by Nathan Jones
In fact, Mr. Ruiz didn't even glower quite as much about his daughter once again sitting next to Skyler, although from his tense posture it was obvious he planned to once again hustle him back to work the moment he finished eating.
Skyler would've preferred to have a bit longer to rest his exhausted muscles, especially since there were only a few hours of work left and he still had half the day to get it done. So it was a relief when one of the boys from another family, who'd finished eating early and wandered off, came rushing back with the news that riders were approaching from the north.
“The newcomers to the valley who hassled you yesterday?” Skyler asked Adalia, tensing.
Mr. Ruiz snorted. “Does Jose look like he's panicking to you? It'll be the ranchers, most likely.” He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and stood. “Let's go see what they want, Adalia.”
At Skyler's surprised, questioning look, the young woman paused in standing as well. “I'm on good terms with them, so I usually get dragged along for negotiations,” she explained. She brushed a few crumbs off her hands and stepped away from the bench. “Want to come along?”
Given his needle in a haystack search to find Lisa's family somewhere in the Northwest, he never said no to an opportunity to meet new people. Especially ranchers, since if the Hendricksons were still in that line of work, or had been forced to sell off animals, others in the business would be the most likely to know.
So he caught up to Adalia as she hurried after her dad, who was already striding off to the northwest along the bank of the stream that passed through the homestead. “Ranchers?” he asked in a low voice.
She nodded. “Our neighbors just upstream. Decent folk, for the most part . . . they keep to themselves, we keep to ourselves.”
“So what do you think they want?”
Up ahead Mr. Ruiz snorted and waved wryly. “What they usually want. Graze their animals on our land, hire some of us on for day labor, that sort of thing. Usually straight to business when they come calling, although that's head and shoulders more friendly than most.” He lowered his voice and continued almost bitterly. “You'd think they'd be more open-minded, considering their own circumstances.”
“Or maybe less,” Adalia replied sharply. “You want to resent them, knowing even what little we do about what they've been through? What seeing folks who look like you might remind them of?”
Her dad hunched his shoulders sullenly. “Wasn't me did any of it,” he muttered.
Skyler could surmise a lot from that, and was actually surprised about it, too; considering how bitter Adalia herself had been about her treatment by people who hated Sangue and passed that sentiment on to her, he hadn't expected her to be so understanding.
Unless maybe there were women among the ranchers who'd been prisoners of the bloodies, and she was sensitive to anything that might remind them of their abuse. There was a world of difference between prejudice and past trauma.
The young woman softened her tone. “Give them time, keep showing them we're nothing like those animals, and they'll warm up to us eventually.”
“Not holding my breath after almost four years,” Mr. Ruiz muttered, but left it at that.
They continued on in silence for a while, making for a rise ahead that offered a good view of the valley in all directions. Just short of the top Adalia drifted a bit closer to him and spoke in a low voice. “I don't want you to get the wrong idea about the ranchers, Skyler. There's some tension there, through nobody's fault really, but honestly we couldn't ask for better neighbors than the Hendricksons, even-”
Skyler stumbled on smooth ground and nearly fell flat on his face. Adalia paused, staring in confusion, but he didn't care how foolish he looked. “Did you say Hendrickson?” he asked eagerly, hardly daring to believe.
Before the young woman could answer, they crested the rise and came in sight of the two approaching ranchers. Skyler distantly heard Adalia speaking, but didn't catch a word as his heart began hammering in his chest. His complete focus was on the young woman riding a familiar mare beside a young man a few years older than her.
Was this some sort of heat-induced hallucination? Or he'd dreamed this entire day and was still curled up on the pallet Mrs. Ruiz had made up for him by the stove? Hendrickson wasn't exactly a common name, but it wasn't impossible that this was some other family, and he was just seeing what he wanted to see in the distant features.
Especially when over the last five years, he'd feared he was starting to forget what she looked like.
He remembered her as beautiful, of course. The most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. But sometimes he had a niggling doubt that maybe in his memory he was embellishing her looks. That his feelings for her were obscuring her flaws, especially as he forgot what she really looked like, until he'd painted an unrealistic image of perfection.
And maybe he had, but as far as he was concerned she looked pretty darn near perfect in that first moment he laid eyes on her after so long apart.
That petite figure she'd inherited from her mom, filled out with a woman's curves in jeans and a plaid work shirt. Shiny, light brown hair pulled into a cute ponytail beneath a wide-brimmed hat, hanging down past her shoulders with a few strands flying loose in the slight breeze.
Her heart-shaped face had matured from the last hints of childhood roundness he remembered. High cheekbones, a delicate nose, and full lips gave her an elegant beauty that seemed incongruous with her workmanlike garb, while the familiar dimples on her cheeks brought an aching reminder of the friend who'd so often smiled and laughed with him.
She shifted slightly on the back of a horse as familiar as she was: Nibbly, the mare that had been hers since even before she left. Mr. Ruiz and Adalia had both paused to stare at Skyler, his reaction obvious enough to draw attention, while down below big, dark brown eyes peered up at him curiously from beneath the brim of the hat, with no sign of recognition.
That should've hurt, considering how he'd immediately known his old friend, his first love, the moment he laid eyes on her. But he was still too stunned to do anything but stare with his mouth open like an idiot.
Down below Lisa turned to her companion, shrugged slightly, and then nudged her mount forward to meet them.
Chapter Four
Greetings and Farewells
Before Skyler realized it he was sprinting down the gentle slope towards the approaching pair, waving his hands wildly over his head like some sort of lunatic. Behind him Mr. Ruiz and Adalia were both shouting in confusion and alarm, but he ignored them.
“Lisa!” he shouted, having to fight to keep from laughing for joy.
He'd found her. After five years of wondering where she'd gone, worrying himself sick about her fate, two years of searching that had at times felt hopeless, he'd finally found her!
The young woman and her escort reined in at his approach, hands nervously straying towards the rifles slung on their backs. Skyler didn't care. “Lisa!” he called again, continuing forward.
And finally recognition dawned in those dark brown eyes, so similar to her mother's. For Skyler it was a joy to behold the emotions that danced across her lovely features, first shock, then disbelief, then pure delight.
Within moments Lisa was off her horse and rushing forward to throw her arms around him. Skyler lifted her clear off the ground and spun her around, drawing a tinkling laugh of delight, then held her tight with her feet hanging inches off the ground. “I never thought I'd see you again,” he whispered, blinking away the tears that blurred his vision as he finally set her down.
His oldest and dearest friend looked up at him, tears shimmering in the big, dark pools of her eyes as well. It took his breath away, how beautiful she was.
A very loud clearing of the throat nearby made them both jump slightly, taking them out of a world occupied solely by the two of them. Skyler realized that the young man who'd accompanied his friend had taken the opportunity to ride closer.
Almost uncomfortably so, actually.
; Lisa's companion had dark brown hair peeking out shaggily beneath the brim of his cowboy hat, a lean but solid build, and a somewhat sour cast to his features. Amplified by the fact that at the moment was frowning very pointedly at both of them. “Care to introduce your, um, friend, honey?” he asked, tone just short of sharp.
Honey. The word hit Skyler like a punch in the gut, dashing cold water over the joyous reunion. The effect was even more visible with Lisa, who hurriedly stepped away from him and turned to her companion, face flushing with embarrassment.
“Sorry. Skyler, this is my fiancé, Jared Westman. Jared, this is an old friend, Skyler Graham.”
Jared warmed, just slightly, although his expression still hinted he was trying not to be irked about how they'd just been hugging. “Lisa's childhood friend! She's told me all about you.” He leaned out of his saddle to offer his hand.
Skyler wondered if that included how his and Lisa's moms had practically been planning their wedding, back before the Hendricksons decided to leave to avoid Sangue. Smiling weakly, he accepted the handshake.
The man's grip was almost aggressively firm, and it took effort not to return it in kind. Although it was anyone's guess what Jared had to be angry about; if hearing him call Lisa “honey” had been a punch in the gut, hearing her call him “fiancé” had completely deflated Skyler.
So much for his secret, half-acknowledged determination to search the Northwest from the Pacific to the Great Lakes, hoping to find Lisa and sweep her off her feet into a blissfully happy future together.
Everything he'd gone through, all his endless travel and searching, years of hopes and dreams. Only to discover the woman he'd put aside everything else in his life for was about to get married.
To a total prick.
He felt ashamed of the thought as soon as it popped into his head. Jared may not have been exactly pleasant, but he had a reason to be less than friendly under the circumstances. If Skyler trusted Lisa to be a good judge of character, and he did, then she had to see something in the guy.
Another clearing of the throat, this one feminine and oddly insistent, heralded the arrival of Adalia and her dad. “I see you know our guest, Lisa,” she said in heavily accented English, stopping far enough away from Skyler to suggest that even though they'd arrived together, that was as far as the acquaintanceship went; if he hadn't been over the moon about finding his friend he might've been a bit hurt by that.
“What brings you around to our homestead?” Mr. Ruiz added coolly, the glances he kept shooting at Skyler suggesting that a lot of the goodwill he'd spent the day building had just gone up in smoke. “We'd barely finished lunch and were about to get back to work.”
“Of course, Mr. Ruiz, sorry for the bother,” Lisa said, although her broad grin remained and she kept shooting happy glances Skyler's way. “One of our goats is missing, and we were wondering if it strayed from the herd and wandered onto your land.”
There was no hint of accusation in the statement Skyler could see, but the older man still stiffened slightly. He wondered if there was even more friction between the homesteaders and the ranchers than he'd realized.
After studying everyone's faces he decided it was simple defensiveness. Given the general animosity for Sangue, it wouldn't be too surprising if some lingering suspicion fell on the Mexican refugees in the area. Mr. Ruiz had probably had to deal with false accusations before.
But the homesteader quickly buried his defensiveness and simply shook his head. “I'm afraid we haven't, Miss Hendrickson. We'll be sure to keep an eye out, though.”
Lisa sighed and shared a glance with Jared. “That just leaves the squatters,” she said heavily. Her fiancé continued to look sour about her reunion with Skyler, but at that he nodded grimly.
Skyler took a cue from the unease in his friend's voice. “Squatters?”
“Not properly, I suppose,” Lisa replied. “I mean they're not on land anyone's claimed.” She shook her head. “They just give off that impression, if that makes any sense. Better than a dozen men setting up right on the northwestern border to our lands without so much as stopping by to say “hello”, in a ramshackle camp they've done nothing to improve, showing no signs of building anything or looking for work.”
“And now they're poaching our livestock,” Jared added darkly.
Mr. Ruiz made a stern noise. “I'd be cautious tossing out accusations like that without proof, Mr. Westman. A man, even the unkempt sort like your neighbors to the northwest, might get violent about defending his reputation.”
“Even if the men who hassled me are probably in that camp, too?” Adalia asked quietly. Her dad opened his mouth, paused, then shook his head and scowled for a different reason.
“What?” Lisa demanded. She hurried over to take the other young woman's hands, looking her over anxiously; whatever friction might be between the ranchers and homesteaders, it was obvious Lisa at least considered Adalia a friend. “What happened? Are you all right?”
Adalia switched back to Spanish, probably for the comfort of her own language, although with some effort she smiled and squeezed Lisa's hands. “Nothing but harsh words.” She nodded Skyler's way, eyes cooling slightly as they met his. “Your friend happened to be nearby to chase them off.”
“Of course he did,” Lisa turned to give him a warm smile. “He'll run face-first into a thug twice his size to protect someone.”
He flushed at the praise; she was obviously talking about when he'd tried to tackle Rich Bradshaw to protect her little brother. Although that hadn't turned out so well, and would've ended even worse if Trapper hadn't shown up to send Bradshaw and his goons packing.
The reminder shook him out of his devastation at learning his friend was engaged to someone else; that was a problem for later. Even the end of his world had to shuffle to the back of the line when confronted with the possible threat of ruffians camped out on Lisa's and Aunt Vicky's doorstep. Especially ones who'd already stooped to stealing livestock and hassling vulnerable young women.
He may have come too late for himself, but if these men thought to go after his friends they'd discover the same thing Sangue, bandits, and the like had learned in six states:
Their actions wouldn't go unopposed if Skyler was there to do something about it.
He motioned back towards the homestead. “Let me grab my horse, and I'll come with you to talk to these squatters.”
Lisa frowned. “With so many of them we should probably have a plan before just wandering over.” She brightened. “But you should come back to the ranch with us while we think one up! Mom and Dad will be over the moon to see you, and we all want to hear about how your family and all our friends back home are doing. And you can see Bryant and meet my littlest brother, Connor!”
“Sounds great!” Skyler said, eager at the prospect. Then he paused guiltily and glanced back at Adalia and her dad. “I'll have to do the field later. I can't leave my friends to deal with a possible group of troublemakers without my help.”
Mr. Ruiz snorted. “Don't pretend like it's a tough choice, kid. Or that you'll be back to finish the job. It's not like I was paying you more than room and board anyway.”
Skyler did his best not to bristle. “I said I'd do the field, I will.”
The man pretended not to hear. “Thanks for what you did do, it's a big help in any case. We'll find some way to get the plow back to the Lowrys on our own.”
That was a pretty clear goodbye, and not a particularly tearful one. Skyler glanced at Adalia, but she turned away without meeting his eyes, speaking coolly over her shoulder. “Let's get you your things, Mr. Graham.”
He helplessly followed after the two homesteaders, while Lisa mounted up again and reined Nibbly over to walk beside him. Jared maneuvered his gelding to ride at her other side, glowering at Skyler over his fiancée’s back as they made their way south.
The silence was uncomfortably awkward for a few seconds, as Skyler reflected on the fact that over the last five years his oldest and
dearest friend would've changed as much as he had. She might be closer to a stranger than the girl he'd known for most of his life, and the familiar camaraderie they'd once shared might be gone forever.
Also she was planning on marrying another man . . . probably best to bite the bullet right now and address that. “So, engaged,” he said as casually as he was able. Which, it turned out, wasn't all that casual. “How'd you two meet?”
Lisa flushed, either with embarrassment or happiness, maybe both, and turned for a moment to take her fiancé’s hand. “We hired Jared on as a hand last summer. He's been a godsend ever since.” She squeezed the young man's hand, her expression of complete adoration as she looked at him sending daggers through Skyler's heart as she continued. “Didn't take long to realize how remarkable he is, and not long after that he asked me out for the first time. Then a couple months ago he proposed, and the rest is history.”
“No, the rest is the future,” Jared corrected gently as he squeezed her hand back. And Skyler had to admit that whatever he felt about the man, and however big of a jerk he seemed, there was no doubting the strength of Jared's feelings as he looked at his fiancée.
More daggers through his heart. “Where were you before that, Mr. Westman?” he said hastily, not deliberately trying to interrupt their moment but unable to bear watching it a moment longer.
“Actually, that's one of the incredible things,” Lisa said, turning back to him. “Jared used to be a slave in one of Sangue's labor camps, and of all people Brandon came and busted him out. Literally carried him out on his back.”
Skyler blinked. “Our friend Brandon? Brandon Gerry?”
She nodded happily. “That was one of the reasons we hired Jared on, because he knew our friends from Utah and could give us at least some news of them. He helped us get in touch with the Gerrys and your family about a month ago, let them know we're okay and where we are. Is that why you're here?” She started to brighten, then her face fell. “But no, if it was you would've known about Jared.”
