Page 52 - Homestead By Ann Newhouse

I went on the next drive with Mitch and the rest of the team, excluding Josh this time. John wanted his son to accompany him to town on business. He was doing his best to keep Josh on a tight leash. Sofie waved me off, telling me to be careful, and making a dinner date on my return in a few days.
This time we were going south. I recognised the name of the place we were driving to, although I’d never been there. After riding for a couple of days, and only stopping to water the horses and cattle, we settled near a small market town. We set up camp and then Mitch and I rode into town to get a few beers to bring back to camp for some of the lads. Having one to clear the dust from our throats, I asked Mitch how things were, and did he get any information from his mother about how they came to settle in Homestead. He told me his mother seemed to be reluctant to give him much information, but she did say his father, Buck, made some kind of a deal with John Tirrell who promised to look after them if anything happened. I realised Mitch would have only been a baby and would not have known much about his surroundings at the time of the fire and the devastation it had caused. I promised to let him see the cuttings about the fire. I was still not certain it would be a good idea for him to read the letters, as I still didn’t know, for sure, who had written them.
Mitch had already confirmed that the document looked like his parents wedding certificate. Although Mitch didn’t question the reason my mother had his parents wedding document, I got the feeling it worried him a little. I didn’t know what we were expecting to discover. Mitch promised to ask his mother some questions about the early days. I wanted to find out why my mother had kept the letters and paper cuttings, and why they were important enough to keep them hidden and why she had insisted I have them. That was my main concern.
“Oh, honey I’ve missed you.” Sofie hugged and kissed me passionately when I returned to the cabin. “I’ve missed you too, but Sofie we have to stop sneaking around. Your father has to be confronted.”
“Ned I’m scared, you know what he is capable of. If you are going to tell him about us, we need to be ready to leave if we have to. I’ll go with you, but I need time to sort Josh out.”
“Josh can look after himself. Johanna told me Josh and Mitch know about us. So, it would be better not involving Josh. I think there is something amiss with Mitch and his mother, involving your father.”
Sofie did not bat an eye when I made this statement. I felt Sofie was holding back information that would maybe, hurt her father, but I left it at that. We had a coffee and Sofie lured me to her bed. I