Tracie Peterson - [Heirs of Montana 04] (40 page)

Jamie went to his uncle and leaned back against the stall fence. “How did it happen? When did you fall in love with her?”

George gave a croaking laugh. “She was just a girl—like Elsa. She was terrified of me and my Blackfoot friends when we showed up here at the ranch. We were on the run, hiding out from our pursuers. She thought we were here to attack, but she tried hard to be brave. I’d never met anyone like her.”

“That’s how I feel about Elsa,” Jamie said. “Temper and all.”

George seemed to recover from the shock of the moment and got back to his feet. He walked to the horse and resumed brushing the animal. “You realize you can never say anything about this. Too many people stand to be hurt.”

“Of course. But does she know? Does Cole?”

George smiled sadly. “I think they both know. They also know that I would never do anything to come between them.”

“It wouldn’t be honorable,” Jamie murmured.

George met his gaze. “No, it wouldn’t be honorable.”

“How do you bear it? How can you be here—seeing her all the time?”

Shrugging, George continued to work on the horse. “I give it to God. I will always care deeply for her, but she is not mine to love. I will never love another, but God has shown me how to bear this.”

“How?”

“By keeping my eyes on Him … instead of her,” George said without hesitation.

Jamie thought on his uncle’s words long after they parted company. He’d never known a man with more honor than Takes Many Horses. Jamie couldn’t even fathom what it might feel like to be so deeply in love with someone yet know you could never have them for your own. When he thought of Elsa that way, it tore him in two.

I’ve lost my heart so completely to her. I can’t bear the thought of her not being here with me
. He looked to the skies overhead. “God, I know I’m not very good at this praying, but here’s my heart. I want to please you. I know I’m a sinner and that I haven’t always done things as I should. But I want to try. I want to be yours first and then I want to be Elsa’s. I hope that’s not a heathen thing to say.” He looked away, almost as if God’s face might appear before him.

“I love her, Lord. I love her, and I want her to be my wife. I don’t want to spend my life like my uncle. I couldn’t bear to see her every day and know that she belonged to someone else.”

“I want to go back to the ranch,” Elsa told Mara. “I hate Anaconda.”

Mara laughed. “Not as much as you love Jamie Vandyke.”She finished dusting the front sitting room and looked to where her sister was supposed to be sweeping up. Elsa leaned against the broom, looking all moon-eyed and dreamy. Mara shook her head. “I’ve never seen anybody act the way you do.”

“Oh, I suppose you never acted this way over Zane,” Elsa said, snapping to attention. She met her sister’s laughter by making a face and sticking out her tongue.

“Look, you’re twenty-one now. Father has no claim to you. So go back to the ranch and see if Jamie will have you.”

“If he’ll have me?” Elsa asked in disbelief. “He’ll have me.

He’d better. He’s the one that made me go and fall in love with him. He’d better not back out now.”

Mara looked surprised. “Back out of what? Has he proposed?”

Elsa shrugged and looked toward the ceiling. “Well, not exactly. But I know he wanted me to wait for him.”

“Sounds to me like you’d better go back to the ranch and see what he really wants. He might have taken on other notions by now.”

“You’re no help!” Elsa declared, starting to sweep with a vengeance. “You could at least dream a little with me. Encourage me.”

“Dreaming gets nothing accomplished, and encouraging folks can be dangerous. You know me to be a woman of action,” Mara said quite seriously. “If you intend to marry this man, then you’d best start laying in plans for a wedding. That’s what I did.”

Elsa stopped again. “You did, didn’t you? You made a wedding dress before there was even a husband to marry.”

Mara laughed. “Sometimes that’s how God works things. Seek Him out, Elsa. Let God tell you what to do about Jamie.”

Elsa knew her sister was right. She’d continued reading the Bible every night since she’d parted company with Jamie. She hoped and prayed he’d done the same. It made her feel closer to him somehow.

“Do you suppose Zane would take us to the ranch—I mean, if I pray about it?”

Mara laughed again. “If you pray about it, God can put it on Zane’s heart to do exactly that—if it’s what God wants for you.”

Elsa closed her eyes and prayed with such fervency she was certain God must have heard.
I just want to go back to the ranch and be with him, Lord. I want to be his wife and live our lives together
. She’d no sooner concluded her prayer and begun sweeping again when Zane came through the front door.

“Mara!” he panted. “Mara!”

“What in the world is wrong?” Mara asked, rushing for the door. Elsa was right behind her.

“You need to pack your things. We’re going to the Diamond V.”

The girls exchanged a look, but Elsa quickly cast her gaze to the ceiling. “That was certainly fast,” she murmured.

Mara only laughed. “Sometimes God is like that. Come on—we’d best get packed.”

CHAPTER 26

C
HESTER
L
AWRENCE LOOKED AT THE SIX MEN WHO STOOD
across from him. The news they’d brought was inconceivable.

“You can’t be serious,” he said in disbelief.

“Boss, it’s the same for everyone,” one of the men ventured to say.

“It’s not the same for everyone!” Chester countered. “Not everyone started the winter out with over eight thousand head of cattle. Now you’re telling me that I’ve lost all but about fifteen hundred.”

“There could be a few more. The boys are still in the process of rounding them up,” the man offered. “There’s no hope for the calves, what few were born. The elements were just too harsh.”

“What did I hire the lot of you for?” Chester asked in complete exasperation. He had notes due at the bank by the first of June. He’d depended on that herd to produce in large numbers. He’d figured on at least another two thousand calves being born, and that had been a conservative estimate. Now he faced his financial obligations without enough livestock to sell—even if he auctioned off the entire herd.

“We could hardly raise the temperatures or eliminate the snow,” one of the other cowhands snarled. “A couple of men ran off, and we lost a good man out there to the cold. You need to arrange a proper funeral for him.”

“I’ll arrange nothing! You no-goods have lost me my ranch. Now get out of here.”

“You can’t treat us like that,” a large man said, stepping forward. “You owe us winter pay, and I intend to see you hand it over.”

Chester realized he was helpless to fight the man. He hadn’t bothered to strap on his gun when the housekeeper had announced that there were men at the front door. In retrospect, he should have done just that. Then these no-account cowboys wouldn’t be trying to force his hand. Instead, they’d be staring down the barrel of a revolver.

“Fine,” he muttered. “I’ll pay you, but I expect you to bring in the remaining herd quickly. I want to see those animals for myself. No doubt they’re skin and bones.”

“No problem, boss. We’re bringing them down and collecting the strays. Shouldn’t have to worry much with branding this year—like I said, I don’t think any of the calves made it through.”

“You get those animals here and then—and only then—will I pay you,” Chester said, staring hard at the big man.

The man who acted as his foreman nudged the larger man. “We’ll do that, boss.” The men followed their leader’s direction and stepped down from the porch and went to remount their horses.

Chester watched them with a scowl on his face. If Jerrod and Roy were still here, those men would have minded their places.
Now I’m just an old man with a bad temper. Few people will even concern themselves with me
. Chester seethed at the thought. All of his life he’d been the man to get attention—to get things done. People respected him … or at least feared him. Now he couldn’t even get his children to respect or fear him. They’d all left him. He’d figured at least the mean ones would stay on. He’d counted on their greed, but they were gone too. Off to make their fortunes.

“Like I didn’t give them more than they deserved,” Chester said, then spat as if to rid himself of the bad taste they left in his mouth.

He stormed back into the house, slamming the door behind him. There wasn’t enough money to pay those cowhands and be able to come anywhere near paying his notes. If he took everything he could get his hands on, he might be able to at least get the bank to hold off on foreclosing. But he wasn’t liked at the bank. Last fall he’d been downright threatening, and the bank president would surely remember his ill temper. Had it not been for Chester’s well-known reputation for retribution, he seriously doubted the bank would have agreed to lend him the large amount he had demanded.

Chester went into his office and locked the door behind him.He didn’t want to be disturbed. There was a great deal to think about and plans to be made. He intended to maintain his role as the cattle king of southwest Montana. He deserved that title. He deserved to rule his domain with an iron fist.

But there are nearly seven thousand cattle lying dead on my domain
. Dead cattle were no good to him. He cursed the weather, then cursed God just in case He really did exist. After all, if He did exist, then all of this was His fault.

It didn’t help that Chester realized the Selby-Vandyke group would have come through the winter relatively unscathed. They had very few animals to worry over. It would have been simple to gather them in close to the house and feed them by hand. He knew for a fact that the boy and his uncle had harvested quite a bit of hay over the summer months.

“They had precious little else to worry themselves with,”

Chester muttered. The very thought of his enemy faring well was more than he could stand.

He pounded both fists down on the desk. “What am I supposed to do now?”

Dianne gently caressed the rough wooden box as though she could somehow reach through to the baby inside. The devastation of the winter months had left its mark on the Diamond V. Perhaps not in the same way as it had to other ranchers, but the loss was just as deep.

Isaiah would be buried today. The ground had finally thawed enough to make that possible. She knew there was no possible way to know Isaiah—to see him—but her heart still longed for that glimpse.

“I’m so sorry you aren’t going to be with us,” she murmured. “I promise you, you would have been loved. You are loved.” She toyed with the locket around her neck. It contained the baby’s hair George had given her. It was all she had of this child.

Dianne looked to the crystal blue skies overhead. “Oh, Father, forgive me for all that I’ve done wrong. Help me to heal. Ease this pain so that I might not lose the joy that I have with my other children.”

She dropped her gaze to see her boys climbing up and down on the new corral fence the men had put in place. The boys loved to be busy, and play was hard work. Dianne smiled. Soon they would be young men and then grown. How quickly time could pass. Isaiah would have happily joined them—taking his place beside his brothers—struggling to earn their respect.

“Are you ready?” Cole asked softly.

Dianne drew a deep breath and nodded. She didn’t turn around to greet him, but instead leaned hard against him when he came up behind her. His arms encircled her and pulled her close.

“As ready as a mother can ever be for something like this.”

“We’ll see him again—someday,” Cole whispered.

“I’ve never seen him at all. And that is so very hard.”

“It would serve no purpose now. He wouldn’t look anything like what you’d expect. It’s better to remember him like the others. George said he looked a lot like Lia, so maybe reflect on that.”

She knew he was right. She knew, too, there was absolutely nothing she could do to change things. She would have to accept the situation as it was or suffer the rest of her life. There was no sense in that. It wasn’t what God would want for her.