by Marla Monroe
“What do I do, Danny? Oh, God. He’d going to drown if we don’t get him out of there.”
“Calm down, Rachel. We’ll get him. Put it down right next to that tree. Nice and easy.”
Danny talked her through it and then came over and got in with her after tying a rope around something on the front. He hovered the transport out to where Andrew was and draped the rope over in his direction. It took Andrew several tries to get the rope, but he finally did and draped it over the cow’s neck.
“What’s he doing? Why isn’t he putting it on himself?” she cried out.
“He’s tangled up with the cow. It will work better to pull the cow and let him work himself free with it. You’ll see.”
Danny began to ease the transport backward, and the cow’s head came around as the rope tightened. It mooed and began moving some toward the transport. Rachel could see Andrew’s head going under the water here and there as the cow moved closer and closer.
“He’s having trouble keeping his head above water.” She worried.
“It’s the waves from the transport. He’ll be okay. Help me watch. We don’t want to pull too fast, or we’ll jerk the cow off its legs.”
“Oh, God.” Rachel was afraid she was going to be sick.
Chapter Seven
They backed up slowly, and the cow finally started trying to help. Andrew held on to the rope as they moved closer to drier land. When they were at the edge of where the mud started, he let go of the rope and slowly crawled out of the mud and collapsed on the grass. The cow followed the pull of the rope until they had it well away from the muddy water.
“Set it down, and let me out.” Rachel tried to climb out of the transport, but Danny grabbed her and held on to her arm until he had the thing on the ground.
“Okay, now you can go see about him. Stay away from the cows.” Danny laughed when she threw herself all over Andrew, mud and all.
“Are you okay? Did you swallow any water?” Rachel rolled Andrew over on his side and rubbed his back.
“I’m okay,” he finally whispered. “Need to get my breath back.”
“What about your legs? Are they okay?” she asked.
“They’re fine.”
She continued to rub his back until he started gagging and threw up a bellyful of water. She had known he needed to by the way his face looked all green and sick looking. Once he’d finished being sick, she helped him move closer to the funny-looking yellow tree. Danny was using the transport to pull the other cow out of the mud now. It wasn’t behaving and was trying to walk deeper into the stream.
Finally, while they watched, Danny managed to drag the second cow from the mud. It was limping some, and Andrew shook his head.
“We may have to go ahead and butcher that one tomorrow. If it has a bad leg, it won’t be any good to graze.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“It won’t eat if it can’t stand sturdy on all four hooves. We could put it in the barn and feed it, but it will work just as well to go ahead and butcher it and put up the meat for the winter than to baby it just to kill it next year.
“It seems so cruel to raise them and then kill them.” Rachel knew it was how they lived.
Danny walked over and squatted next to them.
“How are you doing?” he asked Andrew.
“Better now, thanks.”
“Why hadn’t you all already called me?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
“Honestly, we didn’t think of asking you for help, honey,” Danny said. “It didn’t dawn on us you might could bring the transport out to us. We know you can, now.”
Rachel just nodded and continued to hold Andrew in her arms. It hurt that they hadn’t thought she could help. She wanted to be a part of the ranch, as well as their wife. So far, she really wasn’t even their wife. They never had gone and had the ceremony performed. It honestly hadn’t bothered her until just then.
“Let’s get him home so he can shower and rest.” Danny stood up. “I’ll bring the horses. You can handle the transport, can’t you?” he asked, looking at Andrew.
“If he can’t, I can,” she said.
“Let him handle it, Rachel.” Danny hugged her and walked off.
Andrew rolled over to get to his knees and stand up. Rachel helped him then walked behind him as he walked toward the transport. She got in on the other side and didn’t say anything on the ride back to the house.
Once they arrived, she helped him down and into the house. She peeled his clothes off of him in the mudroom and dropped them by the washtub. He climbed the stairs on shaky legs with her right behind him should he start to fall.
Rachel turned on the water and adjusted it to a nice, warm temperature that wouldn’t scald him but would help work some of the soreness from his muscles. He had to be hurting, as much as they had pulled on his legs and hips. She stripped down so she could help him shower. Then once he was clean, she dried him off and put him to bed.
She turned to go when he caught her hand. “Thanks, Rachel.”
“I didn’t do anything.” She squeezed his hand and left him to rest.
About the time that she got back downstairs wearing a T-shirt and panties, Danny walked in. He looked haggard and exhausted. She knew he was worried about Andrew. So she told him he was resting in bed now.
“He did fine in the shower, but he’s going to be sore tomorrow, I’m sure.”
“I put the cow in the barn until we decide what to do for sure. It’s limping pretty badly. I wouldn’t be surprised to find it on the ground when we check tomorrow,” he said.
“Do I need to go check on it or feed it?” she asked.
“Naw, it will be fine till tomorrow.” He walked back to the mudroom again and pulled off his jeans and shirt. He left his boots at the back door with Andrew’s. “Thanks for helping us.”
“I’m part of the ranch, too, aren’t I? I’ll always help if you need me to.”
He just patted her on the head and slowly climbed the stairs. Rachel bit her lower lip to try and stop the tears from falling. She’d almost lost Andrew today, and neither man realized that she wanted to be a part of everything, not just the garden and the house. She didn’t feel like she belonged anymore.
Did anyone realize they hadn’t done the ceremony? Did they wonder why? Rachel wondered why. They had assured her they would go back and do it the next week, but it had gotten away from them. She had to be honest, she’d forgotten about it as well, but now that she remembered it, she wanted it. She would talk to them about it as soon as Andrew was feeling better.
Sometime during the night, Andrew spiked a fever and started coughing. Rachel sat up with him all night, sponging him off to keep the fever down and giving him lots of water to drink.
She made Danny go to the other room so he would get some sleep. He would need to deal with the animals alone over the next few days. Andrew would be sick for a while, she was sure. She just hoped it didn’t turn into pneumonia.
The next day, he seemed some better but was still coughing. She had him sit up for an hour, ever three or four, even though he obviously didn’t feel like it. She was scared it would settle in his lungs if he didn’t move around. Finally, she called into town to talk to the doctor about it. He assured her that she was doing the right things and that if it got worse, to bring him in for some antibiotics.
She squeezed in the housework around taking care of him. Then she managed to cook supper for them to be ready when Danny got back inside. She knew it had to be hard on him handling everything by himself. She wished they had the ranch hands now to help.
“Where’s Danny?” Andrew asked again.
“He’s still out working. It’s not time for him to be here yet. He’ll be in soon.” She refrained from calling him up on the radio since she didn’t need anything, but she wanted to check on him, too.
Finally, he walked in looking worn and frazzled. She handed him a glass of iced tea and helped him pull off his boots. He stripped in the kitche
n, and she didn’t say anything as he made his way up the stairs, naked and exhausted.
Rachel cleaned up after him then checked on Andrew to find him asleep. For the first time, he didn’t seem to have a fever. She sighed in relief. As soon as Danny emerged from the shower with a towel around him, she gave him the good news.
“Good, I was getting worried,” Danny admitted.
“I had already been worried enough for both of us,” she confided. “When he wakes up, be sure you tell him about the ranch. He’s been all over me about wanting to know what is going on.”
Danny nodded. “Do you feel up to making me a sandwich?” he asked.
“I have supper ready for you. It’s warming in the oven. Come on downstairs.”
He followed her down, and Rachel set up his plate with vegetables and meatloaf. He smiled and began eating like a starved man. She was sure he probably was. He hadn’t bothered coming in for lunch, and if she hadn’t been worried about leaving Andrew alone, she would have taken him a sandwich if she could have found him.
“What about the cow?” she finally thought to ask.
“I’ll butcher it tomorrow. Had too many other things to do today.”
“Do you need my help? If Andrew doesn’t run a fever tonight, he’ll be okay for a couple of hours tomorrow while I help you and tend to the garden.”
Danny looked at her and nodded. “If you think you can handle it. Once I get it gutted, I’ll need help putting up the meat. It’s a messy job, Rachel.”
“It has to be done, though, right?”
“Right,” he agreed.
“If I can handle Andrew throwing up on me, I can handle a little cow’s blood.”
* * * *
Danny woke the next day to an empty bed again. He had slept in the other room to be sure to sleep since Andrew was still coughing off and on all night. Rachel was sleeping with him to keep him turned during the night, so he didn’t sleep in one place. He would be glad when they were all back in the same bed again. He missed them, especially Rachel.
She had breakfast on the table for him with a fresh cup of coffee.
“How’s Andrew this morning?”
“Doing better. He coughed most of the night, but he’s turning himself more without me having to remind him.”
“Did he run any fever?”
“Just a low-grade, and it was gone by five. Call me on the radio when you’re ready for me to help you with the meat,” she reminded him.
He couldn’t help but be glad that she wanted to help. He was worn out already and still had the entire day ahead of him. She seemed strained, though, he decided. Was it just worry over Andrew, or was something else on her mind? She’d been that way ever since Andrew had gotten hurt. Too tired to worry with it right then, Danny promptly forgot about it and walked outside to check on the animals in the barn. The horses were all okay, but their stalls needed tending, as well as the cow. It was actually standing on its bad leg some this morning, but it wasn’t well by any means. He would go ahead as planned once he finished everything else he needed to do.
After mucking the stalls and feeding the horses, he saddled up his horse and rode out to check on the rest of the herd. As he rode past the garden, he saw Rachel working in it and thought again about her acting strange. Once again, it slipped his mind when he found the dead cow with the tracks all around it.
“Damn it to hell.” He growled. The creature was back. The dogs hadn’t even barked. He worried then that they were hurt or dead when he didn’t see them, but as he rode farther out, he found them trying to keep the herd from wandering farther out into the range. They were spooked. No doubt the creature had done that and the dogs went with them to round them back up.
He returned to the site of the dead cow and figured it had been dead about three hours. That meant the thing had killed it around three that morning. It had also eaten a good portion of it there and possibly taken part of it off with it. He rode back to the ranch and grabbed a shovel before riding back out to dig a hole for the rest of the cow. They couldn’t leave it for scavengers to get to. They would keep the cows spooked, and it ran the risk of causing disease.
Once he had finished with the cow, he had the dogs bring the cows up close to the house and hold them there. He needed a shower to get the dirt and dead cow off of him before he tended to the other animal.
“Hey, you okay, Danny?” Rachel asked when he walked inside a little after noon.
“Yeah, need a shower before I work on the cow,” he told her. He wouldn’t tell her about the dead one or the creature. She had enough to worry with now.
“I’ll make you a sandwich. You need something in your stomach before you get busy again,” she said.
He grunted an answer and headed upstairs. When he walked into the bedroom, it was to find Andrew sitting up in the chair wearing a T-shirt and a pair of sweats.
“How is everything?” the other man asked.
“Everything’s fine. I’m just cleaning the dirt off of me before I butcher that cow. Don’t want dirt on the clean meat.”
“Liar, but I’ll find out when I get back out there.”
Danny grinned and headed for the shower. He scrubbed and rinsed then got out and dried off. When he walked back out into the bedroom, Andrew was nodding off in the chair. He grabbed his clothes and carried them down the hall to dress so he wouldn’t wake Andrew up. He was sure sleeping was good for him. He wanted him to get well.
Rachel handed him a sandwich and a glass of tea when he walked downstairs a few minutes later.
“Was Andrew awake while you were out there?” she asked.
“He was when I went up, but he’s asleep in the chair now.”
“I’m glad he got to see you before he fell back asleep. He was getting worried about you.”
“Thanks for the sandwich. I’ll call you on the radio when I get to the point that I need you. I’ll be out behind the garage on that slab of concrete out there. Bring the three big pans that are on top of the fridge when you come. I’ll have everything else we’ll need, I think.” Danny finished his glass of tea and handed it back to her before walking out the back door.
He grabbed the cow and sighed as he pulled it along behind him limping the entire way. He hated this part of ranching.
Chapter Eight
Rachel had to make her aching legs walk up the stairs so she could take a shower. She felt totally wiped out. He arms hurt, her head hurt, and her calves cramped from being on them for so long standing in one place.
By the time she made it up the stairs, she couldn’t remember how many bags of meat they’d put up. To top it all off, her hands already looked like prunes from soaking the meat in the ice water to remove the blood. What she thought would be a couple of hours of work had turned into nearly five for her.
Poor Danny was still dealing with the cleanup. She had to check on Andrew and see about supper for all of them, so she hadn’t really gotten off that easy.
Andrew was sitting up in bed with an open book in front of him. He looked up when she staggered in the bedroom.
“You look whooped,” he said.
“Never actually helped butcher a cow before. It was interesting.” She headed to the shower, having seen that Andrew was doing okay.
“Do you need help in there?” he called after her.
“Thanks. I’ll be fine. I’m just going to rinse off good and then work on supper. Are you hungry?” she called back.
“A little, not much. I’m not doing anything to be hungry.”
“Your body is healing. You need the sustenance,” she reminded him, then turned on the shower.
She actually sat on the back bench for a few precious seconds, letting her aching feet rest before getting up to scrub off the dirt and blood. She lathered her hair to get the smell of blood out of it. Then she rinsed and got out to dry off. She did a quick dry on her hair with the hair dryer and pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt without bothering with underwear.
By the tim
e she had supper ready, Danny was upstairs in the shower. She carried a plate up to Andrew and then fixed Danny’s plate as well. She really wasn’t very hungry. She nibbled on the vegetables but couldn’t eat anything else. She was ready for bed.
“I’m sleeping with you two tonight. I’m tired of sleeping alone,” Danny announced when he’d finished eating.
“Good, I’m tired of sleeping without you, too. I think Andrew’s coughing is better now, anyway. You should get plenty of sleep.” She yawned and stood up. “Just stack your dishes in the sink. I’m going to bed, I think. I can’t keep my eyes open.”
She stood up and staggered to the stairs. Just as she started to take a step up, Danny walked up behind her and wrapped an arm around her.
“I’ll help you up. You look like you might fall over any minute now.”
“Just haven’t had a lot of sleep lately. I’ll be fine in the morning.” She yawned again, and this time when she finished yawning, she couldn’t get her eyes to open back up.
Danny chuckled and urged her in the direction of the bedroom before picking her up and carrying her to bed. He peeled the T-shirt over her head and then when she climbed into bed, he tugged her shorts off her bottom.
She heard Andrew ask if she was okay.
“Yeah, she’s just dead on her feet. She’ll be fine tomorrow.” Danny covered her up.
The last thing she remembered was Andrew pulling her over next to him and kissing her nose.
* * * *
“So how many have we lost so far?” Andrew asked Danny when they were in the barn, saddling up the horses for the day.
“Only one so far, but that won’t last long now that it knows they’re easy to kill.” Danny tightened the cinch on his saddle.
“Does Rachel know about it?”
“Nope, didn’t tell her about it. I don’t think she needs to know right now. She knows to be careful and stay in after dark.”
