Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Chapter 1
Jarrod slapped the reins at the horse, and he and Heath took off in the buggy, heading first to Stockton, then by train to Chicago and New York. Heath turned around and waved good-bye. Victoria and Audra returned the wave enthusiastically. Nick did not return it at all.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Nick, stop acting like a little boy who's not allowed to go to the picnic," Victoria said to him.
Nick had been scowling all morning. "I'm just wondering how I'm going to keep things together around here without Heath."
"Like he said, you did just fine without him for years," Audra said.
"But I had Jarrod then – and who are we going to turn to now for the paperwork end of this operation, huh?" Nick asked.
"It's not like they're leaving forever," Victoria said. "Two weeks will fly by, and anything Jarrod would have had to work on can wait, I'm sure."
"You better be right," Nick grumbled. "I feel real out in the rain on my own around here."
Victoria patted him on the arm. "I'm sure you'll do just fine."
"And if you get shorthanded, I'll help out," Audra said.
Nick gave her a "you've got to be kidding" look.
XXXXXXX
"You know, Nick," McCall said, "I gotta be honest with you. This past week, with Heath being gone, you've been so surly, I've almost been ready to tell your mother on you."
McCall made the remark when he was sure none of the other hands would hear him. Nick was the boss, and you don't embarrass the boss in front of the other men.
Standing near the chuck wagon and eating lunch, Nick was not inclined to put his fork down and belt his long-time foreman and friend, so he just made a "thanks for nothing" face and let it go at that.
"Seriously," McCall said, "we're shorthanded, but it's not that bad. We're doing just fine, and we'll have this herd to the army as promised."
"I know that," Nick said, "but we're shorthanded enough that we don't have any margin for error. We can't have any more mistakes. We've already had too many."
McCall cast a look at the three men he knew Nick was blaming for what mistakes had been made. Hours lost chasing down strays that would never have gotten away, but for these three men. More hours lost rounding up horses that one of these three hadn't tethered properly during a meal break. McCall couldn't blame Nick for being angry. Nick had been the one to hire these three in the first place and he was reluctant to admit to the mistake and can them.
It might have been different if these guys were new hands, but they had been with the ranch for a couple months. They knew the ropes. They should have known how to work a drive as short as this one was going to be. They were just getting very careless.
"I'd let them go, but we don't have the men to spare," Nick said.
"I don't think it's come to that, yet," McCall said.
"No, but one more misadventure with these three, and I might just change my mind."
"Well, remember one thing," McCall said. "You are a little raw around the edges, so maybe cut them a little slack."
"I'm not raw around the edges. I'm just – "
"Mad that Heath isn't here."
"Yeah. I don't know what got into him – going off to New York with Jarrod. Don't know what got into either one of them."
"Well, they both deserve a break. Jarrod's been having a tough couple of years, and Heath's been working day and night since he got here five years ago. Give them a couple weeks together. Do them both a lot of good, and it's half over now anyway."
"McCall, when did YOU last take two weeks off?"
McCall scratched the side of his face. "Well, I think it might have been when your father was alive and my sister got sick."
"That's what I mean," Nick grunted, put his place aside on the chuckwagon and walked away. "Come on, you men who call yourselves drovers! Let's get back to moving these cattle before they grow roots!"
XXXXXXXX
Everything went well over the afternoon. Nick kept an eye on the problem hands, but they seemed to be doing all right, and the herd was moving right along toward the rendezvous point with the army. Pleased with the progress, Nick eased off over the afternoon.
The sun began to go down, so they halted the herd and set up camp for the night. The man in charge of the chuck wagon – older man named McAdam – started the food going and as darkness set in, they all began to drink coffee and eat good roasted beef.
That was when the horses got loose.
Several men went running for them, but that only spooked the horses more. Others joined in, some trying to catch the horses, others trying to keep them away from the cattle so as not to start a stampede there.
They got lucky. They were able to catch the horses and calm them down within a few minutes, and before long they had the tether line secure and all of the horses calm and settling in.
That was when Nick exploded. "Who the hell set up this tether line in the first place?"
"It was Pitt," one of the men said.
Pitt was the same man responsible for not handling the tether line properly the last time the horses got away during the meal break.
"Get some food and collect you pay and get out of here," Nick said flatly.
His two buddies asked for their pay, too. Nick didn't like that three men were leaving the crew, but given it was the three men who were the worst hands, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
After they were paid off and gone, McCall joined Nick for a last cup of coffee and said, "We really need to do something to replace at least one of these guys."
"Why?" Nick asked. "They were worse than worthless anyway."
"No, they weren't," McCall said. "They all could drive cattle well. I'd make a suggestion, but you probably won't like it."
"Go ahead," Nick said. "I'm not liking most of everything right now anyway."
"Take McAdam off the chuck wagon."
"What good will that do? I'd just have to put somebody else on the chuck wagon."
"Well, I got a suggestion you won't like about that, too."
"What?"
"Go get Audra."
"What?!"
Nick's voice was so loud, everyone in camp looked up at him, and the horses moved nervously. At least the tether line held.
McCall spoke more softly. "She can cook, and she can drive the wagon. She was on a drive when she was a kid, so she knows what it's like."
"She's not a kid anymore," Nick said, more quietly. "Having a grown woman on a cattle drive is – crazy!"
"We can keep an eye on her, and there are five or six men around here you can count on to see she's not bothered by any of the others," McCall said. "It'll only be two nights at most. She'll be all right."
Nick kept shaking his head, but he really had no words to argue with. He just did not want to expose his sister to this atmosphere of – men!
McCall said, "Go back to the house tomorrow. Talk to her and to your mother. If your mother refuses, well there we are, but if she okays the idea – well, your mother knows the risks out here and she knows your sister. Give it a shot anyway, Nick."
Nick sighed. He had no argument against just asking, and McCall had a strong argument for it. Nick ran a hand through his hair and gave in.