The Construction of Cheer

by Liz Isaacson

  “I agree,” Cactus said quietly. “I do like the idea of having a foreman or two, with a separate place for him to live and raise his family. That’s smart.”

  “I’m tabling this for now,” Ranger said. “Let’s come back to it next time we can get together.” He sighed and flipped his paper over. “I’m going to send a text for a whole family meeting. We’ll discuss our investments, as well as this foreman idea.”

  He consulted his paper again. “No one sees a problem with Bear stepping back once his baby comes. And we’re sponsoring a booth at the Harvest Festival.” He looked at Bear. “Bishop’s house?”

  “Right.” Bear pulled the printout Bishop had given him from the folder. “Bishop needs a place of his own. He wouldn’t come right out and say, but he’s pretty serious with Montana. If they get married, they can’t live in a one-bedroom suite here in the homestead. He wants to build a place out by True Blue.”

  He set the map showing the location of it, with the bulleted points Bishop had put together. “We have to sign off on this. We’ll lose half an acre of farmland that just entered its first year of rest. He wants to improve the road leading out there, and he’ll want to pave and all of that.”

  “It’s fine with me,” Cactus said. “All of us might find ourselves in Bishop’s position eventually.” He looked at Ward. “Right?”

  Ward’s jaw jumped, and Bear wondered what other conversations had happened that he’d missed. “Right,” Ward said.

  “I’m fine with it,” Ranger said. “I trust Bishop to maintain the integrity of the ranch.” He pinned Bear with a glare though. “I am going to add an item of my own real quick, while we’re on this topic.”

  Bear looked steadily back at him. “Go for it.”

  “I want a shed for my four-wheelers,” he said. “I’ve already spoken to Bishop about it, and he’s made some preliminary sketches. There’s room right here, between this homestead and Ward’s place.” He glanced at Ward. “We don’t farm that land anyway. It would actually be an addition to the construction and remodeling that needs to be done on the Bull House.”

  Bear gritted his teeth, his jaw suddenly tight. “We’re not using those things here.”

  “We can store them here without using them,” Ranger said. “Oakley is going to sell her house, because it’s ridiculous to keep a mansion in town when we live up here.”

  “Bishop has that measuring app,” Cactus said. “I see why we don’t want to transition from horses to ATVs, Bear. I do. But there’s no reason not to use the advancements the Good Lord has provided for us.”

  “Bishop has a measuring app?” Bear asked.

  “Oh, boy,” Ward said. “And we have electricity in the houses too, Bear.” He leaned forward, his frustration plain on his face. “I don’t want to use ATVs here either. I voted against it, and I would again. But I agree with Ranger—he can store them here. He and Oakley enjoy taking them up on the trails. Heck, I think I would too. There’s no reason we can’t use them for recreation while still holding true to our roots of using dogs and horses for our herds.”

  Cactus was nodding, and Bear could see their reasoning.

  “Ace and I would like to talk about using apps and programs for our agriculture,” Ward said, clearing his throat. “Add that to the list, Ranger. Whole family discussion.”

  “What kind of apps?” Bear asked.

  “They have things to help us rotate fields,” Ward said. “To maintain soil pH. To harvest at the most optimal time.”

  “You have systems for that.”

  “Yes,” Ward said. “But computers and apps think faster than a man can.”

  Bear couldn’t argue with that, especially as Ranger had two computers sitting in front of him and developed apps in his spare time. “Okay,” he said, the word grinding through his throat. Bishop had spoken more true than Bear had thought—things were changing around Shiloh Ridge.

  I trust you beyond measure to take Shiloh Ridge into the future and pass it along to your son or daughter.

  He couldn’t take Shiloh Ridge into the future by stifling himself—or anyone else—in the past. “I just want the original culture at Shiloh Ridge—I want what Daddy and Uncle Bull built—to be maintained.”

  “We can do that,” Ranger said. “With careful and thoughtful and progressive discussion, among all of us.” He looked around at the others. “Maybe we should be scheduling a quarterly family meeting, with everyone.”

  “I can second that,” Cactus said.

  “Third,” Ward said, and Ranger looked at Bear.

  He nodded, and Ranger wrote it down. He looked up and smiled around at everyone. “That’s it, men. Good talks today. Real good.”

  Bear stayed in his seat as the others left, and when it was just him and Ranger, they finally looked at one another. “Who are you thinking for foremen?”

  “Ward,” Ranger said. “He wants it; I can see it in his face. He’ll keep Bull House, because it’s our father’s. Ace will need somewhere else to live. Cactus too. He can’t raise a family in that Edge Cabin.”

  “He won’t leave that cabin,” Bear said. “His son is buried there.”

  “Then it’ll need a complete remodel and reconstruction,” Ranger said. “Enlargement, expansion.”

  “We’ll all sign off on that.” Bear placed his palms flat against the table and stood, his all-night mowing session catching up to him. “I’ll consult with Bishop on places we have now that need work—Bull House, Edge Cabin, the house down on that adjacent piece we own. We’ll go through everyone and start working now to make sure everyone has the accommodations they need for a family.”

  “It’s time,” Ranger said, and Bear could only agree. He hugged his cousin, which took Ranger by surprise.

  “I didn’t mean to take over with Two Cents,” he said. “I just know sometimes you can overthink things and not actually take the first step forward.”

  “I can,” Ranger conceded, stepping back. “It’s okay. We’ll talk later. You look about five seconds away from passing out.” He smiled at Bear. “Go to bed. Oh, and congratulations on your baby.”

  Bear’s grin once again exploded onto his face. “Thanks.”

  Ranger turned away, but not before Bear distinctly caught a river of pain moving through his eyes. He opened his mouth to ask Ranger what was wrong, but a voice inside his head said, Give it time. Now’s not the time to ask.

  He walked toward the door, his thoughts racing now. What did he need to give more time to? Asking Ranger…what, exactly?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Oh, no,” Penny Walker said with a moan.

  Gideon looked up from his oatmeal, his eyebrows up. “What is it?” he asked.

  She loved her husband so very much, and he made a little more progress every single day. She smiled gently at him, her mother heart so full and yet so fragile. “Rhett just texted to say that Penny died this morning.”

  She looked back at her phone. “He said Conrad’s been crying for an hour, and he hopes Bill can take out bloodshot eyes in photos.”

  She set her device down and got up from the table, her stomach clenching. She did not want her grandson to have to endure pain and disappointment. Losing a dog was hard on everyone, and Penny suspected Rhett himself had shed quite a few tears. “He’s had that dog for thirteen years.”

  “I’ll call ‘im,” Gideon said, already getting up from the table. He loved dogs as much as Rhett, and he’d been through several in his life. She could still remember the two big mutts that had bowled her over at the park in Sweet Creek.

  Their handsome owner had come running around the trees, calling for Moose and Mack, and that had been the first time Penny had met Gideon Walker. Those two dogs had changed the course of her whole life.

  Tears came to her eyes as she looked out the window above the kitchen sink. Gideon now had two dozen miniature horses in the pasture behind their farmhouse, and she took comfort in the low drone of his voice as he spoke to their first-born s
on about the loss of his dog.

  Penny could clearly see Gideon in that park. Gideon coming to her apartment while they dated in college. Gideon bringing doughnuts to her study groups on campus.

  She saw him dressed in a sharp, black tuxedo, that stunning and sexy cowboy hat on his head while he waited for her to carefully step down the aisle on her father’s arm. She’d been the first Aarons child to marry, though she was the youngest.

  Her mother had dealt with three weddings in a twelve-month period, and then she and Daddy had passed away in a terrible trucking accident that had left Penny reeling for years. Even now, she wished her mother was there to guide her. She’d lost her very best friend and greatest mentor the day her mother had died.

  Her tears fell, though over four decades had passed since that terrible day Darren had called in pure agony to tell her the news.

  “I finally did it, Mama,” she whispered to the back yard. She’d told her mother she wanted to be a lawyer since the age of twelve, and her mother had always supported her, though she certainly had a different idea of what Penny should dedicate her life to.

  Sadness always came to her when she thought about the fact that none of her sons had known the beauty of her mother’s spirit, and that none of them had learned from her father the way she had.

  She and Gideon had not stayed in Sweet Creek, and the egg farm Penny had loved as a youth had disappeared from her life as her husband pursued his dreams in the field of technology.

  She’d dropped out of college when she’d had Jeremiah, as he was only fifteen months younger than Rhett. With two babies in less than a year and a half, and Gideon working crazy hours, Penny had put her dreams on hold.

  They’d kept too. For forty long years, they’d kept.

  When she’d first told Gideon she wanted to go back and finish her degree, he’d been nothing but supportive. He’d studied with her, and encouraged her, and before she knew it, she’d finished the coursework.

  Then came the bar exam. More studying. More prayerful nights. More work. She wasn’t as quick in body or mind as she’d once been, but her bravery was just as strong. She’d signed up for the spring exam, and she’d passed it.

  Her sons and their wives wanted to throw her another party, and she’d finally agreed—with one condition: They all had to do family photos before the event.

  She wanted seven big, beautiful family photos on her walls, with all of her sons, all of their wives, and all of her grandchildren. She wanted one with just her and Gideon, just as they were, with their wrinkles and gray hair and years of wisdom behind their smiling eyes.

  No one had put up much of a fuss—except Jeremiah—and their family photos were getting taken up at Shiloh Ridge Ranch later today.

  Gideon’s touch ran along her waist, and Penny leaned into him. “How is he?”

  “Not great,” he said. “But I talked to Tripp, who’s there with them. Oliver brought his girlfriend, and the two of them are entertaining the kids. They’re happy enough for now.”

  “Oliver has a girlfriend?”

  “Apparently,” Gideon said. “Now, Penny, don’t you go all Grandmother Bear on him. He’s fifteen years old, and he’s allowed to have a girlfriend.”

  “I was not going to go Grandmother Bear on him,” she said indignantly.

  Gideon chuckled. “How old were you when boys started showing up at the egg farm again?” He kept her tucked right against his side, and Penny loved how he’d always claimed her. How he’d always wanted her. He’d barely been able to leave for college, and he’d repeatedly asked her in the three weeks it had taken her to follow him if she’d been asked out by anyone else.

  He’d asked her to marry him after only a few months of dating, because he didn’t want anyone else to have her.

  “Younger than fifteen,” she murmured, leaning her head against his strong, broad chest.

  “Exactly.” Gideon stepped away from her. “I see Yellow Ribbon is all tangled in that dang rope again.” He bent to pull on his boots again, though he’d already been out to the pasture.

  “Gideon, we have to leave soon.”

  “I know, dear.” He smiled at her. “I won’t be long.” He stepped back over to her and kissed her. “Tripp and Ivory are good parents. They know Ollie’s girlfriend. She’s over to the house all the time. Ollie goes to her house. Her mother knows him. It’s fine.”

  “Of course it is,” she said. “I’m not even thinking about it anymore.”

  Gideon laughed and shook his head. “I know you, Mrs. Walker. You’re thinking about it.”

  Maybe she was. Oliver dominated her thoughts for the next several minutes while she kept an eye on her husband as he worked to get his precious miniature horse out of the mess it had gotten itself into. Oliver was not hers by blood, but he still belonged to her completely.

  She picked up her phone as Gideon headed back in, and she sent a quick text to Ollie. I heard you have a girlfriend, Ollie. How exciting. I can’t wait to meet her. Please remember who you are when you’re with her.

  That wasn’t too Grandmother Bear, was it?

  She wasn’t going to ask Gideon, that was for sure.

  I will, Grandma, came back quickly. You can meet her at the party. She’ll be there with her family.

  A smile adorned Penny’s face as Gideon came back inside, bringing a blast of heat with him. “Let’s go. Jeremiah needs help with the food.”

  “Right,” Penny said, reaching up to wipe her eyes one more time. She’d forgone the makeup today. She was almost seventy years old, and she was going to spend the day weeping. She’d accepted it, and makeup would only be in her way. “Let’s go. Whitney could use a break, I’m sure, and you’ll get to hold your new grandson while I help Jeremiah with the cookie monster salad.”

  Her tears started afresh, because Jeremiah and Whitney had brought home their third child only a few weeks ago. There had been no complications, and Penny wept because they’d named him Jason, after her father, and his special spirit reminded her so much of the man she’d lost far too soon.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Bishop stayed close to Montana as people started arriving at True Blue. His job was to hand out the menu so everyone would know what had nuts in it, and what was gluten-free, and what wasn’t.

  He’d wanted something where he got to see everyone’s reaction to True Blue, and he could safely say that his pride in the remodeled barn had swelled and grown with every man, woman, and child who entered the grand hall.

  All the Walkers had been here for an hour, taking pictures, and now their friends and family were arriving. He shook hands with Wade Rhinehart and introduced him to Montana. Her job was to take any gifts for Penny people had brought and put them on the table reserved for such things. She noted what the gift looked like and who’d brought it, which she’d give to Penny Walker later.

  He welcomed Gavin Redd and told Montana who he was. He introduced Brit Bellamore and several of his cowboys as they arrived.

  He clapped Squire Ackerman’s back with a round of laughter, and introduced Montana around to all the cowboys and their wives from Three Rivers who’d made the drive from the northern-most ranch surrounding the town.

  She took Brynn Greene into a tight hug and held her for several long seconds. Then Montana went off with Brynn for a while, leaving Bishop with double duty. He didn’t mind, because nearly everyone had arrived by then, including his brothers and cousins, their dates and significant others, and the cowboys who worked the ranch alongside them.

  As Jeremiah took the microphone and welcomed everyone to the party, Bishop stayed near the barrels that stood sentinel in the wide doorway and drank in the crowd.

  The Walkers had seven boys in their family, and they’d grown and expanded by leaps and bounds in the past decade.

  Bishop felt like his family was just starting down the same path, what with Bear and Ranger married now, and already a baby on the way. He, Ace, and Cactus had girlfriends, and Bishop had met with Bea
r yesterday about the construction that needed to be done at Shiloh Ridge to take all twelve of them into the future.

  He wanted a house for the full dozen of them, if they wanted to live there. Bishop was tired just thinking about it, and the building projects he’d thought he was almost done with had suddenly quadrupled.

  The good news was that he and Montana would be finished with the Ranch House by the end of next week. The bad news was that the completion of that project meant Montana wouldn’t be coming up to Shiloh Ridge every day.

  She’d been dividing her time between the ranch, her family, and the new library bid for a couple of weeks now, and he knew she was looking forward to just working on the library. He was excited for her to have that opportunity too.

  He located her among the crowd of people, already missing her constant companionship on the ranch. He smiled, and she somehow felt it, because she turned and waved for him to come join her.

  He did, weaving his way through the crowd to her side. She slipped her fingers between his and tipped up to whisper in his ear. “Brynn said she’ll take Aurora any day she can get her. Isn’t that great?”

  “Amazing,” Bishop whispered back. He found Aurora standing next to Oliver, who watched the scene up front next to Jackie and Bob. “We’re still going to the Harvest Festival with them, right?”

  Montana nodded, and Bishop did too. Good, he thought. He hadn’t had much opportunity to get to know Aurora real well. She was busy all summer up at Bowman’s Breeds, and she’d spent the rest of her spare time with Oliver.

  Bishop wanted to know her. He’d made great strides in making his own peace with himself and the people around him. Montana had too.

  The last piece he needed was to get to know her daughter. If he was going to marry Aurora’s mother, he’d become her step-father. Instantly.