by Lyn Horner
Before Jessie could question him further, he turned to David. “Speaking of changes, David, d’ye ever regret leaving the army? Before ye announced your decision to resign your commission, I thought ye planned to make a career of it.”
His inquiry seemed to unsettle David. Shifting in his seat, he cleared his throat. “I did, but I wanted to get Jessie away from Salt Lake City and give her a proper home. And, well, it just seemed like time to come home.”
Reece laughed gruffly. “What my son means is he decided it was time to force a prideful old man to admit he was wrong.” He exchanged a wry look with David. “I didn’t take kindly to him fighting for the North during the war, you understand. And I was fool enough to drive him off when he returned home afterward.” He shook his head in disgust, then sent Jessie a fond look. “One good thing came out of it, though. He found me a mighty sweet daughter.”
Thinking of the two years he’d been estranged from his own father, Tye well understood.
Jessie blushed at her father-in-law’s words. “Sure now, you’re as full o’ the blarney as my darlin’ brother,” she chided Reece affectionately. Turning to Tye again, she asked, “So you’re not going back to the mines?”
“Nay, never. I’ve had my fill of it.” Hearing the harsh note in his own voice and not wanting Jessie to notice, he masked it with a wink and a grin. “Besides, I thought it high time I paid a call on the two of ye.”
She caught his hand and squeezed it. “And we’re glad you’ve come, aren’t we, David.” At her husband’s indulgent nod, she asked, “But how did ye get here and why didn’t ye let us know ye were coming? We could have met ye in Waco, or somewhere. Surely ye must have had trouble finding your way here.”
Tye shrugged. “I traveled by train most of the way, transferring a few times. The MKT brought me south through Indian Territory and across the border into Texas. I did think about sending a telegram from that bitty town where the rails end. Uh, Denison I think it was. But I decided to surprise ye, and I managed to get directions along the way. Though there were some who weren’t anxious to give them, especially one vixen I happened upon today. A neighbor of yours, I believe.” Chuckling, he added, “She offered to open an extra hole in my head with her gun if I tarried longer.”
“Saints preserve us!” Jessie gasped. When David laughed, she glared at him. “’Tisn’t funny! She might have killed him.”
“Sorry, love,” he said, choking down more laughter, “but it’s so typical of her.” He cocked an eyebrow at Tye. “If she was wearing britches and touchy as a she-wolf with pups, you chanced on Lil Crawford.”
“Lil, is it? She’s a fierce one indeed.” Recalling her snapping brown eyes and copper-gold face that grew rosy with anger, Tye smiled. Would she turn that delightful rose color all over when a man made love to her? The thought popped into his head unbidden, causing him to grow warm and shift uncomfortably.
“Her father is Del Crawford. He and his brother, Jeb, own the Double C,” Reece clarified, drawing Tye from his heated reverie. “They’re our nearest neighbors. Reckon you were on their property when you crossed paths with the ornery gal.”
“Aye, Miss Crawford informed me I was trespassing. It is Miss Crawford, I take it?” He’d been too busy noticing other things to look for a ring on her finger.
David darted a glance at Jessie. She dropped her gaze and pressed her lips tightly together, giving off a feeling of resentment Tye couldn’t quite block out. Surprised by their odd reactions, he wondered why his question should bother them.
Reece Taylor snorted. “It’s Miss and likely to stay that way.” His comment only added to Tye’s curiosity, but before he could pursue the matter, David changed the subject.
“What are your plans for the future, Tye?” he asked.
Caught off guard, Tye leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and studied his loosely clasped hands. “I don’t have any just yet. As I said, I’m done with the miner’s life, but I’ve no idea what to do now.”
After a moment’s silence, David said casually, “You know, we’re getting ready to break some horses and mules for the Army. It’s a big job and we’ll need some extra hands. On top of that we just had a man quit last month, and I haven’t had a chance to replace him yet. If you’re interested –”
“Yes!” Jessie cried, scooting to the edge of her seat. “What a grand idea, David. Oh, do say yes, Tye.”
Nonplussed, Tye stared back and forth between the two of them. Him work on a ranch? The idea was absurd. Why, he couldn’t even ride a horse without making himself miserable. Faced with Jessie’s joyful expression, it pained him to say no, yet he must.
“I appreciate the offer, David, but I’d be no good to ye. I know precious little about horses and nothing a’tall about cattle.”
David looked him up and down, mouth twitching. “Don’t worry, we’ll turn you into a cowboy, although it may take a while.”
Tye flushed. His clothes again. They’d been all the style in Chicago, where he’d bought them, but not here in Texas.
“Shoot, we’ve got some boys on our payroll who were green as saplings when they hired on,” Reece commented, “but they shaped up quick enough. Reckon you will too, son.”
“Please, Tye, just try it,” Jessie pleaded.
Giving in, he sighed and threw up his hands. “All right, sis, but I hope ye keep plenty of liniment on hand, because I’m sure to be needing it. And I’ll not say for what parts of me.”
Everyone except Anna burst out laughing.
“And will I have to be going on one of those cattle drives I’ve read about? Or d’ye ship the animals by rail these days?” he asked, hoping for the latter.
“Can’t afford to ship them,” David said, still chuckling. “Don’t worry, though, there’ll be no trail drive until spring.”
“We didn’t send a herd north this year,” Reece commented. “The cattle market’s still poor from last year’s banking panic. We were mighty lucky not to lose our shirts then.”
David nodded. “True, and we have Jessie to thank.” He sent her a playful glance, drawing a pleased smile from her. “When we were getting ready to take a herd north a year ago, she made me promise I’d be here when the baby came. Nora, I mean. So I settled for a low price on the herd in order to get back in time. A lot of others held out, hoping for a better deal. Then the panic hit and they couldn’t sell at any price. Cattle died off by the thousands over winter in Kansas.”
“That’s bad,” Tye said. He recalled how the national panic had affected silver prices, putting a number of miners out of work.
Reece sighed. “I still kind of wonder if we should’ve sent a small herd north this spring. We might’ve gotten a square deal from one of the Montana outfits. They’re all stocking their range with Texas beeves.”
“We were lucky once, but I wouldn’t count on it again,” David said. “We’ll have cash coming in when we deliver the horses and mules to Fort Concho, and by next spring the market should improve. The Crawfords think the same, or they would have sold more stock to that trail contractor who came through here buying cattle a while back.”
Tye knew nothing about the cattle business, but he did know David was right not to trust to luck. It was a treacherous beast. What brought one man good luck might doom another.
* * *
A short while later, after checking on Nora, Jessie looped her arm around Tye’s and led him down the hall toward the rear of the house.
“There’s something I need to tell ye,” she said, “something I couldn’t say in front of Reece. He doesn’t know about my gift.”
“I see. And what is it ye need to say?”
Pausing, Jessie snared his gaze. “I dreamt of ye, perhaps two months ago.”
“Did ye now?” Tye tensed, suddenly uneasy. His sister’s dreams and visions often showed her future events – some she ought not to see.
“I saw ye in a dark place, a mine it must have been, and ye appeared to be trapped.”
&nb
sp; “Oh, aye? Well, there was a wee cave-in. I suppose that’s what ye saw.” He grinned, trying to make light of her dream. “Ye didn’t see me dead, did ye? I’m not a ghost standing here talking to ye, am I?”
She laughed, seeming relieved. “Nay, you’re no ghost. You’re the same rascally devil as always, and happy I am to know it.”
Tye managed a convincing laugh as they walked on. Then he sobered. “I, uh, was glad to hear of your visit with Da.”
“Ye got my letter telling ye about it, did ye?”
“Aye, ’twas the last one I received before leaving Utah.”
“I’m glad it reached ye. And I’m glad David and I made the trip to Chicago with Nora. I wanted Da to see her.” Halting outside an open bedroom doorway, she added, “He’s aged a great deal, Tye.”
“Aye, I know.” Tye glanced into the bedroom, noticing the bed had been turned down for him. Light from within the room set Jessie’s auburn hair aglow as she turned to stare at him.
“What d’ye mean ye know?”
He crossed his arms and smiled. “I mean I paid our dear father a visit myself before coming here. In fact, I spent over a month with him.” Giving his broken arm time to mend after the cave-in, he might have added, but then Jessie would ask how he got hurt. And he wasn’t ready to tell her the truth. Not now, maybe never.
“Oh, Tye, I’m so glad!” she cried, pressing a hand over her heart. “I’ve prayed ye might settle your differences with Da.”
He laughed dryly. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far. He still thinks me a fool for ‘chasin’ after a pot ’o gold’ as he put it, but at least he calls me his son now. I believe seeing you with a husband and a wee daughter mellowed him a bit.”
Jessie laughed and hugged him. “As well it should, big brother. Without you, I’d never have found the courage to go west and I’d never have met David.” Kissing his beard-stubbled cheek, she added, “For which I shall be eternally grateful, my dear.”
She stepped back, swiped away a tear and dug a bottle from her pocket. “Here,” she said, handing it to him. “I fetched my wintergreen oil when I looked in on Nora.” She smiled mischievously. “’Twill sooth those tender parts ye dared not mention.”
Tye felt his face heat. “Which ye ought not mention, either, ye wicked baggage! Get ye back to your husband before I paddle your bum.”
“Shame on ye, Tye Devlin, for threatening a woman in my condition.” Darting past him, she escaped down the hall, laughing.
* * *
Early the next morning, David led Tye to the barn and turned him over to a grizzled cowboy named Sul Smith, calling him the River T’s oldest and savviest hand. Taking in the man’s stiff gait, gray hair and leathery features, Tye didn’t doubt he was the oldest.
Smith looked him over, wagged his head and laughed, instantly raising Tye’s hackles. “Got my job cut out for me with this’n,” he drawled.
“First thing you’d better do is take him into Clifton and get him outfitted,” David said, chuckling along with the oldster.
“Sure as shootin’ I’d better, before the other boys spot him,” Smith replied. “In that there getup they might take him for one of them circus clowns.”
Tye glowered at him. “D’ye ridicule everyone ye meet, Mr. Smith, or are ye doing me a special favor?”
His detractor scowled for a moment. Then his weathered face split into a grin and he nodded. “You’re Miz Jessie’s brother, all right. Yessiree, you’ve got sand, boy, I’ll give you that.” To David, he said, “We’ll get along fine, boss. Just leave him to me.”
David slapped Smith on the back. “He’s all yours.” Giving Tye a pitying look, he turned and strode away.
“Come on, we’ll find you a horse first,” Smith declared, steering Tye toward the corral. “I seen the sorry nag you rode in on last night. Rented him in town, I expect.” Before Tye could confirm his guess, he continued, “Well, we’ll get yuh fixed up, don’t worry. And the name’s Sul. Only one calls me Mister Smith is the preacher when he comes calling.”
Tye realized he’d passed a test by standing up to the old geezer. Glad of it, he was also well satisfied with the glossy brown mare Sul chose for him. She was a vast improvement over the old plug Tye had rented, to be returned while they were in town. However, any pleasure Tye derived from his new mount vanished the moment he climbed into the saddle. Jessie’s wintergreen oil hadn’t helped; he was sore as hell from yesterday.
“Boy, you can’t even set a horse proper,” Sul complained as they started out. “Settle your rump and quit bouncing around thataway, or pretty soon you won’t be good for anything.”
“I’ll do my job, don’t worry,” Tye snapped, attempting not to bounce. Damned if he’d admit how miserable he already was.
Later, outfitted with denim pants, cotton shirt, thick-heeled boots, and a wide-brimmed Stetson hat, Tye felt briefly like a real cowboy. However, his keeper made sure the feeling didn’t last long. As soon as they returned to the ranch, Sul put him to work mucking out stalls in the barn. Then there was fresh hay to fork, wood to chop, water to tote, harnesses to clean – in short, every dirty job the man could think of.
Tye also got a thorough taste of the hazing David had warned him to expect from the other hands, who took pleasure in taunting a greenhorn. He suspected being the boss’s brother-in-law made him an even riper target. Gritting his teeth, he put on a good-natured front and that night, over Jessie’s objections, he moved into the bunkhouse. He was determined to prove he would not curry favor from his relatives. Why the other men’s approval had become so important, he couldn’t say. Since when did he want to be a cowboy, he asked himself, falling onto his bunk, exhausted and hurting all over.
Tom Pearce’s face flashed into his mind. Again, he heard his friend scream, saw him collapse beneath tons of falling rock. The image brought a tide of grief and guilt, followed by a panicky sense of suffocation. Ashamed of his fear, yet unable to rid himself of it, Tye knew anything, mucking stalls included, was better than going back down into that black hell.
He threw a bare forearm over his eyes and sought a more pleasant subject for his thoughts. Instantly, he conjured an image of Lil Crawford. Aye, she was a pleasant subject indeed.
CHAPTER THREE
The intense August sun was beginning its climb across the sky when Lil and her family arrived at the Rocking B Ranch. They’d come to help Morgan Bayliss put up a new barn to replace the one destroyed by a recent cyclone. Since his spread lay a fair distance from theirs, they’d left home long before dawn in order to make it here for the start of the barn raising.
Lil stifled a yawn as her father reined the buckboard team to a halt. Shaking off her drowsiness, she snatched up her skirts and jumped awkwardly from the wagon box where she’d ridden with her uncle. She’d donned a dress today at her mother’s insistence and, as always, she felt ridiculous in a skirt and petticoats.
“Quite a few folks here already,” Uncle Jeb said, joining her with the basket of food they’d brought to share. Up front, Pa was just helping her mother climb down.
Glancing around, Lil saw several families gathered near the Bayliss homestead. “I expect more will be riding in soon.”
“Yup, cuz it might be them needing help next time. The storm that tore down Morg’s barn could’ve just as easy hit somebody else’s place.”
Lil nodded, knowing he was right. Morg dealt mainly in horses and he’d lost not only his barn but also one of his best mares and her foal to the deadly wind. Word of the disaster had gotten around fast, and everyone had pitched in to organize this barn raising. Neighbors helped neighbors if they wanted to survive for long on the frontier. Then too, gatherings like this were chances to socialize, something the womenfolk appreciated.
Not that Lil counted herself among them. Most of the women looked down their noses at her and her mother because of their Indian blood. Lil didn’t give a hoot. She didn’t like them anymore than they liked her, with one exception: Thea Knudson, who came rushin
g toward her now.
“Lil! I’m so glad to see you!” the blonde woman gushed, throwing her arms around Lil and hugging her tight. “I was afraid you wouldn’t make it, and we haven’t seen each other in a coon’s age.”
Lil had known Thea – short for Althea – since they were both in pigtails, when Thea’s folks, the Hewitts, had owned a small spread near the Double C. Even after the family gave up ranching and moved into Clifton, Thea had remained Lil’s friend, her only female friend.
“I’m glad to see you, too,” Lil replied, smiling as they drew apart. “Looks like married life is still agreeing with you.” Thea was married to a big Norwegian named Arni Knudson, who owned a farm over near Cranfills Gap. The pair had three children at last count.
“I couldn’t be happier, Lil.” Thea’s round, freckled face took on a sympathetic expression. “I only wish you’d find the same happiness.”
Lil stiffened. “I am happy,” she said more sharply than she intended. At that moment, her mother walked over, stopping her from saying something she’d regret. Thea meant well and Lil didn’t want to lose her friendship, but she couldn’t stomach her unwanted sympathy.
“Hello, Althea. You are well?” Ma asked with a hint of a smile.
“Yessum. I was just telling Lil how glad I am to see you folks.”
“Seeing you is also good.” Turning to Lil, Ma said, “There is work to do. Come.” With that, she stepped away, expecting to be obeyed.
Lil and Thea shared understanding grins and joined the other women, who were setting up long plank tables to accommodate the throng of people when noontime rolled around. As she worked, Lil listened with only half an ear to the gossipy women’s chatter. She wasn’t interested in who was courting who or what the newest bonnet style was. She’d rather work with the men as she was used to doing.
Although it galled her to admit, she was also preoccupied, watching for the River T crowd to show up. The thought of seeing David and Jessie set her on edge. She hadn’t seen them in several months but had heard Jessie was in a family way again, and although she hated herself for it, she still resented their happiness. Beyond that, she wondered if Jessie’s brother would be with them or if he had already lit out. Not that she cared. She was curious, that’s all.
