Chapter 10: John

The next evening...

"Sam, thank you for coming to me with this. I'll speak with Victoria tonight and we'll get it fixed."

"Thank you, Mr. Cannon. Have a good night."

"You, too, Sam."

John refocused on the ledger after Sam left his office. His eye scanned down the column and found all in order. He closed the book and returned it to the safe.

Dealing with Sam's issue wasn't as easy. When he entered the bedroom a short time later, he said, "Victoria, we have a problem."

Victoria sat in the rocker holding Betsy. She held out her hand toward Bobby as she asked, "John, what is it?"

John scooped up his younger son and sat down in the other chair. Smiling at Bobby and giving him a finger to grasp, he explained, "Two hands tried to quit after dinner tonight. They said dinner wasn't up to snuff, again, but Sam convinced them to give us until tomorrow night. Several others weren't much happier with tonight's meal than with Chun Li's Chinese surprise from last night. To top it all off, Wind left the ranch today."

"John, I will take care of the meal situation tomorrow and speak with Li, but why did Wind go? Do you know where he is going?" She looked very concerned.

"Good. That will help. As for Wind, I don't have a clue and Sam didn't either. He spoke with him a few days ago when Wind seemed distracted by something, but Sam said getting responses out of him can be as hard as pulling nails with your teeth. He's very private when it comes to personal issues, so Sam gave him an assignment to get him away from the bunkhouse for a while since that sometimes helps get his mind off of his problems. It didn't seem to work this time. He got back last night and approached Sam first thing this morning."

"Oh, I wish we knew what it was about so we could help."

John shook his head. "Me, too, but we just don't know. Sam said that Wind told him this morning that he had some personal business to take care of, but he wouldn't give any details, again. Joe's probably closer to Wind than anyone so he spoke with him, too, before he left, but he couldn't get anything more out of him either."

"Oh, John, that worries me," she said, her brow furrowing slightly. "No one has come back from Tucson recently to bring messages or mail. Could he have run into someone on the ranch, or maybe an Indian he knows? Could that be why he would he say it is 'personal business'?"

Another head shake and a slight shrug followed as John replied, "I have no idea. I do see though that this little fellow is out."

Victoria smiled, "Betsy, too. Let's put them in their crib and then we can go to bed."

"Sounds good," said John as he gently put Bobby down. "I'm sure you've had a long day and need your sleep."

Victoria was biting her lower lip fighting a smile as she put Betsy down next to her brother. Covering her, she turned to John and ran a single finger down his forearm as she said, "It has been a long day, my husband, and I am tired, but I wasn't the one who said anything about sleep."

Her gentle touch, the inflections in her voice, and a subtle tilt of her head brought a smile to John's face as he took his wife in his arms.

~HC~

Author's Note: Thanks for reading, as always, and thank you to wotwasithinkin and Cathy for the nice comments on Chapter 9. They're exactly right that Wind could do much to ease his troubled mind if he would only open up a bit more with his friends, but then I have to ask myself, would that be in character? Perhaps, since some time has passed, but again, if he did, where would the story go? That said, Wind has a plan; as to whether it is a good one, time will tell.

Also, since Victoria got to be a bit playful in this episode, it's only right to wish her on-screen portrayer, Ms. Linda Cristal, a slightly belated happy birthday on celebrating her 83rd birthday on February 23rd. "Happy Birthday, Ms. Cristal!"

Finally, for those who enjoy westerns other than The High Chaparral, I recently published the first chapter of my new story in the Lone Ranger (TV) fandom with "LR01: The Summer of '78." The Lone Ranger was another of my favorite TV westerns from childhood, but, sadly, the stories and cinematography from it don't hold up nearly as well today. However, I still enjoy watching it and love the basic story of the The Lone Ranger and Tonto (and hated the treatment it received in the Hammer & Depp adaptation even while enjoying parts of the movie), so I'll be exploring that fandom from what I hope will be a more adult perspective. Thanks to wotwasithinkin for discovering it and commenting already; I hope more of you will give it a try and let me know your thoughts on it.