The Texan
by Donna and Toni


As Finley MacNab rode back alone from the successful horse auction he'd attended, his thoughts were, as usual, on his teenaged son, Otto. The boy had formed a close friendship with Benito Garza, the owner of the ranch they were living at, and in so doing, was pulling further and further away from he himself, his own father. Otto spoke Spanish like a native by now, and as he often did, Finley found himself talking to his late wife, Kate, as he rode.

He'd missed her terribly since she and their infant daughter had died of fever back in Edinburgh, Scotland years ago, and he'd thought that the then ten year old Otto and he would be able to make a new start here in Texas. Now there was talk that General Santa Ana's forces were getting ready to mount an attack against the fledgling territory struggling for their independence, and he knew that if war did break out, he would fight, and most likely die, in his new land.

He was shaken from his thoughts by suddenly noticing that the road he was riding on bore no resemblance to the one that led to his home!  Could he have gotten that preoccupied with his thoughts that he'd turned down a different road than the one he'd been traveling for years? Stopping his horse, he looked around; then he saw, a little ways ahead, a sign, and walked the horse up to it. "Edan," he said to himself. His brows knitted in a small frown, as he didn't recall any town by that name anywhere in the territory that he'd ever seen.
Still, it was somewhere to go, so he urged the horse into a trot,
hoping to make it to some kind of shelter by nightfall.

The road he was on passed by several farmsteads, all of which seemed to be unoccupied. One of them especially made him draw his horse up and pause to admire it. What a wonderful looking place! At last he came to a farm with fields full of livestock, and as he turned down the road leading to the main house, the sound of feminine voices raised in laughter could be heard.

People, at last! he thought to himself; he trotted the horse a little faster, until he came to the front gate of the main house. He dismounted, tied his horse to the hitching rail out front, and opened the gate, walked up to the front door, and knocked. Maybe these people could shelter him for the night, if he were lucky.

He heard a young sounding voice yell, "I'll get it!" and after a moment a pretty little red head opened the door, and to his surprise, gasped and covered her mouth!

She was definitely still in her teens, and he removed his hat quickly, holding it in both large hands as he said, a little nervously, "Pardon me, Miss, but I got myself turned around somehow on the way home from a horse auction, and I was wonderin' if the man of your house might be home?" He was certainly not going to ask this young girl if he could spend the night in her home! There had to be at least one man living there, at least he hoped so. The last thing he wanted to do was make a family of women nervous with a male stranger in the house overnight. He'd sleep outside under a tree first.

"Who is it, Ceara?" a definitely male voice called out from a nearby sitting room. "Bring whoever it is in!" The young girl managed to find her voice and to invite the newcomer in. She escorted him into the room where the others were. Samuel Grey looked up and raised an eyebrow. He had his hands out in front of him, and a tall, slender woman with dark hair was wrapping yarn around them in a figure eight pattern.

Grey started to rise, but Charity fussed at him. "Be still Sam!" She turned, did a double take, and then laughed. "Howdy! I'm Charity! This here is Sam, and the blushing girl hiding behind you is Ceara. Welcome to Edan! Did you just arrive?"

He relaxed as he saw what appeared to be a normal family, even if the mother did look a little young to be the mother of a teenager, but that was none of his business. He wasn't sure what she meant by "just arrived"; maybe she meant in this town. "Yes, Ma'am, I did. My name is Finley MacNab, originally from Edinburgh Scotland, but lately of the town of San Antonio, in the territory of Texas. I was on my way home to the Garza ranch when I lost my way. Would anyone around here know how to set me back on the right trail?" Everyone for miles around knew who Benito Garza was; his family had been Spanish nobility.

"San Antonio?" Charity said with a grin. "I'm from a little north of that. As for the trail to the Garza place, I'm afraid you can't get there from here. Ceara, hon, would yah get our guest some coffee? And bring some of Sam's good stuff. Mr. MacNab might be needing it when he hears the whole story." She took off the yarn from Sam's hands, and together, the two of them explained just where he was, and that there was no turning back to the old world he had just came from.

It took awhile; when they were done, Finley said nothing for a long moment, though his face was pale. Then he raised tear filled eyes to the adults and said softly, "That means I'll never see my son again. At least he has Benito to look after him; he loves the boy almost as much as I do, and Otto is almost a man himself. He'll be all right without me." He tried to make his sniffle as inconspicuous as possible, and wiped at his eyes quickly with his hand; looking at his hosts, he forced a small smile, as he told them, "I'm sorry; it's just that since his Ma and little sister died years ago, Otto and I have sort of depended on each other. He'll be all right; I taught him well
how to take care of himself, and he has another family to take care of
him." He sounded like he was convincing himself as much as he was his
new friends.

The next thing he knew, he had two lovely young women with their arms around him, giving him comfort. "Who knows," Charity said gently. "There are some people here that came from different points in their lives, but people that knew them said that they were there after the point in time they came here, living on! So, although you may miss him terrible, back on Earth, he still has you."

That thought made him feel better, though he still didn't understand how it could be. But he wasn't the sort of person to ask questions that could never be answered; so he smiled at his hostesses, and told them, "Thank you for that. And now, since there is no way for me to return home, I am going to have to impose on your hospitality and ask if there's anyplace I might shelter tonight; if you have room in your barn, I can stay out there with my horse. I don't want to be in anyone's way." It was logical, to him, to assume that Charity was probably Sam's lady, and he did not want them to feel strange about being affectionate with each other because there was a stranger in the house.

"Nonsense," Grey said. "We have plenty of room here in the house. Come! Let's get your horse settled into a stall. The girls will get you something to eat while we do that. And tomorrow, one of us will take you into town so that you can meet everyone and start thinkin' about what you wa' to do here. 'Tis a brand new world here, my friend!"