, getting caught up in his arms.

"Orrin, you're home!"

He chuckled and squeezed her tight, lifting her lithe form onto the saddle with him. She was the baby of the family and her brothers took great delight in pampering and spoiling her.

"'Pril, I swear you get prettier every time I see you!" he told her.

"Don't tease me Rin! Do Papa and Mama know you're coming?" she looked up at him, noting the hardness in his face, the wariness that wasn't there last time she'd seen him.

"Didn't figure to give them a chance to say no," he said softly. "They to home?"

"Yes, Papa just got back from a hunting trip. We've got buffalo."

"Boys around?" Rin asked her, his eyes searching the valley.

"No, Ethan got hired on at the 33 a couple years back, Fallon and Nick took off on their own last summer. They were in New Mexico last we heard." She paused a moment, looking up at him. "How long are you staying?" she asked.

Rin didn't answer until he'd reached the yard, and slid her off the saddle. He swung down and handed the reins to her, knowing she was more than capable with horses.

"As long as I can 'Pril," he said softly, looking at the house. "As long as I'm welcome."

"It wasn't your fault, you know," she said it quietly, her eyes large and solemn. "No one blames you for what you did-,"

A dark look from her oldest brother instantly silenced her so she turned away. He felt badly and called after her.

"'Pril? There's a present in my saddle bag for you, wrapped in green ribbons." He threw a wink and a smile at her before heading for the house.

Suddenly unsure, wishing he'd never come Rin stopped at the door, his hand on the smooth wood. It wasn't too late to just ride out of here, he told himself, ride out and not look back. Then suddenly it was.

The door opened under his palm and the broad shouldered form of his father filled the doorway. His bare chest displayed the jagged scars of over a dozen bullet wounds beneath the shirt he'd been buttoning. Rin looked straight into eyes the same cornflower blue of his own. He noticed the Henry rifle in his father's hand, and though the barrel was pointed down it could be swung into play incredibly fast. Neither man smiled.

"Hiya Pop," Rin broke the tense silence first.

His father's keen eyes had already seen the twin pistols tied down, and darkness flickered in the blue depths. The stone features hardened just a little, more in disappointment than anger.

"Orrin," he leaned against the door frame slightly, hooking his thumbs into the pockets of his pants. "How've you been boy?"

The term rankled but Rin swallowed it, knowing his father was testing him. When he'd left all those years ago things had been said that could never be taken back, words that had cut deep and wounded. Now he had to prove himself, and the guns didn't help, he knew.

"I've been well Pop. How's mother?"

"She's fine." It was a stiff reply.

The men spoke with the same deep voice, cut from the same cloth of life, so similar. Yet the years between made them nearly opposites. Travis 'Red' Rivers had been able to give up life by the gun while his oldest son had been out in the world, living and killing by one. Though they had the same view of killing, Rin had not yet been able to settle away from life on the trail. He'd been on the run too long, from memories and bitter regret.

Rin felt his heart begin to beat harder, rising anger at being treated like a stranger in his own place of birth, accepting it was his own fault. He fought to control his features, knowing no one could read expressions better than his father.

"I just came home to tell you something, something I figured you'd best hear from me." Rin swept off his hat, running fingers through his pale blond hair, a motion his father had used many times.

"How many Orrin?"

"It's not like that Pop, not this time." Rin looked straight into his father's eyes. "Jude Reynolds is dead, and I killed him."

For a long moment Rivers looked at his oldest son, timeworn memories surfacing and flooding through his veins. He remembered the feeling of being hunted down, the bitterness at the injustice of it all. The times he'd nearly died, his blood soaking into hard packed ground because of one man's power, it still rankled though long done with. He saw all those same emotions on the face of his son now.

"What happened Rin?"

The young gunfighter looked at the older, and didn't hold back. He told it all, from start to finish, every word carrying the heaviness of a man tired of death, a man who'd seen and caused too much of it. He left out Mordecai and the trip to Montana. There'd be time enough for that later.

"I wasn't hunting him Pop, I didn't even know Reynolds was in the area until I met Gates that night," Rin explained.

Rivers smiled at last, a faint warmth that was more in his eyes than on his face. It had always been a worry his son would try to finish what had been started all those years ago. Jude Reynolds had power and money, and 'Red' Rivers had allowed the world to think him dead for the last thirty years. It had not been easy but peace came at sacrifice, and life in this valley had been good and he was a happy man. As each of his children had come of age, the truth had been explained candidly to them, and the need for the past to stay buried had been impressed upon them.

Between the four boys, it was his oldest that had the hardest time with it. Orrin was fast on the draw and worse, he carried a temper far more merciless than Rivers' own and never let go of an injury. Of all the boys, Orrin was most like him. To know revenge hadn't motivated his son brought hope into the old gunfighter's eyes.

"Your mother's been worried about you Rin, you'd best come inside and let her see you."

He stepped aside and let Rin into the cottage, expanded and added onto since his birth. In the years after him there had come Fallon, the twins Ethan and Nicolas, then April Moon, and more room was needed. He heard his father close the door behind him and they settled at the table where Rivers put two mugs and a pot of fresh coffee.

"Mother sleeping?" Rin indicated his parent's room, a worried frown on his face. His mother never slept so late in the day.

His father smiled, a real smile this time, the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes deep.

"I reckon she's in with Kitty. Those two are thicker'n thieves most mornings."

The casual statement caught Rin with the coffee mug halfway to his lips. His eyes darkened and fixed his father with a look that had sent lesser men scrambling for their gun. With care Rin set his cup back on the table, his eyes never leaving his fathers' face.

"That's not funny Pop."

"Don't I know it!" Rivers sat back in his chair, testing his coffee. It burned his bottom lip so he set the cup back down again. "After your brothers left, it's been me and three women here! A man alone hasn't got a chance!"

At his voice the bedroom door opened and Rin's mother stepped into the room. The years had changed her very little, and her dark gray eyes sparkled with joy when they came to rest on her son.

"Orrin, you're home!" she held out her arms and he willingly went to her, letting her wrap him in a tight warm hug.

"Travis!" She rebuked her husband. "You should have told me! My oldest boy, look at you!" she laughed merrily in delight. "Is it possible you've gotten better-looking since I last saw you?"

"Mother, lay off me will you?" Rin said it with a smile on his lips and laughter in his voice.

He knew as well as she did that he looked exactly like his father, only his hair was different. His hair color was hers.

"I'm so glad you're here," she left her hands on his shoulders. "Someone has been waiting for you to come home."

Rin's mouth suddenly went dry. He'd only half believed his father, but his mother would never tease him.

"She's here?" he looked toward the bedroom door. "For how long?"

"Five years." His mother's eyes locked his in a serious gaze. "She's been here Orrin Rivers, and you've kept her waiting long enough."

"I've kept her waiting-!" he protested, but his mother cut him off, her fingers across his lips.

His father said nothing, only drinking his coffee and watching. He knew better than anyone how well his wife could identify with the situation, but that was never spoken of. The past was past, and Faith Rivers was not a woman who lived looking behind, so now she looked up at her son and smiled sadly. She said nothing of her own history, but instead tried to make her son see, to understand what poor Kitty had been through.

"Everything was ripped away from her in one day Orrin, she was stripped of her innocence, of you, violently so. She'd never been faced with such brutality before, and she wasn't prepared to handle it, not like that. Those men took everything from her, so please don't blame Kitty for shutting everyone out. It's the only way she knew how to cope, how to survive. It's not that she doesn't love you."

"But I told her I would wait, I told her I would do whatever she wanted, and she sent me away! She told me she never wanted to see me again!" Rin's voice was trembling with emotion, ragged with grief and anger. "How was I supposed to handle that? How was I supposed to wait out being sent off?"

Five years! She'd been here at home five years, and he'd done everything possible to avoid coming back. If he'd only known!

"You scared her Orrin." Faith said it gently, but firmly. "People still talk about what you did that day. That story will never die, it will live on as long as there are men to tell it, and that's something you'll have to deal with."

At his look she held up a hand.

"I'm not saying they didn't deserve the misery you brought down on them, they deserved more. But Orrin, Kitty wasn't ready to see that side of you, not so soon after living through what almost broke her. It was your wedding day, it was supposed to be happy, and think about how it turned out. Can you really blame her?"

Words stuck like dry gravel in his throat, and almost helplessly Rin looked at his mother. Suddenly he felt as if he was a young man again, his life, his future, standing just within his reach. His eyes strayed to the bedroom door, the wood barrier blocking her from view.

"Faith," Rivers had stood and held out his hand to her. "Let him alone now. You've had your say."

As she took her husband's hand Faith turned to look again at her son.

"She's been waiting here five years Orrin, remember that." Then they were gone, the front door closing behind them.

Trembling, his mouth dry as desert sand, Rin moved toward the closed bedroom door. He hesitated then reached for the handle, his fingers touching the cool wood before he pulled back. Emotion was whirling inside him like a full blown tempest, and he wanted to run and stay at the same time. Dropping his hat over the back of the rocking chair, long fingers dug through his hair, giving it a rough comb. He straightened his coat and took a half step toward the room before stopping.

He glanced down at his gun belts, the weapons that had kept him alive for so long. Being without them made him feel vulnerable and exposed, but, what was the danger in this place? He'd never seen the day a man could get the drop on his mother. Taking a deep breath Rin untied his holster strings, and then took off the first belt. With slow deliberate moves he unbuckled the second belt and laid it over the first. It went against his nature to turn his back on them and walk away, but he did.

Slowly opening the bedroom door Rin stepped inside. The room was exactly as he'd left it long years ago, except a woman stood at the window, looking outside. She turned as he came into the room, the chocolate brown of her eyes wide and glittering. There was an even mix of joy and fear churning in them. In silence she watched him close the distance between them until Rin stood only a few feet away.

The deep rich russet of her hair glowed in the afternoon light, and he could see the rapid rise and fall of her bosom as she waited, watching him. She was older, changed even as he had aged and changed, but to his eyes, this woman before him was still the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. She took his breath away, even after so many years.

"Kitty," he made no move for her, only whispered the one word as tears formed in her eyes and fell down her cheeks.

"Orrin, I'm so sorry," the sweetness of her voice was broken by the thickness of her tears. "I never should have told you to go..."

"You got nothin' to be sorry for Kitty, it's in the past. Don't cry, sweetheart." He told her softly.

She wept harder and Rin searched for a way to make her smile, to assure her he was not leaving her side again. He'd never been able to stand seeing her cry, nothing making him feel more helpless. Abruptly the solution came to him.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked suddenly.

Through her tears she frowned at him, uncertain and half afraid he was going to throw her out.

"What? Go where?"

"Honey, we're the only people I know who've been married five years and have yet to have a honeymoon!"

Kitty's smile broke through then, followed by half-giggled sobs of delight, and Rin took his wife in his arms, feeling the soft warmth of her melt against him. Smelling the sweet fragrance of her hair he smiled.

"Never did get over you, Kitty Moran."

"Rivers," she mumbled against his chest, her arms squeezing tight around his waist. "Kitty Rivers."

"Yeah?" He was teasing. "Who's that?"

"Your wife," looking up, she met his intense gaze with one of her own, holding it. "I'm your wife, Orrin."

"That sounds downright wonderful, Mrs. Rivers." Using one hand to cup her chin, tilting her lips toward his, Rin kept his gaze locked to hers, embracing their future. "Figure it's time to show you who I am."