High Country Bride

While she dished up another plate, she caught sight of Mr. McKaslin returning from behind the barn with their Jersey cow on a lead rope. Something about the man caught her eye. She’d seen him in church, of course, but he was the type of worshipper who arrived at the last moment, kept to the back and slipped out before the final hymn. There was a sadness to him that hung over him like a storm cloud. It was that melancholy that kept him from being truly frightening.

Had she offered him a meal? She couldn’t remember. Her mind was a muddle and she felt frayed to the last thread. She put more fuel in the stove and more water to heat. She went to the back door, but Mr. McKaslin was already in his wagon and driving off, the cow trailing behind. Before she’d blinked twice, there was only a dust cloud where he had been.

Daisy stood leaning at the rail with those wide blue eyes of hers even wider. “Why’s Uncle Lee all packed up on the horse?”

“Packed up? No, he’s probably out back in the fields, gone to chat with Mr. McKaslin. Don’t you worry about it, honey.” She set the plate on the table. “Here, sit down and eat your dinner.”

“Okay…” Daisy said in one long, drawn-out sigh.

As Joanna brushed a comforting hand over her daughter’s head, a movement caught her eye. There, against the background of the growing wheat fields and the fading patches of red on the barn, was Lee astride Pa’s horse. Daisy was right. There were two bulging packs behind his saddle and a satchel hung over the saddle horn. Lee had his black hat drawn low and didn’t look her way.

James glanced nervously over his shoulder. “Ma, where’s he goin’?”

“I’m sure to settle a few business matters in town, is all.” A punch of apprehension hit her square in the stomach. Something was very wrong. She forced a smile into her voice for the children’s sake. “Stay right here on the porch, eat your dinner, and I’ll get you a surprise for dessert.”

“There’s dessert?” James swiveled toward her, his uncle forgotten. “Honest?”

“Is it cake?” Daisy asked with a fork halfway to her mouth.

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

Lee rode out of sight behind the house, and it was hard to keep her step natural as she headed straight to the kitchen. The moment the door slapped shut behind her she rushed through to the front yard. Lee didn’t look behind him, but his back stiffened, so he had to know she was hurrying after him.

“Lee?” She had to keep her voice low so the children would not be able to overhear this. “Lee? Where are you going?”

“Away.” He bit out the word, then appeared annoyed as he reined in the horse. “Truth is, I sold the place.”

“You what?” She couldn’t be hearing him right. Maybe it was the lack of sleep last night and the emotional upset over the funeral. It was all the hard kitchen work in this stifling heat. Yes, that’s what it was. “For a moment there, I thought you said you’d sold out, but there’s still the crop in the fields.”

“I sold it, too. The banker said you’ve got until nightfall to get out.”

“Get out?” There was something wrong with her mind. She could hear Lee’s words, but her brain was not making sense of them. Surely he didn’t say—“You want me to get out of the house?”

“You can’t live in it if it belongs to someone else. The banker bought the place for his sister. She’d like to get settled tonight.”

“Tonight?” The earth began to spin. “Lee, what about the children? You aren’t putting us out, are you?”

“You aren’t my lookout. They’re your ragamuffins, not mine. I’m not beholden to them or to you. Pa left me this place fair and square. It’s mine to sell.”

“But before Pa died, you said…” Not only was the earth spinning, but it was tilting, too.

No, this can’t be happening. This cannot be right. She had to be ill from the heat, that was it. Her mind was fuddled from too little sleep and too much worry. “Y-you said we could live here.”

“I know what I said.” Lee glared down at her. “I came to help you take care of the old man. The crops are still doing well in the fields because of me. The banker met my price and I took it. Leave the pigs and the chickens when you go. They’re part of the sale, too.”

“But—” Her brain seemed stuck on that word like her feet to the dirt. “It’s not right. You just can’t—”

“Sure I can. I only came back here for the money. You know I never held much regard for our old man. He was a louse.”

“But you said—”

“In this world, you’ve got to look out for yourself and no one else. It’s the only way to survive.” Lee gazed down on her with pity. He pulled his billfold from his shirt pocket. “Here.”

She stared at the twenty dollar bill he held out, the end flapping in the brisk scorching wind. The truth hit her like dry lightning. “You really sold the land and you’re keeping all the money.”

“It’s legal. Pa left everything to me. You know that.”

“But you said you would stay to farm. You promised. You gave your word.”

“Yeah, well, I hardly expected you to help me out if you knew.” Since she didn’t take the money, Lee tossed it at her. The wind snatched it and blew it away like a dry leaf. It stuck to the wall of sticker bushes growing along the road and flapped there, helplessly trapped.

Joanna gulped hard. She fisted her hands, fighting to stay calm. Getting upset would not make this easier. “You lied to me. Lee, you’re my brother.”

“Half brother. Take my advice and start packing. That banker’s not a nice man. He’ll put you and your young ones out by force. Do you want that?”

A bead of sweat rolled down her spine. She shook her head once, but the horse was already trotting away, kicking up bits of earth and small rocks. In the matter of a few heartbeats, all that she could see of her brother was a thick cloud of dust.

He’ll put you and your young ones out by force. The image of that tore through her and, without thought, she moved forward. She snatched the twenty dollar bill from the bush, ignoring the bite of scratches across her knuckles. She added the bill to the money Mr. McKaslin had given her. The sun was already sinking in the sky, the day more than half over. She had a lot to do if she wanted to spare her children any unpleasantness.

Woodenly, she stumbled into the kitchen, checking through the open window to see them seated at the little battered wooden table, comfortably finishing their meals. The wind puffed James’s dark hair straight up like one big cowlick. Daisy sat as dainty and as dear as a princess.

Lord, please help me to manage this well. For their sake. She might have prayed further for shelter and work and somewhere to go, but she’d learned from experience that the good Lord did not hear many of her prayers. So she kept them simple.

“What’s for dessert, Ma?” James had hopped off his chair and stood at the window, happily watching her through the mesh screen.

“You sit down and watch your sister, handsome, and I’ll bring you both big pieces of cake.”

“Cake! I knew it.” Delight rounded his sweet face and he dashed the short distance back to his chair.

That’s my answer, she realized as she found a knife and went to work on the cake hidden in the cellar to keep cool and fresh. This will be an adventure, a special trip. Not a scary life living out of the wagon. They would be explorers, like in the book she was reading to them, a few pages at a time, at night.

She swallowed all her fears and worries, put a smile on her face and cut two huge slices of cake. Her mind was busy making plans of how to pack and what they would take as she pushed her way through the screen door.

Two darling faces turned toward her in sheer delight. “Cake!”

She knew from sad experience that the Lord might not provide for them, but she would find a way.

Chapter Two

If it wasn’t one problem to deal with, it was another. Aiden McKaslin drew his horse to a halt and squinted into the long rays of the setting sun.

Sure enough, there at the edge of his property, just inside the boundary fence, was a squatter. A covered wagon huddled in the shelter of an old maple. Judging by the fraying cover, it had seen better days. The smoke from a newly lit fire rose thick and unsteady from a tidy circle of stones.

What with the glare of the sun, and the shadows the tree made on the ground, he couldn’t see a living soul. Just two horses nipping at the growing grass.

He yanked his Winchester from the saddle holster by its barrel and cocked it with one hand. Aiden carried the weapon mostly for the wild predators that got to eyeing his livestock for dinner now and again. But when he ran into trouble of the human sort, he was doubly glad he always rode armed. He’d had trouble like this before, and experience taught him that squatters were mostly criminals.

He hated trouble, but the law was a good five miles away, so he approached the camp with caution, studying the lay of things with a careful eye. There was wearing of the earth around the stubborn tufts of grass at the creek bank. The careful sweeping of footprints out of the dirt seemed to be a clue that whoever was staying here might not want to leave a sign of how many of them there were. The trampled grass around the wagon was another hint—still fresh, but with significant usage.