When Love's Gone Country (Sequel two of the Embracing Love Trilogy) (12 page)

“No walking faster than you are right now,” Jacob said.

“Deal.” Brad and Jacob shook hands.

Jacob took off running.

“Wait! You can’t run!” Courtney cried.

“Let him run. He’ll never beat us. The gazebo’s right over there.” Brad pointed to the white structure in the middle of the apple orchard.

They kept their pace steady, making sure not to slow down or speed up so the bet would be fair. When they passed by the cow paddock, String and Jessica were standing over five downed cows.

“Something wrong?” Alex asked.

“Something’s wrong all right, but we have no idea what. They look lethargic and their eyes are glazing over. The calves are having trouble breathing,” Jessica said.

“First it was just one, but as time passed, all of ‘em seem to have caught something,” String said.

“It won’t affect humans, right?” Purity ran a hand over her belly.

“You’re probably fine, but just to be sure, I wouldn’t get too close. And, don’t work the cow paddock, even if you get assigned to it. Not until we find out what’s goin’ on here.”

They continued on the path to the orchard.

“They were fine this morning,” Courtney said. “Whatever it was acted fast. That’s weird. And scary.”

When they reached the gazebo steps, Brad scanned the area for signs of Jacob. “Guess I’m not doin’ chores tomorrow mornin’. Think I’ll sleep in.”

“I’m waking you up anyway. If I’m up, you’re up,” Court said.

“I think I’ll be the one sleepin’ in.” Jacob rolled out from under a bench inside the gazebo. “What took you guys so long? I was about to send out a search party.”

“How’d you get here so fast?” Meg asked.

“Did you cheat?” Bobby said.

“I didn’t cheat.” He turned to Brad. “You assumed I’d stay on the path because that’s what you were doing, but there were little connecting trails all over the place. I took those. And, I walked through the sheep paddock. That saved a lot of steps.”

“Very clever. My hat’s off to you,” Brad said.

Courtney leaned over and whapped the back of his cowboy hat so it fell of his head. “Now you’re hat’s off to him.”

Brad chuckled as he bent to retrieve it. “Look for a woman like Courtney, Jacob. Your life will not be boring.” He grabbed her around the waist, picked her up into the air and spun her around in circles as she squealed with surprise and delight.

Bobby got a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Don’t you dare, Bobby Zyetta.”

That was all the invitation Bob needed as he mimicked Brad’s motions until Meg was laughing and declaring if he didn’t stop she’d end up losing her breakfast.

Alex held Purity’s hand as he led her up the gazebo steps. When she was seated, he lifted her feet into his lap and removed her shoes and socks. He rubbed her feet gently as she leaned her head against the wooden backrest.

“You’re so beautiful.”

“I am not. I haven’t even had a shower yet. My hair’s a mess. I’ve got no make-up on. And, in about four seconds, I think the top button on my pants is going to go flying across the orchard.”

Alex smiled warmly. “You’re beautiful.”

“I see how he gets the women now,” Bobby said as he and Meg joined them on an opposite bench. “He woos them with compliments and rubs their toes.”

“You can woo me and rub my toes,” Meg said.

“But I already have you.”

“If you want to keep me, you’ll woo and rub.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Bobby tipped his hat, then removed Meg’s shoes and socks.

“I want some of this action,” Court said. “Except I hate when someone touches my feet. Take your boots off, Brad, and I’ll rub your feet.”

“It took me half an hour to get ‘em on.”

“Boots are easier to get off than put on.” Courtney grabbed the loops on either side of the boots and yanked with all her might. She and the boot went tumbling down the stairs.

“Holy crap! I don’t know my own strength.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just injured my pride once again. Nothing new.”

“I sure wish I knew what was wrong with those cows,” Purity said. “You don’t really think it’s anything serious do you?” she asked Alex.

“What’s wrong with the cows?” Jacob asked.

“They’ve all come down with something,” Bobby said.

“Does anybody know what?”

“No. That’s the scary part,” Pure said. “I don’t want the baby catching anything.”

Jacob turned and began running toward the cow paddock.

“Where you goin’?” Meg asked.

“Look around.”

“If he’s just goin’ to look around, why is he running?” Court said.

Everyone looked at each other, but no one had an answer.

Chapter Fifteen

Jacob watched as six ranch hands discussed the symptoms the cows were experiencing. An older man with a black duffel bag was with them. He had a stethoscope and was putting something in the animals’ butt.

“Hey, Jacob,” Red said, joining him at the fence.

“What’s goin’ on?”

“Doc Williams is checkin’ their temperatures.”

“Does he have any idea what’s wrong with ‘em?”

“Not yet. Near as he can tell, it was something they ate, since all the cows were affected.”

“Could it be something in the water?”

“I don’t think so. We use the same water source for all the animals and none of the other ones are sick.”

“You said last night that you thought you saw someone down here at the paddock. Maybe whoever it was did something to ‘em.”

“I thought you were the person I saw down here last night.”

Jacob knew it was the moment of truth. If he told Red what happened, Purity and the baby might get hurt, but if he didn’t tell, and there was something in the water that could harm someone, the baby might catch it.

He felt trapped. Which decision would be the right one?

“Did you see someone down here last night?” Red asked.

Jacob made a fist with his right hand, trying to will himself to make a choice.

“Well?”

His lips felt dry, like they were made of dust.

“Did you?”

He glanced at his family and friends back at the gazebo.

“Yeah. I saw two guys. They put something in the water. I don’t know what.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this last night?”

“I didn’t think it was important.”

“You knew damn well it was important.” Red scowled, then headed toward the doctor. When he glanced back over at Jacob and pointed toward him, he felt about two inches tall.

The group walked over to Jacob.

“Tell me everything you saw and heard,” the doctor said.

“There wasn’t much. Just two tall guys. They were older than me.”

“How old?”

“I don’t know. They had families.”

“How’d you know that?”

“They said something about it later.”

“Did you have an entire conversation with these guys?”

“Sort of. Later. I mean, I saw them and heard them and then Red and Bart came down the path. The guys took off just before that. They said they heard someone comin’. Bart started countin’ cows and Red took off to look around. I headed down to the orchard. They caught up with me there and warned me not to say anything or they’d hurt my friends and family.

I ain’t proud of keepin’ quiet, but I felt I had to. You ain’t gonna tell my family, are you?”

“No,” Red said. “But you are.”

Red headed for the gazebo with Jacob following behind him at a slower pace. He wasn’t quite sure why he followed him. He could just as easily have headed the other direction and ran back to the barracks.

He respected Red. He had a quiet way about him that demanded it.

Red reached the gazebo first, then waited for Jacob without saying a word.

“What’s going on?” Bobby asked.

Red looked at Jacob.

Jacob met Bobby’s gaze directly. “I saw two guys puttin’ something in the water trough at the cow paddock last night and didn’t tell no one.”

“Jacob,” Meg said, disappointment encircling his name as she said it.

“Tell ‘em the rest,” Red said.

“That’s all there is.”

“Tell ‘em why you didn’t say nothin’.”

Jacob looked at the ground, their boot and shoe prints had left tracks in the dirt. “They warned me not to. Said they’d hurt you if I told anyone.”

“Oh, Jacob.” Meg flew from her spot in the gazebo and hugged him tightly. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. You did the right thing by telling about what happened.”

Bobby stood next to Meg. “You know how people say that you’re only as strong as your weakest link?”

Jacob nodded. He really didn’t want to hear about how he was the weakest link, but he took a deep breath and braced himself for his Dad’s words.

“You’re the strongest link in this chain.”

“What?” Jacob said.

“Yeah, what?” Courtney said.

“The fact that you couldn’t come to one of us, any of us, and tell us what was going on, that’s our weakness, not yours. If you felt like we would listen to you and take you seriously, you would have taken one of us aside and told us last night. I’m sorry we let you down. It won’t happen again.”

“He’s right,” Meg said. “We should be able to talk about anything – good, bad or ugly. I’m sorry you didn’t believe we would have your back.”

“I get what you’re saying, but it’s a two-way street,” Courtney said. “I’ve tried a bunch of times to talk with you and you just shut me down. You’re one of my favorite people in the world, Jacob, but sometimes you look at me like I’m your worst enemy. I’m not. And I don’t want to be. I love you.” She felt the tears prick her eyes. “Damn it! You know how I hate to cry!” Court got up from the gazebo steps and wrapped her arms around Jacob. “I’ll always be here for you. Always.”

“That goes double for us,” Purity said.

Alex nodded.

“We’re in this together,” Brad said. “All for one…”

“And one for all,” they all said together.

It was Jeremy who noticed Jacob hadn’t joined in with the others.

Later that afternoon Jacob and Jeremy were paired together to ride the fences looking for repairs that needed to be made. It wasn’t a horse they were riding, though. It was a golf cart that whisked them down the dirt path parallel to the fence.