A Cowboy at Heart (4 page)

When the task was finished, Jesse swung up onto Rex’s back and looked down at Emma and the children.

“Two rings if everything’s okay.” Emma hitched Rachel up on her hip. “Three if we need to come.”

Jesse nodded. The two houses were close enough to each other to see, and the sisters got together several times a week to cook, sew, or enjoy a cup of tea. But when the church bell was installed a few months ago, they had worked out a message system. Every morning Rebecca assigned one of the boys the task of ringing the bell twice, which sent a cheery good morning to Emma and told her things were well at the Maddox house. Three rings meant something was wrong, and Emma and Luke would hurriedly hitch up their wagon for a quick trip down the lane to see where they could lend aid. The system worked well. Only once had the bell rung three times, when the baby in Rebecca’s womb had remained still for a full day and a panicked mother-to-be needed her sister’s advice.

“And if it’s nothing serious,” Emma continued, “tell Papa I will have coffee and biscuits ready for him when he leaves there.”

Jesse nudged Rex forward and took off. Across the eastern field he spied another horse and rider heading toward the Maddox homestead on an intersect course with his. Luke had ridden out not long ago to inspect the seedling corn and had apparently spotted Jonas’s buggy too.

They arrived at the church together to find Jonas talking with more animation than Jesse had ever seen the Amish man display.

“
All
the way around.” Jonas swung his arm wide as Jesse and Luke dismounted. “A fence! On my land. And I am to be
shot
if I cross.”

He acknowledged their arrival with a glance from troubled dark eyes, which then focused again on Colin.

“They just up and strung a fence without a word?” Colin pushed back his hat and frowned.

“Who did?” asked Luke.

“
Englisch
men.” Jonas’s troubled expression deepened. “Rough
Englisch
men with guns.”

Rebecca emerged from the house, her hands cupped around the bottom of her round belly, and crossed the distance with a quick step to where they stood. Though her face wore an expression of concern, Jesse admired the way her hair shone in the sunlight. Even heavy with child, she was a lovely young woman. A wave of regret passed over him. If only he’d quit drinking years before, she could have been his wife and the baby his child. She’d crossed the length of Kansas to search for him, and she had found nothing but a wasted hull of a man.

He pushed the thought aside. What she’d found on that journey was Colin Maddox, her true mate. The Lord had worked that out for the best. Never was a couple more suited for each other than Colin and Rebecca.

She hurried toward the little group standing before the church. “Papa, what is wrong? Is
Maummi
unwell?”

The fact that Jonas did not answer his daughter with a welcoming smile spoke to the depth of his emotions. He nodded in her direction, “
Ja, ja
. She is well. But my land is overrun by
Englischers
.”

Jesse remembered his instructions. “Emma’s waiting for news.”

Rebecca glanced across the distance, where Emma could be seen standing in front of her house, staring that way. Though she was too far away for her features to be discerned, her stance was as tense as a bird dog fixed on a bevy of quail.

Rebecca turned to one of the boys who hovered in the doorway of the house. “Butch, would you please ring the bell twice?”

Butch, whose face never lost its slightly worried expression, took off for the church at a run. A moment later the toll of a bell filled the air. Emma waved and then turned to disappear into her house.

“All right now, let’s get to the bottom of this.” Colin assumed the role of questioner. “Jonas, you say you got up this morning and found out that these men had strung up a fence across your property. What did they have to say for themselves?”

“That my land is not mine but belongs to an
Englischer
named Mr. Littlefield.” He wrung his hands. “It is almost twenty years since we came from Ohio, my Caroline and I, with the Amish to establish Apple Grove. John Miller, Eli Schrock, Melvin Byler, Jacob Helmuth, and others. We rode the land together and picked out our farms.” His chest swelled. “I chose the one farthest west, the most western Amish farm in the whole country. A good land, with plenteous water and rich soil for farming.” His shoulders drooped. “How can this Littlefield say it is no longer mine?”

Luke’s jaw became rocklike. “He can’t. I’ve heard about this sort of thing. A rich man comes along and decides he wants to lay claim to a particular piece of land, no matter if it’s already been claimed.”

Outrage stiffened Jesse’s spine. “They can’t get away with that! There’s a law against that sort of thing.”

They all looked at Colin, who had been a sheriff for several years before he hung up his badge and hung out his shingle as a preacher. His hesitant expression did little to quell the sense of unease growing in Jesse. “I’m not sure what the law says about this. We all know land is plentiful in the West. All a man has to do is claim his hundred and sixty acres. That’s what we’ve done here.” His gaze swept the land around them and shifted toward Luke’s spread as well. “I’ve heard about folks putting up fences to mark off their claims, but I never heard of someone fencing someone else’s claim.”

“Amish do not know about laws and such. We hold ourselves separate from the
Englisch
world.” Jonas appeared to remember something. “He has cows from Texas he will bring to Kansas.”

“Littlefield?” Luke’s gaze strayed to the sky. “I heard tell of a Littlefield over near Coleman who had a good-sized herd. Can’t say I remember anything about him, though.” He exchanged a look with Jesse and then Colin. “This could be a real problem, gentlemen.”

Jesse nodded as understanding dawned. The days of the open trail were drawing to a close. As men laid claim to Western lands, the fences they erected served as barriers, closing off access for the great cattle drives that had provided occupation for Jesse and Luke and hundreds of roving cowboys like them. It was nearly impossible these days to move a decent-sized herd any distance. Men such as this Littlefield had effectively put Jesse out of business and left him searching for work with skills no longer useful.

Colin nodded. “Jonas’s spread has that creek running through it. Perfect for pasturing a herd of cattle.”

“Especially because of the ridge off to the west.” Luke’s lips tightened. “Jonas, your northern field is prime cattle land.”

“But that is my cornfield,” Jonas protested.

Luke spoke softly. “I’ve run cattle for quite a few rich men, and most of ’em wouldn’t give two shakes of a rattler’s tail about your corn.”

“They’re doing this because he’s Amish.” There had been a time when Jesse had little regard for the Amish, but that was before he knew any personally. There was no way he would ever be able to live the Plain life they espoused, but he’d come to respect Jonas’s quiet integrity. The idea that someone would try to take advantage of his friend lit a fire in him. “They think he won’t put up a fuss.”

Jonas didn’t meet his eye, but he stared at the ground before his feet with creases on his forehead. “Bishop Miller said a
snitz
pie might make Mr. Littlefield remove his fence.”

“Pie!” Jesse snorted. The idea was so ludicrous that all the men laughed. Even Rebecca chuckled. But the misery deepened on Jonas’s face.

“It is the Amish way to resist conflict.”

Incredulous, Jesse stared at him. “You can’t mean you’d let that man take over your home? Throw you off your own land?”

“I can do nothing.” The note of helplessness in his friend’s voice stirred Jesse’s ire. Then Jonas raised his head and fixed his gaze on Colin. “But you are an
Englisch
sheriff. If you talk to this Littlefield, he will listen to you.”

Talk. Jesse turned his head to spit on the grass. Though he’d
never met the man, he already knew the measure of this Littlefield. Hadn’t Jesse run cattle right along with Luke? Some of those owners had more money than they could shake a stick at, but they would cheat a working man out of fifty cents if he wasn’t watchful.

Colin spoke in a soft voice. “Jonas, I’m not a sheriff anymore. I’m a preacher and a farmer.” Jonas’s shoulders slumped, and Colin went on. “But I’m also your son-in-law. I’m not going to let this happen to you.”

Beside him, Luke straightened. “Me, neither. We’ll go talk to Littlefield with you.”

Frustration tightened Jesse’s hands into fists. Luke and Colin were fine men, upstanding men, and he respected them both. But they tended to think the best of people and treated folks accordingly. Talk? If Littlefield had sent his men out armed with rifles against an Amish farmer, he wasn’t prepared to listen to talk. What was needed was a show of force. The tyrant needed to know he was dealing with more than a peace-loving Amish man.

And nobody was better equipped to make a show of force than Jesse.

He stepped forward into the center of the circle. “I’ll go.”

Colin and Luke opened their mouths, but a look of hope rose on Jonas’s face.

Jesse held up a hand to silence them. “You both have families here, obligations. I have a feeling this is going to take more than a brief visit. Besides, Luke and Emma could use a little privacy. I’ll go with Jonas and hang around his house for a while—if that’s okay with you, Jonas?”

The look he exchanged with Luke and Colin told him they agreed. If Littlefield wasn’t open to reason, he was likely to do
more than put up a fence next time. The presence of a non-Amish man who wouldn’t hesitate to defend himself and his friends might cause the ruthless land grabber to think twice before acting.

Colin nodded slowly. “Sounds good to me.”

Luke’s expression held a little more reserve. “You’re sure you can handle this without losing your temper?”

Jesse deserved that. Having ridden the trail with him for years, Luke knew more than most that Jesse was known as a hothead. Not much had changed—except the drinking. He mustered a confident smile. “I’m just going to talk to the man and explain how it is in language he can understand.”

Luke frowned. “If you think you can handle it.”

“No problem.”

Colin nodded. “He’s the best one among us for the job.”

Jesse grinned. “I’ll get my things.”

And I won’t be taking any Amish pie along with me, either
.

“
Maummi
Switzer, I wish you would sit in the shade and rest.” Katie tried to instill the right balance of concern and ease in her voice as she watched the old woman wrestle with a stubborn weed that threatened one of her tomato plants. “I will pull these weeds for you.”

“Too many for a girl to handle alone.” The old woman waved across the huge garden. “And I’ve left them too long.” She looked up. “But I thank ye kindly for lending a hand.
So ist’s ja besser zwei als eins; denn sie genieβen doch ihrer Arbeit wohl
.”

Katie bit back a sigh.
Maummi
Switzer was well known
throughout Apple Grove for her ready store of proverbs. This one came straight from
die Bibel
, and how could she argue with that? Yes, the labor of two did yield more results than one, but if one of the laborers was a worried elderly woman with a weak heart, the risks were not worth the yield. Perhaps a dose of her own medicine would convince her.

“Ein Unkraut ist nicht mehr als eine Blume in Verkleidung.” A weed is no more than a flower in disguise
. Katie’s
mader
had quoted that saying to
Fader
in the week just past. True, she had been referring to a rowdy goat that had been terrorizing the rest of the small herd they kept, but it seemed appropriate to the moment.

Or not.

Maummi
Switzer straightened and pressed a fist into the small of her back, her mouth a hard line. “Did our dear Lord not say
Das Unkraut sind die Kinder der Bosheit
?”
The weeds are the children of the wicked one
.

Did the Lord say that? Katie couldn’t immediately think where in
die Bible
the quote appeared, but she knew better than to do battle with a master of proverbs. She conceded the point with a nod and lowered her eyes to her task of uprooting one of the wicked children that had begun to reach toward a righteous tomato plant. But she kept a covert watch on the elderly woman, who took the opportunity to stretch her back and stare toward the empty road.

Katie followed her gaze. What was taking Jonas so long? The noon meal had come and gone hours past, and there was still no sign of his return. This morning when Katie performed the favor he’d asked of her, to deliver the message to his
mader
, the woman she had called
Maummi
Switzer since she and Emma had become friends as girls, she’d been alarmed at
Maummi
Switzer’s pale skin
and the slight tremor in her hands when she heard the news. She’d ridden her cart home to tell her own
mader
she would spend the day with the elderly woman, at least until Jonas returned.