Chapter Eleven

Jeremiah was halfway wishing he'd had the barber cut even more of his hair off, as the sun was doing its best to chase any living creature out of the wide open range he and Barrett were working in. Once again, he had to mentally shake his head at the language that was coming out of the man's mouth. 'Maybe I need to buy him an instructional book on the English language' Jeremiah thought when the longtime employee used a word incorrectly in his sentence.

"You know, it's nice to have someone else on this ranch who thinks the same way I do." Barrett let go of the last cow they had to brand and looked at Jeremiah after the other help they'd had walked away.

Jeremiah took a bandana out of his pocket and wiped his forehead. "With all the men the Barkleys have working for them, you want me to believe we're the only two who don't care for the addition the Barkley family acquired?" He gave Barrett a doubtful look as he spoke.

Barrett shrugged his shoulders and scoffed, swearing as he did so. "More and more of them are actually thinking it wasn't such a bad thing." He then began asking Jeremiah questions, one told Jeremiah the man wanted to know more about him.

"All over the Midwest," Jeremiah answered when Barrett asked him where he was from. He paused-as he was still struggling with the fact that he never should have been raised as a Shaw. However, Jeremiah shook off 'that struggle' and continued talking. "Father never could sit still, and he had his hand in a number of businesses."

"Wanderlust, my father had that in him too." Barrett turned and nodded in the direction of the bunkhouse. "We best hurry if we want any lunch before we start mending fences this afternoon."

"I'm eating at my house, promised La'akea I wouldn't be late." Jeremiah informed Barrett as the two started walking.

Barrett grinned and again congratulated Jeremiah on making such a good buy. "The way you talk, the two of you married during the Civil War. Were you overseas during the whole war?"

"Only during the first half of it. However; before you asked, I never wore any man's uniform. It came in handy at times." He purposely gave Barrett a sly smile as he answered….as he'd been told that General Alderson often used men who hadn't actually joined any particular unit to his bidding. He hoped Barrett would assume that he was the type of man the wanted general was known to use-maybe even be one of them.

While Barrett did his best not to show how Jeremiah's words affected him, but it did no good. His co-worker saw the small amount of excitement that appeared in the ranch hand's eyes. "Me and a couple of the guys are going into town later, get a few drinks and play some poker. Why don't you join us? That is, if you can tear yourself away from that woman of yours."

As much as Jeremiah wanted to say no, he knew he couldn't. "Don't worry about my wife; she's not my boss. I'd be happy to join the fun." He then headed down the road towards the home he and La'akea were sharing while Barrett headed for the bunkhouse. However, he hadn't gone very far when a voice from a clump of trees spoke.

"Sit down on something and act like you're having problems with your boot or something."

Adam Pierce! Jeremiah silently groaned and looked around. It only took a split second to see an old tree stump. Soon he was sitting down and taking off his boot. "What do you want? You're not supposed to risk coming here." Jeremiah asked with more than an upset tone in his voice, one he didn't care to hide.

"I know that, and I wouldn't have only I got a telegram today." Adam sounded no happier than Jeremiah felt. "Boss's demanded that I talk to you and find out how things are going."

"If you'd waited in town, you could have asked me that." Jeremiah told him of Barrett's invite. "Now, I would appreciate it if you went back to town and stayed there. I said I'd report to you as I could, and I will! You're risking everything by coming out here." He put his boot back on and stood up-after making a demand of his own…that Adam not leave his hiding place until dark. "And, don't tell me how long you'll be there. I already know and, at this point, I don't care. If you leave that spot before dark and I find out about it, I'm off the case! I will not have your stupidity endangering anyone's life…and I'm not just talking about mine!"

Adam might have argued, but they were too far into the mission to start looking for someone else to do the job. "Fine," Adam sat down and leaned against the tree. If he couldn't leave until nightfall, he might as well be comfortable. "You think you can spare an apple at least,:

"I'll toss one in later." Jeremiah growled and walked away.

From where Victoria sat in her buggy, she could see Jeremiah as he sat on the log and removed his boot. She might have begun thinking on the reason he was on the ranch, but she was busy thinking about his eyes and the way he walked. However, due to the fact that she had long ago accepted she would never see her oldest son, she wasn't thinking immediate family connection. No, she was thinking on the various cousins-whether they be first cousins, second cousins or farther back. 'You have a what my late mother-in-law would call 'the Barkley walk'. I wonder if it was your mother or grandmother who was a Barkley' Victoria thought as she turned her buggy towards the main house, telling herself that after Mr. Shaw's mission was completed she would have to corner him about the matter.