A Heart Renewed (9 page)

“Bates, I want you to take this,” he said holding out far too much of his precious money.  “Find her and bring her back.  If you do, I will make it worth your while.”  He lied.  He had nothing left with which to pay the man, though he played poker enough to have developed a strong and believable façade.

Bates nodded his agreement as he took the offered money.

As Bates left his office, Reuben hoped he would find Julia soon.  He was running out of time.

Chapter 6

Colter Ranch, Arizona Territory

September 9, 1864

Hannah stretched as the first rays of light streamed through her bedroom window.  As she moved, Will draped his arm over her waist and slid her toward him.  She felt his breath tickle the nape of her neck.

“Good morning, Mrs. Colter.”

In the week since their wedding, he greeted her the same way every morning.  She smiled as he kissed her neck.  Smelling bacon frying, Hannah tried to get up, but Will held her in place.

“I need to get up and start your breakfast.”

“Mmm.  You smell good.”

“Will, I mean it.”

“Let Rosa see to it.  I want to keep you here a bit longer.”

Swatting at his hands, she remained firm.  “I don’t want Rosa to cook us breakfast.  I want to do that.  It’s my kitchen.”

Releasing his hold on her slowly, he sighed.  “I don’t see why you’re upset about it.  Rosa gets paid to cook and clean for everyone on the ranch.”

Hannah continued the conversation as she readied herself for the day.  “Because, this is my house.  If I’m not cooking and cleaning and caring for my husband, then what do you suggest I do?”

Will stood behind her now.  He pulled her close again, turning her to face him.  The look in his eyes said trouble.  As he wiggled his eyebrows, he said, “Make babies?”

“William Colter!”  She squealed before pushing him away.  “I’m serious.”

He grinned mischievously.  “So was I.”

Putting her hands on her hips in exasperation, she frowned. 
Does he really not understand what it is like to have another woman working in my kitchen?

“Don’t give me that look.  Okay,” he said throwing his arms in the air in mock surrender.  “I understand you want to cook and care for me.  And I appreciate it.  I just don’t want you burdened with cooking for all the ranch hands.  That’s why we have Rosa.”

“Did you forget that I’ve spent the last four months working at the boardinghouse cooking for large numbers of men?  Cleaning their rooms and doing their laundry?  I think I can handle it.”

“It’s not about your ability to handle it,” he said as he took her hands in his.  Looking down into her eyes, he continued, “As I expand the ranch and hire more cowboys, neither one of you will be able to handle everything on your own.”

Hannah tilted her head to the side, still somewhat irritated that he didn’t understand her.

“Look, this house is your domain.  Rosa works for both of us.  Talk to her and work things out however you want.”  Winking, he continued, “Then, when you make me the proud papa of a herd of children and have your hands full, you’ll still have help.”

At the mention of children, Hannah looked away.  That was still a difficult subject for her.  Especially since it was well over two years into her first marriage before she conceived.  Then she lost her first and only child just a few months into the pregnancy, shortly after her first husband died in a tragic accident.  She had a lot of doubt and fear about her ability to bear Will any children.

Looking back into his eyes, she sighed.  She saw the look of concern on his face.  This was not a conversation for so early in the morning.  Standing on her toes, she stretched up to give him a quick peck on the lips.

“I am sure Rosa and I will work everything out,” she said walking from their bedroom into the main part of the ranch house.

“Good morning, Rosa.”

Rosa nodded as she placed huge portions of food on two plates. 
She must be used to serving only men.  That is twice the food I could ever eat in one sitting.
  Smiling, Hannah took a seat across from Will at the table.

A knock came from the front door.  Will stood to open it.  “Ben,” Will greeted his foreman.  “Have breakfast with us.”

Up until this point, Hannah had Will all to herself in the mornings.  She wondered what prompted the unusual visit as she stood to serve Ben some breakfast before Rosa took the rest of the food to the bunkhouse for the ranch hands.

Setting the smaller portion she dished up at her place, she slid the other plate across the table to Ben.

As soon as Will finished grace, Ben started the conversation.  “Have you given any thought to driving some of the herd to California?”

Will swallowed a bite of eggs.  “Probably should already be headed that way.  It’s getting kinda late in the year for a drive.”

“Yer accident set us back a bit but, we can be ready in a week.  Already been layin’ in supplies.  Just need to figure out who all is goin’, how many head ya want to sell, and if we need to hire more men.”

Will nodded.  “Best not to wait much longer.  We’ll take a thousand head.  The rest we’ll need to keep for the army contract and the contracts in town.  We’ll definitely have to take Snake, unless you’ve found someone else who can cook on the trail.”

“We?” Ben questioned.  “I hope ya ain’t thinking of goin’.”

Hannah took new interest in the discussion.  Surely her husband of a week would not be leaving her side already?

Eyes darting away from hers, Will said, “I think I should go.  It’s my cattle.”

“Yer married now.  Got a whole different set of responsibilities.”  Ben held Will’s gaze, not giving him much of an option.

Trying to hide her smile behind her hand, she stifled a giggle by taking another bite of food.  Leave it to Ben to find a way to scold Will and act fatherly without making him mad and without reminding him that he still wasn’t fully healed from his accident.

“I suppose you’re right.”

“I figured I’d take Snake to cook and Covington to wrangle.  I’ll need ‘bout seven or eight men for two shifts of four.  That won’t leave ya more’n two or three to help out here.  Don’t sound like that’ll be enough.”

“Why don’t you take Jed, Hawk, Pedro, Raul, and Whitten.  And the two new men, Foster and Webb,” Will said.  “That’ll leave me, Owens, Diego, and Miguel.  We can corral half of the herd one day while we take out the other half.  Then switch them out the next day.”

“Sounds mostly good.  I’d rather have at least one more with me.  What ya gonna do ‘bout night guard?”

Hannah listened as the conversation bounced back and forth between her husband and Ben.  The confidence Will projected amazed her.  He seemed more than capable of running such a large operation.

Eventually, Will settled for accompanying Ben to Prescott for the day to see if they could hire two more men.  One would go on the drive and the other would stay behind to stand guard at night when all the cattle were in the corral.

With plans in place, the two men left.  Hannah stood, taking the dishes to the wash basin.  Filling it with warm water from the reservoir, she let the dishes soak, anticipating Rosa would be bringing the rest over from the bunkhouse shortly.

Moving over to where two crates stood stacked one on top of another, Hannah resolved to unpack the rest of her things.  The top crate already had the lid pried off.  Lifting the lid, she leaned it against the bottom crate.

Now she remembered why she had been putting this off.  There were too many painful memories tied up in the items in this crate that she packed over a year ago before she and Drew left Cincinnati.

A towel and apron were wedged into the corner of the crate.  Pulling them out, she set them aside.  The first item of significance was her mother’s china.  The beautiful floral patterned dishes had been passed down from her grandmother to her mother, then to Hannah at the tender age of twelve after her mother’s passed.  She had used the dishes daily in Cincinnati in the home she shared with Drew.

A lone tear dropped onto the first dish in the stack as memories of her first love invaded her thoughts.  She had been very much in love with Drew.  When he died unexpectedly in an avalanche just before they arrived in Prescott, she thought she would not be able to live without him.  Yet, over time her heart healed and she met Will, whom she loved and adored.

It was so confusing to be full of joy with her new husband, while still—in moments like these—filled with grief for her first.  Yes, she understood why she put off this chore of unpacking.

Squaring her shoulders, Hannah determined not to let herself grow melancholy.  Quickly unwrapping each of the dishes, she set them in a pile to wash with the other dishes for the morning. 

She found a few other personal mementos in that first crate, including a photograph of her and Drew.  What should she even do with such a thing now?  She didn’t want to throw it away.  Yet, she could not set it on her dresser and have her new husband look at it day after day.  Laying the photograph aside, she decided to deal with it later.

Looking around the room, she contemplated whether she should worry about the other crate now or not.  Opting to wait until later, she searched for a place to display some of her knick knacks.

While Will seemed to think the ranch house was small, Hannah thought it quaint.  He had big plans to build a large board structure, instead of the log cabin they now occupied.  The kitchen had room enough for two people to move about.  The kitchen, dining area, and living room were all one large open space.  The fireplace in the living room stood opposite the kitchen on the other end of the room.   There were two bedrooms along one side of the house.

Walking toward the fireplace, she placed the items in her hand on the mantle.  Going back to the table, she picked up the picture of her and Drew.  Then she headed for her bedroom.  Pulling out the bottom drawer of the dresser, she lifted her undergarments and placed the picture face down in the back of the drawer.  She moved the undergarments back over top.  Perhaps one day she would be ready to part with the picture.  Just not today.

Making her way back to the kitchen, she decided to go ahead and clean the dishes, since Rosa never appeared with the ones from the bunkhouse.  She must have washed them over there instead or perhaps in her little shack.

Later that morning, she found Rosa working on the laundry.  Picking up the wet items from the basket, Hannah shook them out and hung them on the line.  At first, Rosa looked at her warily, though she softened when she saw Hannah was there to help.

“Rosa, I was thinking that we could work together completing the domestic chores here.  I mean, there is no reason for you to carry the entire weight by yourself.”

“Si, señora.  I help.”

Hannah was not sure exactly what the young woman meant.  She knew
si
was
yes
and
señora
was
missus
.  But she was not convinced she was getting through.

“I would like both of us to cook the meals.  On laundry days, we will both do laundry.  On cleaning days, I will clean the ranch house and you will clean the bunkhouse.”

With fear in her eyes, Rosa asked, “No less money?”

“No less money,” she quickly reassured the half-Mexican half-Apache woman.  “You will be paid the same.  We will help each other.”

“Si, señora,” Rosa answered with a big smile.

As Rosa continued to wash, Hannah hung items on the line to dry.  Looking out over the lake, she breathed deeply of the pine-fragranced air.  She still could not believe she lived on this beautiful piece of property, flanked by white granite mountains, dotted with tall pines, and nestled in a grass covered valley.  The afternoon grew as hot as the hottest summer days back in Ohio, yet it was September.  By nightfall, she would be wishing for a light wrap.  The weather here was so perfect.

When it came time to start supper preparations, she outlined the planned meal.  They would have fried potatoes, beef steaks, beans, and pecan pie.  The pie would be a special treat.  Before she moved out to the ranch on her wedding day, she gathered a large basket of pecans.  She saved them to make pies over the next few weeks.  If the portions they used on the ranch were smaller than what she was used to at the boardinghouse, the pecans may last longer than she first thought.

From what she learned in her first week on the ranch, Will had some thirteen men that worked for him.  A few of them, like Ben Shepherd, worked for his father back in Texas and made the journey west with Will.  Most of the men were hired on just prior to the trip, although she thought he mentioned that two of the four Mexican men joined the group in Santa Fe.  Peter Foster and Amos Webb were hired just prior to her wedding.  They were the only ones to join since Will arrived in Prescott.

 She smiled as she thought back to her first morning on the ranch.  Will instructed all of the cowboys to line up to officially meet her.  He told them they were to address her as Mrs. Colter at all times.  As he introduced each man, she greeted them as she would any man, Mr. Shepherd, Mr. Convington.  After a few snickers, Will whispered in her ear that it was not necessary to be so formal with them.  Several went by their last names, except for the two youngest, Jed and Hawk.  Oh, and there was Snake.  And the Mexicans went by their first names as well.  She felt odd at first when she addressed the men thusly, but she gradually became accustomed to it, though she had very little interaction with them since the first day.