Relationship Adjustments
Early December 1880
It was an unusual cold snap for early December, and it was lasting for a while, too. Following sales over the late summer and autumn, the herd was down to fewer than 300 head. Nick hadn't planned on needing to put the cattle on the winter range or on winter feed just yet, but the cold was affecting the more vulnerable range already. Nick was worried – if this winter was going to be like this, would the winter range and the feed see them through the whole season?
Heath saw the frown on his brother's face even from a distance, and he knew what it was about. He had the same worries, but it looked like for Nick they were deeper worries than his own. He rode up beside Nick, eyed that frown more closely, then looked out over the herd.
With a sigh, Heath said, "Well, not too unusual for us to get a warm spell after a cold snap in the winter. That grass could green up again in a couple months."
Nick gave a grunt. "I just hope we planned well enough in case in doesn't. Anyway, we'll have to put some winter feed out starting tomorrow – can't get them down to the winter range fast enough. I don't want these cattle to weaken and not make it through a rough winter if that's what we get."
"You told McCall yet?"
"Yeah, told him at lunch. He'll see to it, and we'll start moving the herd to the winter range the day after tomorrow."
Heath looked up at the sky. The winter sun was already beginning to sink down in the southwest. The days were very short this time of year. "Thought I'd go into town and see Suzanne, take her out to dinner. You want to bring Nancy and come along?"
Nick made another grunting noise. "No, I think I better take a good tally of what we have stored up here in winter feed. That'll take a while. Can check what we have in storage down by the winter range when we get the herd down there."
"You haven't gone to town in more than a week. Don't you think you owe yourself a break and some time with Nancy?"
"Maybe I do, but tonight ain't the night. Maybe tomorrow."
Nick gave his horse a kick and took off. Heath frowned after him. He'd been having a itchy feeling that Nick was neglecting Nancy for a reason, but if they were having a falling out, Nick hadn't said anything about it. It wasn't like he was going in to see the saloon girls or anything like that. He just wasn't going into town at all, and Nancy wasn't coming out here, either.
Oh, Nick, don't go messing this up, Heath thought. It wouldn't be the first time if he did lose Nancy. Nick was notorious for picking the wrong woman and losing her for one reason or another, but Nancy wasn't the wrong woman. It would be incredibly stupid for him to let her get away.
Heath took off his hat and rubbed his forehead, reminding himself that whatever happened between Nick and Nancy was none of his business.
Heath went home before Nick did, planning to clean up and change his clothes before going into town. He found his mother in the kitchen with Silas, getting dinner ready. He couldn't help leaning over the cookpot for a smell.
Victoria pushed him away gently. "You said you were going into town to have dinner with Suzanne, remember?"
"Oh, I remember," Heath said, "and I'll be leaving in half an hour or so. Just checking on what I was missing."
"Where's Nick?"
"Still out with the herd."
"Is he going to town with you?"
"No, he's worried about having to put the herd on winter feed already. Wants to tally up what we have and move the herd to winter range the day after tomorrow."
"He needs a break before you do that."
"Yeah, that's what I told him, and Nancy needs some attention, too, but you know Nick. That herd comes before everything else in the world."
"Well, maybe I'll have a motherly talk with him over dinner."
Heath chuckled. "I'd like to be a fly on the wall for that."
As Heath took off up the back stairs, Victoria gave him a quick glance before getting back to her cooking. Silas gave him a somewhat longer look, and then he sighed so deeply that Victoria heard him.
"Silas? Is everything all right?"
Silas had been chopping vegetables for the stew Victoria was making and brought them over. "Yes, ma'am. Everything is fine. Is this enough for the stew?"
Victoria took the bowl from him. "Yes, that's fine," she said, put the vegetables into the pot and gave the bowl back to him. "Now, why the big sigh?"
Silas chuckled. "I'm sorry, ma'am, that just came out. Guess I'm kind of worried about Mr. Nick, too. Something I heard when I was in town this morning."
Victoria looked up at him. "What did you hear?"
"There's a new young banker in town been seen talking with Miss Nancy more than once. I don't know if Mr. Nick knows about it or not."
"He hasn't said anything about it if he does," Victoria said, thinking. Did he know and that was why he was avoiding going to town? Was Nick losing out to the new competition? Victoria didn't like the idea of that at all.
"Well," Silas said, "I reckon Mr. Nick and Miss Nancy will have to figure this out on their own."
"Yes," Victoria agreed quietly, reconsidering the "motherly talk" but still thinking. She was never one to interfere in her son's love lives, and she wasn't sure she was about to start now, but with Nick she was always worried. He really seemed clueless about women sometimes.
How many relationships hadn't worked out for him? She had lost count. She really would be disappointed if Nick and Nancy did not work out together, because she was perfect for him. Everyone could see it, but she sure didn't know how to talk to Nick about it.
Maybe she should have been more involved in her children's love lives over the years. Maybe she could have used the practice.
XXXXXXX
With only Victoria and Nick home for dinner, they skipped the drinks before eating and went straight to a very quiet and quick meal. Nick ate particularly fast, talking about his worries about the winter feed holding out. It was when he mentioned that he wished Heath hadn't gone to town to see Suzanne that Victoria spoke up.
"I wish you'd gone with him and taken Nancy out," she said. "You could use a break."
"Maybe tomorrow," Nick said.
"When did you see Nancy last?" Victoria asked, and regretted it the minute the words were out.
Nick didn't even look up. "A week or so ago."
That was all he said. Victoria didn't know where to go with this now, but she ended up saying, "Have you lost interest in her?" and regretted saying that, too.
"No," Nick said flatly. "It's just this ranch needs attention right now, a lot of attention, and she knows it comes first with me."
Victoria decided to let things go and said only, "Well, as long as she understands."
"She understands," Nick said, and after a few gulps of what was left in his coffee cup he got up. "I gotta tally up the winter feed, Mother," he said and kissed her. "Don't worry. I'll take a break in a few days."
"Good," she said quietly as he went out, and regretted even saying that. And not saying more.
She sighed a big, helpless sigh.
XXXXXX
Heath was not inclined to spend any of his time with Suzanne talking about Nick, and Suzanne knew it. Heath was not a man to talk much about anybody else behind his back, and that was one of the things she loved most about him. She honestly didn't want to talk about Nick, either, but she had been seeing a lot of Nancy lately, and she could tell that Nancy was feeling uneasy about Nick. He just hadn't come around much lately, and while she didn't talk much about it, Suzanne could tell that Nancy wasn't happy. After a lovely dinner together at the Cattlemen's, while they were walking home, she decided she wanted to bring it up, but she really wasn't sure how.
She fiddled with the words in her mind and finally said, "I thought Nick might have come in with you tonight."
"He had work he needed to do at the ranch," Heath said. "You know Nick. The ranch comes first."
"Yes, I know. I just wish he'd come in."
"What, I'm not proper company for you anymore?"
Suzanne laughed a little. "No, you know that's not it. It's just Nancy's been a little edgy lately. I'm wondering if something's going on between them."
"Nothing I know about," Heath said.
"Would Nick tell you if there was?"
"Probably not. If there is something, we probably ought to leave it up to them to patch up."
"Well," Suzanne said and left it there.
"Well, what?" Heath asked.
Suzanne hesitated, but then said, "There's a new young man in town, a banker. He seems to have an eye for Nancy."
"Yeah?"
"He seems very attentive. More attentive than Nick is lately."
"So, Nick has competition?"
"Not yet, I don't think. But I'd hate to see it happen, you know?"
Heath thought about it, and worried a bit. "Yeah. Me, too."
"Maybe you should have a word with Nick."
Heath gave half a shrug. "I've already tried, a little bit. But you know how he is. The ranch means everything to him."
"Even more than Nancy."
"Maybe. Maybe even more than me, or Jarrod or even Mother. From what Jarrod tells me, he was left with all the responsibility when our father died. He takes it seriously. To him, it's like all our lives depend on him."
Suzanne really hadn't understood it that way. "You've tried to share some of that burden, haven't you? I mean, you help run the ranch, and Jarrod does all the legal and the paperwork, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," Heath agreed, "but Nick still feels like he's the one who will take the blame if things fail. It's just his way."
"Well, I think he ought to consider that he'll be taking the blame if he and Nancy fail, and he'll be losing more than the ranch."
"You really think I should talk to him again, don't you?"
Suzanne smiled. "Don't you?"
