Tobias watched with a critical frown as Nate led the horses, but he didn't intervene. Behind him, Anne sat up when the question was asked.

Tobias definitely preferred farm talk.

"She's still poorly... Hopefully Anne's presence will help her feel better." He wasn't going to tell his brother that his wife was half mad, and he hoped Nate wouldn't stay long enough to find out.

"I gather Anne here and her sister are close, so that should help." Nate said.

Anne blushed and looked away as if she had been caught in a crime.

"Aye... I hope so..." muttered Tobias. They were leaving the village behind. The road climbed a little and the horses slowed down. Soon the paved road made way for a sandy one. Some marked sheep lay on the road and lazily moved out of the way as they approached. "You should go and see Bess while you're here." Or stay there instead, he added in thought. Of course hers was not their ancestral home, but then again, her household was not currently a zoo, an over-crowded one at that. "How long did you say you were here for?"

"Well," Nate began hesitantly. "For a while, I should think. My last visit made me see that I have been away from home for too long." A fabrication to spare his own ego. "So, I have decided to reestablish my legal work in the area. And all thanks to you, Toby. Showing me the light..." the cart rolled on.

God have mercy! What had he done to deserve this? Did that mean Nate was going to stay until he could settle? As if the house wasn't already in a state of permanent chaos. The last thing he needed was his brother, of all people, for an audience.

He bit his tongue and stared ahead. "That's quite a change. There was a time you couldn't move away soon enough," he finally commented, hoping to instill some of that old spirit in his brother. It had suited them both quite nicely.

Nate didn't look at his brother, he didn't want to. He kept staring at the twitching ears of the horses in front. It was if the beasts wanted in on this conversation.

"I was to set up in Whitby, rooms and an office. Will that be far enough away for you?"

Tobias pressed his lips together and frowned. "That's not what I meant." It really was.

They turned a bent and their childhood home came into view, its exterior altered very little since Nate and Tobias had been boys, though the cart shed in the back of the yard had been rebuilt to allow space for new machinery.

"Well then, we can all be one big happy family again. You, Alice, Bess, me. Won't that be nice?" Nate replied, his words twisted and wrapped around the truth to fit his present argument: to annoy his brother. Properly lawyer like.

Tobias kept his lips pressed together. He knew his brother was taunting him, and he wouldn't grace it with a reply. He quietly wondered whether Nate's dislike of him ran so deep that he had decided to move back to the area solely to get under his skin.

As soon as the vehicle stopped in the yard, Anne jumped out, leaving her bag behind, and bolted towards the house.

"Anne!" Tobias called after her. She didn't stop but ran into the house. Tobias looked up. Alice was looking down from bedroom window, her pale forehead pressed against one of the glass panes. When she saw her husband looking up, she stepped away and disappeared from view. Tobias climbed down, took Anne's bag and handed it to Nate. "You go on in. Jenny's in. She'll make you some tea while I tend to the horses."

"Fine."

Nate dismounted and retrieved not only own bag from the cart, but young Anne's as well. He had no desire to brush horses or hang tackle, so he might as well be useful. Besides, Anne had seemed so desperate to see her sister on the train, Nate could understand her bolting at the first opportunity. So Nate took the bags and headed inside.