Chapter Twelve
The sun was just barely up when Adam drove a buggy into the yard of the Flying W. When he knocked on the front door, he got no answer, so he stuck his head in, yelling. Shiloh didn't answer, and he stepped in, looked in the parlor and the kitchen, and then went back to the front door. As he stepped out, he saw Hank walking toward the back corral. "Hank, where is everybody?"
"We do work around here, Adam," said Hank, smiling jokingly, offering his hand. "But you really mean Miss Shiloh, don't you?"
Adam stuck his tongue in his cheek. "Yep. I told her I'd take her to town today."
"Yeah, she already told me. Said she might not be back and not to worry. But she wanted to go over the breeding schedule for her foundation stock with Johnny and Billy before she left. She's out back." The two men talked as they walked to the back corral.
"Has she said anything about the barn?" asked Adam.
"I got an earful about the barn this morning. She had the original plans that her father had drawn up for a new barn, and she wanted to know if we could handle it. I told her I'd wanna check with you…it's a mighty nice barn. Too nice, I think, to have done this winter, and she'll be needin' shelter for the horses."
"I'll talk to her about it, Hank." Hank grunted. "Is there something else you're not telling me?"
"Well, you know how determined she is to do things on her own."
Adam raised his eyebrows. "And?"
"She told me not to say anything to you. Adam, she's had a lot of good ideas that were workable, but this one…." Hank shook his head. "I don't know how we can make this work for the winter."
"Don't worry about it, Hank. I'll bring up the barn. Maybe she'll talk to me about it. And if she doesn't, I'll…well, I'll think of something."
The back corral was actually a group of corrals and paddocks, two large corrals on either side of a row of smaller paddocks in the middle and on the west side. In a large breeding operation, all the center paddocks would be used multiple times a day with a handler moving pairs of horses in and waiting. There was a smaller stall in the middle of the paddocks where uncooperative mares were confined during breeding. The paddocks on the west side of the corrals held the stallions that would be bred, after which they were released into the west corral.
Adam and Hank stood behind Shiloh and listened as she gave instructions to Johnny and Billy. "I wasn't going to do this much but…" she took a deep breath, and finished in a shaky voice, "with Max gone, we only have four…really three stallions to breed. I would prefer not to breed Eli right now, but I don't think we have a choice. I still haven't made my mind up about Satan."
"Satan?" said Adam, surprised. "You named a horse Satan?" Shiloh turned slightly and eyed Adam severely. "Excuse me," he said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to interrupt."
"Breed Apollo with Artemis and Cleo, Zeus with Athena and Delilah, and Eli with Sheba and Storm. If Storm gives you problems, breed Eli with Jezebel, too. She's a little older, but she should have a few good years left in her. I want to wait another year, at least, for Koko."
"What do you want us to do with Satan?" asked Johnny.
"Nothing at this point. I'll wait to see what this produces, and if we get some good foals, I may geld him. But not yet. I may have to use him." She looked up at Johnny and Billy. "Any questions?" Both shook their heads. "If anything bad happens, stop everything, and one of you come get me."
"Yes Ma'am," they said in unison.
She turned and walked back toward the house with Hank and Adam falling in behind her. "Hank, do you have the buckboard loaded?"
"No Ma'am. I still need to load your trunk. I was going to get help when Adam drove up."
"Drove up?"
"I brought the buggy," answered Adam.
She stopped when she rounded the corner and saw the buggy at the same time he said that. "Oh, well, I appreciate it, but I'll be taking my trunk and leaving it in my dressing room." Looking sweetly up at him, she asked, "Would you mind helping Hank bring it down?"
"Not at all, dear lady," he replied, smiling and removing his hat as he bowed.
On the way to Virginia City, Adam dared to bring up the horses. "Satan?"
"You'd have to know him. He's high-strung and mean. I don't want to pass that disposition along."
"You might not, you know."
"Yes, I know, but I don't want to waste a season for one of my mares if I can avoid it. And the best way to avoid the possibility is not to breed him at all."
"Then why haven't you already gelded him?"
"Because I was down to five stallions. I'm down to four now with Satan. And I don't have the money or the time to import more."
"You just got money from Maguire, and you're about to make more."
"Some of that will go to rebuild the barn," she said sadly.
"Sweetheart, it won't take all that to rebuild the barn." She let her shoulders slump and looked away. He looked over with creased brows, knowing she wasn't telling him something, and that it had nothing to do with the barn. Pulling back on the reins, he stopped the horses and turned, putting one arm around her shoulders and leaning back in the seat. "You can tell me anything."
"It's nothing, Adam. It's just…Max, I guess."
He turned her face toward his, and she dropped her eyes. "Alright. Maybe you'll feel like talking about it later." The remainder of the trip was quiet.