Marshaling her heart, p.16
Marshaling Her Heart, page 16
Brand gave Nell a nervous look. “I don’t think her starting a newspaper would be that good for their marriage right now.” He looked after his daughter and gave a worried frown. “On the other hand, I’m not sure things could get much worse.”
Nell patted him on the shoulder.
Becky did her best not to laugh. She looked at Nate and said, “You’re not going to be a troublesome husband, I hope. I’d hate to fall into Percy’s devious clutches in an effort to save my marriage.”
Nate sounded falsely gruff when he scowled at her. “Let’s go home, woman. I can’t wait to start managing you.”
Becky grinned. “I can’t wait to see you try it.”
Telling their friends goodbye, they mounted up and rode for home. They’d have ridden with Brand and Nell, but they were a bit slower getting going.
After a few quiet minutes of riding, Becky asked, “When do you think they were matchmaking?”
Nate tilted his head as if searching for the answer. “That day they came out for coffee to spread the town news maybe? They didn’t make a fuss about my coming in with you, but then I came in without their having to ask.”
They rode on again in silence as they considered that. Finally, Becky said, “Nell was right. They weren’t any good at it.”
Nate laughed, and Becky joined him.
When the laughter ended, Nate said, “Let’s get home.”
“My first chance to obey my husband. So far I can handle it just fine.”
They set their horses to a ground-eating gallop even as Becky had a shiver of nerves and wondered why they were in such an all-fired hurry.
But they sure enough were.
22
We need more help.” Nate nearly staggered as he reached the door to Becky’s back entry. He held the door open, and Becky managed a thank-you smile. Her shoulders were slumped, though, her boots dragging.
He and Becky had been working since just after sunup. They’d’ve gotten started earlier except they’d welcomed the morning by spending some time . . . being married.
Finally they’d gotten on with the day, and both of them were now reeling from how hard it was to run a ranch of this size, just the two of them.
While Nate still regretted coming as a penniless cowpoke to a wealthy woman, it couldn’t be denied that he’d been a big help to her.
“I’ve got an idea where to get the help.”
Becky sank onto a chair at the table, dragging a canvas bag of jerky and water along with her. It was the same meal they’d had at noon. And they’d had it for a couple of snacks. It sure helped to be starving.
“This is all we’ve got to eat. I just don’t have the strength to cook. We should’ve stopped hours ago, but as it is, we still left a dozen chores for tomorrow. And tomorrow has got its own chores. You’re right—we need help. But I can’t think of a single man around to hire. What’s your idea?”
“What if we rode to town tomorrow to eat at the diner?”
“We don’t dare. There’s no time.”
Nate took a strip of the jerked beef and dreamed of a meal at Clint’s. “If we come home with some help, we can justify the time away.”
“Who do you have in mind? And how will you explain our being here alone?”
Nate nodded while he chewed the tough beef, which tasted wonderful and helped mightily toward mollifying his terrible hunger. His belly had been so empty, his backbone was rubbing up against his navel. “The explanation is a version of the truth that leaves out the details. We had enough men when our main cowpokes headed out on the cattle drive. Then our skeleton crew took off and left us with no help.”
Becky poured them both a glass of water and mulled over his idea, though not for long. “All true. Who’d you think of to hire, then? I wondered if Brand might come out for a bit. He’ll frown on sleeping here. He has to ride to town to keep Nell and his daughters from being on the trail alone, so he couldn’t stay too long.”
“Brand’s a good idea. Let’s ask him. My idea is a little outside the normal way of thinking, I reckon. Let’s see if we can get Leland and Samantha Blodgett out here. Maybe Warren, Leland’s younger brother. Joy can come, too.”
Until school started its fall term, Joy was busy making chaps for Nell. She’d probably jump at the chance to stop punching holes in leather.
“Maybe Samantha and Joy can run the house,” Nate suggested. “Leland and Warren are no cowpokes, but they can ride. We won’t ask them to rope or brand. Not much need of that this time of year, and if a horse or cow comes up lame or needing help, we can do that ourselves. But they can help us move cattle to new pastures and check the herds. And they can do some of the chores around the ranch. Samantha and Joy, too. Homesteaders can always use a little cash money.”
“They have things they’re doing now. Leland and Warren are supposed to stay put on their claims.” Becky was tossing out problems, yet Nate could see she was just thinking out loud, trying to see what might stop the youngsters from helping them. That way she’d be ready to solve any problems they presented her and Nate with.
“We won’t keep them away long enough for it to ruin their chances to prove up.” Nate picked up another strip of jerky but couldn’t quite make himself eat it. He stuffed it back in the bag. “A week or two, maybe a month, and the Marshals will be back. Not much longer after that and your cowhands will return from the drive. We’ll have to send the Blodgetts back home once we’re a hideout for the U.S. Marshals.”
“Warren or Leland can ride over to their homesteads and do their chores. Or maybe Brand would agree to go milk their cows and feed their critters.”
He nodded and saw the exhaustion fade a bit from her eyes. He was finding himself mighty fond of his new wife. “We can pay them in cows if they want.”
Becky smiled, seeming to like that idea. “Barter their time for beef on the hoof. I’m surely cow-rich. It might work.”
Nate took her hand. “We are cow-rich, Mrs. Paxton. Not just you.”
Becky turned her hand around to clasp his. “I find that notion appeals to me, Nate. It’s nice being a we and not just an I.”
They talked over what lay ahead as they filled their bellies. Nate saw that there was enough jerky left over for breakfast.
“If they agree to come and help us, maybe we can work them all so hard, Samantha and Leland will stop their squabbling.” Becky drained her water glass, stood, and picked up the canvas bag she’d laid on the table.
“As one of the older children in my home, I often found working a pitchfork for ten hours a day settled a fretful mind down nicely.”
“You mean you doled out hard work to control your little brothers and sisters?”
“No, I didn’t mean that. Though now that you mention it, I did do that. What I meant was, Pa did that to me.” He rose and took their glasses to the dry sink, rinsed and tipped them upside down to dry. “Cleaning up after a meal is sure easy when we eat this way.”
Becky laughed quietly. “Let’s get to bed, cowboy. I’m exhausted.”
Of course she was. He was too. After all, they were newlyweds. “Too exhausted?”
Becky turned to look at him, then smiled in a way that was purely encouraging. “No, not too exhausted.”
He took her hand, and they finished up their first full day of being husband and wife in a way that suited him very much.
He had the feeling it suited her, too. And that was enough to thrill a man.
They worked all the next morning, and when Nate came to drag her out of the barn where she’d been cleaning out horse stalls, she refused to quit.
“There’s just no time. If we push hard, we can keep up with what all needs to be done.”
Nate studied her. “You’re doing a job an inexperienced cowhand could do.”
Becky felt her spine go stiff. It was the honest truth that she didn’t like anyone telling her what to do. And the fact that she’d just two days ago promised to obey him made her feel all the more stubborn because she was in the wrong.
But instead of snapping at him to get back to work, it occurred to her she ought to try being reasonable. “I changed my mind about bringing those kids out here, Nate.”
“Because they’ll notice the hands are all gone and talk about it in town?”
“No, our excuse ought to hold up.”
“Because they might get crossways of the trouble around your pa and end up in danger?”
“I hadn’t thought of that. But that is a good reason to keep them away from here.”
“Then why?”
Becky glared at him, then remembered that she was going to be reasonable. “Because it’s embarrassing that I’ve let my ranch get out of control. Letting others see the place like this, especially Brand, who won’t be as gullible as those kids, stomps right on my pride.”
Nate pulled his Stetson off his head. With one gloved hand he smoothed his brown hair back. Becky was watching pretty close, and she thought he was holding the hat so it covered his face, and smoothing his hair in such a way so his hand covered his face. But it wasn’t that well covered. Nate was trying to hide a smile.
She jammed the pitchfork into a pile of dirty prairie grass she used for bedding and stalked right up to him. “Are you laughing at me?”
He clamped his mouth shut and shook his head. She was close enough now to jab him in the stomach, which shook loose a grin, then a chuckle.
“What’s so funny.”
Nate put his hat back on his head, smiling wide. “Why, Mrs. Paxton, I do believe you are guilty of the sin of pride.”
She glared at him, but then a smile snuck onto her face. “Let’s go back to that excuse you came up with about our putting those kids in danger.”
“You do know that those kids, especially Leland, are only a few years younger than you.”
Becky flinched. “Is he? Why does he seem so young?”
“He doesn’t. Not to me. Samantha is sixteen, so you’ve got her beat by a little more than a few.”
Becky tapped her toe on the barn’s dirt floor, then whirled toward the stall where her palomino stood chomping grass. “Let’s go to town. It’s close enough to noon, we can eat. I might start chewing on the barn walls if it’s between that and more beef jerky.”
Nate headed for his stallion. The two of them were saddled up and riding for town within minutes.
When they reached Pine Valley, neither of them talked about doing anything but eating. They entered the diner to find Samantha and Leland sitting at a table with Brand and Nell. Half their workforce was there.
The diner smelled like heaven. Savory and scented with onions and more unusual things. Spices Clint grew himself and added to his recipes. Becky had never heard of garlic or basil before Clint showed up. He used other words more exotic than those, and she’d seen him tearing up green leaves and odd little hard seeds, stirring them into the usual kinds of food like beef, pork, and chicken—producing something that lured folks straight into his diner.
Clint approached with coffee cups and pot in hand and placed the cups on Nell and Brand’s table without asking. Nate grabbed two empty chairs from a nearby table and brought them over.
Samantha, sitting across from Leland, hopped up and slid her chair around so she could sit beside him and make room for Becky and Nate.
“Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Paxton. Your meal is my wedding gift to you.” Clint poured their coffee rather formally but with a big smile, then headed back to the kitchen without asking them what they wanted to eat.
Becky noticed the meal Nell’s family was eating was some kind of chicken and vegetables. Her stomach growled at the sight. The food would be there soon, so she dove right in to what she wanted to say.
“We’ve got trouble, and we think the Nolte family can help us solve it.”
Clint was back with plates of the chicken before anyone finished chewing.
“What can we do?” Nell was a woman to take small bites, so she spoke first.
Becky and Nate took turns explaining their problems. Leland looked hesitant about leaving his own place, but Brand encouraged him and Samantha to say yes. He offered to come out for daytime work and then he’d ride to town to pick up Nell, do Leland’s chores, and Joy and Warren’s too if they agreed to help Becky and Nate.
“I can’t believe you have no cowhands, Becky. What happened?” Nell knew Becky well, and nothing like this had ever happened before. It was out of character for Becky to allow a situation like this to occur.
Becky shoved a bite of food in her mouth and chewed stubbornly, not wanting to explain any more than she already had. And especially not to Nell, her good friend.
“I feel responsible,” Nate said. “One of the cowhands who rode off is my brother. We had three hands left after the bulk of Becky’s cowhands rode out to drive the herd to Denver. Sal, my brother, said he needed to leave for a few days. I objected, but in the end he was going and promised to be back as soon as possible. That left us with two hands. Not enough, but we could get by.
“Once Sal was gone, the others left soon after. I think Sal would’ve stayed with us if he’d known the other hands would abandon us.” Nate looked at Becky. “If you don’t want to rehire him when he comes back, I’ll support you in that. It’s all such a mess, and it’s mostly my fault. Becky, I’m sorry.” Nate turned to the others at the table. “We’d sure appreciate the help.”
Becky didn’t look over at Nate because she was afraid her eyes might be shining. He was taking the blame. Sparing her any blow to her pride. Her sinful pride. Blast the man, he was a flat-out hero, and right now she was so happy to be married to him, she could barely keep from saying so out loud. She got her emotions under control and looked at Brand instead.
“I’ll help,” Brand said. “I’ll come out every day until your hands come back.”
“Thank you. Nell, I know you’re getting help from Samantha and Joy.”
“Leland and Warren work for me, too.”
Good grief, she might be the town’s biggest employer.
“Sewing dresses?” Nate asked.
Nell snorted. “No. They’re all making chaps. But I’m getting closer every day to catching up on the orders. I can spare my helpers for a couple of weeks.”
“Cassie might want to work, too,” Brand added. “She’s a hand with cattle. She can rope a bit, Samantha too. And both can ride, but they’re nowhere near cowhands.”
“Neither am I or Warren.”
Becky nodded. “There are enough simple jobs you could do to help get us through until my men come back. What do you say, Leland? Will you come? Samantha, I hope you and Joy know your way around the kitchen so you can cook for us all. I’ve got a garden that’s getting overgrown. I managed to gather eggs yesterday, but I was doing it around sunset. And checking the herds, that’s a job a good rider can handle without too much trouble. Nate and I will do all the more skilled jobs.”
“Will you teach me how to do some of those skilled jobs?” Leland asked. “I’d like to run my own ranch someday, if I can ever afford to buy the land. You could help me learn what all’s involved, and what skills I’ll need to do a good job of it.”
Becky reached a hand across the table, and Leland shook it. He and Samantha looked into each other’s eyes and smiled.
Samantha said, “It’ll be good for Percival Kintzinger to write and print up his own newspaper for a while. It’s so much better since I went to work there that he raised the price to three pennies from one, and he’s printing more copies. But he’s been a bad boss, and it’ll give me pleasure to quit.” She looked at Leland. “You were right about him treating me poorly. Thank you for standing up for me.”
Leland nodded. “Working there is a fine thing if Percy treats you right. You’re good at it.” He turned to Becky. “And learning more about ranching will help us live a better life out here. Thank you.”
Becky thought the two of them were a bit calmer than she’d seen them before. Maybe by the time they’d finished helping at the ranch, under the watchful eye of Brand during the day and with Becky and Nate on hand, they’d settle in to married life.
“Why aren’t they back?” Joshua Pruitt snarled at Buck, his newest cowhand. A man of low morals but with decent cowboy skills. The perfect hired hand for the Circle J. Joshua, standing beside his barn, slammed a fist into the logs that formed its walls.
Buck shrugged and stared off toward the southeast—the direction the men had ridden. Joshua followed the direction of Buck’s gaze and tried to imagine what was keeping them.
“The shipment must’ve been late,” Buck said.
“It’s been known to happen.” Joshua knew this to be true, yet it didn’t happen often. The man who’d supplied them with news of gold shipments and stages that carried payrolls was reliable. Only Skleen knew who he was.
“They sometimes change routes at the last minute.”
“Could’ve happened that way.” Joshua hit the barn with the side of his fist again. Slower this time. He tried to make himself believe it. “My men are waiting and watching. They’re set up overlooking that trail. Hoping it’s just delayed.”
The fist kept hitting. He wore gloves, but still the pounding hurt his hand. “But for three days?” His voice rose. The power of his fist grew. “No, they wouldn’t wait and watch for three days.”
“For gold they might. If no shipment rolls through, they’ll be back.”
Joshua had a twisted feeling in his gut. Worse than usual. Something had gone wrong. His fist was raw now. He felt blood flow inside the leather. He finally quit pounding because he had to, not because he wasn’t still going mad from the wait and the worry and the rage.
Something had held them back beyond delays. Had they seen a rich haul and divided it between themselves and headed for the hills? Or was it something less than treachery?
“It isn’t the first time Skleen’s brought back poor information.” Grimly, Joshua crossed his arms over his chest. He did it to support his right hand. He had to wonder if he’d broken a bone. This would be the last time Joshua trusted Skleen. The man was arrogant, acted like he was the boss. Joshua intended to teach Skleen a lesson, and it would be the last thing Skleen learned on this earth.
