Unrepentant Cowboy

Joni Griffin leaned over the injured horse, gingerly applying the flexible vet wrap over the pillow wrap. Her hands moved with precision as she made sure the bandaging fit snugly enough to hold it in place but not so tight it caused undue pain.

R.J. watched the procedure over Joni’s shoulder and muttered reassurances to the beautiful filly. “Poor girl. I should have been watching you more closely. Instead I let you get hurt.”

“Horses get wounds just like people do,” Joni said. “You can’t prevent all of them. The good thing is you caught this one early and the cut’s not all that deep.”

“You think Miss Dazzler will be okay then?”

“I think she’s going to be just fine, but you’ll need to keep applying the hydrotherapy a few times a day until the swelling goes down, and the bandaging will have to be replaced each time. I also recommend one gram of phenylbutazone twice a day to help with the swelling.”

“I can handle the bute and probably the treatment and bandaging if I have some help from Corky or Adam, but I don’t wanna go trusting Miss Dazzler to anyone who’s not a trained vet.”

“I’m sure Adam can judge if the wound is healing right,” Joni said. “Your son is amazing with horses. So is his wife, for that matter.”

“Right on both counts. I notice you and my daughter-in-law have spent a lot of time together of late.”

“Can’t help but like Hadley. And your granddaughters are adorable.”

“Yes, they are, but they’re a handful. That’s why I hate to ask Hadley to take on the full responsibility of Miss Dazzler, especially with Thanksgiving just two days away. She and Mattie Mae have been cooking up a storm.”

“Sounds delicious.”

“It will be. How about you join us for lunch that day?”

“I just may do that. Actually, Hadley has already invited me.”

“Good. I s’pect we’ll have enough food to feed half the citizens of Oak Grove.”

“Then I’ll definitely come and try to eat my share.”

“Good. Now back to Miss Dazzler. I want somebody who knows what they’re doing to take a good look at that wound every day, just to be sure it’s healing right.”

“I could show Adam what to look for.”

“He’s off at a cattle auction today.”

“What about Corky?”

“He’s a good enough cattle wrangler, but I don’t trust him to take care of Miss Dazzler’s injured fetlock. Not that he wouldn’t like helping you do it. I think he’s got a crush on you. Can’t say that I blame him, mind you. If I were younger—”

“Okay, enough with the flattery. I’ll see Miss Dazzler once a day until the fetlock is completely healed.”

“I sure would appreciate that.”

Joni smiled. It was hard to turn R.J. down, even though she already had a full plate this week. But R.J. loved his horses. That was always a plus in her book.

And she admired the way he hadn’t given up on living even with the inoperable brain tumor slowly stealing his health and his life.

Miss Dazzler nuzzled Joni’s neck as if she understood that she was to be treated like royalty.

“Hiring you to join his practice was the best decision Doc Benson made since he married that pretty little filly of his,” R.J. said.

“Thank you. Be sure and tell him that.”

“I do, every chance I get.”

The decision had been great for her, as well. Blake Benson’s practice offered the perfect opportunity for her to utilize her equine vet training. And he definitely had enough work to keep both of them busy.

Joni walked over to the freshwater spigot and washed her hands with a bar of soap hanging from rope attached to a large nail. “Will any of your other children be joining you for Thanksgiving?” she asked.

“Probably not.”

“So, no takers except Adam on the terms of your will?”

“Nope. Haven’t heard from nary a one of them except my oldest son, Jake. He’s called a time or two to bombard me with questions.”

“That shows he’s concerned about you.”

“Weren’t none of those questions about my health. I guaran-damn-tee you that.”

“Then what does he ask about?”

“The ranch. The will’s provisions? My sanity, though he don’t say that directly. I s’pect he wants to buy the ranch for himself—or find a way to beat me out of it.”

“Ah, an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree,” she teased.

“Probably why the two of us don’t gee-haw in harmony.”

Joni didn’t question R.J.’s sanity, but she could see why his children might think he was sliding into senility. He’d invited them all to the reading of his will without letting them know he was still alive.

Then he’d insisted they move back to the ranch and take part in its operation for one full year if they wanted to inherit their share of the eight-million-dollar estate. So far only Adam had moved back, but he hadn’t actually had to disrupt his life.

According to Hadley, Adam was just getting over injuries sustained while on active duty as a marine in Afghanistan and hadn’t even had a job, much less a successful career, when he’d made the decision to move onto the ranch.

Besides, R.J. had jumped in to help when Adam’s young daughters were abducted. That had given Adam a bit more incentive to get to know his father.

R.J. stepped away and spit a stream of tobacco into a spittoon near the back of the barn. “I don’t blame my kids for having no use for me,” he said once he’d wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his flannel shirt. “I was never a decent father to any of them. But it’s my money and I’ll do what I damn well please with it.”

“The one with the gold makes the rules?”

He scratched his ruddy, whiskered jaw. “Call it what you please. Blood kin or not, I’m not leaving my ranch or my money to someone ’less I get to know them first and figure they’re worthy.”

“Did you define worthy in the will?”

“No, but I should have put it in there. Might have my attorney go back and take care of that.”

Joni doubted he’d go that far. She was fairly certain that R.J. just wanted a chance to get to know all his children before the brain tumor claimed his life. And from what she knew of the crusty old rancher, he definitely wouldn’t be beyond a little manipulation to get what he wanted.

“Did I tell you that I’ve been in contact with one of my granddaughters?” R.J. asked.