Questions of Honour. Kate Welsh

She looked down at Daniel’s hands then, expecting them to be black from the coal. Her anger dissolved in a heartbeat. “Oh, my good sweet Lord! Daniel, what have you done to yourself?”

      Daniel shrugged his shoulders, but still refused to look her in the eye. “It ain’t so bad.”

      “Oh, but it ‘tis,” she cried and sank into the dust at his feet, taking his bleeding hands in her own. “We’ll fix you up right and proper in a blink.”

      “So did you find the lad?” Brendan called as he walked around the corner of the house. Abby glanced up as Brendan stopped short, shock in his eyes. His jaw turned to granite. “My father told you not to come ‘round here. You aren’t welcome.” He shifted his eyes to Daniel and raised one eyebrow, considering his appearance. “And you, boyo. From the look of you, I’d say you acted on that harebrained idea you had.”

      “Yes, sir,” Daniel admitted quickly.

      “After I told you to do no such thing?”

      “But I—”

      “No buts,” Brendan snapped. Daniel nodded silently. “Go get cleaned up. I’ll deal with you later.” There was an implicit parental threat in Brendan’s tone.

      Joshua stiffened visibly and turned to face Brendan. Daniel moved forward, but Joshua stopped him with a restraining hand on the shoulder. “I don’t want him punished further. His hands are punishment enough.”

      Brendan squinted against the glare of the setting sun. “Since you gave up any right to Daniel long ago, I’d say what you want is of no importance. I don’t want you within fifty feet of the boy from here on out. It’s obvious you aren’t a good influence. He’s never disobeyed me so defiantly before.”

      Joshua let go of Daniel and curled his hands into fists. Abby could see him trying to control his anger. “I never abdicated my right to be Daniel’s father. It was stolen from me. Nothing any of you say will keep me away from my son, Brendan. Now that I know about him, I intend to see to his interests.”

      Brendan tossed aside the bucket and charged forward. Josh’s horse shied and Josh stepped between him and Abby and Daniel. She scurried out of the way and pulled Daniel with her as Josh gained control of his mount. As he turned away and toward Brendan, her brother threw a punch that glanced off Joshua’s jaw. It rocked Joshua a bit but he ducked away and let go of the horse’s reins.

      Josh backed off, holding up his hand to forestall Brendan. “I don’t want to fight you, but I’m getting dammed sick of you throwing punches without giving fair warning. Why is it you’re so opposed to my seeing Abby and Daniel?”