Chapter Seven

Adam had gotten up at six sharp while Shiloh still lay in the bed. Bending down to her, he kissed her lips. "Are you getting up, Miss four in the morning?"

She yawned. "I didn't sleep well last night."

"You don't have to get up. I can meet with Hank this morning."

Sitting up on the side of the bed, she answered, "No. I'm up. Hoss is supposed to be here this morning. Why don't you go on down and get started. I'll be down in a minute."

After Adam left the room, she took care of her necessities, and dressed, then joined him for breakfast. Hoss had already arrived and was working on his second breakfast of the morning. Leaning against the door frame, she watched as the two brothers ate.

"Adam, I just don't understand why that Stewart fella keeps coming after her. He knows she's married, don't he?"

"He does. He might have loved her once, but I don't think that's it anymore. She walked away from him, and then she married me. Even in college, people didn't tell Will Stewart 'no'. He got this way. Except with me. And then he didn't get his way with her… He's obsessed, Hoss, and that makes him dangerous."

"You think he'll come after her again?"

"There's only one reason he moved to San Francisco, and that was to get closer to her."

"Can you two do me a favor and stop talking about Will Stewart?" Shiloh pushed herself away from the door frame and walked to the table, sitting between them.

Looking up from his plate, Adam looked apologetically at her. "I didn't know you were there."

While Hoss poured her a cup of coffee, Adam passed the eggs and bacon, then put a biscuit on her plate as she served herself. "Do you want some gravy for your biscuit?"

"No, just butter and preserves."

"Hoss, you can go with us to look at the draft horses Shiloh has and tell me what you think."

Talking with his mouth full, Hoss said, "That's fine with me if Shiloh's alright with it."

"I have to go anyway, and while we're down there, I want to pick a horse for you to work with and bring it up. The horse you'll be working with has to be isolated for a few days before you start. I have a journal for you to read, too. What are your plans today?" she asked, turning to Adam.

"I need to take those three bids back over to the Ponderosa so Pa can go over them, and if he agrees with them, I'll ride into the town and deliver them."

"You don't have to do that," said Hoss. "Pa's going back to town today to hire men for the crews. Turns out Mr. Fuller's hiring, too, so he's got some competition. But I'll tell you what you do need to do. You need to go on over to the breaking corral with me to take a look at the horses comin' in. If we're combining round-up and cattle drives, we're gonna need the extra horses."

"I have to spend some time today working on some drawings for Slater."

"Well, let's get down there then and look at those draft horses," said Hoss, standing.

"Wait, what about Hank?" asked Shiloh.

Adam stood, and waited for her. "He's already come and gone."

"You spoke to him without me?"

Adam held his hands out as he explained, "He's not doing anything different than he said yesterday. It wasn't really much of a conversation."

Shiloh huffed and walked past him to the front door, gathering her hat and jacket and leaving the brothers behind as she headed for the barn.

"What's the matter with her?"

Opening his mouth, Adam put on his hat, and then raised his hand as if he was going to say something and thought better of it, shaking his head and stepping out the door.

When they arrived at the south pasture, Adam and Hoss stood at the fence waiting for Shiloh who was digging through her saddle bag and emerged carrying a burlap bag of carrot pieces. "When I'm working with horses, these stay with me." She put her thumb and index finger in her mouth and blew a shrill whistle that made Adam and Hoss cringe. Looking out at the pasture, they soon saw the horses that had been off in the distance come thundering toward them.

"You feel that, Adam?" asked Hoss, first looking down at his feet, then at Adam with a surprised smile.

Shiloh watched proudly as the horses approached them. Stepping up on the corral fence and climbing over, she waited for the giant horses to gather around her. In a split second Adam was up on the fence, pulling her backwards, but she shrugged out of his hands. "Calm down, Adam. These horses are as gentle as babies."

Adam watched as they surrounded her, all of them patiently waiting for her hand to touch their muzzle where they knew a carrot would be waiting. She reached up to each one, and as she went from horse to horse, the horses didn't move...she walked upright underneath their heads. Even Adam and Hoss had to look up at them as they stood beside them.

"These are good lookin' horses, Shiloh. You sure you want to use 'em to pull logs?"

She stopped and slowly turned to Hoss with a blank expression. "What else do you suggest I do with them? I can't ride them. I don't have any saddles this big, and even if I did, my legs wouldn't go even half-way around their bellies." She snorted. "I'd need a ladder to get up on one."

"They make Ottis' horses look scrawny," said Adam as he walked among them. "We should rent them out when we don't need them."

Hoss had walked over to the younger horses with carrots. "How old are these fellas?"

"These are yearlings."

"There must be somethin' wrong with my ears. Did I just hear you say yearlings?"

"I don't think you'd recognize a foal if you compare them to other foals. The foals weigh almost two hundred pounds at birth."

Whistling, Hoss looked back over at Adam. "They gonna give us any problems? I'd hate to have one of these horses cut loose in a loggin' camp."

"You won't have any trouble. These are some of the gentlest horses I have," she answered, straining to reach the nose of the mare she was feeding. "But you will have to shoe them."

Adam and Hoss looked down. "That might take two people," said Adam, raising his brows while Hoss pushed his bottom lip up and nodded his agreement.

They left the draft horses at the fence, and went to another pasture to retrieve a horse for Hoss to train, then went back to the ranch house. Shiloh walked them behind the house to a building that had been closed up tight every time Adam had been back there. Taking a key out of her pocket, Shiloh unlocked the padlock on the double doors and swung them open. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, and then disappeared toward the back wall.

"Here are the harnesses you'll be using for them." Adam and Hoss had followed her back. "You'll have to go over these and make some repairs, but I don't think it'll be anything major. There are six sets."

"I reckon the first thing we need to do is get the horses shod, but I gotta ride out to the herd and have the men start rounding up the calves."

"Can't Joe do that?"

"Pa done sent 'im up to start markin' timber. He's a might nervous about all these contracts."

"Well, the only reason we're going to be able to do this is because there's only two sets; ties in the beginning of the Crocker contracts and square sets for all the others, except the docks, and all we have to do is cut and haul those to Sacramento. We can cut those now. I figure we can hire some teamsters to haul them, so only one of us has to go to Sacramento. We're already set up for the square sets at the mill, so if we can supply the timber as they need it, we can do everyone at the same time."

"By the sound of it, we'll be cutting all through summer."

"I'll go get the men started rounding up the calves," said Adam. "Billy and Johnny can start bringing up the…Shiloh, what are those horses?"

Shiloh was standing behind them, leaning prominently on one leg with her arms crossed. "Clydesdales."

"Johnny and Billy can start bringing up the Clydesdales, and you can start making shoes; that is if we have enough iron." Adam walked back to the door. "I'm going by the Ponderosa first to drop off those bids. I'll come back that way and bring back what iron I can find."

Shiloh turned sideways between them and spoke loudly. "Are you forgetting something?" Turning, Adam looked with his head craned forward, waiting.

"Hoss is here to work with me."

Drawing his lips into a tight line, he spun on his heel, and walked back into the forge, nodding. "Hoss, work with Shiloh first, and when you're finished, make shoes. I'll be back as soon as I can."