Journey of the Heart (19 page)

She said it politely enough, but Cait detected a lack of warmth. For some reason, she was sure Sarah Ellen Hart did not like her. She didn’t have much time to think about it, for her mother summoned her to set the table. “Jake refuses to eat in the big house, but Gabe will be joining us while Sadie is here, Cait, so set an extra place.”

“Yes, Ma.”

When Michael opened the door to Gabe a few minutes later, Gabe just stood there shyly until Michael said, “Come in, boyo. Here’s your place next to Cait and opposite your sister so you can feast on her face as well as Elizabeth’s food.”

Gabe smiled and sat down on the bench next to Caitlin. It was not a very long bench and after serving the food, Elizabeth slipped in next to her daughter on the other side. Cait had to shift a little to make room for her mother and when her leg brushed Gabe’s she drew it back quickly as though she’d come in contact with hot coals.

It was strange to have him eating with them, as though he was one of the family. And even stranger to meet one of his family. The fact that he had a sister made him more real to her somehow. It made him something more than just a wandering horse breaker.

Michael politely questioned Sadie on her stagecoach journey.

“It was hot and dusty and boring and long,” she said with a laugh. “And wouldn’t you know, there was a woman and her ten-year-old boy traveling with us. I can’t seem to get away from them! I had four ten-year-old boys this year, Gabe,” she said, lifting her eyes to the ceiling in mock despair.

“Gabe told us you are a schoolteacher,” said Elizabeth.

“These last ten years.”

“Our Cait has been studying to be a schoolteacher, too,” said Michael, looking over at his daughter proudly.

“I thought Gabe told me you were engaged to be married?”

“I am, but my fiancé, Henry, is very encouraging of my desire to teach. I have a position in the Fayreweather Academy for next year.”

“No ten-year-old terrors for you, then,” said Sadie with a smile.

“No, the youngest girl is twelve. And they all want to be there.”

“That’s the difference,” Sadie admitted with a sigh. “My girls are always happier in school than the boys. By eight or nine the boys want to be outside all day, learning to rope and ride. Most of them leave by eleven or twelve. Their parents need them on the farm or ranch and I can’t convince them that learning to read or calculate will be as important to them someday as knowing how to rope a calf.”

“Don’t you get discouraged?” Elizabeth said sympathetically.

“Oh, yes, but it was like that when I was in school, so I knew what to expect. I teach them the basics and then they are gone. But at least they have
something.
And once in a while, one of them surprises you.”

“Like Josh Miller?” asked Gabe.

Sadie’s face lit up.

“Sadie wrote to me about him,” Gabe continued. “He was fifteen when he moved to town with his folks. Couldn’t do much more than his ABC’s ‘cause they’d traveled around so much.”

“Of course, he didn’t go much further than the basic primer with me.” Sadie laughed. “But, Lord, how that boy could figure. I had to send for books from Austin and we studied them together. I couldn’t convince his parents to send him away to school,” she added sadly, “but he did get a job as a teller, and if I know him, he’ll be president of the bank someday.”

Sadie Hart was clearly a natural and dedicated teacher, thought Cait. She had to admire her for that. She was doing the sort of teaching Cait had once planned to do until she got to Fayreweather. But surely it was better to work in a classroom where all the pupils were at the same level and motivated to learn? Surely opening a young woman’s mind to great literature in the way hers had been opened was more valuable than providing a smattering of skills to children who would hardly use them anyway?

Everyone else at the table was clearly enjoying Sadie’s presence. Her Da and Ma seemed more relaxed than they had in weeks. Gabe was sitting there smiling, appreciating his sister. They were all at home with one another. They all knew who they were and where home
was.
Cait smiled and laughed with them, but felt like the outsider. She was the one who was leaving, who had decided that the East was to be her home. She wished Henry were here next to her, to squeeze her hand and give her reassurance and make all the inner turmoil go away.

“I saw some of your horses, Mr. Burke,” said Sadie, “and they are beautiful animals. I’ve only seen markings like that on one other horse in my life.”

Michael’s face lit up as his horses were praised. “You’ll have to see Finn, my stallion, Sadie. He has a perfect blanket and a handprint on his hindquarters.”

“Handprint?”

“It’s the way the spots are arranged, Sadie,” explained Gabe. “It looks just like someone put his hand in paint and slapped it on Finn’s backside.”

“We’ll have to give you a horse to ride while you are here. What do you think, Cait?”

“Red Hawk?”

“If she likes an old, steady horse,” said Michael. “How do you ride, Sadie?”

“As well as I do,” Gabe broke in proudly.

“Then maybe it should be Patch. Provided someone rides the kinks out of him first. We don’t want Sadie in the dirt like Henry was,” added Michael with a broad smile. His smile faded and he said seriously, “Ye’ll have to stay on ranch property, Sadie, if ye go ridin’ alone. I don’t know if Gabe has told you, but we’ve been havin’ a bit of trouble in the valley.”

“He’s told me, Mr. Burke. In fact, we met a bit of your trouble in town. A Señor Chavez.”

“He didn’t bother ye, did he, Gabe?”

“No, Mr. Burke, not really. Just gave us one of his innocent-sounding greetings.”

“Damn the man! Pardon me, Sadie, but even a saint would wish him in hell,” added Michael with a rueful smile.

“Let’s not spoil dessert with talk of Chavez, Michael,” said Elizabeth from the stove, where she was putting on a pot of coffee.

“Ye’re right,
a ghra.
We won’t let him in our house in any way, shape, or form.”

After dessert and coffee, Sadie offered to help with the dishes. “No, Cait will help me,” said Elizabeth.

“You and Gabe go on and take a walk. You must have plenty of catching up to do.”

* * * *

“So, now that you’ve met them, how do you like the Burkes, Sadie?” asked Gabe as they walked down the road.

“They are wonderful, Gabe. So warm and welcoming that I feel right at home. I am glad you found them. It’s time you were in one place for a while. Though I can’t say I like the idea of your getting mixed up in another range war,” she added, a worried note in her voice.

“I don’t think it will come to that,” Gabe reassured her. “I’m hoping that if Michael Burke holds out—which he will—Mackie will just have to give in.”

“But what about the sheep, Gabe? That was more than threats. And Señor Chavez: he certainly seems capable of violence.”

“He may be, but up to now, Mackie hasn’t had to do much more than intimidate.”

“But what will he do when intimidation doesn’t work?”

“I don’t know. But I’ll be here to help Mr. Burke when and if anything happens.”

“Their daughter seems a nice girl, Gabe. I expected someone a bit spoiled after your tale of her and her horse.”

“No, she’s the apple of her father’s eye,” said Gabe with a smile, “but not really spoiled. Just young, I guess.”

“And eager to get away from home, it seems.”

“Well, she’s been away two years and met that Beecham fellow and is all excited about being a teacher back east, Sadie.” Gabe didn’t know why he was defending Caitlin Burke’s choices to his sister. He couldn’t understand anyone wanting to be anywhere but here, but then, he was only a cowboy.

* * * *

The next morning after breakfast, Gabe and Michael were off to work and Elizabeth smiled at her daughter and said: “Shall we take Sadie out and show her the ranch, Cait?”

Cait’s face lit up. “Will you come too, Ma?” She’d been afraid that she’d have to play hostess to Gabe’s sister and the thought was a little daunting. Miss Sarah Ellen Hart seemed quite sure of herself and her place in the world and that made Cait feel young and confused.

Gabe had already saddled Patch and ridden him around the corral to get him ready for Sadie. Elizabeth took Snowflake and Cait had Red Hawk. They rode across the valley and into the hills south of the ranch. Elizabeth pointed out the boundaries of their property and explained that the sheep were in their summer pasture up in the mountains.

“It’s unusual to be raising sheep in these parts, isn’t it?” asked Sadie.

“The Mexicans and Navajo have been sheepherders for years before any of us arrived,” Elizabeth explained. “Michael wanted to put his energy into the horses, but we needed a ‘cash crop’ as it were. Sheep require less work and fewer hands than cattle. And Michael’s convinced, now that we’ve been here for almost twenty years, that sheep are better for the Sand. You can already see the results of overgrazing on the property that Mackie bought.”

“I’ll bet the cattlemen don’t agree with you.”

“They don’t,” replied Elizabeth with a smile. “But Michael has studied it very carefully. Sheep don’t compete with cattle, like so many people think, though it’s hard to convince them of it.”

“It is so beautiful here,” said Sadie, waving her hand over the valley.

“Is Texas so different?” Cait asked.

“Where I am from, it is very flat,” Sadie replied. “There is the hill country, but where Gabe and I grew up, there is only plains and sky. But it is beautiful in its own way,” she added loyally.

“What I miss here,” said Elizabeth quietly, “is the red rock country. There is a little of it down El Morro way, but nothing like what was around Fort Defiance.”

“I saw the pictures hanging in the parlor,” said Sadie.

“Those are Ma’s,” said Cait proudly. “She is a real artist. I can’t draw to save my life,” she admitted with a laugh.

“And the weavings?”

“My good friend Serena’s,” answered Elizabeth. “She is Dine. Navajo, and lives in the heart of the red rock country. She is the real artist.”

“I saw some hogans from the stagecoach,” said Sadie. “I was surprised, because I thought the reservation was north of here.”

“It is. But a small group of Dine had made their homes here and were allowed to stay. A few of them live on the edge of Mackie’s property, in fact,” added Elizabeth. “But since they survived Fort Sumner, I doubt he will succeed in driving them off.”

As they came down from the foothills, Cait looked over at her mother, a challenge in her eyes. “What about it, Ma?”

“It’s not fair to you, Cait,” said Elizabeth, a twinkle in her eye. “You are riding Red Hawk.”

Sadie looked from one to the other, wondering what they were talking about, when Cait suddenly kicked her horse into a canter and then a full gallop. Giving a rebel yell, Sadie gave Patch his head and soon caught up with her. Red Hawk did his best, but Elizabeth was on the faster horse, and it came down to a race between Elizabeth and Sadie. Snowflake passed Patch just as they reached the ranch gate.

Elizabeth was laughing as Cait rode up.

“Don’t laugh at me, Ma,” she protested, trying to keep her face straight. “Next time, I’ll take Snowflake and we’ll see who comes in first.”

“That was fun, Cait,” said her mother. “We haven’t done that in a long time.”

Sadie looked over at Caitlin Burke and envied her her easy relationship with her mother. The girl’s face was flushed and her dark hair blown all around it and Sadie wondered if Gabe had ever noticed how pretty she was.

“Gabe was right, Sadie,” said Elizabeth as they walked the horses down the road. “You are an excellent rider.”

“I had a good horse, Mrs. Burke,” said Sadie, patting Patch on the neck. “I got the feeling he could have gone on even longer.”

“That’s why Da loves these horses,” said Cait, her eyes shining with the joy of exercise and her love of their horses. “Appaloosas were bred for both speed and endurance.”

“There used to be regular races at Fort Defiance,” Elizabeth told them. “The Dine would ride in—you have never seen such riders, Sadie. Michael won quite a few races on Frost. She was our first brood mare,” Elizabeth explained. “Your Da still misses her, Cait.” Elizabeth’s eyes were soft and dreamy as though she were back twenty years, watching Michael Burke ride his gray mare to victory and Sadie wondered what it would be like to feel so much for a man with whom you had lived for twenty years. Her ma would have felt that way for her pa, had she lived, Sadie was sure. But she herself had never met a man who had inspired those feelings. She didn’t know if it was the men she was meeting or something lacking in her, but she’d just about resigned herself to spinsterhood.

* * * *

For the next few days, Sadie rode out with Cait and sometimes Elizabeth in the mornings. She got to see Gabe at dinner, and in the afternoons, found herself taking a ‘siesta.’

“I don’t know what’s come over me,” she said the first day when she came down from her nap. “I never sleep in the daytime. I feel like I should be helping you more around the house,” she told Elizabeth apologetically.

“Nonsense. From what Gabe told me, this is your first time off from teaching and taking care of your younger brothers in years.”

So Sadie continued to enjoy the leisurely pace of her days there. She usually ended up at the corral just before supper, to watch Gabe work with Sky.

He had patiently gotten the horse to allow him to use the old saddle blanket to rub him down again.

Whenever Gabe invited Caitlin in, Sky would let her feed him treats and lead him around, but the moment she took the blanket from Gabe and tried to go near the horse’s back, he would shy away.

“I suppose you heard what happened,” said Cait with a disappointed sigh one afternoon as she went back to join Sadie on the corral fence.

“Gabe told me you tried to ride him.” It was hard to keep the disapproval out of her voice.

“I know better. I felt like such a fool, Sadie, and Da was ready to kill me. But the worst part was knowing I had set Sky back and ruined all of Gabe’s hard work. I offered to stay away from him if it would help,” she continued, “but Gabe seemed to think it best for me to continue grooming him and getting as close as Sky lets me.”