“Thank you.” Bo stood up and walked outside. There were two men on the front porch with five other people behind them. Together there were seven people and Bo was surprised.
They all shook hands.
“Bo,” the first man said. “I’m Sam from the health department. This is Julie, from the police department. Marci is the Veterinarian. Lloyd, Brad, Bob, and Taylor are here because we have to have them here. Together we are the Animal Control Commission,” Sam laughed as he finished.
“Good,” Bo said. “I was going to show you everything but I have a man who knows as much as I do about it if you don’t mind. Some other things have come to my attention. I’ll call Adam and he will show you anywhere on the ranch you need to go.” He called Adam and hung up. “He will be here in a minute. Have you seen the dead animals?”
“Yes, Marci has looked at all of them and we are inclined to believe the animals were poisoned but there are a lot of tests we need to run before we can let you know anything positive,” Sam said.
“You think all three animals were poisoned? But by whom? How? Why?”
Sam shook his head. “We don’t know anything for sure now. It’ll take some time.”
Adam came up the steps holding out his hand. “Hello, I’m Adam. Ready any time you are. What do you want to do first?”
They all shook hands and Bo watched as Adam led the seven people off the porch and around to the barn explaining it would be best if they traveled by horse back.
Bo walked back into the house and into the office. Poisoned? Why would anyone want to poison any of the animals here? Who would do it? It would take a long time to figure out what was going on. He would have to tell Lori and she was sick. It was going to be hard. How many other animals were going to die before they found out what was going on? He fixed the bills Lori had put out to send. He had gotten to where she was figuring about the loss of the dead animals. He began to wonder about Jessie and left the house to check on him. He walked down to the bunk house and knocked on Jessie’s door. When there was no answer, he slowly opened the door and smiled as he saw Jessie sound asleep on the bed with the television still on the western channel. Jessie had a contented look on his face as he lay sleeping. Bo closed the door and walked back to the house.
* * * * * * * *
Lori managed to take a shower without getting sick. She got dressed and made her way down the hall toward the back of the house. Upon coming to the kitchen, she smelled the coffee and it caused her to fly back into the bathroom again.
She held herself up and held her nose until she was outside. “Strange,” she thought, “ I like coffee. Why is it making me sick now?” She began to feel better once she hit the open air and she climbed into the truck and drove slowly off the ranch. Bo and Jessie were nowhere to be seen. About half way to town, she almost turned around and went back. She was feeling a lot better and she was worried about what was happening at the ranch. Then she thought better of it and drove on into the doctor.
There were only a couple of people in the waiting room. Still she had to wait about thirty minutes before they even called her then it was almost another hour before the doctor came back into the room for the final time.
“I have all the results back from the tests we ran,” he said.
“Is it a virus,” Lori asked.
“No,” he laughed. “I’m afraid you’re pregnant.”
“I’m what?”
“You are expecting Lori, about seven or eight weeks as near as I can tell now. I need for you to come back in a week and I can tell you more and give you a due date. Are you alright?”
Lori had gone pale. “Yes,” she said. “So I’m having morning sickness?”
“Yes, you are. Here, get this filled and you should be okay. I’ll start you on vitamins and iron when you come in next week,” the doctor told her as he handed her a paper.
“Thank you.” Lori shook his hand. She was stunned as she walked to the front desk to make an appointment for one week and pay for today’s visit. As she drove home, after filling the prescription the doctor had given her, somehow she could not get out of her mind what the doctor had told her. She was pregnant- seven or eight weeks. That was over two months and about the time Trey and she had been together. Why had she not thought of birth control? Now she would have to raise this baby all alone. She felt tears burn her eyes. What was she going to do? She already had Jessie to worry about as well as the dead animals and what was causing them to die. How was she going to tell Bo? She was glad her father wasn’t here. What would he say? She wiped the tears from her eyes. Just before she entered the driveway of the ranch, she pulled off the road and checked her makeup trying to make it look as if she hadn’t been crying. After a few minutes of fixing her makeup, she felt she was ready to face Bo and Jessie at the ranch. She turned into the driveway and drove up to the house, parking in front.
She didn’t see anyone and looked at her watch. It was time for lunch. That was where everyone had to be. Not having any breakfast, she was now starving. She walked into the house by way of the front door and made her way to the large dining room. She could hear the men talking and laughing as they ate. The food smelled good and as she walked into the room, Bo got to his feet.
“Lori, how are you? What’s wrong? What did the doctor say?” He came to her and kissed her forehead.
Lori smiled. “I’m fine. I will tell you later. Right now I’m hungry. I saw strange cars out front. Are they the people we called about the animals?”
“Yes,” Bo answered as he sat back down.
Lori came ‘round the table to an empty chair next to Jessie. She touched his shoulder as she slid into the chair. “Jessie, how are you?” Are you getting used to us yet?”
Jessie smiled at her. She looked better than she had this morning but by looking closely he could see she had been crying. Aloud he said, “Yes, I am good. You are looking much better than you did.”
“Thank you Jessie. I feel better.”
Jessie watched as she filled her plate and ate hungrily. He remembered suddenly the way Missy had eaten just after she had told him she was with child. Looking at Lori and watching her as she ate, he was almost certain she was probably that way too. Maybe that was why she had been crying before.
When Lori finished eating, most of the ranch hands had gone back to their work. Bo and Jessie stayed behind. Lori stood from the table and said. “Come with me to the office please.”
Jessie looked at Bo puzzled. “Yes, you may come Jessie. I don’t want to keep things from you. You are already scared of things here and I feel if I let you know what is going on, maybe you won’t be.”
Both men followed her into the office where she closed the door. “You will be happy to know I don’t have a virus. I am perfectly healthy. It’s just that I’m…” A knock came at the office door.
“Miss Lori,” a voice said. “The Animal Control people are finished and need to see you.”
“Send them into the living room, we will be right there,” Lori said. “We’ll talk later,” she said to Bo and Jessie as she walked out of the office and down toward the living room with Bo and Jessie on her heels. After shaking hands with each of them as Sam introduced them to her, Sam said, “We have soil samples, water samples, as well as the dead animals. It may take us a couple of days but as soon as we know something, we will let you know.”
“Sounds good,” Lori told him. “As soon as you know something, let me know. We need to find out what’s happening as soon as possible. I can’t lose any more animals.”
“Yes, we will.” Sam said.
Lori, Bo and Jessie watched as the seven people got into their cars and drove away.
“Let’s get back to the office Lori,” Bo said. “What did the doctor say?”
Lori sighed as she walked back into the office. Bo was about to close the door when the maid appeared once more. “Sorry to bother you Miss Lori but there’s a gentleman here to see you. He said something about being your brother.”
“My brother? I don’t have a brother,” Lori looked puzzled. “Seat him in the living room. I’ll come out in a few.” She turned to Bo. “Bo, I don’t have a brother, do I?”
“Not that I’m aware of Miss Lori,” Bo told her. “Only one way to find out who this man is. Let’s go meet him.”
Lori led the way into the living room once more with Bo and Jessie close behind. The man standing in the corner looking out the window looked to be older than Lori. He had dark blonde hair parted on the left. As he came toward them and smiled, his teeth were so white they hardly looked real. He was tall and slim. By looking at his face he did not resemble Lori at all. “Of course,” Lori was thinking,“ that didn’t mean anything at all.”
“Hello,” the man held out his hand to Lori as he spoke. “Lori, so nice to see you again.”
“Again? I don’t remember ever seeing you.”
“I’d say not. You were only three and I was ten but I remember you, though. I must say you look better now than you did when you were three but you were cute as a little girl.”
Lori shook his hand. “Do you remember my mother?”
“Yes of course I do, very pretty woman. You look a lot like her. But I can see Dad in you too. By the way, my name is Trace. Funny name isn’t it. I think it was Mom’s idea.”
“You already know I’m Lori but if you are my brother, how come I have never heard of you?”
“Mom brought me out here once when I was ten but she would never let me see you anymore. In all honesty, I didn’t know where you were until a few months ago and it took me all this time to find you. I couldn’t remember where the ranch was, only coming here the one time, and then I didn’t know if you would even still be here.”
Lori looked at the man in front of her. He didn’t look like her father either. “How do I know you are telling me the truth?”
“I thought of that. Here’s my birth certificate and a picture of dad and I when I was younger.” Trace handed Lori a paper and a picture. The picture was of her father with his arm around a boy of about twelve but it was hard to tell from the picture if Trace was the boy. The hair coloring matched but that proved nothing. She handed the things to Bo.
Lori turned back to Trace. “This proves nothing to me. I’ll check it out with Bo’s help. By the way, this is Bo. He is my right hand here on the ranch and my ranch foreman. He knows everything I do and more. If anything happens here, we both know it. This young man is Jessie. He came by a few days ago for a visit.”
Bo and Jessie shook hands with the man claiming to be Lori’s brother. They watched him closely but Bo could get nothing. Jessie had played enough poker back in 1888 to read people’s faces and he studied Trace now. The man was hiding something. It may not even be anything to do with being Lori’s brother though. He made a mental note to tell Lori and Bo.
“Well,” Trace said “I have sprung this on you out of the blue and I know you want to check it out. Please do. I have come a long way and I am tired. If you tell me where I can bed down, I would like to freshen up and take a nap.”
“Why would you think you would be able to stay here,” Lori asked.
“Well, I used up everything I had trying to find you. I have no more money for anything and anyway I am your brother. So why shouldn’t I be able to stay here on the ranch?”
Lori looked at Bo and shook her head. “Against my better judgment, I do have an empty room in the bunkhouse. Trace, you can bed down there for a while. Each room has its own bath.”
Lori sighed a breath of relief. She was so glad Bo was with her. She didn’t want Trace or whoever he was to stay in the house until they could find out more about him.
“I’ll have Adam come find you a room, so you can get settled in before dinner. We eat in two shifts so either is good. Lori and I will do some digging on what you have told us,” Bo told the stranger.
“Yes, you do that. You will find I’m telling the truth,” Trace smiled.
Lori turned to leave. “I have things on the ranch that need my attention now.”
Bo, who had been on the phone with Adam, hung up. “Adam will be here shortly and take you to a room. We need time to look into all this and we have other things going on as well. See you at dinner,” Bo told him as he turned and began to walk from the room. Lori and Jessie followed him.
Once they were back in Lori’s office, Bo closed the door behind them and Lori fell into the nearest chair. Jessie sat beside her and watched as Bo walked the floor. Finally Lori spoke up and said, “Well, what do we do first?” We have this man who says he’s my brother. I don’t know anything about him and on the other hand we have the dead animals and what’s killing them and then there’s Jessie. Tell me Bo, what do I do first?”
“First you need to take a breath and tell us what the doctor said.
Jessie watched as Lori’s face changed. “Yes,” she said. “I do need to tell you. It’s nothing to worry about. You see, I’m pregnant.” Tears began to run down her checks as she spoke.
Bo came over and put his arm around her. “It’s okay, Miss Lori, we can get through this, but who is the father? No wait. Don’t tell me. It’s Trey, isn’t it?”
Lori nodded as she wiped away the tears. “You must think I’m a slut or something. I’m sorry. I never once thought I would get pregnant. I thought Trey loved me but he is gone for good and now, here I am having his baby. I have this ranch to run. How am I going to take care of a baby?”
“It’s alright. You will take care of this child the same way your father and mother took care of you and this ranch. Now don’t worry about it. Things will come natural to you.” Bo patted her shoulder. “Now let’s go on-line and see if we can find out about this so called brother of yours. We will have to go back on your family tree on your father’s side and see if we can find any children. It shouldn’t take long.”
“You’re right Bo,” Lori wiped her eyes and walked to the desk where she sat down at the computer while Bo stood beside her.
Jessie sat taking all this in. He was not surprised when Lori had said she was pregnant, and now he was afraid. Even thinking about it caused him to think of Missy and the way she had lost their baby. What if the same thing happened to Lori? He couldn’t let it happen. He suddenly felt he couldn’t lose Lori the way he had lost Missy. He didn’t want anything to happen to Lori.
“This is strange. I can’t find anything. What are we going to do?”
“Let me think a minute,” Lori sat looking up at the ceiling with closed eyes.
Bo came and sat beside Jessie. Neither of them said anything at all. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. It was so quiet, Jessie thought Lori was asleep for a minute. Then suddenly she sat up straight in the chair and said. “Bo, didn’t Daddy leave some papers and files in that old filing cabinet? Where is that filing cabinet anyway?”
“You could be right, Lori, let me think. I believe we put it in the attic.”
“I think you are right.”
“I’ll go see if it’s there and if it is, I’ll bring it down.” Bo stood and left the room. Lori laid her head down on top of the desk and closed her eyes. Jessie watched her closely. He didn’t want anything to happen to her and he was so scared for her. It wasn’t long before Bo returned. He had a small two-wheeler and on it was a small filing cabinet.
“Here we go,” he said as he set it down on the floor.
Lori and Jessie sat down in the floor and began to go through the papers. Jessie didn’t want to go through the papers. They weren’t his or anyone’s he knew. But Lori told him they would need his help or it might take a few days before they found anything. That is if there was anything to find.
So the three of them looked at the papers for what seemed like hours. Finally it was Bo who said, “I think I’ve got something.” He took the folder he had in his hand and walked to the desk where he spread all the papers out across it. Lori and Jessie came to see what he had found.
“It says here that Trace was
born to your father and a young woman named Sarah. Have you ever heard of her Lori?”
“No, I don’t know anyone named Sarah,” Lori said. “I don’t remember Dad talking about a Sarah either.”
“Nor do I,” Bo said. “But then, he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t want his family to know.”
Jessie spoke up. “If this happened before he met your mother, Lori, and it seems to have been, why would he keep it a secret unless maybe he didn’t know? But Trace said he did.”
“That makes sense,” Lori said. “I wish Dad were here to tell us. How do we know he is who he says he is?”
“That I think we can do,” Bo said. “See if he has any scars or birth marks.”
“I think we need to go through these papers some more.”
So the three of them set back to the task of trying to find something. Jessie opened a folder that was filled with pictures. Paper pictures and in color. Strange, but he looked anyway. There were pictures of Lori as a baby. Pictures of her parents getting married. And one picture of a young woman with Lori’s father and a baby.
“Look, I think I found something.”
Bo and Lori came to see what he had found. “Oh my, do you think this could be Trace and his mother Sarah.”
“It sure seems like it.” Bo said. “The baby is dressed like a boy.”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen this before.”
“Look,” Jessie said as he held up a picture of Lori and her father. “You can tell it’s a different baby.”
“But how do we know this wasn’t planted,” Lori asked.
“We don’t. People can do anything with pictures now.”
“Let me see it. I will need some time but I may be able to tell if it’s real,” Bo said.
“Really, how can you tell,” Lori asked.
Portals of Time Page 9
