Hallie's Hero

“You tell me.”

Before Hallie could tell him anything, Serenity pushed a wooden pail into Jack’s hands. “If you could get us some water from the barrel out back, I’d be obliged.”

Jack took the pail with a smile. He looked to Ethan. “We’ll do it together. You can hold the pail.”

Ethan shook his head. “I’ll dip it out.”

“Fair enough.”

No sooner had the two stepped down the back stairs than Ben, head hanging low, ambled into the kitchen with Tenfoot, followed by Eb and Big Charlie, the other two ranch hands. “Evenin’,” they muttered more or less in unison as they moved to take their places on the benches at either side of the table.

Hallie noticed Serenity flash a sweet smile as Ben shuffled past her to his seat, but the smile faded when Ben seemed not to notice her. Best he didn’t, Hallie thought. The last thing Serenity needed was to lose her heart to a boy who wouldn’t know what to do with it even if he wanted it.

Jack and Ethan came through the back door just as the others settled in their seats. All eyes turned to the strangers. Hallie never invited guests to the ranch, making the men immediately suspicious of anyone new.

“This is Jack Dakota and his son, Ethan,” Hallie murmured. She swallowed hard. There was no easy way to say what she had to say. “Mr. Dakota now owns Eden’s Canyon.”

Jack nodded and smiled at the rugged group of men. “Evenin’.”

Silence fell over the table.

Tenfoot shot a look at Ben, but Ben kept his eyes fixed on his plate. Eb and Big Charlie exchanged glances, and Hallie easily read the surprise, doubt and concern that crossed their faces. Tenfoot sized up Jack with a long look, and Hallie could almost hear him wondering how a fancy stranger who obviously didn’t know the right end of a cow had ended up with the Ryan ranch.

Edging slightly closer to Jack, Hallie whispered, “This is your doing. You’d better explain to them. And fast.”

“My pleasure, Miss Hallie,” he said, nodding his head to her. If she expected to scare him, he could have told her he’d faced tougher audiences than this one. At least none of these men had guns, with their fingers on the triggers.

While Hallie and Serenity served up supper, Jack briefly told his story, deliberately leaving out Ben’s involvement, keeping the details vague and making it clear Hallie would be staying on, and everyone else, too, if they wanted.

“I hope you’re shootin’ straight, Mister.” Eb Ryan spoke up from the far end of the table, where he always sat. Eb had a mortal fear of water and refused to go near it, even to wash. He was a cousin Hallie’s pa had talked away from cowpunching on a Wyoming ranch, and because of that, and the fact that he worked harder than any cowpoke in the territory, everyone kept quiet about his one terror. “I been here a spell and don’t fancy the idea of lookin’ for work somewhere else.”

“Things aren’t going to change much around here,” Jack said. “The only difference is I’ll be around to help.”

Big Charlie Dillon snorted. “How do we know you won’t be changin’ your mind the first time your hands get dirty?” he asked around a mouthful of ham.

“I won’t,” Jack said, glancing at Ethan.

Taking a place across from the boy, Hallie looked at him closely for the first time. She could easily see why Mattie Harper had no doubt who her son’s father was. Instead of Mattie’s red hair, Ethan shared Jack’s coloring, and his face would one day be a copy of the clean, angular lines of his father’s.

He watched Jack with quick sideways glances, partly curious, partly uncertain, but all uncomfortable, Hallie noticed. She knew that feeling all too well.

“Would you like some cornbread, Ethan?” she asked him as Jack sat down and the men concentrated on their food.

Ethan eyed her as though she were some new breed of varmint he’d never seen before. He reached for the thick square she offered, being careful not to touch her hand.

Hallie hid a smile. Considering Ethan’s upbringing, she supposed she was like no woman he’d ever known. None of this was like anything he’d ever known, and she knew the boy must be feeling very alone.

Jack Dakota, on the other hand, had probably never spent a lonely moment in his life. He wouldn’t know the first thing about being different, always on the outside. Even now he acted as if he’d sat down to supper at this table every night of his life.

“If you’d like, I’ll show you around the ranch tomorrow,” she told Ethan, trying to draw him out a little. “We’ve got a new colt you might want to see.”

For the first time Ethan looked directly at her. He didn’t say anything, but Hallie knew she’d at least stirred his interest a bit.

“We’ll do it first thing after breakfast,” she promised.

She turned in her seat to make sure everyone was getting enough supper, and found Jack watching her. The appreciation warming his eyes flustered her. “He’s got to learn his way around sooner or later,” she said, as if her talking to Ethan needed some explanation. “Being here, having you around, is going to take some getting used to.”

“Him as the boss is sure gonna take some gettin’ used to,” Big Charlie interjected, rousing laughter from the other men at the table. He scratched the black stubble on his jaw while he pretended to seriously consider Jack. “Somethin’ tells us you ain’t always been a rancher, Dakota.”

Jack lifted a shoulder, letting the jab roll off with an easy smile. “I’ve done a lot of things when I needed the money. Now I’ve got the money and I’ve decided to do this.”

“Ain’t somethin’ you can learn in a day or two,” Tenfoot muttered.

“That’s why Miss Hallie agreed to be my teacher.”

Hallie glared at him. “Mr. Dakota and I agreed to be partners.” She paused, then added deliberately, “For now.”

Jack didn’t bother to disagree with her. Instead, he only smiled and let her have her way. For now.

In time he’d prove to them all he was dead serious about keeping and running Eden’s Canyon, whether one sassy lady rancher liked it or not.

Chapter Three

“Stroke his throat a bit. There. That’s better.” Hallie smiled in approval as Ethan coaxed the foal to take a few more swallows of the warm milk. On her knees in the straw beside him, she shifted slightly to give Ethan more room to work.

Like the boy, the colt was motherless. Hallie had taken over as substitute mother, ignoring the teasing from Eb and Big Charlie and their predictions that the foal didn’t stand a chance. This morning, she’d prodded Ethan into taking over for her.

It hadn’t been easy. After missing him at breakfast, she’d found him sitting hunched up in a corner of the porch. He’d refused to talk to her at first, and then balked at going with her to the barn. Only after she tempted him with seeing the horses did he begrudgingly follow her off the porch, dragging his feet in the dust the whole way.

But when the wobbly kneed colt repeatedly nudged his head against Ethan’s leg, demanding to be noticed, the boy’s eyes sparked with interest.

“He likes it,” Ethan said, fascinated by the small, smoky-gray colt pressed against his chest, now guzzling the milk from the makeshift teat Tenfoot had fashioned.

“He likes you,” Hallie gently corrected. She stroked the colt’s smooth head, not looking at Ethan. “He needs someone to take care of him. Maybe you could do it.”

“Me?” Ethan looked astonished. “Not me. I never took care of nothin’ before.”

“Fine time to learn, since it looks like you’re gonna camp here awhile,” Tenfoot said, coming up beside them.

The boy’s head shot up. “I’m not stayin’ here! My ma and I always lived at the Silver Snake. I’m goin’ back there as soon as I get the chance,” Ethan finished defiantly.

Tenfoot scratched at his left ear. “Well, I think your pa sees it different.”

“He ain’t my pa!”

“That may or may not be,” Hallie said quietly, “but you’re here now. And the colt needs your help.”

“You’re doin’ a fine job tendin’ to him.” Tenfoot gave the foal a pat and briefly clapped a hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “A little more practice and you’ll be doin’ it better than the mares.”