When Love's Gone Country (Sequel two of the Embracing Love Trilogy) (11 page)

“Come on, Eeyore, we’re wastin’ daylight.”

“I think it’s burnin’ daylight and you didn’t answer my question.”

“Should we go see if Jacob is ready?” Bobby asked.

“Let’s head for the fire pit. If he’s not there, we can come back up and get him,” Meg said.

They all made their way down the path toward the fire pit in silence, taking deep breaths of air into their lungs and trying to focus on the experience rather than how warm they had been back in their beds.

Jacob was sitting around a roaring fire as they approached.

“You beat us,” Bobby said.

“Did you sleep okay, honey?” Meg asked.

“It was fine.”

“Did you see the rat again?” Purity asked.

“Yeah. You feelin’ okay?”

“Just tired, but who isn’t?”

“It gets better,” Frank said. “It don’t seem like it will, but it will. I know you’re cold and hungry and tired. Think about how the horses feel right now. How about the cows and chickens? They feel the same as you. You got a choice. They don’t. If they’re goin’ to eat, we need to feed ‘em. If they’re goin’ to drink, we need to provide water for ‘em.

The minute we took them in as ours, we made a commitment to put their care first. We’re second. And that’s how it is, plain and simple. So don’t waste my time by complainin’. I don’t want to hear it.”

“After all the mornin’ chores, you can go back to the ranch hand quarters and have breakfast,” Emma said.

“How will we know when that is?” Jeremy asked.

“We’ll tell you,” Red said. “We’re goin’ to split you into groups. Some will head down to the stables, others to the cow paddock, some to the chicken coop and so on. Each group will have a leader. There’s me, I’m Red. That’s Bart over there.”

Bart nodded his head.

“Next to him is Cal, Jake, Ronda, Bamma, Jessica, String, Sam, Miles, TJ and Joe Bob.”

“I didn’t know there were girl ranch hands,” Jeremy said.

“What do you think I am?” Emma asked.

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders. “Guess I never really thought about it.”

“The Double Y is a great place to think.”

“Any questions?” Frank asked. No one spoke. “You’ll all get a chance to work in the different areas, so don’t worry if you don’t get your favorite one right off.”

The ranch hands began picking the teams from among the group. Those without a team joined one of the already formed teams until they were all heading in different directions.

“See you later, Mom,” Jeremy said with a large grin. “I’m goin’ egg pickin’!”

Jacob and Bobby had been paired together and were heading toward the stables, much to Jacob’s displeasure. He had hoped to be teamed up with anyone except his family.

Emma had taken Purity and Meg by the arm and asked, “How’d you gals like to learn how to churn butter?”

Meg was delighted by the idea. Purity would have rather gone with Jeremy. The kitchen was not her favorite room in the house, as the moldy items in her refrigerator could attest.

An hour and a half later, the ranch was bathed in the glow of morning sunlight as they all found themselves at the dining room table back at the ranch hand quarters.

“It was so cool!” Jeremy declared. “I was scared at first. I mean, if I was a chicken, I wouldn’t want somebody stickin’ their hand up my butt. I’d peck at him ‘til their hand fell off.”

“Nice imagery,” Court said, passing a home-made buttered biscuit covered with strawberry jam to Jeremy.”

“Thanks.”

“I don’t know about you,” Brad said, “but it was totally worth it for this spread laid out before us. I thought we had a ton of food last night, but this is amazing.”

Scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, maple sausage, pancakes, biscuits, fresh-squeezed orange juice, coffee and cream cheese Danish pastries made from scratch covered the table.

“Since I’m eating for two and all, I guess I can have more bacon, right?” Purity said.

“I’m eating whatever I want,” Meg said. “We’re only here for two weeks.”

“I have a feeling we’ll be burning off all the calories,” Court said. “I overhead String telling TJ that we’ll be working three times a day for at least as long as we did this morning.”

“How much does a ranch hand get paid?” Jacob asked.

“Not enough to clean stables first thing in the morning,” Bob said. “Are you thinking about making this your vocation?”

“Just curious. We’re paying to be here, but the real workers get a paycheck. If we weren’t here, more people would have jobs.”

“It probably helps the ranch out, though,” Meg said. “We’re not the most skilled work force, but maybe because we’ve paid a fee, it supplements the income of the workers.”

“I didn’t mind feeding and watering the sheep,” Courtney said. “Some of those rams were giving me the eye, though. Made me nervous. I was afraid I might piss one of them off and they’d take off a runnin’ and head butt me into the next paddock.”

“That would have been funny,” Jeremy said with a giggle.

“You think so, huh?” Courtney began to tickle him. “I’ll show you funny.”

“Stop!” Jeremy cried between fits of laughter.

“You’re going to make him choke. Let him swallow his food,” Meg said.

“He’s yelling, he’s fine.” She gave him one last tickle under his armpit. Jeremy squirmed and wiggled, then shoved the biscuit in his mouth.

“You don’t like those do you?” Brad asked.

“No, I don’t like ‘em. I love ‘em!” Jeremy said enthusiastically.

“I’ll take Diego for a walk, if you want,” Jacob said.

“I took him for one when we got back, but I’m sure he wouldn’t object to another one,” Brad said.

Jacob got up from the table and collected Diego’s leash. That was the only invitation he needed as he jumped from his comfortable seat on the sofa immediately, tail wagging in anticipation. Once the leash was hooked to his collar, they headed out the door.

Diego stopped every two feet to sniff and explore his new surroundings.

“Sure doesn’t smell like the city, does it?”

They meandered their way around the oak tree off to the right. It was surrounded by benches on all sides, making an octagon shape. Names had been carved into the aged wood. Jacob felt the indentions with his fingertip.

The ranch had history. He could feel it in his bones. He’d spent the better part of his life trying to escape his history. Jacob wondered how Red and the others could sing during the drought. He’d said they didn’t have any money, just food and shelter. That didn’t sound like much of a reason to live for.

Diego laid down, placing one paw on Jacob’s foot and then resting his head on it, almost as if he wanted to be sure he didn’t get up and leave when he wasn’t looking.

“I ain’t goin’ nowhere.” Jacob sighed. “Not right now anyway.”

Chapter Fourteen

“You’re feet are swollen. Why don’t you lay down for a bit,” Alex said.

“They’re not swollen that much. They were worse yesterday from sitting in the car,” Purity said.

“There’s a gazebo down by the orchard,” Courtney said. “We could all head down there. You could put your feet up and rest for a bit while the rest of us look around the ranch.”

“I want to look around the ranch, too,” Purity said.

“You can,” Alex said. “Just rest for half an hour, first.”

Purity frowned. “All right. I’m not an invalid.”

“Never said you were.”

Pure gave him a look that clearly said he may not have used those words, but he had implied them nonetheless.

After their leisurely breakfast, they all made their way down to the orchard gazebo. The ranch seemed much larger in the light of day.

“I had no idea there were so many outbuildings,” Meg said.

“How many acres do the Peterman’s own?” Court asked.

“Thirty. A lot of it hasn’t been cleared, though. I remember the brochure saying something about ten miles of fence that needs checking every day.”

“Ten miles?” Jeremy said. “That’s a lot. I don’t think I could even walk ten miles in a day.”

“I think they ride on horseback,” Brad said.

Jacob watched the group and decided to join them. Diego greeted Brad with a wet kiss.

“It’s good to see you, too,” Brad said.

“That dog is all tongue,” Courtney said.

“Kind of like someone else I know.”

“Are you complaining?”

“Absolutely not.” He grinned and pulled her close for a searing mid-morning kiss.

“Gross!” Jeremy said.

Jacob watched Courtney’s face flush and noticed her hand balled up tight with Brad’s shirt inside her fingers. She liked a man who wasn’t afraid to take charge. Not in an aggressive way, more like a passionate, you’re so hot you drive me crazy kind of way. He wondered if a girl would ever look at him that way.

Diego pulled on the leash, taking the lead as if he knew exactly where they were heading. Jacob had to run to catch up to him or be dragged behind.

“Take control,” Brad said. “You have to let him know who’s boss or he’ll pull you around the whole ranch.”

“Diego, stop!” Jacob hollered. “Stop!”

Diego ignored him.

“Diego, come.” Brad’s voice was firm and strong with a bite just under the surface that let anyone within earshot know he was the dominant one in their relationship.

Diego turned and ran back to the group, sitting directly at Brad’s feet.

“Good dog.” Brad praised him and rubbed his head. “If you shorten the leash and keep him by your side, it’ll be easier to keep control.”

“I thought he’d like it better if he could just go wherever he wanted,” Jacob said.

“That’s the thing about freedom, too much of it can make you a wanderer, drifting around aimlessly. If you have some limits and boundaries, you become more focused. Things are clearer.

It’d be like us trying to get to the orchard by heading toward the chicken coop. It would take us three times as long because we’d have to follow the trail all the way around the cow paddock and then the sheep paddock. But if we know where all the paths lead, we can choose the one that’s most efficient.”

“All you have to do is walk faster. I bet if I went the long way around and you guys took the efficient route, we’d get there at the same time.”

“Want to bet?”

“Sure. What’re the odds?”

“Loser has to do the winners’ chores tomorrow morning.”

“Brad, that’s not fair. You know our way is shorter,” Court said.

“Jacob’s the one who wants to prove a point. Let’s see if he can beat us.”