He knew that at the roping events, she saw some of her family from the reservation that she wouldn’t see otherwise. It was important that she maintain contact, even though she insisted they were all getting old and boring. Rafe kept assuring her that he was keeping his eyes open for a new Grandfather so she wouldn’t be alone in her old age.
Uci cackled with laughter at the idea of having another man in her life. “Why would you want me to have to teach another man how to be a husband? Your own grandfather was enough for me. I trained him, I raised two sons that I had to train, then I’ve raised you and Jenny and with you, the training is still going on. I’m not sure I’ll ever get you trained and I certainly don’t need another man to deal with, and besides, if I decide to take another man into my life, I just might not want an old one.” She cackled again at the shocked look her bawdy comment had brought to his face.
Saturday had come around again and they were finished putting hay in Russ’s barn after only a couple of hours. Word had gone out that they would finish early and anyone interested in competing could show up for a little impromptu jack-pot roping. Uci had come over to Jenny’s to help cook for the haying crew and after they finished eating, everyone migrated down to the arena. Levi arrived pulling Rafe’s stock trailer, loaded with fifteen steers and Rafe’s heading horse, Dollar.
While Levi backed the trailer up to the arena to unload the steers, other trailers began arriving and in only a short time, it appeared that most of the team ropers in the county had arrived.
Rafe patted Dollar’s neck as he saddled the big buckskin. He was feeling lucky and was sure he’d have a little extra money in his pocket by the end of the day.
Chapter 3
The butterflies in Mesa’s stomach fluttered wildly and she looked across the interior of the large SUV at Jory sitting comfortably behind the wheel.
As if feeling her eyes on him, he looked at her and a smile melted the harshness of his craggy face. “Getting nervous?”
She nodded. “I’m starting to recognize places. Like that road we just passed. Jenny and I skipped school one day during our senior year and spent the entire day swimming in a lake about two miles up that road.”
Jory chuckled. “Did you get caught?”
She shook her head negatively. “But Jenny’s Uci knew. I don’t know how, but she knew. She didn’t punish us, or even scold us but, in her own way, she made us feel worse about it than any punishment would have.”
“She’s the old Indian woman that raised your friend Jenny, right?” he asked.
Again Mesa nodded. “She’s an amazing woman. I suppose she was as much a grandmother to me as she was to Jenny and Rafe.”
Jory’s pale eyes darted from the highway to her, but then returned to the road they were traversing. “I imagine she’ll be glad to see you again.”
Mesa shrugged. “I hope. I’m springing a huge surprise on them all and I’m not sure how they’ll react to it.”
He detected movement in the back seat and the warmth in his eyes magnified greatly as he lifted his chin in that direction. “She’s waking up.”
Mesa turned in her seat, as far as the seatbelt would let her and smiled at her daughter. “Good nap?”
Raale nodded. “Are we there yet?”
Mesa and Jory both laughed. They couldn’t count the times they had heard that question since they’d left Branson.
“Almost.” Mesa answered quickly. “Do you need to potty?”
“No, Mom. I dust wants to play outside…someplace. I’n dust tired of being in dis car seat.”
Mesa’s heart went out to her five year old daughter. “I promise we won’t be much longer, sweetie.” She pointed out the window. “See that fence over there. That’s the beginning of our land.” Absently she wondered if speech therapy might help Raale overcome her slight speech impediment. She knew many five year old children spoke more clearly, but Jory always cautioned her not to push too hard. He counseled her that once Raale started school, if speech was still a problem, therapy would be readily avalible.
Raale’s face lit up. “Really? I don’t see a house.”
“We’ll come to a cross road in just a few minutes. Then we’ll have to turn right and drive for about another mile to get to the dirt road that takes us to the house.”
Raale’s brown eyes stretched wide as they scanned the field running parallel to the highway. “Wow, we gots a lots a…land.”
Mesa smiled indulgently. Having lived her whole life in the apartment above Howell’s Hideaway, the child had no concept of the amount of land it took to raise cattle.
She couldn’t help wondering how her mother would react if they stopped at the main house and began unloading and moving in with her. Lifting her hand, she pushed back a strand of hair that had pulled free of the clasp that held the rest of her long brown hair confined at the nape of her neck. What a horrifying thought. Shirley didn’t even know they were coming.
When she’d spoken to Uncle Rance last night by phone, he’d told her that he’d asked Marlie Arrowhead to make sure his house was cleaned up and ready for her and her family. She knew it would be a little crowded for a while, but they’d get by until something better could be worked out. Uncle Rance had assured her they’d all be fine. He’d made some improvements to the house over the past few years. Mesa smiled. She’d take a lot of pleasure in going right on past the big house like she hadn’t even seen it, knowing that her mother would be wondering who in the world was bypassing her house and driving on back to Rance’s cabin like they owned the place.
“Mom, are dose cows ours, too?” Raale asked.
“Sure are,” Mesa nodded, her green eyes sweeping over the dozen or so head of animals grazing just across the fence. Her brows arched briefly and then relaxed again. From the looks of those cows, Uncle Rance had been making some serious improvement in the breeding stock. He’d told her he had invested in some Limousine bulls and really liked the looks of their offspring. She could see why.
Jory slowed the vehicle as they approached the intersecting road that Mesa had spoken of. He turned the SUV and began to accelerate again.
“Papa J,” Raale spoke from the backseat, “are you gonna be a cowboy?”
He laughed. “Not in your wildest dreams, Pocahontas. I’m too old to try to learn to ride a horse. I’m just going to keep right on taking care of you and your mom, just like always. I’m more than willing to let you and her be the cowboys.”
Raale’s childish laughter filled the interior of the vehicle. “We can’t be cowboys, silly, we’re girls.”
Mesa smiled. “So, we’ll be cowgirls.”
“And I can gets to have my bery own horse?” The child wanted that almost more than anything.
Mesa nodded. “But it’ll take a while,” she added, knowing the child was underestimating the size of a real live horse. “You have to learn to ride first and then we’ll have to find just the right horse.”
“And I gets to meet my daddy?” That was the one thing of even greater importance to her.
Mesa nodded. “Yes. But you have to give me a couple of weeks to work that out. Remember, I told you that he doesn’t know he has a little girl. He might need some time to get used to the idea.”
Raale shrugged, her full lips rolling out in a pout. Grownups had no idea how long a couple of weeks could be to a little kid. She’d seen some pictures of her dad and knew he was so handsome. She’d never understood why her mom had kept her a secret from him, but Mom just said that grownups did what they thought was right. Then her brown eyes spotted the big two story house on the hill. “Is dat our house?”
“No,” Mesa replied, feeling the butterflies fluttering like crazy again. “That’s where my mother lives. We’re going to live with Uncle Rance.”
“Your mom is my grandma, right?” the child queried her mother.
Mesa was sorry, but knew she’d have to answer as truthfully as she could. “Technically, yes, but I have serious doubts that she will have any interes
t in filling that role in your life, sweetie. My mother is…not a very…ni,”
“Not a very easy person to understand,” Jory cut in quickly. He turned his head slightly to the side and cast a smile at the child in the backseat. “She doesn’t know about you either, so we’ll just have to take things slowly there, too.”
Raale tilted one side of her top lip in a childish grimace. “Sheeze, Mom, why did you gotta keep me a secret from eberbody?”
Mesa shrugged. “I did what I thought was right at the time. When you grow up, you’ll understand.”
The five year old sighed deeply. “But, if we eber one day gets a baby brother or sister, don’t keeps it a secret, Mom. Cuz it is not any fun being a secret.”
Mesa managed to keep a straight face as she turned again to look at her daughter. “I’ll make sure I remember that.”
Jory turned the SUV off the highway onto a dirt road and drove more slowly as they approached the driveway that would lead to the big house on the hill.
“Keep going straight,” Mesa said. “Turn in on the next road. It’ll take us up, past the barn and around to Uncle Rance’s cabin beside the lake.”
Raale’s eyes were fixed on the big house and her head turned, keeping it in sight as the car continued on past it. “My grandma libes in dat big house all by her own self?” Her childish voice was filled with awe that was the result of having lived her life, thus far, in an apartment in the city.
Mesa shrugged. “I’m not sure. Before my father died, we had a housekeeper and a cook that lived there, too, but after daddy died and, when my mother didn’t pay them, they finally left. Then it was just me and her most of the time.”
A large barn loomed up just off the highway beyond a road that turned off the wide graded road they were driving on. “This is the road, Jory,” Mesa said.
They could see several horses in a small field near the barn and some pens just past it. There was a small group of cowboys gathered around leaning against the fence of a small round pen with a high fence.
“Stop here. I see Bob and Gibby. I want to let them know we’re here.” Mesa spoke softly, her voice laced with excitement and fear.
“Can I gets out, too?” Raale’s voice was filled with hope and demand.
Mesa nodded. “Let’s all get out. It’ll feel good to stretch our legs, even if it will only be for a minute or two.”
When the SUV stopped, a couple of the men turned and watched, curiosity etched on their faces.
Stepping out, Mesa pasted a smile on her face and forced her shoulders back with an air of necessary confidence. Since Raale was behind Jory in the SUV, she knew he’d unbuckle the child and help her out. Not feeling the assurance she hoped she was projecting, Mesa walked toward the group. She was almost there when one of the men whooped loudly and stepped quickly forward to pull her into an affectionate hug.
“Wha-hoo, Miss Mesa!” Bob Godfrey exclaimed. “You’re all grown up and I dit’n hardly know you.”
She laughed up at him and once he released her, she was wrapped into another broad chest for a raucous greeting. “Just look at you!” Gibby Hall almost shouted. “The prettiest filly this place ever raised.”
The other men gathered around as Jory and Raale arrived and everyone was soon introduced. But once the formalities were over, Bob assigned some chores and turned back to Mesa and her family.
“Rance told me to expect you this evening or tomorrow and Marlie has already got his place ready for y’all. I just dit’n expect y’all this early in the day.” Bob’s eyes kept darting back to Raale and Mesa was sure he’d already guessed who her father was, but he’d never ask. Instead he winked at the child. “I reckon I’d better see if I can find the little saddle that your mama learned to ride in. I bet it’s still here somewhere.”
Raale smiled, her chocolate eyes sparkling with flashes of amber, just like Rafe’s sometime did. “Is her little horsy still here somewheres, too?”
The elderly cowboy shook his head negatively. “Nope, but don’t you worry about that any at all. We’ll find a horse for you to learn on.”
Mesa knew that Raale was trying very hard to act all grown up about the prospect of riding a horse, when in reality she was aching to do a little happy dance and squeal with joy. She extended her hand toward her daughter. “Let’s go on to Uncle Rance’s house and get unpacked. Maybe there’ll be a little time later to come back to the barn and look around.”
Bob turned toward the barn and sent a piercing whistle in that direction. Several of the hired hands appeared at the door. Bob lifted his hand to his mouth. “Come down to Rance’s house and let’s get the boss and her family unloaded and moved in.”
Mesa turned and led the way to the SUV, a smile lighting her face. Bob Godfrey had called her, the boss! She knew he’d used the words as a title of respect, but it still sent a shot of excitement through her.
She slipped into the back seat with Raale while Bob settled into the front seat to direct Jory along the way to Rance’s cabin.
She dreaded moving into the small house, but took comfort in knowing that with the money she and Jory had made from selling Howell’s Hideaway, they could easily afford to build onto the cabin, or build what they wanted from the ground up.
Bob turned his attention to Jory. “So Mr. Madison, how long’re you staying?”
Jory smiled. He had long ago reached the point of not taking offence when people assumed he was Mesa’s hired help. “Oh, I’m not going anywhere, unless Mesa and Raale do. We’re family and you should just call me Jory.”
Bob’s shaggy brows arched in surprise. He knew the other man wasn’t Raale’s father, because one glance at the child and he knew her father was Rafter Storm Horse. He didn’t know when or how Mesa and Rafe had gotten together, but there was no doubt they had. He shrugged. It was her business how she lived her private life. “Well, I hope you like living here, ‘cause this place is gonna need Miss Mesa for a real long time. I don’t think Rance will ever be up to running the place again. Not by his self.”
Jory nodded. “I think Mesa’s accepted that. I’m not sure if Rance has.”
Bob chuckled and waved his hand to indicate that Jory make a right turn onto an even smaller road. “I can promise you that he ain’t. Rance Howell is tough as new leather, but he’s dang near as old as I am. I know I ain’t up to the ever’ day hard work that I used to do, but he ain’t got to that point yet. It’ll take him a while to get there. Me, I’m glad to make sure the boys feed the horses and keep the stalls clean,” he grinned back toward Raale. “And to teach city girls how to ride, but you ain’t gonna catch me dropping no rope over a steer’s head or throwing bales of hay up on the hay wagon. I’m too old for that.”
“Bob,” Mesa spoke from the back seat. “When’s the last time you saw Uncle Rance?”
“Sunday afternoon me’n Gibby went to see him. He’s shore wantin’ to come home.” The man’s voice sounded wistfully soft. “I’d a brought him, too, but I knew Ms. Shirley’d be down here raising he…” Remembering the child in the back seat, he amended the word he’d begun. “Eck. She ain’t made no secret that she wants him left up there at the home.”
“Are the doctors ready to let him leave?” Jory joined the conversation.
Bob shrugged. “What good’s it do to ask about somethin’ that can’t happen? It’d just get his hopes up for a let-down. That ain’t good for us old folks.”
Mesa reached up and patted the old man’s boney shoulder. “Well, he is coming home. I’ll hire a couple of nurses to help out for a while, but Uncle Rance is not staying up there any longer than the doctor thinks necessary.”
The old cowboy flashed a smile at her as he pointed at the house sitting on the edge of a fifteen acre lake. “Just pull up there next to the porch. The boys’ll be here in a minute to get y’all’s stuff unloaded.”
“Oh my goodness!” Mesa exclaimed. “Uncle Rance said he’d made some improvements, but I didn’t know he’d built on to the cabin.”
They were looking at a large two-story log cabin with a wrap-around-porch; nestled back against a stand of evergreen trees that edged the lake.
Bob hopped out of the SUV and pulled Mesa’s door open. He was grinning from ear to ear. “Rance and the boys did most of the work themselves.”
She just stood drinking in the sight. She’d expected the rustic four room cabin Rance had moved into all those years ago and this was certainly way beyond that.
“Rance was seeing a woman from town sometime back and I think he was planning to get married, but she got the cancer three years ago and moved up north to live with her son and his wife. She died after about a year. Rance went all the way up there for the funeral.” Bob explained the changes. “When they was planning to get married, they wanted room for her family to come visit. I was sorry it didn’t work out. That’s probably the happiest I ever seen Rance.”
“Mom,” Raale tugged on her mother’s hand. “Can we go inside? I needs to potty.”
Mesa laughed and started toward the cabin. “This is so much better than I expected. I think I remember there used to just be an outhouse.”
“What’s a outhouse?” Raale queried.
Bob chuckled as he followed them.
“Well,” Mesa turned the question over in her mind a few times trying to decide how to answer. “It’s an out-door bathroom, except there isn’t anything in it but the potty seat and that’s made out of wood, and it doesn’t flush.”
Raale paused, her dark eyes searching her mother’s face to decide if she was kidding. “Ewww. For real?”
When her mom nodded, she sighed deeply. “Well, I’n glad it’s not like dat anymore. I’d be scared to go dere.”
The ranch hands arrived and made short work of unloading the SUV and putting the contents where they were told, while Mesa, Jory and Raale explored the house.
Inside, they were delighted to discover three bedrooms on the ground floor and another two upstairs. In addition the ground floor had a great-room with huge windows looking out over the lake and the kitchen was equipped with fairly modern appliances and a room that Uncle Rance had used for his office.
Sweet Talking Lawman Page 5
