As she stepped outside, the cool dew on the grass settled between her toes. “What is it?” she pestered Judd again. “You gonna make me wear this thing all day?”

He harrumphed and led her a dozen paces away from the cabin. The morning sun bathed her skin with warmth even if the air was chilly.

She breathed in deeply, relishing the scent of the juniper and spruce that bordered the cabin. She was finally home. Not just because she had a place of her own, but because the restlessness she’d felt for so many years was drifting out of her life. A new peace had come in to take its place. Even her resentment toward her ma didn’t seem quite as important anymore. Or maybe now that she’d experienced such deep heartache at losing Jericho, she could sympathize better with the losses her ma had faced.

“Alright.” Judd brought her to a stop. “Now hold still.”

She remained motionless as he tugged the knot in the neckerchief free at the back of her head. When the cloth fell down, she blinked against the brightness of the sunshine. As she took in the sight that met her, she gasped.

There in the middle of the clearing stood what appeared to be half the town of Fairplay—men, women, even children. “Surprise!” came a chorus of happy shouts.

“Holy Saint Peter!” Where had they all come from? And when had they arrived? No wonder Judd had kept her busy inside the cabin for the past hour, helping him dry and sort seeds for next year’s planting.

Judd was grinning like a little tike who’d just roped his first livestock. “They’re here for a barn raisin’.”

“Barn raisin’? You said we’d have to make do with a lean-to for the winter.”

“That ain’t what your brothers said.” He nodded to the forefront of the crowd where Flynn and Wyatt and Brody stood, hammers and saws in hand, watching her expectantly. “They insisted we needed a barn before winter, and they organized this whole thing.”

Behind them sat half a dozen wagons overflowing with mill-cut lumber.

She couldn’t pay for the supplies. Not yet. But someday, when she started not only shearing her sheep but breeding and selling her lambs, she’d pay them back.

“It’s a gift,” Flynn said, as if reading her mind.

“I appreciate the offer. But I gotta pay you back. Hope you can understand.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Reckon I’d do the same.” He held her gaze for a second, and in that statement she knew he was offering her more than just a barn. He was offering her respect as an equal.

Though they hadn’t spoken much since she’d left with Judd to live on her own land, she’d sensed a slow change in her relationship with her brothers, that they were learning to let go of her.

“Thank you, Flynn.”