Texas Heroes: Volume 1 by Jean Brashear Page A

in the ground. Now go away.”
    Jim tipped his hat and walked away, whistling.

    Maddie paused in pulling weeds in the garden when she saw Boone and Slow Dance leave the barn. When they moved into a gallop across the pasture, it was a sight that she knew she’d never forget.
    Golden man and golden horse. The two moved together as if formed from one flesh. It was a ballet of rugged strength, smooth and sinuous, Boone’s strong thighs and the horse’s muscled flanks making the breath catch in her throat. She felt like she’d stepped back in time, like Boone and the horse and the land were part of one another. The sight stirred her at a deep, primal level, and she watched them until she could see them no more.
    Then she rolled off her heels and sat back on the ground, smelling the tang of the tomato vines where she’d brushed them, reaching for weeds.
    Around her she heard the soft call of cattle, the occasional nicker of a horse in the barn. Birds in the live oak trees around the house sang hello to the morning.
    But even with all that, it was so quiet compared to what she’d known. Maddie felt the warm earth beneath her, the wind ruffling her hair, and she knew a moment of contentment so peaceful and deep that it almost seemed holy.
    She closed her eyes and let the sun warm her face, the breeze kiss her lips, and in that moment, Maddie thought she knew why her father had never told her about this place. It must have torn a hole in his heart the size of Texas to grow up belonging here—and then to become a pariah.
    All the anger and confusion Maddie had felt toward her father evaporated like the morning’s dew in the face of the sun. She understood now why he’d done it. To speak of this place and know he could never return would have been torture.
    I understand, Daddy. And I’m so very sorry .
    He must have felt like Adam cast out from Paradise. Just watching Boone and knowing how this place formed so much of who he was, seeing the pain that lingered from the years he’d been forced away, gave Maddie a sense of what leaving must have cost her father.
    That he had done it to save his mother, that he had known everyone else important to him would think him a murderer, seemed to Maddie like a deed as noble as anything she’d ever heard or read.
    That Sam had denied him the chance to return was a tragedy, a betrayal of staggering proportions.
    For the first time, Maddie truly understood why Sam had given her this place. He had to know what it would have cost Dalton to lose it. Sam also knew how it felt to lose Jenny. And by his actions, he had condemned her father to needless years as an outcast from both the place and the woman he loved.
    But if Sam had looked for her father, what would have happened? She had been a child then. If her father had come back here, what would her life have been like? What would have happened to her, to Boone and Mitch, if Dalton and Jenny had wanted to be together?
    It was all too confusing—and all water under the bridge. And much as this place now pulled at Maddie, there still remained the fact that she couldn’t make a living here. She had a life and a career back East; here she had nothing but other people’s broken dreams.
    Drawing in a deep breath, Maddie sent a promise heavenward to her father. I understand, Daddy, and I will soak in all of this that I can before I must leave. Someday I will tell your story to a new generation. I won’t let your heritage die. I just hope you understand all the reasons why I can’t possibly stay .
    Then with a heavy sigh, Maddie bent back to her weeding.

    Boone drove up to the community center that night, asking himself for the fifteenth time why he wasn’t at home enjoying the silence.
    Maddie would be fine. She was a big girl. Jim was there. He would just watch for a while, then he would leave.
    After parking his truck, Boone stepped out and heard the music blaring. How long had it been since he’d attended a dance? Helen had turned her