by Marla Monroe
She’d spent enough time working on the damn books. She needed to do something physical for a change. She donned her heavy coat and gloves and added the hat before walking outside onto the back porch. The rope she had ready was already tied around the post. All she had to do was walk it across the yard to the barn and tie it off there. She added the red material every few feet to warn a rider it was there. She carried the coiled rope, unreeling it as she walked across to the barn and tied it off on the hook put there for that reason. Then she strung the rope from the barn to the cattle feeders and watering troughs. They had already placed the heater coils in the water, so unless they lost electricity they wouldn’t have to worry about breaking ice.
The generator worked for the house but didn’t work for the barn. That was one of her next big purchases, another generator. She’d been saving for it all year long but didn’t quite have enough money to buy it yet. She refused to go into debt for anything she didn’t have to. Debts were what lost ranches. Brett had bought up most of his land from foreclosures. She’d be damned if he would get hers that way.
She checked the fence line around the area and found it all intact and sturdy. She checked on the horses and found them all fine with fresh hay and water. She checked the feed bags they’d locked up in the storage area. They all looked in good shape. With the men working like they did from sunup till sundown, there really wasn’t much for her to worry about other than the meals and the housework. She was finally caught up on most of the office stuff. She’d finish that tomorrow or the next day.
Shovels. She’d forgotten about the shovels. Drew walked out to the old barn they now used as a toolshed and general junk building to pull out the snow shovels. She grabbed five shovels and dragged them over to the house. She left three there and leaned the other two inside the barn by the door. Finished, she stood on the back porch and thought about what else needed doing before it began to snow. They had plenty of hay in the hay barn, next to the horse barn. Maybe she should grab a few more things from the junk barn just in case. It wouldn’t hurt to have a pickax and the regular ax by the back door.
Drew walked back to the old barn and began rummaging around in the mess for the axes. She saw something out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned her head, there was nothing. She searched for the axes and finally found the wood ax, but still couldn’t locate the pickax. She started to carry the one she’d found back to the house when something knocked over some bailing wire behind her. She turned around.
“Who’s there?”
There was no answer. She called out again but still no answer.
“Probably rats come in out of the cold ahead,” she told herself.
She turned around and something hit her over the back of the head. She went down, and everything went black.
* * * *
“Man, I’m hungry,” Kenny said as they tied off the gate.
“I could eat a horse. No offense, Crooner,” Marshall said, patting the horse’s neck.
“Let’s finish this up so we can get inside where it’s warmer. That snow is on its way. We need to get something to eat and some rest before it hits,” Jeb warned them.
They finished securing the gate and rode over to the barn. They quickly took care of the horses and saw to their feed and water. Then they checked the hay barn to be sure it would be easy to get to.
“Looks like Drew has already strung the ropes for us,” Kenny said.
“She got the show shovels out, too,” Marshall noted.
“Let’s get inside and see what’s for dinner.” Jeb shoved his hands into his pockets. They were cold, gloves or no gloves. The wind had picked up.
They piled into the washroom and peeled out of their outer garments, hanging them on the hooks by the back door. They cleaned their boots then washed up in the big sink. Still, Drew hadn’t appeared to welcome them. While it was unusual, Jeb didn’t think much of it until Kenny started calling out for her.
“Maybe she has the office door closed,” he said and took off for the living room and the office on the other side of it.
Jeb checked the pot of chili simmering on low on the stove. There were biscuits ready to put in the oven with a plastic cap over them to keep them fresh.
“She isn’t in the office,” Kenny said with a look of worry on his face. “I checked upstairs in case she took a nap, but she isn’t up there, either.”
“Hell, all the horses were there, so she didn’t go off riding somewhere. Check the trucks, Marshall.” Jeb grabbed his coat and gloves and put them back on.
“They’re all there, Jeb.”
“Let’s check the out buildings for her. Kenny, you stay here in case she shows back up. We’ll be back in a few minutes,” Jeb said.
Kenny didn’t look happy about staying behind, but he knew someone needed to, and Jeb was the foreman now. Jeb looked at him before he walked outside.
“Go ahead and get the first aid kit out. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Kenny nodded and walked back into the kitchen while Jeb and Marshall finished dressing and walked outside.
“Do you want to split up, or check together?” Marshall asked.
“Together. I don’t like this one bit. She isn’t one to go off like this,” Jeb said.
They started with the horse barn and checked every stall and room, then walked around it. Then they moved to the hay barn and climbed around on the hay to be sure she hadn’t fallen between any of the bails. After walking around the hay barn, they walked around the two smaller corrals.
“What’s next, Jeb?” Marshall yelled over the wind. It had picked up over the last thirty or so minutes.
“The other side of the house. The old barn is over there. I’m not sure why she might be over there, but we don’t have much more to check.”
They trudged through the wind to the junk barn and walked inside. There was no electricity out there. They couldn’t see a damn thing.
“Fuck, Marshall, run to the house and get a couple of flashlights. I’ll wait right here for you.”
Marshall nodded and took off for the house. A few minutes later he returned with two high-powered flashlights.
“She hadn’t come back so far,” he said as they turned on their flashlights and began searching the area for Drew.
Jeb found her lying on the ax and cursed, afraid she’d hurt herself with it. He was almost afraid to turn her over.
“Marshall! Over here!” he yelled.
Marshall hurried over with his light and they searched her for injuries. When they turned her over and there was nothing there, Jeb knew a sense of relief. He pulled off his gloves and stuffed them in his pockets. He ran his hands over her face and hair where he encountered the sticky spot at the back of her head.
“Is there anything around here that might have fallen on her?” Jeb asked as he picked her up in his arms.
Marshall shown the light around and shook his head. Don’t see anything over here that might have fallen on her. You think the ax did?”
“I don’t see how. It was beneath her. Bring it with you, though. We might need it.”
Marshall followed behind him as he carried Drew to the house. Kenny must have been watching for them, because he held open the back door for them to come inside.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asked.
“She has a bump on the back of her head that’s bled some. Something hit her there,” Jeb told him.
“Can you carry her upstairs?” Kenny asked.
“I’ve got her,” Jeb told him.
“Someone had to have hit her,” Marshall said. “There wasn’t anything around that might have fallen on her.”
“Right now, let’s see how bad she’s hurt,” Jeb told him.
Jeb carefully laid her on the bed on her stomach. She weighed nothing and now didn’t move. It unnerved him to see her still like this.
“Kenny, get that first aid kit. Marshall, get a towel and a wet bath cloth. Then get those boots off of her so w
e can get her fully in the bed.”
Jeb carefully moved her hair around the wound to see how deep the cut might be. She had a pretty large bump on her head. The cut appeared to be fairly small, though. He’d know more when he got some of the blood off.
Marshall returned with the towel and the wet bath cloth. Jeb took the towel and laid it over her pillow to protect it from the blood when he finished cleaning her up. Marshall eased her boots off and then waited while Jeb cleaned around the wound in her head. Kenny returned with the first aid kit.
“Give me that bottle of peroxide in there, and I need another towel, Marshall.” Jeb took the opened bottle and waited on Marshall to bring the needed cloth.
“Hold it right here next to her head. I’m going to pour this over the cut to clean it up some.”
It boiled and cleared out some of the blood. The wound began to seep a little once again. He folded the wet bath cloth and held it to her head to stop the bleeding. He didn’t think it needed stitches. If it did, he would take her to the hospital. He wasn’t going to sew up a head wound.
“What do you think?” Kenny asked.
“I don’t think it’s a large enough cut for stitches. She has a nice size goose egg, so there shouldn’t be any pressure inside to worry about. I think we wait and see if she wakes up on her own in the next couple of hours. If she doesn’t, we take her to the hospital.” Jeb picked up the cloth and checked to see if it was still bleeding. It appeared to have stopped.
“Let’s get her out of these clothes and under the covers.” Jeb began unbuttoning her coat and pulling it off of her. They took off her gloves and socks. Then Jeb began unbuttoning her blouse.
“Um, I’m going to go start the biscuits for dinner. You two can handle undressing her without me,” Kenny said.
“Fix a pot of coffee while you’re at it. We’re going to need to try and wake her up around the clock. Gonna take coffee for us to stay awake to do it,” Jeb told him.
“I’m on it.” Kenny walked out of the bedroom.
They could hear his steps as he descended the stairs. He muttered the entire way down.
Marshall unfastened her jeans and pulled them down her body. They left her panties on, but Jeb unhooked her bra and pulled it off. They turned her on her side and covered her with the blankets and comforter. Jeb wasn’t certain if she’d end up sick at her stomach or not from the head wound.
“Do we try and wake her up or leave her be?” Marshall asked.
“Let’s leave her alone for an hour, and see what happens. We did enough to her that if she were going to wake up now, she already would have,” Jeb told him.
“Someone hit her, Jeb.”
“I know. We know it wasn’t one of us or Kenny, as we were all together with the herd. Her body was cold enough she’d been out there for at least thirty or forty-five minutes. She needs something warm in her belly, but not until she wakes up and we know if she’s going to be sick at her stomach or not.”
They left her alone with the door open, so they could hear her if she called out. Marshall followed Jeb down the stairs and into the kitchen.
“We all know someone had to have hit her,” Marshall said.
“Why knock her out?” Kenny asked.
“To make sure she doesn’t see them. Then she would know who had been behind all the trouble she’s been having lately,” Jeb explained.
“So what were they doing out in the old barn for her to catch them?” Kenny poured three cups of coffee.
“I don’t know, but hopefully whatever it was they were up to, she scared them off, and they left without doing it.” Marshall took his cup and wrapped his hands around it.
“It’s too dangerous to leave her alone anymore. From now on, one of us will be at the house with her at all times. There’s always something to do around the place, so we won’t be slacking while we watch after her,” Jeb told them.
“Better not let her know you’re watching out for her,” Kenny said. “She’ll throw a fit like you’ve never seen before.”
“She can throw a fit, but she can’t stay by herself anymore. None of us need to be out by ourselves until we figure out who the culprit is behind all the accidents and cut fences,” Jeb said.
“De we need to try and get her to the doc before the snow sets in for good?” Kenny asked.
“Let’s check her and see if she’ll wake up for us before we decide.” Jeb took a sip of his coffee before leaving it on the cabinet.
They all hurried back upstairs to her room and walked in to find her sitting up on the edge of the bed in nothing but her panties, holding her head and moaning. Kenny backed out of the room and closed the door. Even as quietly as he closed it, it must have jarred her head, because she moaned and looked up at them.
“What in the hell happened to me?” she whispered.
“You don’t remember?” Jeb asked in a quiet voice.
“I wouldn’t be asking you if I remembered, now would I?” She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed.
“Grouchy, isn’t she,” Marshall said, a relieved smile across his face.
“Someone hit you over the back of the head out in the old barn. Do you remember going out there for some reason?” Jeb asked.
“I remember checking all the buildings and stringing the lines…” Her voice faded away as she seemed to be thinking. “I remember getting the snow shovels out from there, but I don’t remember why I would have gone back.”
“So you don’t remember someone hitting you on the head,” Jeb said again.
“No, not at all. How bad is it? Did I need stitches again?” she asked in a resigned voice.
“No stitches, but you might have a pretty bad concussion, so we’re going to be waking you up all night,” Marshall told her.
“Don’t act so happy about it,” she fussed.
Then she grabbed her head again and bent over. Then she suddenly realized she was naked and grabbed the covers.
“I’m naked! What happened to my fucking clothes?” she demanded, staring a hole through Jeb.
Chapter Seven
Then she grabbed her head with one hand and groaned.
“Your clothes were all wet, so we stripped you and put you to bed with the electric blanket,” Jeb explained.
“You could have been gentlemen and turned your backs when you saw that I wasn’t covered,” she complained.
“We aren’t gentlemen. The only one here left as soon as he saw you were sitting up.” Marshall snorted.
“That would be Kenny, bless his heart.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “I think I need a nap. Can I have some Tylenol? It’s in the bathroom in the medicine cabinet.”
Marshall disappeared into the bathroom while Jeb watched Drew hold her head in her hands. He returned with the bottle of Tylenol and a plastic cup full of water. He shook out two pills then handed them to her, along with the cup. She swallowed them and handed the cup back to Marshall.
Jeb leaned over and pulled the covers up around her and helped her to lie back down. She snuggled beneath the electric blanket and sighed. They turned to go, but she stopped them.
“Don’t forget to check the cattle every couple of hours, and if the electricity goes out, you have to break the ice on the water troughs,” she told them.
“We’ll take care of it. You just rest, and leave the worrying to me,” Jeb told her.
“Somehow I figured you would say that.”
She slipped into sleep, and the next sound they heard was a dainty little snore.
Jeb and Marshall walked back down the stairs and found Kenny in the kitchen serving up steaming bowls of chili and slightly burnt biscuits.
“Sorry about the biscuits. It’s been awhile since I’ve cooked any, and not since she got the new stove.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re going to have to make do for a few days while she’s getting over this,” Marshall pointed out.
“I’m just glad it happened right before the snow. This way, we’ll all be in the same gen
eral area for the duration,” Jeb said. “We’ll take turns checking on her and the cattle. Two of us will check the herd every time. No one goes outside alone for any reason.”
“I figure she went back out to the barn for the ax to chop wood for the fireplace in the living room,” Kenny pointed out.
“There looks to be plenty of wood for a day or two, but she must figure this is going to last longer than a few days by the amount of supplies she had us lay in the other day,” Jeb said.
“She’s real good about guessing the weather based on what the weather reports tell us. If she thinks it will last awhile, it will,” Kenny said. “I’m just glad we got our hay in when we did.”
“Maybe with the snow we won’t have to worry about someone messing with things for a while.” Marshall wiped the last of the chili up in his bowl with a biscuit.
“I doubt anyone is going to risk exposure in more ways than one while it’s snowing. It would be too easy to track someone with snow coming down, unless it turns into a blizzard,” Marshall agreed.
Kenny snapped his fingers. “I bet I know what else she was going after.”
“What?” Marshall and Jeb both asked together.
“The pickax to break the ice in the water troughs if the electricity goes out. We’ll need it. I’ll go back and find it and bring it up to the house,” he said.
“Marshall, you go with him. I don’t want any of us going or doing anything alone anymore,” Jeb reminded them. “I’ll watch Drew.”
They finished the rest of their meal in silence, then Marshall and Kenny bundled up to go look for the pick ax in the old barn.
Jeb cleaned up the dishes and checked on Drew. She was still sound asleep, with the covers pulled up to her nose. He grinned. She looked like a kid all bundled up like that. If it wasn’t for the blood-stained towel on the pillow and the matted blood in her hair, he would think she had just climbed into bed for a nap.
He checked his watch. She still had thirty minutes before he had to wake her. He would give her that. She wasn’t going to like being awakened every two hours as it was. Jeb figured he could finish cleaning up the kitchen before he had to wake her up again.
