“What are you saying?” Nicholas frowned at his father, who nodded.
“Audra Morrison blew into town one day. Met up with your mother and they got to talking. Barb got to complaining. Next thing you know Audra’s convincing Barb that she doesn’t need to stay with me. That she doesn’t need to keep living this life.” His father picked up his rope again and yanked a strand through.
“And how was that Cara’s fault?”
“She’s just like her mother. Coming into our lives. Trying to convince you to stop working. Changing things in my life.”
Nicholas stared at his father, feeling as if pieces of a puzzle were slowly falling into place. His father knew how Cara felt about Nicholas’s jobs.
His mind ticked back to the last time he had talked to his father about cutting back on his hours on the job. The note of panic in his father’s voice. How his father insisted Nicholas stick to the plan.
“We can’t afford you quittin’,” his father now said.
Nicholas leaned against the shed, the wood warm on his back. As he watched his father’s quick, jerky movements, things that Cara said slipped into his mind.
Was he really enabling his father? Was he really making it easy for his father to indulge in his hobbies while Nicholas was working?
The thought seemed disloyal, yet…
“Cara grew up with a lot of stuff,” his father said after a moment of silence. “She’s used to a higher standard of living than this ranch can give her.”
“I don’t think money is important to her, Dad,” Nicholas said. “She told me she’d sooner have had her mother than the money Lori and Alan spent on her.”
His father didn’t answer and as Nicholas watched him, another thought spiraled up through his consciousness.
“Did Mom leave because money was tight?” he asked, giving voice to those thoughts. “Or was something else going on?”
His father stared down at the rope he’d been working on. “What do you mean?”
“You spent a lot of time at rodeos, didn’t you?”
“You have to if you want to get to the qualifying rounds.” Dale looked up at him, his eyes narrowed. “And if you’re going to go on about the money it cost, like your mother always did, you know I often broke even.”
“But was it really the money she was worried about, Dad? Do you think she might have sooner had you around every weekend?”
Dale snorted his response, threw the rope down and surged to his feet. “Your mother would have been fine with everything if that Audra had stayed away from her. Your mom wanted more…and I couldn’t give her what she wanted.”
He stormed out of the shed, slamming the door so hard it banged shut and flew open again.
As it swung and creaked on its hinges, Nicholas bent over and picked up the rope, fingering the unwoven ends. He sighed as he hung it back up.
He had hit a sore spot with his questions to his father and for the first time in years, other speculations about his mother’s leaving colored his thoughts.
And, as always, his mind drifted back to Cara and what she had said. How she had challenged him. She knew he loved working on the ranch. She knew what it meant.
He wasn’t sure what was happening between them, but he wanted to see where it would go.
Talking to his father about her was a waste of time and breath. One of these days Dale would simply have to accept her as his…what?
Nicholas didn’t want to think that far. Didn’t dare. For now, he and Cara were together. For now they enjoyed being with each other. It felt right. Good. And it made his heart feel whole.
As for his father?
That he would have to deal with another time.
Chapter Fifteen
The corral was filled to bursting with cows, calves and heifers.
“Can’t see why we need to test the whole works.” Dale Chapman underlined his complaint with a frown.
“Just a precaution,” Cara said, though she also didn’t know why they were doing all the cattle. Nicholas was only shipping the thirty heifers across the border, and as far as she knew they were the only animals the buyer wanted tested for tuberculosis.
“Typical vet. Make you do more work than needs to be done.” Dale glanced at her, his frown deepening. “I thought just Gordon, that new vet, was coming.”
“He wanted some help.” Cara kept her tone even as she climbed up and over the fence and away from Dale. She zeroed in on Nicholas, as if to draw strength from his presence. But he was talking to Dr. Moen.
When Gordon had asked her to come, her feelings were mixed. One part of her hoped to see Nicholas again. To test the change in their relationship.
Things were so tentative between them, so fragile, yet a sense of anticipation floated up within her. A sense of settling, which was both new and frightening.
She wasn’t sure where this was going and she didn’t know what kind of plans to make. But in the next week and a half she had to make a decision.
The job on which she had pinned so much of her hopes still waited. Yet to make a major life decision based on a few kisses and a few moments with Nicholas seemed foolish.
“You don’t belong in a lab. You belong out here, working with animals.”
Nicholas’s comment twisted through her thoughts, shifting the foundations of her plans.
And then, there he was, standing in front of her, a gentle smile hovering around the edges of his mouth.
“I’m glad you could come out, too,” Nicholas said, his voice igniting the spark of possibilities within her. “I was going to call you. See if you’re free this weekend. I know you’re on call all week.”
“I’m not on call over the weekend.”
“Great. What do you say to dinner in Calgary?”
Cara’s smile started inside her and spread outward. The last time they spoke, Nicholas was leaving for Kuwait on the same day he wanted to go out with her.
“That sounds like a fabulous idea.”
“Lorne told me about this restaurant. He said it would change my life.”
“That’s putting a lot of pressure on one restaurant.” The unspoken message hovered between them and Cara’s heart thudded heavily in her chest. Their eyes held as the import of his offer registered on both of them.
“No. There’s no pressure at all.” Nicholas’s own smile grew as he reached out and feathered a strand of hair back from her face. “It’s a bit fancy—”
“So no blue coveralls?” Cara asked, looking down at her own coveralls and trying to hide the flush in her cheeks, the sparkle of anticipation in her eyes.
“I’ll take you exactly as you are,” Nicholas said, his hand lingering on her cheek.
Cara looked up at that and as their eyes held, older, deeper emotions kindled and grew.
And with them a sense of coming home.
“I’m glad you came,” Nicholas said, his hand drifting down to her shoulder. “I feel better knowing you’re on the job, as well.”
Cara caught Dale glancing at her, his eyes dark. Even from here his fury was as palpable as a slap.
She wished it didn’t bother her. Wished he wasn’t a shadow hanging over their growing relationship. But he was. And sooner or later, she and Nicholas would have to deal with Dale’s feelings toward her.
“I think Gordon knows what he’s doing,” Cara said, shaking her head as if to turn her focus on the waiting job. “Besides, this is just a formality. Alberta is a TB-free zone.”
“How long before we know anything?” Nicholas removed his hand, his voice growing businesslike.
“Two days.”
“And then?”
“Then you’ll be able to ship the cows and collect your paycheck.” Cara added a grin to her comment, to show Nicholas she was kidding.
He didn’t smile in return and Cara wondered if her comment about money bothered him.
“Gordon said he wanted to run the heifers through first so I better get them moved.” Nicholas slipped on his gloves and jog
ged over to the corral without a backward glance as Cara regretted her ill-timed comment.
Though they had made plans for the weekend, he hadn’t said anything about the job waiting for him in Kuwait and she hadn’t said anything about her job in Montreal. It was as if they lived in a bubble, holding off reality.
But what would they do when reality intruded?
Cara looked around, taking in the scenery that was both peaceful and overwhelming. She tried to imagine staying here, becoming a part of the history permeating the house, the farm, the land.
She thought of Nicholas and how things had changed between them.
She had thought she and Nicholas had been in love the first time, but now, it seemed as if the feelings growing between them were different. Deeper. Richer.
And yes, it did make her afraid. Because she knew, this time around, if things didn’t work out she would be more than hurt.
She would be devastated.
“This is an amazing place,” Gordon said, turning around as if to get a better look. “These guys must be loaded to be able to afford to live here and keep it looking so good.”
Cara glanced around the yard. Yes, it was tidy, but Cara knew the sacrifices that had made it so.
“Nicholas works very hard,” she said, unable to keep the defensive tone out of her voice.
“He must. From what I heard, all Dale does is hang around the auction mart. I saw him there both times I went with Bill.”
“Hey, let’s get these animals through,” Dale called out from the corrals. “Haven’t got all day.”
Gordon raised his eyebrows and Cara made a note to talk to her uncle about the clinic’s new vet. Gordon needed to learn a bit more discretion if he wanted to work in a close-knit farming community.
A cloud of dust from the milling cattle greeted them and a few minutes later they were immersed in the work.
Gordon called out the tag numbers of the cattle as he ran them through and Cara filled them in on the form.
Cara couldn’t help feeling a burst of pride for Nicholas when she saw the heifers going through. They looked sleek and healthy, with beautiful conformation. They were some of the best cattle she’d ever seen and they would definitely improve the genetics of any herd they went to. Nicholas was a born rancher, she thought.
An hour and a half later the heifers were out in the pasture again and the cloud of dust was settling in the corrals.
“So what’s the next step?” Nicholas asked, pulling his hat off. He slapped it against his leg, beating the dust out.
Cara was about to speak when Gordon jumped in. “I have to come back and check the sites to see if there’s been any reaction to the TB test.”
“Still can’t figure out why that loser wanted us to do a TB test,” Dale grumbled. “Waste of time and money.”
“He’s the buyer and if that’s what the buyer wants, that’s what the buyer gets,” Nicholas said. “It’s just a precaution.”
“You probably won’t have to do this for the next group of cows you ship out,” Cara assured Dale.
Dale nodded but didn’t look at her, and apprehension shivered through her. Though she didn’t need his approval, Dale’s attitude would need to be dealt with if she and Nicholas’s relationship were to deepen. If.
The word hung over their relationship and Cara couldn’t delve too deeply into it. Not yet.
“I’ll only need to check a couple of the heifers,” Gordon was saying as he walked with Nicholas toward the corrals. “Did you bring the other cows in, as well?”
“Because I’m not shipping them, I moved them out to the far pasture again. Besides, you said this test was a formality.” Nicholas settled his hat lower on his head as the morning sun blinded him. Another beautiful day on the ranch. “I did.”
Nicholas climbed up and over a fence into the pen holding the heifers, the animals that represented the future.
Last night he had taken his horse out for a midnight ride as if hunting for some sign, some indication of what he should do. He knew his feelings for Cara were growing deeper every day and he knew he wanted to be with her.
But he also knew that she still wanted him to stay home. To work the ranch.
He’d imagined the picture and it tantalized. He thought of not having to take on work that required living in a guarded compound, watching your back while you made hard decisions about drilling, work conditions, employee discontent.
He wondered what it would be like to experience every day of every season on the ranch he loved so much.
He walked slowly through the milling heifers, glancing at their ear tags, easily recalling each of their mothers. He had chosen each of these heifers because their births had been problem free. Not that he would have known. He had been working on a rig in Newfoundland. His father was the one who’d been home to watch the births and make the necessary notations.
By being gone, he’d missed things happening on the ranch. Missed out on some of the rewards of the hard work.
And with that in mind, he’d worked up enough nerve to call his boss this morning. To talk about maybe cutting back on his hours. Maybe even quit completely. But he only got the answering machine.
He hadn’t told Cara his plans. He wanted to surprise her when they went out for dinner.
Nor had he told his father.
However, sooner or later his father would have to accept that he and Cara were together again.
He pushed the thoughts aside as he focused on the work at hand. Clambering up on his horse, he clucked to it, then easily separated the first five heifers into the sorting pen and from there into the chute where Gordon could check them.
He got off his horse, closed the gate behind the first five and leaned on it while he watched Gordon move from animal to animal, checking the sites where they had done the TB test.
“Could you send another five in?” Gordon said, sounding distracted.
“Sure.” Nicholas felt a niggle of unease. Cara and Gordon had both assured him this follow-up was simply a formality.
But he sorted five more out and sent them through.
When Gordon asked for five more, then another five, Nicholas’s unease grew. They processed the entire herd and when he closed the gate on the last of the heifers, he rode his horse out through the gate and toward the other side of the chute.
Gordon checked the last five heifers, then nodded for Nicholas’s father to open the head gate. The steel gate clanged and the heifers bawled as they charged to freedom, kicking up dust as Gordon pulled himself up and over the fence.
“What’s wrong?” Nicholas asked. “Why did you need to check them all?”
Gordon wasn’t looking at Nicholas as he pulled his gloves off. “I found three positives in the herd.”
A roaring began in Nicholas’s ears. “What do you mean?”
Gordon stuffed the gloves in his coverall pockets. “Sorry, Nick. Your herd has TB.”
The roaring grew. “I thought Alberta was TB free. Where could it have come from?”
“Possibly some of the semen you used when you artificially inseminated your cattle.”
“So what does this mean?”
Gordon glanced over his shoulder at the shining, fat, healthy-looking animals. The cream of Nicholas’s herd.
“Quarantine.” The word came out like a bullet and Nicholas grabbed one of the uprights on the corrals to steady himself. Quarantine.
A word associated with diseases that killed animals and livelihoods. Quarantine was the first step to something far more serious. “And after that?”
Gordon gave a listless shrug as if his diagnosis was simply another day on the job and didn’t mean the destruction of a herd Nicholas had spent years building up. “All the animals on this farm will have to be destroyed.”
“Horses, too?”
“Not sure about them, but my guess would be yeah.” Gordon peeled his coveralls off, stepped out of them and bunched them up. As if he was going to dispose of them as soon as he got ba
ck to the clinic.
“So what do we do?” Nicholas couldn’t stop the note of desperation in his voice. He couldn’t imagine the herd had to be wiped out because of one random test. “Could you test them again? Is there something we can do?”
“Not a thing to do.” Gordon shoved the coveralls under his arm. “I have a bunch of paperwork to work through and then I have to make the call. Meantime, none of your animals goes anywhere.”
The cattle liner was coming tomorrow to pick up the herd.
He already had half of the buyer’s money in the farm account, and most of that was already earmarked for special projects. The rest was supposed to have been their living money until he sold the crop.
Now he had to give it all back. And he was looking at the destruction of years of work. Gone.
Cara parked her car by the barn and got out. As soon as she heard the news from Gordon, she cancelled her next appointments, jumped in the car and came straight to the Chapman ranch.
She heard the bawling of animals and ran to the corrals where she hoped the heifers were still penned up. Awaiting orders from Gordon.
When Gordon told her what he’d found, she could hardly believe it. There hadn’t been a case of TB in cattle in Alberta for years. And these animals had no genetic connection to any herds in Canada or the States proven to carry tuberculosis.
She knew it was unprofessional of her, but she needed to see for herself and double-check Gordon’s diagnosis.
As she came around the corner, her gaze scanned the corrals looking for Nicholas, but she only saw Dale, standing with his hands in his pockets, staring over the penned-up heifers.
Cara hesitated but then walked over to his side.
“I’m so sorry, Dale,” she said.
He didn’t look at her, but kept his eyes on the seemingly healthy herd. “I can’t believe we have to kill them all. They’re the best animals we’ve ever raised.”
“I can’t believe it either,” she said quietly. She hesitated to ask the next question, but she had to for Nicholas’s sake. “Would you mind if I checked them myself?”
Cattleman's Courtship Page 15
