Her Man on Three Rivers Ranch

by Stella Bagwell

  Hannah jammed a hand on one hip. “That was because I didn’t want Nick to get hurt. And anyway, he was a good pupil.”

  “And you were a good teacher,” Maureen said with a grin for both children. “Sounds like the riding lesson went well. Your mother will be glad to hear it.”

  “Where is Vivian, by the way?” Katherine asked. “I was hoping I’d get to see her today.”

  “Mom had to fill in for another ranger today,” Hannah explained, then sighed and added, “Of all days. I wanted her to see me and Nick ride together.”

  “There will be other rides,” Blake assured his niece.

  Maureen began to help the kids with their franks and roasting sticks, while Blake and Katherine fared for themselves.

  “I didn’t know you were planning on all this, Mom,” Blake said a few minutes later as everyone sat around a long wicker-and-glass table, munching on the simple food. “I was going to talk Reeva into making sandwiches for us.”

  “Reeva needed to do some things in town, so I told her to go on,” Maureen explained. “Besides, I’m taking the day off. Not even one hour in the saddle for me today.”

  Katherine looked at Blake’s mother. “Do you ride very much, Maureen?”

  “Much? Haven’t you noticed her bowed legs?” Blake teased.

  Laughing, Maureen shook her finger at him, then said to Katherine, “Every day. The boys tell me they can do without my help around the ranch. But I don’t believe a word of it. And even if they could handle things without me, I’d go crazy cooped up in the house all the time. Especially since...well, since Joel is gone.”

  Katherine nodded while hoping she didn’t look as uncomfortable as she felt. “I understand completely.”

  Maureen’s smile was perceptive. “I’m sure that you do.”

  Clearing her throat, Katherine purposely changed the subject. “This is awfully nice of you to fix our lunch. But you should have waited and let me help you.”

  “Nonsense. How much effort does it take to carry out a bag of franks and buns?” Her thoughtful gaze traveled back and forth between Blake and Katherine. “You and Nick are going to stay for dinner tonight, aren’t you? That’s one of the reasons I sent Reeva to town. I wanted her to pick up something special from the grocery store.”

  “Oh.” Katherine looked questioningly at Blake. “I don’t know about dinner. Blake didn’t mention it and—”

  “Blake just assumes things, Katherine. After a while, you’ll learn that about him.”

  “Mom, don’t worry,” Blake told her. “I wasn’t about to let Katherine and Nick leave before dinner. In fact, I was thinking I might drive her out to the old house and show her around. With any luck, the falls might have a little trickle of water.”

  Across the table, Nick hurriedly swallowed a chunk of hot dog. “Can Hannah and I go, too?”

  Blake glanced over at Katherine and she realized his little plan was to gain them some alone time.

  “Well,” he began, “if that’s what you two want to do. Then you’re invited, too.”

  Before Nick could make a reply, Hannah cupped her hand to his ear and whispered behind it. After a moment, his face lit up and then he looked at Hannah and nodded vigorously.

  “We don’t want to go, Uncle Blake,” Hannah informed him. “You and Katherine can go. We can show Nick the cabin some other time.”

  Katherine was wondering what Hannah had said to cause Nick’s sudden change of heart, when Blake spoke up.

  “Okay. But what are you and Nick going to do to keep yourselves occupied? The ranch is shorthanded today. I don’t want you and Nick roaming around the barns unless someone is around.”

  “We won’t go to the barns,” Hannah promised. “We’re going to watch the horse races on television. I’m going to teach Nick how to handicap.”

  “I don’t care how much horse racing you watch,” Blake told her. “But you’re not going to teach Nick how to gamble. So forget it!”

  Keeping up with the whole exchange between her son and granddaughter, Maureen suddenly wagged a finger at him. “Blake, don’t be such a stuffed shirt. Handicapping isn’t gambling. It’s calculating which horse will win first, second or third. The kids will be exercising their math skills and learning how to spot good horseflesh at the same time.” She turned to give Katherine a confident look. “Don’t you agree, Kat?”

  In spite of Blake’s disapproving scowl, Katherine chuckled. In her opinion he was making much ado about nothing. “Well, it’s not like Nick or Hannah will be laying money down at the ticket counter,” she reasoned. “I’m perfectly fine with it. Actually, I’ve always wanted to go to Turf Paradise and watch the horses run. But I never had anyone offer to go with me.”

  Maureen groaned with dismay while darting a censuring look at her son. “Oh, Kat, all you need to do is call me or Vivian. We love to go to the track whenever we have the chance. So does Hannah.”

  As if on cue, the girl tossed down the last bite of hot dog and leaped to her feet. “Riders up!” she yelled, then pretending she was holding a bugle, she loudly hummed out the call to post parade.

  Clearly impressed, Nick grinned at her. “Hey, that’s pretty good, Hannah. You ought to take band in school.”

  “Thanks,” she told him, then glanced hopefully at the adults. “When can we all go to the track? Soon? Please!”

  “As soon as your uncle Blake realizes he needs to see more than the back end of a cow,” Maureen told her.

  Katherine glanced over to see Blake wasn’t looking at her or his mother. He was staring moodily off into space.

  “Somebody around here has to look at the cows, Mom,” he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. “Or Three Rivers won’t last another hundred and seventy years.”

  Maureen cast a rueful glance at Katherine, then took a moment to scrutinize her son’s sullen face.

  “One of these days, Blake,” Maureen said bluntly, “you’re going to see there’s more to life than Three Rivers.”

  Katherine watched Blake’s jaw drop. Clearly, his mother’s remark was not something he’d ever heard from her. Or if he had, it wasn’t often.

  She was wondering if Blake was going to make some sort of retort, when Maureen suddenly rose to her feet and began gathering plates and utensils.

  “Come on,” Maureen said to Hannah and Nick. “Help me carry these things back to the kitchen and I’ll dig out the ice cream. We have two flavors today. Strawberry and rocky road.”

  Both children eagerly jumped to their feet and began helping Maureen clear the table. Katherine pitched in to help and in a few short minutes the lunch remnants were cleared away and she and Blake were alone on the patio.

  So far he’d not made a move to leave his chair or say a word, and Katherine decided if he had some sort of issue with her, she needed to hear about it now rather than later.

  “I hate to ruin the rest of Nick’s afternoon, but I think we should go on home,” she told him. “You obviously need a breather.”

  Her announcement seemed to jolt him as if she’d sloshed a bucket of cold water in his face. He instantly jumped to his feet. “What are you talking about?”

  Awkwardly, she turned and walked over to the edge of the patio. From where she was standing, a portion of the arena was visible. Dust was flying high in the air as Holt cantered a black horse through a series of figure eights. Obviously the Hollisters continued to work right through the weekend, she thought. And even more obvious, the time Blake was spending with her and Nick was out of character for him. She wasn’t sure if she should feel flattered that he considered them important enough to interrupt his work. Or fearful that she was a temporary thing.

  “I...think you’ve had a bit too much of the family thing today. We’re getting on your nerves.”

  Quickly, he moved up behind her and rested his hands on the tops of her shoulders. “You’r
e wrong,” he said gently. “And if I seemed cross a few minutes ago, I’m sorry. I wasn’t really.”

  “You sounded like it.”

  His hands began to knead her tense shoulders. “Mom’s remark did irk me, but I wasn’t angry at you, or her, or anybody, except myself.”

  She turned to look at him. “Why would you be angry with yourself?”

  Anguish twisted his features. “Because I finally realized my family has it right when they call me the judge.”

  “I’m sure they do it with affection, Blake.”

  “That doesn’t make it any less true,” he said ruefully. “Judge, stuffed shirt, workaholic. Ever since Dad died, I’ve had all those monikers thrown at me. And I’ve always let them roll off my back. But now—with you and Nick here—it’s different. I don’t want you to start thinking of me in those terms.”

  “Oh, Blake, if that talk about going to the track upset you, that’s not important. I understand—”

  She paused as he cupped a hand tenderly to the side of her face.

  “No,” he said gently. “It is important. And Mom is right. I do need to ease up. I need to let myself enjoy time away from the ranch. I just don’t know how to balance it all, Kat. Not the way my brothers do.”

  She could feel his frustration and she desperately wanted to take it away. “You shouldn’t be beating yourself up about this,” she said softly. “A man can just stretch himself so far without breaking. You’ve been giving me and Nick lots of attention. I wouldn’t ask you for more.”

  “No. You wouldn’t ask now. But if we were married, you’d feel differently. You’d expect your husband to put you first.”

  She stared at him in wonder. Was he actually thinking about marriage? No. He was simply using the term to make a point. One that she didn’t want to think about. Not today.

  “But we’re not married,” she said, softening her words with a smile. “So let’s enjoy our time together today. You said something about showing me an old house. I’d love to see it. That is...if you’re still in the mood.”

  A slow grin eased the tension on his face and it suddenly dawned on Katherine that her happiness was completely intertwined with his. So what if Blake became unhappy with her the same way Cliff had? What if he decided she wasn’t worth the effort of wasting his precious time? Oh, God, this was getting too serious, she thought. She was caring too much. Wanting him too much. Yet she was beyond shutting down her feelings. Now she could only move forward and hope she hadn’t made the same mistake she’d made with Cliff.

  “I’m definitely in the mood.” Grabbing her hand, he led her off the patio. “There’s a work truck parked out by the back gate. We’ll take it.”

  * * *

  Fifteen minutes later, after traveling several miles north of the ranch yard, Katherine asked, “How far away is this old house?”

  Too far, Blake thought. For hours he’d been aching to get his hands on Katherine, and now that he was finally going to get his chance, he was getting impatient. Although, after that episode on the patio with his mother, he should probably count himself lucky that Katherine was sitting here beside him at all, he thought grimly.

  He wasn’t sure what had come over him. But all of a sudden every doubt he’d ever had about his future with Katherine was suddenly crowding into the dreams and hopes he was trying so desperately to hold on to. And when his mother had made the remark about him being unable, or more aptly, unwilling to pull himself away from the responsibility of running the ranch, he’d basically wanted to blow his stack. Something that Blake Hollister just didn’t do.

  “Ten more minutes or so,” he said as he maneuvered the truck between two rock abutments. “Sorry about the rough ride. Getting tired?”

  “Not at all. I’m loving every minute of it. The mountains in the distance are so beautiful.” She glanced at him. “Are you sure we’re still on Three Rivers? It seems like we’ve been gone forever.”

  He laughed. “I’m sure. On the east side, Three Rivers goes all the way past Constellation to the edge of the Tonto National Forest. To the north it reaches Kirkland Junction. The house is located somewhere in between.”

  “And is this house something that was built recently?” she asked.

  Smiling, he said, “We call it ‘the house,’ but compared to nowadays standards it’s a three-room cabin. My great-great-great-grandfather built it in the summer of 1845. Actually, it’s the original ranch house on Three Rivers. He and his bride of sixteen lived there together until 1847, when he built the big house where we live now. By then she’d given birth to a son, Joseph. He turned out to be our great-great-grandfather. My brother Joe is named after him.”

  He glanced over to see she was staring at him with a look of disbelief.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. “You don’t believe me?”

  “I believe you. I’m amazed, that’s all. And wondering how it must feel for you to have so much family history.”

  “Everyone has family history, Katherine.”

  “Yes, but not the sort that a person is proud to share with outsiders.”

  He grunted. “Trust me. Down through the years there’ve been several rascals in the Hollister family. Vivian swears Holt should be added to the list.”

  “The night Nick and I came to dinner, I noticed Vivian and Holt seemed very close. Have they always been that way?”

  Blake nodded. “Holt is two years younger than Vivian. Mom says when he was born, Viv wanted the baby to be hers. By the time Holt started walking, Viv had become a little mother hen. They have their separate lives now, but they’re still very tight.”

  Katherine sighed. “For years Aaron and I were like that. Whenever things were bad at home, we leaned on each other. But after Aaron reached high school, he started drawing away from me. It was like he needed to prove he was a tough guy and didn’t want a sister close by to back him up.”

  “And now?”

  “I think I told you before how Aaron refused to help after Dad had the stroke. Well, he, uh, holds all of that against me. He called me a traitor for moving back to Wickenburg and caring for Dad.”

  Her father was dead, her mother distant and her brother had turned his back on her. Her family situation was hard for Blake to fathom. He’d always been surrounded by loving, supporting relatives. He couldn’t imagine how alone Katherine must feel.

  “Sounds like he’s just as bitter as your mother.”

  She sighed again and the sad sound made Blake want to stop the truck and gather her into his arms. He wanted to assure her that she’d never be alone again. Not as long as he was alive. But making that sort of long-term promise would be like saying “I love you—I want to marry you.” He wasn’t yet comfortable that Katherine was ready to hear such a vow from him.

  But she’s going to have to get ready. Time is spinning by and you’re not so young anymore, Blake. You want a wife to love you and warm your bed. You want children and lots of them.

  Katherine finally spoke, breaking into the nagging voice going on in Blake’s head.

  “Yes, Aaron is extremely bitter,” she agreed. “And it’s going to take more than his sister to change him.”

  Blake reached for her hand, and as he gave her fingers a comforting squeeze, he wondered what it was going to take to make Katherine and Nick his family. Or was that a wish that might never come true?

  Chapter Twelve

  A few minutes later, Katherine stood in front of the original Three Rivers Ranch house and tried to imagine how the sixteen-year-old bride of Edmond Hollister coped with living in such rugged wilderness. And bearing a baby, at that.

  Long years of weather had eaten the bark from the chinked logs to leave the small structure a smooth gray color. A heavy planked door sat directly in the center, and to one side of it, a tiny window was covered with board shutters. There was no porch and only a flat rock to serv
e as a step.

  In spite of its crudeness, there was a rustic charm to the little house that tugged at Katherine.

  “Oh my, Blake. It’s so lovely here. I wasn’t expecting the house to sit beneath a mountain bluff or there to be so many trees around. From the size of those cottonwoods, they’d have to be very old.”

  Standing next to her, he slipped his arm around the back of her waist. “I’d guess the trees are nearing the century mark. Which means someone must have planted them after the big house was built.”

  “Or could be the trees came up by chance,” she suggested. “From a seed carried by the wind.”

  “Do you believe in chance?” he asked.

  She looked up to meet his gaze and not for the first time today she saw doubts and questions swimming in his eyes. Was he beginning to think their relationship wasn’t going to work? No. She couldn’t allow herself to start worrying. They were together. And alone. That was all she needed to think about now.

  She smiled faintly. “You mean like the two of us running into each other on the sidewalk in front of Yavapai Bank and Trust?”

  “That wasn’t chance,” he murmured, his brown eyes softening. “That was luck—on my part.”

  Her smile turned impish. “You still think so?”

  “I’ll always think so,” he said gently.

  Always. She was trying to decide whether to take that one word to heart, when he reached for her hand.

  “Come on,” he urged. “Let’s go around to the back. We’ll see if the falls are running.”

  “We’re not going in the house first?” she asked as he led her around the side of the small, chinked-log structure.

  A twinkle flashed in his eyes. “No. I’m saving that tour for last.”

  The area behind the cabin was densely shaded with more cottonwoods and several tall pines. A faint breeze carried the tangy scent of evergreen and Katherine turned her face up to the cool, fresh air.

  “I wonder what made your ancestors decide to build here first?” she asked as they continued walking toward the hundred-foot bluff rising in front of them.