Cherish the Land (13 page)

“No one who hired on just for that,” Sam answered when Jeremy turned to look at him. “Devlin didn’t appear to believe in specialization. I haven’t finished talking to all the jackaroos to see if any of them have enough of a background or interest to take on the job.”

“Then I’ll see you on Friday,” Seth declared. “I don’t know if I can check everything out in one day, but I’ll get through what I can. I’ll be more help to you that way than out with a crew.”

“Wait,” Jeremy said as Seth started to stand up. “Why are you coming on Friday?”

“It’s my day off,” Seth said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe it would have been at any other time. “I might as well do something useful with that time. Tuning up your machinery will be fun.”

“Fun,” Jeremy repeated. “I guess that’s one word for it.”

Seth grinned. “You forget. Engines were the only thing I was good at before I moved to Lang Downs. Even now, I’m happier with grease up to my elbows from cleaning out a dirty engine than doing anything else.”

“We need to find you a girl, mate, if that’s what makes you happiest,” Jeremy said with a shake of his head.

“I had one,” Seth said. “I left her in Sydney where she belongs. We’re both happier this way.”

“If you say so,” Jeremy replied. “I don’t know if I can pay you. We haven’t even made a dent in the station’s finances—”

“Who said anything about paying me?” Seth interrupted. “Family helps each other. You might be living here instead of on Lang Downs now, but you’re still one of us.”

Jeremy took a deep breath to steady himself. “Thank you. That means a lot.”

“Cheers,” Seth said as he stood up. “I’m sorry about your brother. I can’t imagine what it would be like if Chris weren’t there. I can’t bring him back, but I’ll help any way I can.”

Jeremy summoned a smile and sent Seth off with a nod.

“How are you holding up?” Sam asked.

Jeremy shrugged. “I haven’t broken down today.”

“I’m not sure if that’s good or bad,” Sam said. “At least we’ll have plenty of extra help if we need it. Hiring Walker is a good idea if he will come.”

“Can we afford it?” Jeremy asked.

“We’ve had three men quit in the past two days,” Sam reminded him. “We can take Walker’s salary out of that.”

S
ETH
STOOD
to the side of the gathering. He’d spoken to Jeremy and made his offer. He had to stay until everyone else was ready because he’d ridden over with them and so had no way to get home quicker, but he’d about had his fill of Taylor Peak for a while. No one said anything in Jeremy’s hearing—or even in Neil’s—but Seth had overheard some of the comments the jackaroos had made.

“Poofter” was the nicest word he’d heard them use to describe their new bosses. Most of them had gone straight for “shirt lifter” or “pillow biter.” On Lang Downs, that kind of language got a man a warning and then his walking papers, but after eleven years of Caine and Macklin’s benevolent guidance, most people never even went that far. The year-rounders and the repeat seasonal staff made their opinions clear, and anyone who didn’t like it could leave. They had enough hands to cover the shifts. Seth feared Jeremy wouldn’t be so lucky. If he kept them, he’d have to listen to their insults for the rest of the season. If he fired them, he’d be shorthanded in a matter of days. All the year-rounders at Lang Downs had offered to help on their days off, but that only came to fourteen extra hands total, and Jeremy would rarely have more than two of them at a time. They couldn’t run a station this size with a crew that small.

“Seth? You okay, mate?”

Seth looked up as Jason ambled toward him. “Yeah, just worried about Jeremy and Sam.”

“It’ll be hard, but they’ll manage. They know how to run a station.”

“All the knowing in the world doesn’t do any good if they don’t have the men to do the work.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been listening to the Taylor Peak jackaroos, and I’ve heard a lot of language that would get them thrown off Lang Downs,” Seth said. “It makes me nervous for Jeremy.”

“Bloody hell,” Jason said. “It’ll be like the summer you came to Lang Downs all over again. The worst summer I can remember the station ever having.”

“Hey, I thought it was a good summer,” Seth protested.

“It was, for me, but having you there was its only redeeming feature. You didn’t see it, I guess, since you didn’t know how things were before, but almost all the seasonal jackaroos were blow-ins, new to the work as well as to the station. We had enough bodies but not enough knowledge to really run the station right. I’ve never seen Neil or Macklin as run-down as they were that summer. All the crew bosses worked extra shifts, trying to teach the blow-ins what to do and keep the station running at the same time. They kept it together, but it was close.”

“I’m scared it’ll go even farther than that,” Seth said. “It wouldn’t be the first time a mob mentality took hold and someone got hurt. They attacked Chris in broad daylight in town. What’s to stop them from attacking Sam and Jeremy? Or even Neil and Molly, since they’re helping out?”

“You think it’ll come to that?”

“God, I hope not, but I didn’t believe it would happen in Yass either.”

“We should say something to Thorne. He’s got the most training.”

“I didn’t hear any actual threats,” Seth said. “Just grumbling. I hope they’ll take their attitudes and just quit. Even if we have to work double to help Jeremy through the season, it’s better than someone getting hurt.”

“Yes, but let’s not borrow trouble if we can help it,” Jason said. “A little grumbling isn’t the same as quitting or even being disrespectful to Jeremy and Sam directly. Maybe they’ll get it out of their systems and settle back in to work. Jeremy
is
a Taylor, and he
does
know what he’s doing, so if they stay more than a few days, they’ll see it’s still a good place to work.”

“I guess it depends on how much of Devlin’s feud with Lang Downs carried over to his jackaroos. Caine never let us—even Neil—get away with bad-mouthing Taylor Peak, but from what Sam and Jeremy have said, Devlin had no qualms about talking shit about us. Do you know why he hated Lang Downs so much?”

“Not really,” Jason said. “His dad died fairly young too, and Michael—Caine’s uncle—tried to help him, but Devlin wouldn’t ever accept. Maybe he suspected Michael was gay and hated him for that, or maybe he just hated him for being successful while Taylor Peak struggled. I know he wanted to buy Lang Downs when Caine’s mother inherited. He figured she wouldn’t know what she had and would sell it cheap. Caine came instead, which ended his hope of acquiring the station. Then Jeremy left Taylor Peak for Lang Downs, and that was the end of any hope of reconciliation.”

“Will we make things worse by coming to help?”

“That’s Jeremy’s call. If he decides it’s doing that, he’ll tell us, and if he does, we’ll listen. I’m going to catch Thorne. You want to come with me?”

“Yeah. I’m the one who heard the comments, after all.”

They headed toward where Thorne sat. Seth wondered where Ian was, but maybe he’d gone to get something else to eat or drink. “Ready to go, lads?” Thorne asked as they approached.

“I was ready an hour ago,” Seth said, “but before we go, I figured you ought to hear what’s being muttered by the hands.”

“Some combination of working for poofters and Lang Downs taking over?”

“So you heard it too?”

“Hard not to unless you’re so caught up in grief that you don’t hear anything not said to your face,” Thorne replied. “I’ll call Walker when we get home. You didn’t meet him when he came for a visit, but he’s one of my mates from the Commandos. He just got out and is looking for a job. Even if he just fills in for the summer until Jeremy can find a full-time foreman, he’ll keep the jackaroos in line.”

“And they’ll think twice about attacking Sam and Jeremy if they have to get through someone like your friend,” Jason said.

Thorne sat up straighter. “Did you hear someone making threats?”

“No,” Seth admitted, “but the blokes who attacked Chris before we came to Lang Downs never made threats either. They just jumped him one day. In town, in broad daylight. If it could happen there, how much more easily could it happen out here in the middle of nowhere?”

“I’ll call Walker as soon as we get back to Lang Downs,” Thorne repeated, “and I’ll put a word in Neil’s ear. Sam might not be much of a fighter, but I’ve heard enough tales of Neil’s misspent youth. They won’t catch him off guard.”

“Thanks, Thorne,” Seth said. “I’ll feel better knowing they have someone looking out for them. If it were different circumstances, I wouldn’t worry about Jeremy. I know he can take care of himself, but like you said, he’s too caught up in his grief to hear what’s going on around him right now.”

“We’ll watch out for him until he can look after himself again,” Thorne promised. “None of us want to see anything happen to either of them. We’re ready to go if you want to head toward the car. I’ll find Ian and Neil and meet you there.”

“N
EIL
. C
AN
I speak with you for a minute?”

Neil looked up when Thorne called his name. “Yeah, what’s going on?”

Thorne tipped his head at Jeremy and started walking away. Neil frowned and followed him until they were out of Sam and Jeremy’s earshot. “What’s going on?” he repeated.

“You’ve probably heard, if not today then earlier, that not all the jackaroos are happy with Jeremy inheriting the station and bringing Sam with him,” Thorne began.

Neil snorted. “I’ve had three men quit already and I expect a dozen more to leave once the funeral is over. I’m hoping we still have a skeleton crew by the time the week is out. I don’t think the year-rounders will leave. They’ve got a certain loyalty to the station and to the Taylor family that will hopefully keep them around long enough to see that Jeremy’s a good man despite his ‘faults,’ but it’s going to be a rough summer.”

“I already told Jeremy I’d see if Walker wanted a job, but I was just talking to Seth and Jason. I think Seth is overreacting, but he’s worried some of the jackaroos will do more than just talk and we’ll have a mob on our hands—and not of the animal variety. I told him I’d warn you, just to be safe, and I’ll tell Walker as well. It’s probably his memories of Chris being bashed instead of anything based on the current situation, but forewarned is forearmed, and all that.”

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Neil said. “I haven’t heard any threats, just complaints, but they know where I stand on the matter so they’d be stupid to let me hear them making threats. Molly had talked about staying a few more days, but I’ll send her home with someone today. I can use the kids as an excuse so she won’t worry.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Thorne said. “I’ve heard stories.”

Neil grinned, the hothead he’d left behind rising to the surface at the thought of a threat to his brothers. “I won’t start anything because that wouldn’t help Sam and Jeremy, but I damn well will finish anything they start.”

“H
EY
, L
ACHLAN
,
I didn’t expect to hear from you today. Didn’t you tell me you had a funeral to attend?” Walker’s voice was a balm to Thorne’s nerves. Only Ian could settle him more quickly than Walker, but Thorne didn’t want Ian anywhere near the current situation. He didn’t want Ian getting hurt.

“That’s kind of what I was calling about,” Thorne said. “You remember Sam and Jeremy from when you were here?”

“Yeah, big blond stockman with the blue-eyed dog and the accountant with the cat that followed him around like a puppy,” Walker said.

“Yeah, that would be them. Jeremy’s brother owned Taylor Peak, the station next to Lang Downs—”

“Owned?” Walker interrupted.

“It was his funeral. He had an accident and didn’t recover. Jeremy’s brother wasn’t known for his tolerance, and Jeremy’s already lost a few men. More than that, his brother was a bit of a control freak and didn’t have a foreman, but Jeremy needs one. He has enough issues as it is without trying to do everything himself. You still looking for a job?”

“Does he know you’re offering me one?” Walker countered.

“I told him I’d call you,” Thorne said. “He seemed grateful. And just between you and me, things are really tense right now. It wouldn’t hurt for Sam and Jeremy to have a little protection.”

“Is this your gut talking or do you know something?” Walker asked.

From anyone else, Thorne would have taken offense at the question, but Walker knew him better than anyone else alive. “A little of both. We heard a lot of grumbling, and one of the kids is worried it’ll turn into more. My first reaction was to dismiss it. His brother was bashed before he came to Lang Downs, so it’s a sensitive topic for him. But then I got to thinking, and it’s not as far-fetched as I want it to be. The more immediate concern is keeping half the crew from quitting so they have enough men to keep the station afloat for the season. They can advertise for more men, but this time of year, jackaroos with any experience are in short supply.”