“Why would you buy cows now?” Janie asked. “Not many people are selling in the beginning of summer. If they are, you’ve got to suspect there’s something wrong with the herd.”
Exactly what Shane had said. And maybe, had they inherited the ranch in the spring or in the fall, they might have had better options. But if they waited until the fall to get their cows, they might not have the money.
“How else are we supposed to have a cattle ranch?” Nicole asked, sounding annoyed.
Janie let out a sigh. “If I were you, I’d wait until fall. Lease your pasture to Shane for the summer, buy what cows the other ranchers can’t afford to feed over the winter, hopefully some pregnant ones, then in the spring sell the babies, keeping a few for yourself.”
She made it sound so easy, like it didn’t matter if they waited an extra few months for much-needed income. But they didn’t have the luxury of time. They’d barely make it on the timeline they’d planned.
“Thanks for your advice,” Erin said. “We’ll keep it in mind.”
It was frustrating that everyone seemed so intent on discouraging her and her sisters and dispensing unwanted advice.
Fortunately, Janie didn’t seem like she had any intention of pressing the issue. “I hate to run out on you, but I’ve got to be somewhere. You’ll sit with me at church on Sunday, right?”
With the way her sisters’ eyes were on her, Leah didn’t dare say no. “Of course. It’ll be nice to see a familiar face.”
Once Janie left, they cleared their table so they could leave, as well. No sense in waiting for Erin’s no-show client. They started toward the door, but an older man got out of his chair and stopped them.
“I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation with Janie,” he said. “While it’s true people normally aren’t selling cattle in the middle of summer, sometimes a rancher has to do what’s necessary. And, not to speak bad about a neighbor, but everyone knows that Shane is the world’s biggest tightwad. I’m sure he’s lowballing you on your land lease. Helen gave it to him dirt cheap because he was like a son to her. Everyone knows your place has the most water and best grass.”
She’d wanted to believe that Shane was being a good guy and that he was looking out for them. Was it weird to feel sick at knowing she might have been right about him? It was so frustrating, hearing different descriptions about the man, and not knowing what to believe, especially with her trust issues.
“We appreciate your candor,” Erin said. “What do we do about the cattle? Is there someone willing to lease our land for a higher price so we can wait until fall to buy our cows?”
The man smiled. “I’ve got some for sale. My mother is in New Jersey, and her health is failing. It’s hard for me to keep going back and forth, so I want to sell my herd. But everyone I know has all the cows they need, and they can’t afford any more. If you ladies take them off my hands, it would solve both our problems. I’d even be willing to sell them for less than market price. With what I’m paying in airfare, selling the cows, even at a discount, would save me a lot of money.”
His story tugged at Leah’s heart. What would it be like, going back and forth across the country to take care of a sick relative while trying to maintain a ranch? And getting cows at a discount made his offer really tempting.
“That sounds great,” she said. “But we don’t even know your name.”
“Harold Stein. You might have seen my ranch off the highway leading into town.”
They drove past that ranch every time they went to town. The boys liked to count the cows they saw in the pasture. Wouldn’t it be funny to have those same cows?
“It does sound great,” Erin said. “However, my sisters and I need to do some talking. Why don’t you put an offer together and we’ll consider it?”
Harold smiled. “I certainly will. I’ll run something by your place in the morning.”
“Thank you so much. Regardless of what we decide, I hope you understand how much we appreciate your offer.” Leah smiled at him and held her hands out for the boys. “We’d best get going.”
As they exited the coffee shop, Nicole leaned into her. “This sounds amazing. We should have taken the offer on the spot. What if someone else decides they want the cows?”
“Then they weren’t the cows for us. We don’t even know how much he wants for them.” Leah didn’t want to crush her hopes, but they didn’t have all the facts. Even at below market price, could they afford what he wanted?
“I’m sure you’re right.” Nicole let out a long sigh. “But it just seems so cruel to be this close to our dream and not get it. I know I want the ranch to be a working one more than the two of you because of my love for animals, but I’m starting to get frustrated that we don’t have anything yet.”
She shared her sister’s frustration, but she lacked her sister’s blind trust in people. If only there were a clear solution to their problems.
Everyone kept wanting her to go to church and believe in God and all that nonsense. Well, if there was a God, then maybe He should make a way for the cow situation to work out. A herd of cheap cows would go a long way toward making their ranch successful and proving to Leah there really was a God who cared about them.
* * *
Shane looked at the sad-eyed bay mare standing before him. He’d talked Bobby down to fifteen hundred for the retired barrel-racing horse, but he was still sure Bobby had gotten the better end of the deal. This old horse didn’t look like she’d done much of anything for years, but he supposed that’s what made her perfect for the two little boys getting out of their mother’s beat-up car.
Maybe he was too soft, but as the boys ran toward him, he couldn’t call this purchase a mistake.
He stepped away from the rail he had the horse tied on and walked toward the boys. “Remember what I said about running and making too much noise around the horses.”
The boys immediately stopped.
“Sorry, Mister Shane.” Dylan hung his head.
“Sowwy,” Ryan said.
“It’s okay. But we need to remember the rules in the future.”
As the boys nodded eagerly, he looked over at their mother. Leah hung back, looking a little more cheerful than he’d seen in the past.
“Leah? Would you like to join us?”
The smile she gave him was warm, bringing an odd sensation to his chest. Almost like she was hugging him from afar. What had changed so dramatically in their lives over the past few days? He’d caught a glimpse of them in church on Sunday, but hadn’t had the chance to speak with them. He supposed it didn’t matter, but he found himself wanting to know more. It seemed like the weight that had been upon her in their previous meetings was gone.
“Yes. I was just trying to give you space so the boys knew that when it comes to horses, you’re in charge.”
He wasn’t expecting her to give him so much authority, not when she’d made it clear that she didn’t like him interfering with her parenting. But he wasn’t going to argue. Not when she was right. He’d been afraid that having the boys come over to see his horses would turn into a power struggle. Maybe he’d judged her too harshly. After all, they’d had a good time the other evening, playing with the trains.
“I appreciate that,” he said. Then he turned to the boys. “Rule number one, you can’t go near the horses without an adult present.”
The boys murmured their agreement, and as he continued explaining the rules, he noticed the respectful way the boys looked at him. Like they were listening. It was hard to believe these were the same boys who’d acted up the first time he met them. Aside from that one day, he’d found the boys well-behaved and delightful. Maybe he’d been too hasty in judging them, too.
Once he explained the rules to the boys, he held his hand out to them. “Would you like to pet my horse?”
“What’s his name?” Dylan asked.
“A girl?” Dylan looked disgusted. “Cowboys don’t ride girl horses. They ride stallions.”
He chuckled at the little boy’s indignation. Somewhere in the boy’s education, he’d learned that stallions were boy horses. But he obviously hadn’t learned everything.
“Dylan! Remember what we talked about. There is nothing wrong with girls. We need to be respectful when we talk about girls.” Leah gave Shane an apologetic look. “Sorry about that. He’s just now learning that there is a difference between boys and girls, and for some reason he seems to have something against girls.”
Even though Leah seemed seriously disturbed by the idea, Shane fought the urge to laugh. It must be horrifying for three women raising boys to have to deal with some of the quirks they didn’t understand.
Shane bent down in front of the boys. “Girls are just as important as boys. Your mom is a girl. What would you do without her?”
“She’s not a girl. She’s a mom.” Dylan gave him another disgusted look. “For a grown-up, you don’t know anything.”
“Manners,” Leah said.
Dylan turned to her. “But he called you a girl. Girls are stinky.”
“Who told you that?” she asked.
“I learned it in Sunday school. My friend Joshua said that all girls are stinky. And if I want to play with him, I have to say girls are stinky, too.”
The exasperation on Leah’s face told Shane that she was at a loss for how to handle the situation. Having done his own rotation teaching the Sunday-school class, he knew the boy Dylan was talking about. His dad was one of those loudmouthed jerks that made decent men look bad.
“That might be what Joshua thinks about girls,” Shane said, “but if you want to be a cowboy, then you need to know that cowboys always treat girls right. We treat all people and animals with respect, because that is the cowboy way.”
Not all cowboys followed that philosophy, much to Shane’s dismay. But he liked to think of himself as one of the good guys, and, hopefully, he could be a role model to these boys, and hit home that men like Joshua and his father were not examples to live by.
“Will you teach me more about being a cowboy?” Dylan asked.
“Of course I will.” He looked over to see that Ryan had plopped himself down in the dirt to play in it. He was too young for philosophical discussions about what it meant to be a good man, but, God willing, his brother would learn and pass it on to him.
“Do I get a cowboy hat?”
Shane stole a glance at Leah, who had gone over to Ryan and handed him a toy car out of her purse.
“That’s for when you graduate cowboy lessons,” he said, smiling at Dylan. “Do you want cowboy lessons?”
Dylan nodded enthusiastically, his hair flopping wildly.
“The first lesson is what I just told you. We treat all people and animals with respect. So you should apologize to your mother for calling girls stinky.”
“And then I get my hat?”
He had to give the boy credit for being persistent. “There are still a lot of cowboy lessons to be learned. But this is a good start.”
“How many lessons are there?”
He hadn’t expected the question, nor was he prepared to give an answer. Leah wouldn’t appreciate him buying her son a cowboy hat without her permission.
“A lot,” he finally said. “But I need to talk to your mother about cowboy lessons before I go making any deals.”
Before Dylan could press him further, Leah returned to his side, holding Ryan. “Someone needs to be changed. Do you mind if I go inside and take care of it?”
“He’s such a baby,” Dylan said. “Why can’t he use the potty like a big boy?”
Shane shook his head at Dylan. “Remember what I said about respecting people? You don’t call someone a baby if you’re respecting them.”
For a moment, he thought Dylan was going to throw a tantrum. But then he nodded and turned to his mother. “I’m sorry for calling girls stinky.” Then he looked at his brother. “I’m sorry for calling you a baby.”
Leah gave him a surprised look, and he was once again warmed by her smile. She turned her attention to Dylan. “I accept your apology.”
“Let’s go inside,” Shane said. “You can take care of what you need, and maybe this cowpoke here can help me with some lemonade.”
Dylan puffed out his chest. “And then I can be a cowboy and have my own cowboy hat?”
The kid was harder to shake than one of those little yappy dogs.
“I told you, I have to talk to your mother about cowboy lessons. But the more you ask, the longer it’s going to take.”
Though his face fell into a pout, the little boy followed them into the house. Shane showed Leah to the bathroom, then he led Dylan into the kitchen.
“Let’s get some lemonade for everyone. I’ve also got some cookies.”
“Cookies? Mom never lets us have cookies.”
At the excited look on Dylan’s face, Shane realized he probably shouldn’t have said anything. He should’ve waited to privately ask Leah if it was all right to offer the boys a cookie. It had been too long since he’d spent time with Gina and Natalie for him to remember all the nuances of parenting. That, and Leah’s parenting was different from Gina’s. Gina had stepped back and let him take over, but Leah was always clearly the one in charge.
He’d already made the lemonade in anticipation of the visit, but including Dylan in another way would give the boy something to do. Shane pulled a chair up to the counter, then opened the cupboard where he kept his glasses.
“Why don’t you pick which glass everyone gets to have?”
He didn’t have anything fancy, just mismatched glasses he’d collected over the years, mostly from garage sales and flea markets. Gina used to get on him about it, saying he needed to be more of a grown-up and have proper dishes. But it wasn’t like he was entertaining the president or anything like that. He just needed the basics.
Dylan reached for one of the mugs. “I want that one.”
It had to be that mug. The one Natalie had given him for Christmas right before Gina had taken her and left. World’s Greatest Dad. According to Gina, Shane had been the closest thing to a dad that Natalie had ever had. Not that it mattered when Gina decided to leave, because she refused to let Shane remain in contact with Natalie. He often prayed that whatever guy Gina ended up with would be as good to Natalie as Shane had been. Or even better.
“That’s my special mug,” Shane said. “It’s for drinking coffee, not lemonade.”
“But I like it. It has a horse on it. And a handle. Handles make it easier to drink.”
Dylan was starting to whine. He usually didn’t give in to kids like this, but he felt selfish for refusing a kid something as simple as a mug. It wasn’t like it was made of gold.
“Do you promise to be careful?”
Dylan nodded.
“All right then. Now let’s pick out the glasses for your mom and brother.”
Dylan chose a variety of glasses for everyone else, making Shane feel even sillier for making a big deal out of a mug. The little boy had picked one with purple flowers for his mother because it was her favorite color. He’d chosen a blue plastic glass for his brother, saying that Ryan still broke things. And then he’d magnanimously told Shane to choose his favorite.
By the time Leah returned to the kitchen, carrying a plastic bag, they had the lemonade poured and set out on the table with the cookies.
“Do you have an outdoor trashcan I can put this in?” she asked, looking around.
“I’ll take it,” he said. “You and Ryan have a seat. Dylan helped me get everything set up.”
She looked at her son with such pride that Shane was glad he’d let Dylan have the special mug. “I’m glad to see you’re b
eing so helpful.”
The little squeeze she gave her son warmed his heart. Leah was a good mom, and her boys would grow into good men because of it.
“Mister Shane is teaching me how to be a cowboy. That way, when we pick up our cows from that man, I can help you take care of them.”
Shane stopped at the door. “What cows from what man?”
“We still haven’t decided for sure,” Leah said, giving her son a look before turning her attention to Shane. He might not know much about the family, but he knew when a mother was telling her son he’d said too much.
“We met a man in town, Harold Stein. He’s got to sell his cattle, so he can be with his ailing mother in New Jersey. He offered them to us at below market price. It’s a little more than we were budgeting for, but it’s a much larger herd than we’d planned on. We’re still trying to see if we can make it work.”
The situation reeked, and it wasn’t because of the dirty diaper he still held in his hand. He knew all about Harold Stein’s herd. All the ranchers around here did. And not a one of them would touch those cows with a thousand-foot pole.
“I hate to burst your bubble,” he said slowly. “But you don’t want those cows. There’s already one confirmed case of Bangs disease in that herd, and the rest are under quarantine until the vet can clear them. If you buy those cows, you can’t bring them or their babies to market for at least a year. And that’s if they continue to test negative.”
Leah paled, and Shane hated that he’d had to deliver such bad news. But at least she knew now, before she’d sunk the precious little money she had into a herd that would probably cost her more in the long run.
Unfortunately, she didn’t look all that thankful.
In fact, as he stepped out to the trash, giving her a minute to collect her thoughts, he just hoped that he being the one to tell her wouldn’t cause her to put a wall up again.
Chapter Five
Leah fought the urge to pull out her phone and look up Bangs disease. It sounded like a bad hairstyle, not something for cows. She hated it when others did that, and she tried to be fully present when she was with someone else. But Shane had just dropped a bomb with more megatons than she had the capacity to process on her own.
Her Cowboy Inheritance Page 6
