“Evenin’, folks.” Jude smiled as he approached them.
No one moved a muscle.
“What’s goin’ on out here?” he asked.
“As a matter of fact,” Amelia told him, “Bruce was just telling us about some women he knows out in El Paso who run their own ranches, the same way we do. He was also telling us about his sister Sylvie and his brothers’ wives and how they sometimes help out their men on the ranch when they need it.”
Jude looked from one face to the next.
“Tell him, Bruce,” Amelia ordered. “Tell him what you were telling me last night.”
Bruce shifted in his saddle, but he wouldn’t look either Jude or Amelia in the eye.
Amelia frowned at Bruce. “Bruce told me last night, and he was just telling Allegra now, that his neighbor Anne Taylor took over her ranch when her husband died, and his other neighbor Tomasina Appleby took over when her husband took sick with diphtheria.”
Jude glanced back and forth again. “Is that so?”
“Tell him, Bruce,” Amelia said again.
Bruce didn’t say anything.
Jude looked hard at Bruce. “Yeah. Tell me, Bruce.”
Bruce kept his eyes turned away.
Desperate anger rose up in Amelia’s chest. “I think it would really help Jude and Allegra to hear what you said, Bruce. It would really help all of us to know there are other women punching cattle, and we aren’t the only ones.”
“It sure would,” Allegra chimed in. “I wish someone had told me that a long time ago.”
“Well, I think,” Jude replied, “I think it doesn’t make much difference if there are women running ranches in other parts of the country. It won’t work for you sisters to keep running this ranch, not with Alma getting pregnant, and you, Amelia, you’re probably not far off it yourself. Me and Bruce will have to take over sooner or later, and the sooner you get used to that idea, the better.”
“That’s not what Bruce says,” Amelia shot back. “Bruce says we don’t have to choose. The way he tells it, these women are wives and mothers to their children, and they still ride out and work the cattle when they’re needed. We could be the same way. We don’t have to give up our work on the range, just because we’re getting married and having children.”
Jude made a face. “Just because Bruce said it, don’t make it so.” He turned on Bruce. “I’m very disappointed with you, Bruce. I would expect you to know better than to fill these ladies’ heads full of expectations that are never gonna happen.”
“They’ll happen if we make them happen,” Amelia maintained. “It’s up to us to decide what we want to do.”
“Yeah, but just look at Alma,” Jude pointed out. “She knew she couldn’t keep riding the range when she got pregnant. She started changing as soon as she got married so she would be ready to give up her work when she had to.”
“I don’t think Alma ever intended to completely give up her work on the ranch,” Amelia told him. “I think if she knew she had the option to do both, she would take it—after the baby is born, I mean. Of course, she couldn’t ride when she’s nine months pregnant. But after that, she might like to come back sometimes.”
“I went through all this with Alma when we got married,” Jude replied. “She said she wanted to go home to the fireside and leave the ranchin’ to me. You heard her, Allegra. I’m not makin’ this up to pull one over on you. This is what she wants, and I thought I understood from you, Amelia, that you wanted the same thing. That’s why you said you wanted to get a mail-order husband. Me and Bruce were supposed to take over from you and Alma.”
Allegra jumped into the conversation. “You and Bruce were never supposed to take over from me. You were always gonna ride with me, even if you and Bruce did take Alma and Amelia’s places. No matter who got married or who went home to the fireside, you were always gonna ride with one woman, at least, and I was always gonna have a say in how this ranch operates. We were pretty clear about that from the beginning.”
“I may have gotten a mail-order husband to take over from me,” Amelia admitted. “But that was before I heard what Bruce had to say about women doing both jobs, and doing them well. I didn’t realize before he came that I didn’t have to choose. I can still be a wife and a mother and work the ranch when I’m needed. Working the ranch doesn’t change me as a woman.”
Jude scowled at Bruce again. “Is that what you’ve been telling them, Bruce? Have you been encouraging these ladies to think of themselves as cattle punchers and wives and mothers, too?”
Bruce mumbled something unintelligible.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jude continued. “We just went through a lot a’ hard work to get to the point where everyone’s satisfied with the arrangement as it stands right now. Alma was happy with her decision to give up the range, and then Amelia decided to do the same thing. Everyone seemed to be happy with the decision to get the men folk to take over the ranch work while the women stayed home and kept the fireside.”
“Except me,” Allegra corrected him.
“Except Allegra,” Jude agreed. “But still, we didn’t just wake up one morning and fall into this. It took a long time to make the decision and get comfortable with it. And along comes Bruce and upsets the whole apple cart.” He laughed. “I told you he would.”
“Like I just said,” Amelia maintained, “that was before I heard what Bruce had to say about other women doing both jobs. I didn’t really realize I could do the same thing. Now I know that I want to do it, too. I think if you heard what Bruce had to say, you would understand better.”
They all looked at Bruce.
“So, tell me, Bruce,” Jude chided. “Tell me what you’ve been telling them.”
Bruce wouldn’t answer. He kept his eyes cast down to the ground and his mouth clamped shut.
A pang of sympathy for him stabbed Amelia in the heart. He never wanted to be a firebrand to divide this family. He wanted to bring them all together in unity. Instead, they were pulling him in all directions like dogs fighting over a bone.
His soft heart couldn’t stand this kind of conflict. Amelia wished she’d never asked him to tell Jude what he told her. She should have known, after the way Jude treated him, he wouldn’t want to repeat it.
She wanted to gather him into her arms and comfort him, to promise she wouldn’t fight over him anymore. But Jude moved first. “You come with me, young man. Ride out to the range with me, and we’ll talk a few things over, man to man.”
Amelia wanted to grab Bruce by the arm and call out, “Don’t go! Stay with me!” But she couldn’t do that without tearing him apart even more. Whatever Jude said to him in private couldn’t be as bad as that.