The sun was setting as Nova and Jese rode toward the homestead.  Log railings threw long patterned shadows across the land; blades of grass sparkled from the last glints of sunlight.  The homestead looked like it rested upon a heavenly golden cloud.

A strange feeling overwhelmed her.  "Jese, would you take Twilight?  I need to check on Mama."

He caught the reins with a smile and led her horse away.  That expression conveyed more than words ever could.  That he was here now... no matter what happened.

The homestead was silent.  The thud of the door closing behind her echoed in the empty room, and then she was greeted by an eerie - deathly - silence.  Deathly?

Nova's feet hit the stairs, taking them two at a time.  "Mama?  Mama?"

Her guilt was almost tangible.  While she was making love beside the river - had her mother been at home slowly dying?  Maybe fearful of what lay before her?

Was she now the last one standing? Was her entire family was gone?  

She wasn't alone, Nova reminded herself, as she wove her way through the rooms upstairs to her mother's bedside, she had Jese now. Skidding to a halt by her mother's bed she saw the pale face on the pillows. Nova clasped her wrist and felt, somewhere in the depths of that limb, a faint pulse. She'd been wrong. Her mother was still here.  If barely.

"Nova?" The voice was feeble.

Putting her lips to her mother's forehead Nova could feel the skin burning with fever. "Yes, Mama?"

"You are here."

"Of course," tears spilled down her cheeks. "I'm sorry I was late!" 

Her mother brushed her hand in the air. Dismissing Nova's comment airily. "I wanted to tell you something before I go."

"You aren't going anywhere," Nova replied.

"Listen to me," her mother told her firmly. "You need to hear this."

"OK."

"It's your father."

Great. So now she was going to divulge some secret that was bound to shatter Nova's life for the rest of forever? Nova had heard about death bed confessions but had never thought that she would be the proud recipient of one.  

She wasn't Earl Radcliffe's daughter after all?  He was a greedy, self-indulgent man who only thought of himself and his own whims.  Just to think her darling mother might have had some other man on the side...

"Take that look off your face!" Her mother scolded. "I'm not going to tell you anything exciting. He is your blood."

Nova's heart sank.

"You were always so scared of marriage, because of your father. I noticed you avoiding men like the plague.  But you need to know that it wasn't because he was a man, that he treated us so badly, it was because he was sick."

Nova's reply was silent confusion.

"He was sick for alcohol, he couldn't live without it. But when he was a younger man... before it had him in its grip, he was quite the loveliest man you could possibly meet."  Nova's mother glanced at her now, "No need to look so dubious.  I'm not lying to you.  He was a witty man, generous and full of life and heart.  But then he started drinking.  It probably didn't help him that he'd married me.  He would follow around after me like some love struck fool but all I was ever interested in was you... and when I wasn't leaning over your cot I was lost making art.I ignored him woefully."

"That is no excuse for him to treat you like that!"

Her mother shrugged. "You both have to work as hard as each other to keep the flame alive. If one of you isn't trying, or if - god forbid - neither of you are trying then it is destined for disaster." She struggled to breathe in. "When I first held you in my arms I saw this little bundle of hope. That is why I called you Nova... the Hopi name for chases butterflies.  Yet, all I've seen you chase is debt and responsibility. It's my life's biggest regret that I should die before I see you happy."

Nova smiled shyly. "Well... You don't need to worry about that."  She dug the nugget of gold out of her bodice. "I just found this.  It seems our Ranch might be covered in gold." She watched as her mother's mouth fell open. "So you really don't have to worry about anything."

"Nova?" The masculine voice from the doorway caught the attention of both women.  They turned to gaze at the startling attractive cowboy.  With such broad shoulders and devilishly black eyes.  Not for the first time, Nova wondered if he was a figment of her imagination. "Can I come in?"

"Of course, Jese." Nova turned to her mother. "You do remember that I told you I'm married now?"

"Married?" A confused look crossed her mother's face. "I think I remember something about that.  You married Jose Caulder?" Her mother gazed up at her son in law in pride. "Well, I never. A good fine man. Perhaps the only person on earth more stubborn than you!"

Jese laughed.  "When we work against each other we can really create chaos!"

 "If you both work together you will be unstoppable."  Helaku reached for Nova's hand and glanced at Jese one last time.  "Look after her."  She whispered.  Her eyelids fluttered closed.

"Mama?"

"She must need rest."

But the expression was too relaxed.  Too serene.  Nova grasped for her wrist.  That weak pulse had slowed considerably.  "She's dying, Jese."  Tears poured down her cheeks, splashing onto her mother's frail hand.  "We need to find the Doctor."

With a firm kiss on her forehead and a whispered remark, he was out of the door and the house like a lightening bolt.  

While she sat alone with her mother, feeling Helaku's skin cooling under her touch, her husband's whispered words kept her strong.  You have me now.