“Your coffee, Miss Laura. The girls are on their way down.” If they hadn’t been, Ann might have smothered conscience and eavesdropped a bit longer.

“Oh, thank you, Annie.” She put a smile on her face, kept it there as her children came in. “I believe Kayla has something for you, Michael.”

Kayla held the picture behind her back as she approached. “If you like it, you can hang it on your wall.”

“Well, let’s see.” He took the heavy drawing paper from her, stared. “Damn.”

Kayla’s face dropped comically. Automatically, Laura put a hand on her shoulder to comfort.

“You don’t like it.” Kayla’s head drooped. “I shouldn’t have drawn it so fast, but I wanted to do it while I remembered everything.”

“No, it’s great.” When he looked up from the drawing, his smile was huge. “I was surprised, just like you said I’d be. It looks just like the lady, Kayla. Just exactly like her.”

“Really?” With her tongue caught between her teeth, Kayla peeked over to critique her own work. “Usually I draw things I see in books, or that are right there. But I thought if you had to sell her, you could have a picture so you’d always remember her.”

“It’s beautiful.” And nothing like the childish drawing he’d expected. She’d captured the mare’s springy gait in the movement, the proud head. He supposed a trained eye could find room for improvement, things like perspective and range that he knew nothing of. All he knew was that he was impressed, and touched. “It’s my first original Templeton.”

If anyone noticed he hadn’t used her legal name, there was no comment. Kayla merely preened and slipped a hand into his. “I’ll draw you more if you want.”

“I’d like that a lot.” He scooted her onto his knee and looked at Allison. The older girl stared down at her feet, obviously miserable. “You finish cleaning your room, Blondie?”

Her head came up, and so did her color. She eyed her sister, and her sister’s big mouth with disdain. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. I figured once you were off the bread-and-water routine, you might want to catch up with Kayla here on the riding lessons.”

Her mouth fell open before she remembered her manners. “I’d like to learn to ride.” Though it cost her, she turned to her mother. “May I?”

“I think that would be a wonderful idea. I may have to brush up myself before the two of you get ahead of me.” She laid a hand on Ali’s shoulder. The stiffness faded reluctantly, but it faded. “Thank you, Michael. We’ll see what we can do to meld our schedules.”

“Mine’s flexible.” After a quick bounce, he set Kayla on her feet and rose. “But right now I’ve got to get back.”

“Your coffee,” Laura began.