19

How could Lucas do something so selfish as running off with Betsy when he had pushed Cassie to the point of agreeing to marry him? The part that frustrated Ransom the most was that he’d finally thought his brother had grown up a little and knew in his heart that Cassie was the woman he had always dreamed of. He could hear Lucas saying those very words: a woman I’d dreamed of.

Well, the fool had made a commitment now and there would be no backing out. Maybe Ransom ought to ride into Hill City and see if Lucas was indeed there. But why? What could he do? Other than deck the brother who’d made him furious so often through the years. There would be no pile of wood that needed splitting there.

All the plans they had made. The furniture building, the mine—well, that was his dream, not Lucas’s. But he wouldn’t be here for spring calving or roundup or branding or any of the other work that needed doing. Good thing Micah was such a willing worker and that Arnett was enjoying being back to work and planning ahead.

Ransom felt like slamming his fist into a wall . . . or into a face. He was just as angry today as the day he’d discovered Lucas had run off. Maybe he should go talk with Hudson and the two of them could form a posse of sorts and go searching for Lucas. The cow shifted her feet and swished her tail.

“Sorry, Rosy, I’ll be more careful.” He stripped her until she was dry and shifted the milk pail out to the side. He could have gotten Gretchen up to milk, but right now, keeping really busy was helping him with his temper. Forking hay onto the sledge was another good thing. He patted the cow and hung the three-legged stool up on the post. Arnett said he would gladly milk too. Whoever would have dreamed that the old man would lose ten years off his age just because he now felt he was needed and could still do the work? Age certainly hadn’t dimmed his mind. The workshop they were setting up in his barn was proof of that.

Cassie Lockwood did not deserve to be treated the way his brother had treated her. But she didn’t sulk or cry or do any of the other things he’d expected. She and Gretchen seemed to be having a great time sewing together. And Mor was glad Cassie hadn’t moved out. He never thought he’d see the day that he’d be feeling sorry for her. Not that she seemed to need that, but Lucas was a member of the family, and their mother and father had instilled in them certain principles, not the least of which was Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Sometime there would be repercussions from Lucas’s behavior, and right now, Ransom would not mind being one of those dealing out repercussions.

He poured some milk into the flat pan for the barn cats and some in another bucket for Rosy’s calf. After setting the calf bucket in the frame he’d built to hold it, he watched the calf drink the bucket dry, tail twitching like a metronome. Then he scooped up both buckets and headed for the house. Leaving the calf on the cow would have been easier, but they needed the milk too. There was enough cream now to churn butter, and the pigs and chickens always loved the leftovers.

In the house he set the bucket with the milk in the sink and took the other to the stove to dip hot water out of the reservoir to wash the milk bucket. “You want me to strain this?”

“No. I’ll get it later.” Mavis set the platter of fried eggs on the table. “Come and eat.”

Ransom washed his hands and sat down in his place. The sight of the empty chair next to him made his teeth clench. Getting Hudson and going to look for Lucas was an idea that might appreciate a bit of nurturing. However, he knew what his mother’s answer would be if he mentioned it, so he kept his mouth shut.

What kind of reason could he give for going to Hill City today? Or perhaps he should be like Lucas and just take off without telling anyone where he was going. The thought made his stomach tighten into a knot. How could he do something like that after all the times he’d railed against Lucas for just such a thing? He spread butter and jam on his biscuit and dipped it into the egg yolk, slightly runny, just the way he liked them. He glanced up to see that the others were all staring at him. Had he been asked a question and not heard it?

“Sorry. My mind is elsewhere. Did I do something wrong?”

“We didn’t say grace yet.” Gretchen turned her head slightly and gave him a raised-eyebrow look.

“Excuse me.” He laid his biscuit down and stopped chewing, eyes closed.

Gretchen closed her prayer with, “And make my brother pay better attention. Amen.”

He gave her back look for look. “I said I was sorry.”

“It’s not like you to act like that.”

Great, another reason to feel guilty. First thinking about finding his miserable, selfish brother, second not paying attention. Perhaps if he had paid attention, he would have realized Lucas was up to something. But that was going over old ground again. He’d spent too much time between going to bed and falling asleep, trying to recall some clue.

Cassie retrieved the coffeepot and went around the table refilling the cups. When she got to Ransom, he shook his head. “I’ve had enough, thanks.” As she refilled Arnett’s cup, Ransom asked, “Do you need help with your targets?”

“If you want to. I can set them up.”

“I’m sure you can, but how about if Arnett and I get out there and dig them free of the snow? You want them at certain distances?” Why was she looking at him like that? As if she was surprised he offered? Usually Lucas helped, but since he wasn’t here, someone else needed to.

“I thought you were going over to Arnett’s.”

“We are, but we’ll take a few minutes to do this. Micah is going with us.”

“You want me to fix you something to eat to take along?”

“If you want to make sandwiches, that would be great.”

“I’ll get those woodboxes filled before we go.” Arnett propped his elbows on the table and cradled his coffee cup between his hands. “Sure is easier when the cattle feed off the stacks. Ya know, since I’m not feeding out my hay, we need to bring that over here or take the stock over there.”

“The latter would be easier, but I’m not comfortable with them there and no one living in the house. Might be an invitation for problems.”

Mor frowned. “But there’s not been any rustling since that crew was thrown in jail.”

“None that we know of. I haven’t asked any of the other ranchers, have you? Or the sheriff?”

Arnett bobbed his head. “Nope. You’re right. Let’s take the sledge over then, and Micah can fork down a load while you and I work on the shop. I got an old barrel stove somewhere that we can put up to keep it warmer in there. And plenty of firewood.” He let out a sigh. “I sure was lookin’ forward to those two young’uns moving into my house. Houses don’t do well when they’re left empty. Kinda like old people who die from bein’ alone. We all need to feel useful.”

Ransom looked at Cassie. Was she feeling bad too? If so, she didn’t appear to. But then, she’d been a performer all her life. She could probably keep from showing her feelings. But when she raised her head and caught his glance, he could see the darkness of pain in her beautiful eyes. Had she fallen in love with Lucas after all? If so, that made this all the worse. The urge to pound Lucas made him clench his fists. He saw his mother looking at him and sure hoped she couldn’t read his mind.

“Well, let’s get those targets back in place. Gretchen, you want to ski up to the cabin and tell Micah we’ll be ready in about an hour?”

“Sure. Cassie, you want to come with?”

“I’ll work with the targets instead. Thanks.” They all rose and set their plates and silver in the dishpan heating on the stove and then got into their outer things. Cassie helped clear the remainder of the table before getting into her coat.

The sun made it look warm out, but it hadn’t warmed up a whole lot. Ransom waded through the knee-deep snow and retrieved the stands they had built to hold the targets. The snow crust was strong enough to hold them up, so he set them just to the side of where they had been. He could hear Arnett hauling the wood. A crow flew overhead, scolding them in his scratchy voice. Gretchen buckled her skis over her boots and, using the poles, headed off across the field.

If it weren’t for thinking about Lucas’s actions this morning, setting him off, he’d be thinking this was about as close to perfect a day as one could have in the winter. The cattle were gathered around the haystack, snow from the last storm still riding the backs of the buffalo. The sky wore the intense blue that made the snow seem even whiter. He heard a horse whinny and saw Wind Dancer loping across the field to see who the skier was. Tossing his head, he trotted along with Gretchen, as if anyone was better than no one. The spinning windmill was refilling the stock tank, so the cattle had been up to drink. And glory be, the pipes hadn’t frozen. Ever since they ran the pipe to the house and the hand pump in the sink, he’d taken time to wrap the pipes when the weather turned cold. Sometimes, though, if the cold got very bad, even that was not enough, and the pipes would burst.

“That’s great, thanks,” Cassie called. “I’ll put the targets on them.”

“Tell Arnett I’m down hitching up the sledge.” He watched her turn and go back in the house. She wasn’t really anything like he’d thought she was in the beginning. Much as he hated to admit it, he’d misjudged her. The thought made him pick up his pace. Admiration was not something he’d ever expected to feel for Miss Cassie Lockwood.

He’d harnessed the team by the time Micah joined him in the barn. “Thanks for coming.”

Micah nodded, still not one to waste words. Together they hitched the team to the sledge and drove toward the house, where Gretchen was just taking off her skis.

“It’s so bright my eyes hurt. I should have worn a cap with a brim.”

“Yep, you shoulda.” Arnett stopped beside her. “You make sure you get more wood if your mother needs more. Don’t let her do that.”

Gretchen grinned at him. “Yes, sir.”

Yes, Ransom thought, Arnett is part of the family for sure. Sounds just like a father.

With the bells still on the horse harnesses, they set off for the other place. Between the singing sleigh bells and the beauty of the day, it was rather difficult to stay hotly angry at Lucas. But Ransom would try.

“When do you want to bring the steam engine down?” Arnett asked, leaning against the rack part of the hay wagon.

“I thought as soon as we get the shop in order. We’re going to need to go to town soon and see if those piston rings you ordered are in.”

“He said a week or two. I’m thinkin’ we could use a drill press too. Go a lot faster than a brace and bit. Between the tools that run on the donkey engine and what hand tools we have, we can do most anything.”

Ransom was feeling better and better about this business of making furniture. Arnett was a fine partner, as opposed to brothers who went kiting off unannounced, leaving you to do everything. “Let’s bring home any that are rusty, and we can work on those in the evening. Sharpen blades too. I made a couple of drawings but didn’t bring them. I need to go through that pile in our barn again. If Far saw that pile, he’d have a fit.” His father. It seemed so long ago, yet he remembered every detail about the man.

Arnett nodded sagely. “He always kept his tools and things in perfect order.”

“Micah, you ever do any carving?”

From the back came “Some. Simple things. I’m making a chair now.”

The horses were slowing, so Ransom flicked the lines as a reminder. The sleigh bells resumed their usual jingling. “You know you are always welcome to use the tools we have. Did Chief do any carving?”

“Not that I know.”

Curious. When they turned into the lane to Arnett’s, they saw that a sleigh had been there, pulled by one horse. There were no tracks showing it had come back out.

“Hmm.” Arnett looked ahead. “Who could that be?”

“You told people you are living at our place now?”

“Nope. Figured the less that knew it, the less chance there’d be a break-in. Places left vacant can be targets.”

A steaming horse harnessed to a four-seat sleigh waited at the hitching post. Tracks led to the front door. Ransom turned the sledge before stopping. “Stay here, Micah.” He dropped to the ground. Both Ransom and Arnett headed for the house.

Arnett opened the door. “Who’s here?”

“Why, there you are! We came out to check on you, and imagine our surprise when no one was here, and it didn’t look like anyone had been for some time.” Cal Haggard came hustling out from the kitchen.

His Lucretia loomed in the kitchen doorway behind him. “We were so worried about you, Arnett, I insisted we come to check and make sure you weren’t lying on the floor somewhere.”

“Also why we came over, I was thinking to talk with you about the guest ranch letter. Thought maybe you got one too. Ransom, good to see you.” Cal reached out to shake their hands. “’Bout scared us out of our wits when there was no indication you’d been outside, and when your dog didn’t bark. What have you gone and done?”

“Ah, Mavis and her crew invited me to come stay in their bunkhouse so I’m not here alone all the time. So that’s what happened. You want I should start a fire and—”

Ransom interrupted. “Cal, Lucretia, why don’t you go on over to our house and talk with Mor. I know she’d love to see you. We’re working on setting up some machinery here and getting a load of hay.”

“What’d you do? Move all your livestock over there too?”

“Yep. Better for all of us.”

Cal nodded and turned to his wife. “Now you can just quit worryin’ about Arnett here. We’ll go on over. I take it you got a letter too?”

“We did, and Mor can fill you in on all our decisions.” Ransom was rather surprised how cold the inside of this house had become. And for some reason he felt he wanted to leave it. Why would that be? He half grew up there, since the Arnetts and Engstroms were such good friends. “We’ll get that load of hay and go straight back. I know Mor is going to insist you stay for dinner, and we do too.”

“I hate to keep you from your work.”

“Getting the hay is the most of it. Everything else can wait.”

“See you over there, then.” The couple walked ahead of them out to the sleigh.

Arnett reached high over the door and pulled down a key. “Might’s well lock this, it seems.” He drew the front door shut and twisted the long key. “So much for workin’ here.”

He was wagging his head as he walked back toward the sledge. “Never thought someone would come to check up on me. Guess it musta given them a fright, all right. That’d be something, to walk in and find somebody froze solid in their bed.”

Ransom grunted. “Yeah, well that’s what we wanted to make sure didn’t happen to you. Let’s load the hay.”

With three able hands, loading went fast. Ransom explained to Micah that Cal and Lucretia Haggard owned a fairly large spread in the next valley over. If Micah was going to be living here, he ought to know everyone. They drove back into the Engstrom yard with their load, and Micah volunteered to take it down to the barn and put the team away.

Ransom handed Micah the lines. “You come back up to the house for dinner then, get to know the Haggards, and we’ll plan on going back out there to work tomorrow.”

Arnett suggested, “Why don’t I go through that stack of lumber in the barn? Sort it out to see what we can use?”

“We’ll do that after they leave. I want you to hear about the plans for the guest ranches, since you’ll be part of our plan for here.”

“If you want.” But Arnett sure didn’t sound real enthusiastic about sitting around the table with the Haggards. Why would that be?

Arnett and Ransom walked on around the house to go in the back door. They could hear laughter as they were brushing the snow off their boots.

“Sounds like ol’ Cal is in high entertainment mode,” Arnett said with a grin.

“Well, I know Mor is glad to know we weren’t the only ones concerned about you being alone over there all winter.”

Arnett sobered. “He offered to buy me out after Hazel died—sort of insisted on it even, but I said I wasn’t selling.”

Ransom looked at him. “And yet you were set on giving us your place for free.”

Arnett shrugged. “He’s got enough land already. Besides, I like our arrangement far better.” And he led the way inside.

“So how many do you think you can host?” Mavis asked after they’d finished eating and were enjoying another cup of coffee.

“Well, like you we got a bunkhouse and a spare bedroom,” Cal replied. “A family could stay in the bunkhouse and a couple or a single in the bedroom. You say ten letters went out?”

Ransom explained, as if Lucas had not disappeared, and his anger boiled up all over again. “Lucas is working with Mr. Porter, and that’s what he told us. Kind of like a trial run to see if something like this has any chance of success. If people really like it, they’ll tell their friends, and next year could be even bigger.”

Lucretia didn’t look very convinced. “Have you ever heard of anything like this?”

“I guess some folks down in Texas and Oklahoma have tried it.”

“With what kind of success?”

Ransom shared more of her reluctance than he would like to admit. “We don’t know. But with Porter taking care of the advertising, how can we go wrong?” He leaned forward. “As we see it, it isn’t like we’d have a huge outlay in expenses. I don’t know about you, but we could always use some extra cash money.”

“It would be a lot of work what with all the ranch chores going on. It would be like cooking for a threshing or haying crew.” Mrs. Haggard puffed out her cheeks. “Me and the girls have been talking about that part. I mean, what if the guests are real snobby and don’t like what we offer?”

Mavis shrugged. “I guess that would be their loss. They could always leave and go back to Hill City to the hotel.”

“So you think someone will really pay money to come work on a ranch?” Cal leaned back in his chair. “I can’t find enough good hands when I offer to pay them.”

“Promise to take ’em fishing on your lake. That’ll go over big.”

“Sure, if they catch something. Can’t tie the fish up to make sure they catch ’em.”

Ransom almost laughed at the forlorn look on Cal’s face. “Come on, you don’t have to do it, you know. It was an invitation, not an order.”

“True. You know anyone else that got an invitation? About the guest ranch business, I mean. A letter?”

“Nope.” Ransom sat back. “Lucas did agree that if enough ranches say they don’t want to try it, it wouldn’t be worth the advertising. Porter’s whole plan is to get folks here for the rodeo and Wild West show, to fill up his hotel and put Hill City on the map as a place for Easterners to come visit. You got to admit we live in real pretty country. Not that I know what it’s like back east, but . . .” Cassie knows whether it’s pretty back east. Her show performed there. Now, why did that pop into his head?

“Well, we’ll give it a try. Same as you.” He pushed his chair back. “Come on, Lucretia, we best be heading home. Oh, Arnett, we brought you a basket of things. Guess we should bring it in.”

With multiple rounds of good-byes, the Haggards climbed into their sleigh and it glided out the lane.

As soon as they left, Ransom and Arnett went down to the barn with Micah. They lit a couple of lanterns and hung them overhead. Together they sorted through the jumbled stack of lumber and trash and odd things, cleaning off metal pieces and stacking any wood that might be usable. Down at the bottom, Ransom found his old farrier’s nippers. “Will you look at this! Been searching for these nippers for years. Wonder how it got thrown in here.”

Arnett snorted. “How’d anything get thrown in here? Quite a mess.”

Gretchen came in to feed the chickens and gather the eggs. She leaned over the pen wall and called to the calf. “We need to give him a name. Poor baby, all alone in here.” He sniffed her hand and then backed away. “I know. I don’t have anything to feed you. You gotta wait until we milk. Is he eating grain yet?”

“I mix some rolled oats into the milk once in a while.” Ransom looked up from the pile of stuff. “Bring those wood carriers down, and we can use some of this for kindling.” He stepped back and looked around. The usable lumber lay in an orderly stack. Small tools, including the nippers, were placed on a nearby shelf. The trash to be discarded waited in a pile by the door. “Well, this sure looks better. Thanks Arnett, Micah.”

Micah smiled. “You’re welcome. I’ll clean that cow’s stall and the pen here before I go back up to the cabin. Gretchen, did Cassie do any shooting today?”

“Yes, and she plans to again tomorrow if the weather holds. She sure goes through the shells. Maybe you could load some for her, Ransom.”

“I can do that.” Arnett set the bow saw blade he’d been working on up on the shelf. “Tell her I’ll bring my mold and press back with me tomorrow. And my lead. Might as well put them to use. All I got is black powder, though.”

Ransom removed his leather gloves and slapped the dust off them against his thigh. It was amazing how much they could accomplish with three sets of willing hands. Maybe he wouldn’t be missing Lucas so much after all. But then, Lucas almost always wangled out of tedious jobs like this. He was rarely willing to take part in work unless it was for hunting. Still, Ransom would like to talk with Hudson, see what he had to say. It might be interesting.