Montana Morning (19 page)

“Slow down,
mister,” Jack ordered. “Save some for the rest of us.”  Will looked
beat.  “What happened around here today?” Jack asked, raising his
eyebrows.

“Nothing unusual.”
Will said, as he passed the pie to Andy.  “Tell us about Scotty’s
checkup.”

“I got a clean
bill of health.” Scotty beamed.  “Doc says I’m his prize patient.”

“About time! 
Now you can start pulling your own weight,” Will groused and then broke into
laughter when he saw the stunned look on Scotty’s face.

“Speaking of
work,” Addy pointed to the clock over the sink. “Scotty you’d better hit the
sack if you’re going to help me start planting tomorrow.”

Will looked at her
in amazement. “What on earth can you plant this early?  It isn’t even Memorial
Day yet.”

“Cauliflower,
broccoli, onions and potatoes.”

“Cauliflower, yuck
. . . and broccoli, you must be kiddin’,” Will said, but knew she wasn’t.

“Don’t argue with
the cook,” she scolded.

“I’m headed for
bed.” Will turned to Jack before he left the kitchen. “Did you get those new
chicks I wanted?”

“They’re in the
chicken house under the lamp as we speak.”

“Good boy. Now, if
you could only straighten out this woman.  Cauliflower, yuck!” and he went
to bed grumbling under his breath.

***

 “There’s
cougar sign everywhere you look.”  Andy announced, as he sat down to
breakfast. 

“Explains those
missing calves we spent yesterday lookin’ for.”  Will said, shaking his
head and looking at his son.

“Pops, I thought
you said nothing unusual happened yesterday.”

“Well, there’s
nothing unusual about cougar trouble.  One of the prices of living so
close to a wilderness area . . . still, all in all, we’re ahead.” Will looked
with pride out at the wilderness area he had helped to create.

“Better bring in
the youngest and their mas,” Andy observed, reaching for his coat and hat.

“Hold up. 
I’ll go with you.  Been wanting check that upper reservoir.”  Jack
turned and smiled at Scotty.  “Don’t work Addy too hard out in the garden
this morning.”  Telling her they might be a little late for lunch, Jack
and Will followed Andy out the door.

***

The morning sun
was warm and hours of planting in the deep rich soil went by quickly.

“The dirt feels
warm in my hands,” Scotty said, letting it drift through his fingertips.

“Help me cover the
rows with this frost cloth, then we’re finished for now,” Addy told him as she
smiled at his dirty freckled face.

“When we were
trimming in the orchard the other day, Pops showed me where Grandma Emily’s
grave is.”

“Yes, I’ve seen
it.  It’s a pretty spot, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, well I was
thinking, maybe, if it’s okay with you, I’d plant couple of the potted plants
on it as a surprise for Pops . . . with Memorial day coming up and all,” he
pleaded his case.

“Scotty, that is
about the nicest idea I’ve ever heard.  Do you want to do it now while
you’re all dirty anyhow?”

“Thanks
Addy.  It will take me awhile.  I need to pull lots of weeds.” He ran
for the front porch to pick out plants.  Armed with a hoe and a
wheelbarrow full of plants and tools, he was off.

Knowing about the
cougar wandering in this neck of the woods, Addy was glad Sparky and Scotty had
become fast friends and went everywhere together.

It was a full hour
until lunchtime, and after cleaning up, Addy went upstairs to start planning
her shirt projects.  She had only been there a few minutes when she heard
a truck coming up the lane.  She realized by the knot forming in her
stomach that she wasn’t quite over Randy Mueller’s pass.
‘This is
ridiculous, I’m a big girl,’
she told herself all the way to the door.

“Hello, may I help
you?” she greeted the two young men at the door.

“You must be
Adrianna,” the big man smiled back at her.  “I’m Jeff Baker and this is
Seth Thompson.  Is Jack around?” Adrianna studied them and was about to
tell them he’d be back any minute when he cut in. “Still a little wary of men
after Mueller?” he asked, knowing the answer.  “You have the same look on
your face as my wife, Shelley, does every time she opens the door.” His voice
trailed off and Addy could see the pain in his eyes and she watched Seth as he
studied his boot tips.

“Come in and have
a cup of coffee, Jack won’t be back for a while, but you are more than welcome
to wait,” she said, as she started pouring the coffee.  Sitting the cookie
jar on the table, she joined them.  She wasn’t sure how to ask but she
needed to know.  “Did Mr. Mueller hurt your wife, Jeff?”  

He glanced over at
Seth. “He didn’t hurt her, not physically, at any rate.”

“Not even a slime
ball like him would leave marks, but my wife, Sally, locks the doors now when I
leave.”  Seth said, holding his cup so tight his knuckles were
white.  He looked up at Addy and saw her studying him.  “You’re
wondering why we didn’t stop him, aren’t you?” Before she had a chance to
answer, Jeff did.

“We should have
done more, sooner.  It’s just that Western Pacific has a corner on the
market around here.  It costs too much to ship out of state and they have
always paid fair and been dependable.”

“Until they hired
Mueller a couple of years back.”  Seth finished. “When we tried to get
Simpson to fire him, he always talked his way out of it. 
‘Misunderstandings,’
he said.” 

Just then Scotty
came through the door.

“Did you finish
the work on Emily’s grave already?” Addy was surprised to see him back so soon.

“Not exactly.” He
looked at the men sitting at the table with suspicion. “I noticed the truck
coming up the road and . . .”

“And you thought
she might need you.” Jeff shook his head in disgust.  “One bad apple sure
can spoil things.  I’m Jeff and this here is Seth.  We’re your
neighbors.  You must be Scotty.” He reached out his hand.  Scotty
grinned and shook hands with the men.

“Sorry, I was just
watchin’ out for Addy like Grandpa said.”

“Don’t you be
sorry; you did the right thing.  Sometimes it’s up to us men to protect
our women folk,” Seth said, as he winked at Addy.

“Would you like to
see our Civil War Room?” Scotty was always ready to show it off, and nodding
agreement the two young men followed him upstairs.  Addy cleaned off the
table and went into the pantry to get apples for a pie. She heard the horse
coming on a dead run. She hadn’t even had time to gather the apples from the
box before the back door flew open.

“Addy!  Addy,
where are you?” Jack yelled, heading for the stairs.

“I’m right behind
you,” she said, as she stepped back into the kitchen.  He turned in time
for her to see the relief wash across his face.

“Who does the rig
belong to?” He hung up his hat and watched her carefully.

“It belongs to
your neighbor, Jeff Baker.  Jack, I’m really okay,” she assured him and
nodded towards the stairs.  “Jeff and Seth have been hijacked. 
Scotty took them to see the battlefields.”

“Man oh man, that
is quite a setup!” Jeff said, as they came back into the kitchen.  “If I’d
had a teacher like you, I might have actually enjoyed school,” he said,
grinning at Addy.

“I’ll take that as
a compliment.”

“It was one. 
Howdy, Jack.” Jeff extended his hand.

“Nice to see you
fellows.” Jack shook their hands and sat down at the table with them. 
“What brings you out this way?” 

Jeff and Seth
looked at each other, deciding who should speak up. Seth finally broke the
silence.

“We need to talk
to you, Jack.” He looked over at Addy and Scotty standing by the sink.

“Scotty, would you
put Archer in the barn and rub him down.  He’s kind of lathered up.”

“Sure Grandpa, and
then I’ll go back to the orchard.”

“Would you like me
to leave too, Jack?”  Addy asked after Scotty was out the door. Jack had
it in his mind to say yes, but when he felt her presence at his side, when she
handed him his coffee cup, that changed. 

“Only if you don’t
want to be here.” Jack glanced up at her and then across the table at the young
ranchers.  “Anything you have to say, she can hear.  We don’t have
secrets in this house.”

“Your choice,”
Seth steeled his back.  “Fact is, Jack, we’re going under and your
decision to sell to Western at fifteen dollars under last year’s prices might
have saved your neck, but it put ours in a wringer.  We couldn’t afford to
sell that cheap and you knew it!”  Seth seethed.

“Slit your throats
to save my own neck, huh?” Jack gave the men a crooked grin.

“But, Jack you
didn’t,” he put his hand on hers to silence her.

“Shit, we’ve been
had.” Jeff cussed and slammed his hat on the table.

“About the size of
it, I reckon.” Jack sipped his coffee slowly and gave them time to think.

“Man, I’m sorry,”
Seth apologized, now red faced for another reason.  “We should have known
better, should have seen it comin’.”

“Don’t be too hard
on yourselves.  Now you know how Mueller gets away with all his
crap.  He’s a real convincing con man.  Just maybe we can trip him
up, tell me exactly what he told you.”

Jeff and Seth laid
it all out for them.  Mueller had told all the small ranchers Jack had
agreed to sell at fifteen dollars under last year’s price, because he was in a
financial pinch.  Mueller would pay them ten dollars under last year’s
price to fill out the few head Western still needed, but couldn’t justify
anymore, given the price Jack had settled on.

“Mueller is trying
to fill out a lot more than a few head.  I didn’t sell them one head and I
don’t intend to as long as he is on the payroll.”

“Maybe you can
afford to hold out, but we can’t, not for long.”  Jeff sounded as
desperate as he looked.

“I can’t afford to
either, but I’m going to,” Jack said firmly.  The ranchers across the
table stared at each other in surprise.

“I’m land rich but
dirt poor,” Jack admitted to them, but mostly to Addy. “Look fellows, the way I
have it figured, if I’d checked out what was happening a few years back
 when I heard all the stories about Mueller, this might have been settled
a long time ago.  For that, I owe you an apology and you’ve got it. Now
tell me, how many ranches have sold to Western this spring?”

“None of us could
afford to,” Jeff admitted.

“Good.  Let’s
try to keep it that way.” Jack asked Addy to get them some more coffee as he
went to his office and came back with a list of local cattle ranches.  The
three men divided it up.  “The idea is simple,” Jack told them. 
“We’ll help each other up and out until we all win . . . or we all lose.”

“Agreed. 
We’ll set up a meeting at the Valley Grange for a week from today.” Jeff
said.   As he and Seth drove down the lane, they discussed the
‘big,
rich rancher’
they had come to visit, and the friend they had found.

The sun was
shining on the green meadows below the house.  Addy sat on the front porch
and sipped the coffee reheated from breakfast.  Tomorrow was Memorial Day
and she was thankful she had turned down Jack’s offer to take her into
town.  The spring rains had subsided about the time of the Cattlemen’s
meeting and the world around her was alive with the sounds of birds singing.
The lilacs and iris were just beginning to bloom among the red tulips and
yellow daffodils, painting a beautiful picture. The slamming of the screen door
behind her back broke her solitude.

“Addy, I’m going
up to the orchard to see if Emily’s flowers are blooming,” Scotty announced
proudly.  “Want to come?”

“I’d love to!” She
grinned over at the young man sitting  beside her chewing on a piece of
straw.  “Hope the plastic shield we built around them held in the heat
well enough.”   She sat her coffee cup on the porch railing and got
up, wiping the dust from the back of her pants. “I’ve been wondering, would you
mind if I cut some of the yard flowers and put them in a pretty vase for your
Great-grandma’s grave?”

“That would be
neat, the more flowers the better,” he assured her.  “Grandpa Will is
going to like it, I think.”

“Let’s see how
your plants did first, then we’ll know what to cut for added color,” she
suggested as they headed up the ridge.  To their surprise, they found Andy
in the orchard.

“Sorry, about
this,” he apologized, as he looked up and saw them watching him. “I had hoped
to be done with this before anyone came along.” He bit his lip and looked at
Scotty.

“What are you
digging?” Scotty turned in panic and Addy knew.

“Scotty . . .”
Andy could not find the words and turned away.

“Did you know?”
Scotty asked Addy softly.  “I mean, did you know Grandpa and Will planned
to bury my folks up here?”  Addy watched the back of Andy’s head as it
nodded in affirmation.  She cleared her throat, trying to dislodge the
huge lump that was forming.

“No, Scotty,
actually I didn’t, but what a terrifically thoughtful thing to do.  I
didn’t realize they hadn’t been . . .”

“Was too cold and
had too much snow to bury their ashes before now,” Andy said, as he began
shoveling once more.  Scotty watched and the tears rolled down his
cheeks.  “Jack doesn’t know I’m doing this.  Just figured it would be
easier on me than it would be on him.”

“Andy?” Scotty
squared his shoulders and put his hand on the shovel handle. “Would you mind if
I helped?  I think I’d like to, if you don’t mind.”  Andy smiled and
handed the shovel to him.

“Jack is right.
You’re one fine boy.” Andy gave Scotty’s shoulders a squeeze and winked at
Addy.

“I think I’ll go
back to the house and get three vases of flowers, all right Scotty?” she asked,
as she turned back to the house.