Gordon’s dark eyes stared back. “There’s no way we can get all this fence up today.”
“You can get up enough to keep the cattle in,” Beau snapped.
Gordon shrugged. “Are you going to wait around for the sheriff?”
“I’ll catch him at the house and ride out here with him.”
He pulled himself into the saddle and headed back. Who would want to cut his fence? For what reason? His neighbor on the west side had been here for twenty years. It wasn’t likely he’d do such a thing. But someone had. The thought made Beau nervous.
At the barn, he removed the saddle from Taro’s back, brushed him down, led him to a stall, and stroked his long face. “You’re a beauty, aren’t you?”
Taro threw his head back and whinnied. “Don’t like being called pretty, I see.” Beau chuckled as he fed and watered the horse.
Though he was tending Taro, Beau’s thoughts were on the vandalism. Except for the Callahans and a few other ranchers he’d met in town, Beau was a virtual stranger in these parts. It wasn’t likely that someone had it in for him this soon.
There were his years as a businessman, but they’d been productive years. He’d made a few enemies, but mostly they were what you’d call friendly enemies. In the senate, he’d taken sides, gotten into heated arguments, sometime fought against his own party, but nothing shady.
Maybe it was just kids being mischievous. He hoped that was all this was. He didn’t need more worries.
He gave Taro a pat on the head just as Dugan drove up.
Once more, Beau was struck by how well the Callahan children had done. Dugan slammed the door behind him, tipped his Stetson, and reached out to shake hands.
“Sorry you’re having trouble.”
Beau nodded. He’d met and admired all of the Callahans, including the in-laws and offspring at their annual Labor Day shindig just after he’d moved in last year. That had been an eye-opener. He’d never seen so many family members in the same place at the same time before. They were an impressive lot. Little wonder Nell was so proud of them.
His thoughts flew to Rey and Dani. Lela hadn’t heard from them in the past two weeks. Though Beau was committed to this tough-love thing, he worried about them.
They were young. Perhaps, if he hadn’t interfered, they would have grown out of their self-centered existence, gotten jobs, and become independent young adults on their own.
“Maybe it’s not trouble,” he answered Dugan’s question. “I could be paranoid. The more I think about it, the more I’m inclined to believe it’s nothing to get excited about.”
“Let’s take a look.”
They went to the cruiser. “Tell me about that son of yours,” Beau said as he climbed into the passenger seat.
A grin split Dugan’s face. “I swear Dev’s growing so fast it makes me wonder if he won’t be starting school tomorrow.” He looked over at Beau. “He took his first steps yesterday.”
Beau chuckled. “I’ll bet your camera got a workout. Take advantage of those Kodak moments. You’ll be glad you did.”
For the length of the ride, Dugan regaled Beau with the baby’s antics.
Beau wondered if he’d ever have a grandchild to dote on.
All too soon they were at the fence. Joe was stretching wire, nailing it to the post. Gordon stood there waiting for them.
“Let’s see what you found.”
Beau showed him where the wire had been cut. Dugan walked up and down the fence, encompassing a wide area on both sides before he said anything.
He pushed back his Stetson, wiped his brow at the same time, nodded toward the fence. “It’s been vandalized all right. There are tire tracks that could belong to the perpetrator unless one of you guys was here. You can see where someone drove up the fence line.”
“Wasn’t one of us that I know of,” Beau stated, looking at his men.
“Not me,” they declared. “Unless you count this trailer.”
Dugan shook his head. “Have you checked to see if any cattle are missing?”
Beau swore. “Why didn’t we think of that?”
“We haven’t had rustlers in these parts in years. But someone was back here for some reason, and your fence is down.”
“We’ll check,” Beau said. “But as far as I know there were no cattle in this area last night. Am I right, boys?”
They nodded.
“Then I’ll snap a few pictures and measure the tracks.” Dugan set about doing it. “There’s no indication the pickup was pulling a trailer. So I doubt they were after your cattle.”
“Why would anyone do such a thing?” Beau asked.
“Dunno. Could be kids looking for a little fun. Or someone has a hard on for you.”
“Thanks, sheriff. Do I get to pick which option I prefer?”
“Not trying to be facetious, Beau. Besides, I’m only guessing.”
“Whatcha going to do about it?” Gordon asked.
Beau’s head jerked around at the question. Gordon had that irritating half-grin on his face. As soon as I can find a replacement, I’m firing his ass.
Dugan didn’t answer but went back to his cruiser to use his radio. When he came back, he said, “A couple of deputies will be out to take a mold of the tire tracks.”
“Don’t stop until you have enough of the fence up to protect the cattle,” Beau ordered his men.
As they were leaving, Beau watched in the mirror to see if they were doing as he asked. Joe hadn’t stopped working. He had a strand of wire in his gloved hand, a pair of pliers in the other, while Gordon stood there looking after them.
“Don’t worry about it, Beau. It was probably just kids.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.”
After Dugan left, Beau went in the back door. Two weeks of nothing but problems and work had left him weary. Familiar voices came from the kitchen. His kids were back. His heartbeat kicked up. Pushing open the door that separated the kitchen from the mudroom, he stared in pleasure at his children. Only Dani had tears in her eyes. Rey had a hard look on his face that told Beau he was angry again. Lela was doing her best to placate them.
What now?
His quick burst of anticipation dwindled to a feeling of dread.
“Hi!” he said.
They turned to look at him. No welcoming smiles. No, “Hi! How are you, Dad?” Nothing. Just that accusatory look that made his stomach hurt. The one that made him wonder if he was going about this the wrong way.
He walked over, gave Dani a kiss on the top of her head. Reached over and hugged Rey’s stiff shoulders. “Good to see you.”
“I’ll bet,” Rey sneered.
Beau ignored his son and turned to Dani. “Are you all right?”
She shook her head.
He looked to Lela for guidance, but she turned and went to the stove. He took a silent breath. He was on his own without a clue how to handle this.
“Okay.” He sat at the bar. “Let’s hear it.”
Rey and Dani exchanged glances.
“Are you here for a visit? “ He didn’t think so. But he’d allow them the option to tell him or not.
“We ran out of money,” Dani said, her voice barely audible. “We sold most of our stuff at a pawn shop. All I have left are my clothes, my cell phone, and my car.”
“I thought you had jobs.”
“We tried,” Rey put in.
“How hard?” Beau asked.
“It’s so easy for you, isn’t it? You have your ranch. Your money. You don’t have anything to worry about. We have nothing.”
“That’s not fair, Rey. And you know it.”
“What’s not fair is that you left us with nothing. We’re homeless and broke. Does that make you happy?”
Beau wondered if a person could die from a broken heart. He’d never expected his children to hate him. Nor did he expect them to grow up so oblivious to the truth. “What happened to the jobs?”
Dani looked at Rey. Clearly, she wanted him to tell their st
ory. Just as clearly, Beau could see he didn’t want to.
“Out with it,” Beau growled.
“I got fired,” Rey said. “It wasn’t my fault. I don’t have an alarm clock.”
“Your cell phone does.”
“I didn’t hear it.”
“Surely you wouldn’t get fired if you explained.”
“It happened three times,” Rey said, his voice low with shame.
Beau tried to keep the disgust off his face and turned to Dani. “And you?”
“I quit.”
“Why?”
“Without Rey’s help, I didn’t make enough for us to live on. So here we are. We didn’t know what else to do.” She started to cry.
Beau needed a drink. Lela, sensing his need, put a cup of coffee in front of him. Not exactly what he wanted, but better than nothing.
“What do you want to do?” Beau dreaded their answer, but refused to buckle. Sitting up straight, he waited to hear what they had to say.
“What we want is our life back,” Rey said.
Beau kept his silence. They should know by now that wasn’t an option. At this point, he didn’t trust his voice. Not when he wanted to growl at them to grow up.
Rey came over to stand in front of Beau. “If you still have an opening, I’ll work for you.”
Beau gave a half-laugh. “You’ll have to get up on time here, too. Being my son won’t give you special privileges.”
“I’ll do what I have to do,” he said stiffly. “When I’ve saved enough money, I’m gone.”
“If you do your job, you won’t have a problem. You’ll stay in the bunkhouse with the help and take your orders from the foreman, Frank Gordon. You get paid every Saturday at noon. You’ll be off from then until Monday morning. No one is allowed to be late on Mondays. If anyone doesn’t show, it’s an automatic dismissal.”
“Fine.”
Rey’s mouth was set in a grim line. His eyes flashed both displeasure and determination. Maybe there was hope yet.
Beau turned to Dani. “And you?”
She’d dried her eyes, glared at him. “I don’t know. I’ll go into town tomorrow and see what’s available.”
“Sounds like a plan. I see Lela has dinner ready. We’ll eat.”
“Do they have food in the bunkhouse? If so, I’ll leave now.”
“Don’t be a jerk. Eat.”
They ate in the kitchen to save Lela unnecessary steps into the dining room. But dinner was a silent affair. Only Lela’s presence kept it from being a disaster.
“Just tell me which room,” Dani said after she’d helped Lela clear the table.
When it came to Lela, both Dani and Rey were fast to give a hand. If only that eagerness would spread, this change wouldn’t be so painful for them.
“First room on the right at the top of the stairs,” Beau said.
With a heavy heart, he watched her leave the kitchen. Dani was more beautiful than her mother. He wanted to spoil her still.
From the time his wife died, the children should have been his responsibility. He’d relinquished that burden to Lela. It was easier to give them everything they wanted than to take the time to find out what they needed.
“I’ll help with those dishes after I get Rey settled,” he told Lela.
“Don’t bother,” she said. “I can handle them.”
“I know you can. Just sit and enjoy a cup of coffee until I get back.”
When the back door shut behind them, Rey lit into Beau. “You should have help for Lela instead of making her wait on you.”
“Don’t start, Rey. You know I’ve hired more than one person to help her. She makes sure they don’t last a week. Now she gets all huffy and upset when I bring up getting more help in here.”
“She’s getting old.”
“Aren’t we all,” Beau said under his breath.
When they got to the barn, Beau opened the wide-double doors.
“Don’t tell me I’ll be living in a barn?”
“Quite a come-down, isn’t it?” Beau chuckled.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Not as bad as it looks,” Beau said as he went to the far end and knocked on a door.
Joe opened it. “Hi, Mr. Beau.”
“Hey, Joe. Mind if we come in?”
Joe swung the door open wider.
Beau and Rey stepped inside.
The bunkhouse was attached to the barn; built of logs it was modern in furnishings. Though it was dark now and you couldn’t see anything outside, wide windows looked out over large pastures.
The living room wasn’t large, but plenty big enough for a sofa, a couple of chairs, a table and four chairs, plus a big TV.
Rey muttered, “Not what I expected.”
Gordon came to his feet the second he heard their voices. “Who is this?”
“Gordon, Joe, this is my son, Rey. He’s going to work with you. Gordon, you’ll give him his chores just as you do Joe.” He turned to Rey. “This is Frank Gordon, the foreman, and Joe Hammond, our other hand. There are four bedrooms and two bathrooms. You’ll share a bathroom.”
Rey put his duffle on the floor and crossed his arms. “Who gets the short stick?”
Joe grinned. “Why don’t you take the room next to mine? I’ll be glad to share.”
“Point the way.”
Without a backward glance, Rey followed Joe down the hall that led to the bedrooms.
Beau watched them go with more than a little trepidation. Would Rey fit in? Would he last long enough to find out? Would he be able to do ranch work? Would he hate it? Would the help think Rey deserved special privileges? Or would they think Beau put him out here to spy on them?
From the voices coming from the back room, Rey was getting acquainted. Beau’s gaze came back to Gordon.
“I didn’t know you were in the market for more help.”
“We have miles of fence line to repair. It won’t hurt.”
Gordon’s mouth turned grim.
Would Gordon make life miserable for Rey? This was going to be hard enough on the kid. Gordon on Rey’s ass was the last thing Beau wanted.
When he left to go back to the house, his emotions were in conflict. Still, it was nice to have the kids back home again.
Chapter Five
Nellie swirled the last spoon of icing on the chocolate cake they would have for dessert tonight. At the same time she kept an eye on Susie, busy playing with her dolls in the middle of the floor.
It was one of those rare days when Phyl decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and help Donovan work on the ranch. With school out, Mark happily went with them. He would be Donovan’s shadow the entire summer. Nellie chuckled. Not that Donovan minded. He loved the child. And Mark worshiped his dad. From their devotion to each other, you would never know Donovan had adopted the boy before the ink was dry on his and Phyl’s marriage license.
Nellie looked around at her familiar kitchen. There was nothing fancy about it. The appliances were old. The table had been a gift from Duncan’s parents when she came to the ranch as his bride. Still, everything in here spelled home.
Nostalgia washed over her.
She loved her home and her family. Only lately those old feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness she’d spent years suppressing were rearing their ugly head. Phyl could run the household and the ranch alone, and, as Donovan’s wife, should be. More and more Nellie was beginning to feel like a fifth wheel around the house.
The shiny chrome bread maker Phyl had bought sat in a corner of the far cabinet. Nellie shuddered at the fiasco she’d endured during her one and only experience with the machine. She’d never get the hang of it and didn’t know why she’d even tried.
It stood out among her well-used appliances like a shiny new penny. Maybe it was time to modernize. She’d admired the stainless steel appliances in Dugan and Kate’s modernized kitchen. Did Phyl want to update the place? Make it more hers?
Perhaps it was time to spruce up the old h
omestead and move, let the kids have the big house to themselves.
She looked out the window. Her roses were in full bloom. She sank into a chair at the table and put her head in her hands.
She’d been feeling out of sorts before the episode in the pond. Now, that restless feeling came over her more and more often. What was wrong with her anyway? She’d made it through menopause with less trouble than this.
Susie pulled on her arm. “Gran? Are you okay?”
Nellie pulled her blond-haired granddaughter into her lap and kissed her cheek. “Gran’s fine.”
“You don’t have a boo-boo?”
“No boo-boos.” How could she worry her granddaughter?
Yet, she’d worried her son and his family the day she’d come back from the pond. She couldn’t do that again. They shouldn’t have to worry about her. They had their own worries.
But try as she might, Nellie couldn’t shake the negative feelings creeping over her. Deliberately turning to happier thoughts, she remembered the day she saw Duncan Callahan for the first time. She was in her second year of college, he a senior. In his Stetson and cowboy boots, he cut quite a figure. Admiring him from afar, she wished she were like the other girls—self-confident, worthy. Instead, she was timid and introverted, fearful of saying or doing the wrong thing. Awkward.
Still, whenever the good-looking cowboy was around, her eyes feasted. One day, he came over to talk to her. “Hi,” he said.
She’d smiled, her tongue stuck to the top of her mouth.
“Would you like a soda?”
She wanted to say yes. Instead, she shook her head. He tipped his hat and smiled. “Next time, then.”
Nellie thought she’d died and gone to heaven. But how could she go out with someone who looked so wonderful and seemed so nice? Nellie had no idea how to handle nice.
He asked her three more times before she agreed.
She’d pretended a confidence she didn’t feel and a self-esteem that was a lie.
Even now, she couldn’t believe he’d fallen in love with her and asked her to marry him. She’d thought he would see through her act, see who she really was, and for the longest time was afraid of the day he would discover her secret.
Duncan had told her many times, “I was pulled in by those green eyes and your glorious red hair. Thought I’d die if you didn’t say you’d go out with me. Knew I would if you refused to marry me.”
Promise Them (The Callahan Series Book 6) Page 4
