Providence (12 page)

“Sounds good.”

Grabbing a leather halter and lead,
Kate headed out to the pasture that served the remuda. Luke noticed about a
dozen horses here, bays, duns, sorrels and even a couple of buckskins and one
palomino. All were sleek, well-muscled horses. He watched as Kate whistled and
a sorrel mare lifted her head from the grass. Seeing her mistress, she trotted
over to the pasture fence. Kate slipped through the fence, haltered the mare
and led her through the gate, and into the barn.

 “This is Gypsy, the one I
use most. She’s a good old girl.” Grabbing a saddle and blanket from the tack
room, Kate swung them up over the horse’s back in a fluid motion, settling the
blanket first and cinching the saddle up quickly. “Most of the older horses in
the remuda are broke to ride. We use the mares as well as the geldings. A mare
has to prove their worth around here before we use them as breeding stock.
Mares with foals or about to foal are out in the far pasture. The two year olds
in there aren’t broke yet, but you can ride any of the older ones that you
want.”

“Think I’ll stick with Rio for
now until I’ve had a chance to look them over.”

“Suit yourself,” she said busy
with her own horse. Finding a pick from the wooden box hung on the wall, she
bent to lift the mare’s front hoof.

“Here, let me do that for you.”

“Thank you, no! I’m perfectly
capable of doing this for myself.” Kate snapped.

“Sorry.” Luke scowled at the
rebuff and strode off to find Rio and ready him for the day’s work.

***

Kate set the mare’s hoof down.
Why had she been so rude? He was only offering to help. She watched him leave
the barn. Sighing, she finished her chores, and joined the men on the way to
the house for breakfast.

Jo and Mrs. Insley had a grand
breakfast laid out for the hungry men and Kate. The plank table groaned beneath
the weight of platters heaped with scrambled eggs, sausage links, biscuits,
butter, jams and even pancakes. Jake let out a low whistle, and Jon’s lower jaw
dropped in surprise. Nana didn’t usually set out such a fare every morning. Jo
was dressed and sitting at the table waiting when they entered.

 “Good morning, Mr. Luke,
look what we made for you!” Jo glowed.

“My, my, it does look delicious!”
Luke’s eyes twinkled merrily at the little girl.

“Yes, doesn’t it?” Kate asked
raising her eyebrows at Nana.

“Man should have a good start
here, and he looks a might thin to me,” was the acerbic response.

“Well, what are we waiting for?”
asked Jon as he took his seat.

“You sit here by me, Mr. Luke,”
Jo bubbled indicating the seat next to her on the bench.

They all took their places, and
joined hands for the blessing. Jo reached for Luke’s hand, and he took it,
slowly reaching for Kate’s across the table. She reached out, and gave him an
apologetic smile as she began the blessing. “Dear Lord, we thank you for what
we are about to receive, and Lord we offer our thanks for Your bringing this
good man into our lives. We ask that you bless and protect each and every one
of us as we face the day ahead, and ask that You will bring us together again
safely this evening. Lord, forgive us of our sins, and keep us in the center of
Your will. Lead us to do those things that you would have us to do. It is in
the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.”

“Amen,” was murmured around the
table, though Kate noticed that Luke did not join in. Perhaps he was shy.

 Plates were passed and
piled with food, steaming mugs of coffee were poured. Smokey and Candy dashed
in the open door looking for any scraps that may have fallen, and the
conversation was bright and lively. Kate surveyed the scene with a sense of calm
assurance that she hadn’t felt in months.

“How many head are you running
out here?” Luke asked amid the commotion, startling Kate from her reverie.

“I’m sorry?”

“How many head are you running? I
figure now’s as good a time as any to figure out where I’m going to be needed.”

“Well, It’s a pretty small
operation. I’ve got about eighty-five head of momma cows and about seventy of
those have calves at their side now and another eight or so should calve here
any time.” She creased her brow, for a moment with a distant look on her face.
“I think there’s about fifty head of three year old steers coming ready for
market this fall, and another eighty yearlings and two year olds.”

“Have you branded the calves
yet?”

“No,” Kate sighed. Branding was a
time she was dreading. “I’m waiting for the rest to calve, and I’m just not
sure that I’m up to it alone. Will and the hands always saw to the largest part
of that. I suppose I’ve just been putting off the inevitable.”

“Well, I can see one of the first
things will be an accurate count, branding and castrating the calves.” Luke
said in a very matter of fact tone.

 “That takes an entire
crew!” Kate cried.

“It has to be done. You know that
as well as I do.” Luke took a sip of the coffee, and thought for a minute.
“What about Lars Jansen and some of the men from Fallis?”

“What about them?”

“What if we planned a day, asked
them all to come help out. You and Mrs. Insley could cook up a meal, their
wives could come, make a day of it. I’ll bet even Jon here could mount up and
help out.”

“Oh, you bet I could!” Jon agreed
enthusiastically.

“And I don’t see no reason we
couldn’t butcher one of them steers and have us a real shindig,” Nana supplied.

“Even have us a mess of calf
fries!” Jake threw in.

“Oh, yes, momma, lets! It would
be such fun!” Jo clapped her hands bouncing up and down.

“I don’t know...”

“You were planning on doing it
all yourself?” Luke asked skeptically.

“It’s such an awful lot to ask of
folks.”

“Would you do it for one of your
neighbors?”

“Well, yes, of course, but...”

“Then it’s settled. You must let
them do the same for you.”

Kate looked at each of the
expectant faces around her table. They waited in hushed anticipation. Even Nana
seemed to be in favor of his plan.

 “Well, I suppose...”

“Oh, Yes!” Jo jumped up and threw
her arms around Luke’s neck in an unexpected hug, taking him totally off guard.
He tensed for a moment before relaxing and giving her a quick squeeze in
return. Jo ran around the table to her mother and gave her in an equally
enthusiastic embrace. Letting go she grabbed her puppy, “We’re going to have a
party, Candy!”

Kate smiled and shook her head.
There was more life in her family this morning than there had been in a long
time.

***

The horses walked amiably along
in the crisp morning air. Kate was glad she had thought to bring along a warm
woolen coat. She would have no need of it soon, but now the warmth was
comforting as a chill breeze blew across the plain. “The Angus herd is just to
the east of that fence line. I think you saw some of them on our way in
yesterday.”

“Yes, big black cattle, no horns,
kind of ugly aren’t they?”

Kate Laughed a little at the description.
It was exactly what she had thought when Will brought the first ones home.
“Yes, I suppose they are, but they sure fatten quickly, they’re strong enough,
but they don’t hold up as well over long drives. Since the rail line came into
Guthrie, though, we don’t have the long haul anymore, and I can get more pounds
to market in a shorter period of time.”

 Kate paused a moment
remembering the herds coming through the first years that they had settled
here. She still remembered one of the Texas drives coming up over their place
that first year. It had looked like a sea of cattle, brown waves undulating
across the prairie. The waddies had stopped for an evening with them,
recounting tales of stampedes and how this was really a small drive compared to
days gone by. Kate had wondered exactly how many more cattle could be moved,
thinking of the vastness of the herd around them. The trail boss told her that
they were driving about a thousand head all the way to Montana Territory, but
just a few years before they had moved three times that many.

Now the settlers, farmers and
smaller ranchers had strung their fences across that great land, the herds no
longer moved freely from one range to the next. This part of the country was
lush with grass, and managed properly, one could run a small herd profitably on
a section or two.

“The herd on the west side is
more typical of the area. There’s a mix of longhorn, some free range cows, and
those have been bred back to the Angus to give us a nice mixed breed that matures
well and is surprisingly hardy in the bad years.” Bringing her mare to a stop,
Kate looked back at Luke. He sat hunched in the saddle not saying much. It was
only then she realized that he wore no jacket, and was fighting the bitter cold
wind.

“Forget your coat?”

“Sort of mislaid it, I guess.”

 “You’ll need something.”

“It’ll warm up quick. Should be
downright hot by this afternoon.”

“Maybe, but this is springtime in
Oklahoma Territory. It may be blazing hot today and bring on a blizzard
tomorrow!”

“Don’t I know it,” he responded
miserably.

Her eyes narrowed and she shook
her head as they continued on to inspect the east herd.

The herd was just visible as they
topped the last rise. The vista spread before them was awash in the early light
of a fresh spring morning. Dew sparkled over the grass, and cows grazed
contentedly along the banks of a small stream. The trees along the creek
fluttered new green leaves in the breeze while the water flowed lazily along
its course.

“Look. Over there,” Kate pointed
toward a large black cow, apart from the rest of the herd. A small wet calf
struggled mightily in its first valiant efforts to stand.

“Now isn’t that a sight,” Luke
smiled broadly.

 They rode on quietly toward
the herd of cows and gamboling calves. One bold little heifer, danced up to Rio
who snorted sending the calf into a spinning turn bawling frantically to find
its momma. Kate laughed, delighted to be alive on such a beautiful morning. She
could even feel some of the burdens being lifted away by having help here at
last.
Thank you, Lord, for this life, this beauty, this land,
she prayed
silently watching the herd and soaking in the sheer exhilaration of the day.

“I count forty-seven cows, forty
calves here, looks like another fifty head of steers,” Luke said, breaking into
her thoughts.

“That sounds about right. I know
I should have better records, but it has been so hard keeping an accurate log
of them all without being able to ride the herd every day,” Kate sighed.

“You have catch pens set up down
near the ranch, don’t you?” Luke asked.

“Yes, for branding and sorting.
They need some work, but they’ll do.”

“Can we get Jake and Jonathan to
help us round up the herds and drive them in?”

“Jonathan will jump at the
opportunity, but it’s been a while since Jake has been in the saddle, I don’t
know.”

“Well, I’d like to have at least
four, but I’m sure that the three of us can get them in for the branding.” He
paused watching the herd, and calculating the distance and the gates between
here and the main ranch. “You say the east herd is about the same size?”

“Maybe just a bit larger, and
they’re the mixed breeds. They’ll be a bit rangier than this lot,” she smiled
looking over the docile cows.

 “It’d be nice if we could
get them all in and done at one time, make for a long day, but we could
probably do it if we had two or three good ropers.”

“A very long day,” she agreed.
“Come on, I’ll show you the fence lines between here and the east side of the
section. I haven’t had a chance to ride them in a while. It’ll be a good time
to check them over.” Kate headed down towards the creek, wading across at a
wide shallow spot. The icy water splashed up over her boots chilling her legs,
and reminding her just how early in the year it still was. Luke followed
closely, and she hoped he wasn’t too cold without a jacket.

As they approached the fence
line, Kate noticed a broken spot near a small grove of pecan trees. The fertile
bottom lands in this area were rife with pecans, and Kate loved the rich nutty
flavor they imparted to Nana’s fall baking. Frowning, she rode to the spot
where the barbed wire hung limply between two wooden posts.

“What in the world...” Kate
stopped. For one strand to be broken was one thing, but all four were neatly
cut and lay apart here. Rage built in her chest as she realized that this was a
deliberate cutting of her fence.

“Rustlers?” Luke asked quietly,
riding up beside her.

 “I don’t know. Looks like
it,” she answered between clenched teeth. Dismounting, she walked over and picked
up the ends of the wire. They were neatly cut, and obviously very recently as
there was no evidence of any cattle having passed through the break.
 “There’s a bundle of wire and fencing pliers in my pack,” she called back
to Luke. “We can get this fixed, but I want to have a look around.”