Providence (13 page)

Tying the horses to a nearby
tree, Luke retrieved the tools and they set to work splicing, stretching and
tightening the broken wires. It took them the better part of the next hour, and
by the time they finished the last strand, Kate had removed her heavy jacket
and was beginning to feel the heat of the day coming on. She replaced the
pliers and what was left of the wire in her saddle bags, tied her coat on
behind the cantle, and took out her canteen, taking a long swallow of the
refreshing cool water. She wiped off the mouth of the jug and handed it to
Luke.

“Thanks,” he said drinking his
fill, and handing it back.

“I’m going out beyond that hill there,
take a look see if there’s anything unusual.” Kate said indicating a small rise
some distance away.

 Luke nodded. They left on
foot leaving the horses tied loosely to the pecan tree. Stooping to ease
herself between the strands of barbed wire, Kate realized that they were being
held apart. Looking up, she was met by smiling green eyes as Luke lifted the
fence wires for her. The open pasture was easy to walk over, and they quickly
covered the distance. On the far side of the rise, the remains of a small
campfire still smoldered. The grass was trampled and grazed close in a small
area where one or two horses had obviously been staked out. Luke nodded to the
east. Following his gaze, Kate could see the indications of a trail still
faintly visible in the tall grass.

“We must have surprised them
before they had the opportunity to get any cows out through the fence,” Kate
said.

“Problem is, they’ll be back.”
Luke observed, squatting by the cooling embers.

“What’s that?” Kate asked seeing
him pick up a small slip of paper from the dust near the fire.

“Looks like a receipt of some
kind. It’s been burned, there’s not much left of it. Here.”

Kate studied the charred remains.
There was a partial amount visible, and part of a name on the pay to line,
Richard We... The detail that caught her attention, though, was a short
horizontal bar over the letter J. Bar J. Matt Johnson’s brand. Had one of his
men left and turned to rustling? It was easy to imagine. He would hire just
about any hand that wandered in looking for work. More than one of his men had
scrapes with the law.

“What is it?” Luke asked as she
creased her brow in thought.

“The brand on here, it belongs to
Johnson,” she mused.

“Do you think he has something to
do with this?” His tone was sharp.

“Oh, no, surely not. I would
think one of his men took off, turned to rustling, probably. Either way, I
don’t like the feel of it.”

“Me neither. Let’s go.”

 Slipping the bit of paper
into a pocket she followed him back to the horses.

***

The sun was high and beginning to
slip immeasurably towards the west when they came into sight of the western
herd. The cows here were leaner and hardier than the Angus. This was a breed
that Luke was familiar with, cattle that could withstand the droughts of Texas,
long droves across barren plains and bitter weather, yet still calve easily in
the spring and be fit and better than ever. The horns of these beasts swept out
in graceful curves, some more than five feet across. Their hides were every
color of nature, reds and browns, black, mottled here and there with white.
Calves played and butted one another in mock battle while the cows and steers
grazed, though ever alert, ready to bolt at the merest suggestion of trouble.
The mixed blood cattle among this herd were beefier and easy to spot, mostly
black and some without horns. Kate had called it polled. She said that they
were born that way naturally.

 This was an interesting
ranch run by a brilliant but inscrutable woman. Luke was finding it more of an
adventure than he had ever imagined. When Martha Jansen had first approached
him about Kate Shaughnessey, he was unsure of taking on a job with a woman. Too
many trials, too much trouble. He had had enough of women in his life for now,
he needed time to get away. He had ridden into Fallis hoping to find work with
one of the larger ranches. He gravitated naturally to the livery and then the
general mercantile avoiding the saloons. He was not a drinking man, and had no
use for those who were, just muddled your head and led to strife. He’d seen
enough of that with some of the Texas outfits he’d been with.

Martha offered him odd jobs in
exchange for meals for a few days, and it had seemed to be a good way to get a
feel for the area and find a regular job for a while. Some cowboys had drifted
in and out during those few days, and to a man, Luke had not liked the type.
About the time he had decided to ride on, Martha had approached him about Kate.
Something in him had wanted to deny her and simply leave, but when he heard
about the death of her husband, a small daughter, the aging couple and trouble
with a neighboring rancher, that part of him that just couldn't stand injustice
had overwhelmed him and he agreed to at least meet her.

Shaking his head, he wondered
again what providence was at work here, bringing him to a land that he had
never seen, but felt more like home than anyplace he had ever been, and to a
family that welcomed him with open hearts, treating him more like a long-lost
brother than a hired hand.

“These are probably more what you're
used to!” Kate laughed watching the herd warily. “As fat and docile as the
Angus are, these will always be my favorites.”

“These critters own their own
destiny, don’t they?” Luke agreed.

 She looked at him then, “I
never thought about it just that way before, but yes, in a sense, I guess they
do.” They watched the herd in silence for a moment, enjoying the beauty of the
mighty beasts. “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a
thousand hills.” Kate whispered.

“What was that?”

“Oh, just remembering a Psalm
Will used to quote whenever he got to thinking too much about ‘his’ cattle,”
Kate smiled. “Are you hungry? Mrs. Insley packed us some lunch.”

“Starved, especially if it’s some
more of her good cooking.”

“I won’t tell her you said that,
she’d cook everything I have on the place and try to force feed you!” Kate said
stepping down from her saddle.

 Luke laughed openly, and
joined her in the shade of a lone oak tree, where they enjoyed a lunch of
bread, sausage, dried fruit and pickles. They spoke easily of the ranch, the
cattle and what work needed to be accomplished first. It was decided that Kate
would make a trip to Fallis later in the week for supplies and to enlist the
help of the Jansens and a few others for the spring branding while Luke would
take on the bulk of the responsibility for the herds, fences and repairs at the
ranch itself. The issue of the cut fence and rustlers was gone over and over
with no workable solution forthcoming. Kate worried that they would be back,
but who was there to watch over four miles of fences? For now there was no
resolution and Luke knew it left Kate with a feeling of unease as they packed
up and headed back to the ranch.

***

Kate sat once again before her
ranch journal, recording the events of the last few days by the flickering
light of her oil lamp. The charred scrap of paper lay on the desk. She slipped
it into the journal for safekeeping.

Jo was tucked in bed, and the
Insleys had long since retired to their own home. Dinner had been a boisterous
affair, alive with plans for the upcoming branding. Jake reported that the
spring planting would be finished the next day and Jon would then be free to
help Luke with the herds. Jon was ecstatic at the prospect, and Kate planned to
surprise him with a new pony in honor of the occasion.

Glancing out the window, Kate
could see a light moving within the distant barn. Luke must be checking the
mare in the foaling stall. She smiled thinking of the little dun mare and the
colt that would soon be joining her.

 It was cold again this
evening, and Kate was thankful for the glowing fire that warmed the small
house. She remembered the chill morning air they had faced and Luke without a
jacket. Laying aside her pen, she walked over to the trunk in the corner.
Opening the heavy lid, she rummaged down past the extra quilts and wool
blankets, until she found what she had been searching for. She lifted out an
old oiled canvas coat with a warm woolen lining. Running her fingers over the
rough surface of the material she felt tears begin to trickle down her cheeks.
She held the coat to her face and breathed deeply. Yes, Will’s musky scent
still permeated the fabric. She held it close, letting the tears flow freely as
she enveloped herself in the memories that his smell aroused.

“Oh, Will, I miss you so much.
You always did the right thing, didn’t you? Even when it was the hardest thing
in the world for you to do.” The raw wound on her soul was starting to heal.
She could feel the salve being applied to that spiritual hurt just as surely as
she had felt the healing ointments that Nana had applied to the burned flesh of
her arms. She sighed deeply. Taking the coat and shaking it out, she laid it
over her arm and started to the barn.

The large door was open slightly,
and Kate could see Luke standing relaxed before the stall, his arms resting
lightly on the top of the gate. The mare was quiet, dozing contentedly. Holding
the jacket tightly and breathing deeply of the familiar scent one last time, she
steeled herself for the task ahead, and entered the barn.

***

“How is she doing?”

Luke looked up, startled by her
silent approach. “Fine. She was a bit restless earlier, but she’s quiet now.”

 “Good.” She hesitated, then
started in a rush, “Look, I found an old coat I had laying around. I want you
to take it. If there’s one thing I don’t need, it’s for you to catch your death
of cold. I hired you to work, not lay around here sick.”

He began to protest, until he saw
the look in her eyes. This was some sort of sacrifice she was making, and he
needed to honor it. “Thank you,” he said taking the coat.

“It’s nothing really. I just
can’t afford to have you out of commission,” she replied brusquely, as she
turned to the mare in the stall.  

There was a gulf of silence
between them. Kate continued to study the mare, though Luke could see that her
thoughts were far from the impending birth.

“What was he like, Kate?” Luke
asked softly.

For a long moment there was no
answer. He saw her shoulders tense, and a single tear slipped silently down her
cheek, glittering in the lantern’s glow. Just as he was turning to go, sure
that he made a terrible mistake, she spoke.

“He was my friend.” It was said
quietly and with a great deal of reverence. “And I miss him.”

Luke said nothing, though his
heart ached for her loss, and for himself, who had never known that kind of
love.

 The mare grew restless and
began pawing the floor in agitation. Luke opened the gate, stepping into the
large stall, while Kate went to the tack room for iodine and gunny sacks. By
the time she returned, the mare was laying down, and two small feet were just
visible emerging from the birth canal. The birth was an easy one and soon a
dark wet foal lay in the straw beside his mother. Kate rubbed the burlap roughly
over his small body to help dry him and keep him from catching a chill while
Luke applied the iodine to the umbilical stump.

Within moments the large healthy
colt began the first efforts to stand. Kate laughed at his antics and was
filled with joy as he finally found a wobbly footing. His dam stood and sniffed
him, and encouraged him to nurse. It wasn’t long before he found the full udder
and began noisily suckling the warm rich milk.

Luke and Kate stood together
outside the stall watching the contented pair within. “I believe that is going
to be a grullo, if I’m not mistaken.” Luke commented. Grullos were highly
sought after horses. Many believed that they were stronger or carried some
special power, possibly because it was such a rare color. The little colt was a
dark, smoky gray with a prominent black stripe running down the length of his
spine; another dark stripe ran across his shoulders and there was black barring
on his legs. The coat was fuzzy and soft, and Kate knew that the color could
change as the colt grew, but she hoped Luke was right and that this was truly a
grullo.

“I hope so. I had heard of them
before, but I’ve never actually seen one. Isn’t it beautiful?” She asked with
wonder in her voice.

 “Yes,” Luke replied softly,
though his eyes weren’t on the colt.

The days passed quickly, and they
slipped into an easy routine. Luke and Jon rode out each morning to tend the
cattle, checking as they went for any further signs of rustlers. No more fences
had been found cut and all the cattle remained accounted for, to Kate’s great
relief. Their afternoons were spent on repairs and building, and the fences of
the corrals and catch pens began to look like new.

Jake watched over his fields like
an old mother hen, as the new sprouts emerged from the warming soil, growing
and flourishing in the sun and the abundant spring rains that finally came. He
plowed up the larger garden patch close to the house for the women to begin the
spring vegetables.