Annie asked her, “You don’t mind livin’ here in a different country, under a foreign government and people who talk a language you can’t understand?” She had determined that Mrs. Willet did not speak Spanish. She had already learned that most American settlers here did not.

“Law, child, no. Our government is in San Felipe, and it’s American. Out here we don’t often see a Mexican soldier or anybody from the Mexican government. For all you can tell we’re the same as back in Kentucky, only we got a lot more land than we’d've ever got back yonder. The livin’s been pretty good, all in all.”

Annie asked, “You wouldn’t want to go back to Kentucky?”

“Law, no, not and leave all this.” Mrs. Willet made a broad sweep with her chubby arm and hand. “This is home now. I finished raisin’ up my young’uns here and had two grandbabies born on this place. I got a husband buried out yonder. This is our home, bought and paid for with blood, and we wouldn’t leave it for nothin’ or nobody.”

“Not even if Mexico took a notion to turn you out?”

Her brow furrowed. “They wouldn’t try. There’s enough of us in Texas already to whip them plumb to Mexico City, and they know it.” Her smile slowly returned. “Anyway, nothin’ like that is fixin’ to happen. They’ve gone to a right smart of trouble settin’ up these colonies. There’s no reason they’d want to move us now.” She gave Annie a long study. “One thing I can’t understand is why an unattached young lady would come out here. Women with their husbands, sure, but you?”

Annie had often been asked that question along the trail. “My brothers are out here,” she replied, “and I hadn’t seen them in most of ten years. I’d begun to feel like I might never see them again if I didn’t come. And then there’s James—” She looked out the door at her youngest brother, who was studying with much interest a beautiful black horse that Zeb Willet had led up from the barn; the Willets were horse people. “James means well, but in some respects he’s not full grown yet. He’s got a way of fallin’ into trouble that’s over his head if somebody’s not standin’ there to pull him back out of it.”

She had long suspected that James was trying to emulate their older brother Michael. Going by a memory that was perhaps more creative than it should be, he would try to decide what Michael would do under similar circumstances, then act accordingly. He had it set in his mind that Michael was never afraid of anything and would never brook insult or injustice. That belief had carried James into many a fight, sometimes at odds that insured his losing in a big way. His wounds would heal, and he was always ready for the next fight. For a smart boy, he seemed almighty slow at learning certain lessons.

Beyond her strong desire to see Michael and Andrew, Annie had made this trip in the hope that she might keep somebody from killing James before he finally matured enough not to attack bears with a willow switch. She could not depend upon cousin Frank to do it; he had a family and problems enough of his own. She suspected her mother had sensed the same thing, for Patience Lewis had put up little opposition when Annie had announced her intention of going to Texas with James and Frank’s family. If anything, she had seemed almost grateful.