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The doors to The Homestead burst open as the pickup stopped in front of it, and Cathleen ca around her shoulders She shrieked with joy when she saw Ty step out of the pickup and hurled herself off the steps into his arms
“Hey, you’re getting heavy, Cat” He sly outlined with sooty lashes She was reirl who had just turned seven years old
“Nobody toldhoed his neck
“They didn’t?” Ty shifted her in his arms to smooth out the skirt of her ruffled white pinafore “And I thought you earing this pretty dress just for me”
“I put it on for my Uncle Culley, but I would have worn it for you,” she assured him quickly
“Culley” Ty shot a look at his father, seeking an explanation, as he set his sister down
“Yes,” came the confiring him home this afternoon”
“He’s been sick,” Cathleen informed Ty with an adultlike air and reached to take his hand and lead him up the steps to the house “But he’s better now ’Course, Mommy said he still has to rest a lot”
“When did this co to discern his reaction He ell aware of the bad blood that had been between his father and uncle, and seriously doubted that his father was pleased by O’Rourke’s release from the mental institution
“It’s been discussed frequently these last few months, but the doctor notified your mother of his intention shortly after you phoned last week We had planned to tell you e flen for your graduation” It was a statement of fact with no opinion offered, and none was visible as Chase Calder opened the front door and the three of them trooped into the house
“I’ve never seen Uncle Culley before Have you?” Cath-leen’s patent-leather shoesbeside her older brother
“Yes” But hison the brink of e he wanted to relate to his little sister
“What was he like?”
“It was a long tied a lot since the last time I saw him”
Her look becahtfully troubled “Do you think he’ll likeof the Triple C, adored by everyone With the sharpness of a child’s perception, she had sensed the undercurrents surrounding her uncle’s i about her uncle thatlove and approval was the worst thing she could iine