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ceramic cookie jar in the shape of a rooster. She looked up at Ed, eyes shining. “Thank you. I’ve wanted this for a long time.”
    She set the jar down and came over to give Ed a hug.
    The top of her head reached his chest and he patted her on the back.
    Jamie ripped the brown wrapping paper from his gifts. “Woohoo!! Thank you, Mal.” He launched himself at Ed and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Thank you so much. I’ve wanted new books.”
    Ed felt more content than he had in all of his adult life. Doing something nice for these people was also doing something nice for him. His old life was getting farther and farther away. And that’s the way he liked it. The farther, the better.
    Jamie hugged his books to his chest. “What did you get, Lizzie?”
    Lizzie’s eyes got wide and she smiled. “He got me that yellow silk material I’ve been wanting. Mama, can you help me sew it?”
    “Don’t you mean, ‘Mama would you make me a dress’?”
    “Of course, that’s what I mean.” She grinned. “But I didn’t want to say it that way.”
    “Hmpft.” Atina carried her treasures to the sink, pumped water into a metal bucket, and put it on the stove to heat. After the water was hot she carefully washed the canisters and put them in a row on the counter next to the ice box. She put the rooster cookie jar on the end, just waiting to be filled with fresh cookies.
    Ed, Lizzie and Jamie had milk and molasses cookies while Atina dealt with her gifts. When she was done, she joined them at the table and grabbed herself a cookie or two. There wouldn’t be any of those cookies left to put in the new container.
    “I think this deserves a celebration dinner. I still have the back strap of that deer Lizzie killed last week. I’ll fry it up along with some potatoes and serve it with those green beans I canned last year. What do you say to that?”
    Jamie whooped with delight.
    “That sounds wonderful, Mama.”
    “I haven’t had deer before.” Ed figured Mal being from the city wouldn’t have had that particular meat and thought now was a good time to remind Lizzie who he was.
    “That’s right.” Atina studied him. “But how you got that big without the goodness of deer meat, I’ll never know.”
    “Ah, now, Atina,” Ed leaned back in his chair. “You just say that because you’re so little.”
    “I was tall for my family, but even so, my children both take after their father. He was a big man like you.”
    Ed could see that Lizzie had but he didn’t know about Jamie. Of course, the boy was only ten, so he had a lot of growing to do and he was already almost as tall as his mother.
    “You should see my brother.” He stopped when Lizzie looked at him quizzically. Then he remembered her sending her sympathy to Mal for his brother’s death. “Sometimes, I forget he’s dead. Anyway, he was taller and bigger than me.”
    Brows pinched together, Lizzie reached over and took his hand. “I’m sorry, Mal. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost Jamie.”
    He shook his head and swallowed hard, like he was holding back tears. “Enough of this talk. This is a celebration, remember?”
    Lizzie ruffled Jamie’s hair. “That’s right. Why don’t you help Mama peel potatoes while Mal and I go do chores? Mal will do yours today.”
    “Sure thing, I’d rather peel potatoes than muck stalls.” Jamie gathered his books to take them to his room.
    “I bet Mal would, too. Ever mucked a horse’s stall before?”
    “You know I haven’t, but mucking doesn’t sound like a chore I’ll like much.”
    “I don’t know.” Lizzie shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d like branding either, but you didn’t mind it.”
    “I admit branding isn’t my favorite chore to do on this ranch, but I also know it has to be done or we can’t identify our cows.” He didn’t tell them he’d rustled a few cows in his previous life. That wouldn’t have gone over well.
    Moments later, they got to the barn and Lizzie pulled two