“That’s enough,” Mitch barked. “Enough.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “Joanna. I’m sure you meant well, but Magda is perfectly capable of taking care of things around here.”
Joanna sniffed. “Please. The girl’s a drug addict.”
Olivia gasped and turned. “Mitch?”
He huffed. “She’s not a drug addict. You just think that because of the tats.”
“Only white trash has tattoos. Why, my daddy would just die if I came home with something so tacky.” Joanna stepped off the last step and walked up to Mitch. “You need a proper housekeeper. Someone who understands the needs of someone in your social status.”
Mitch snorted and shook his head. “Joanna. I’m a rancher, not someone with a social status. Now, I’m sure you meant well, but we’re all tired. Once Olivia and Adam get settled in, I have a million things I need to tend to.” He took her arm and pulled her toward the front door. “Goodbye, Joanna.”
Her back muscles were rigid. Her lips pressed tight. A fire burned in her hazel eyes. Olivia remembered that look from knowing Joanna in college. The lady was seriously irate.
Then Joanna’s shoulders slumped and her bottom lip began to tremble. Unshed tears filled her eyes. She sniffed. “I’m sorry, Mitch. I really was trying to help.”
Mitch stopped walking. It must have been the tears, or maybe the trembling lower lip, but whatever she’d done worked. Mitch moved his hand from her elbow and slipped his arm around her shoulders.
“I know. I’m just tired and cranky. You go shopping with your friend Helen or your mom. You’ll feel better.”
She kissed Mitch’s cheek. “I’ll talk to you later.” When she hugged him, her gaze locked with Olivia’s. The look on Joanna’s face was anything but regret. There was a sly smile on her lips to go with the defiance in her eyes. It was another expression Olivia remembered from their sorority days…Joanna’s victory expression. As Joanna broke the hug, her appearance reassumed the sorrowful eyes and trembling lip. She lifted her hand in a half-wave. “Bye, Olivia.”
Before Olivia could respond, Joanna shut the door behind her. Olivia shook her head. The woman hadn’t changed a bit since they’d been sorority sisters. What Joanna wanted, Joanna took, no matter who got stepped on in the process. And now, it seemed Joanna wanted Mitch back.
Olivia turned in the direction Magda had taken Adam. She followed the aroma of hot chocolate-chip cookies and found her way to the kitchen.
The gleam from all the stainless steel and granite countertops was blinding. Adam sat on a barstool, a glass of milk in his right hand and a chocolate-chip cookie in the other. Magda was leaning with her elbows on the countertop, engrossed in Adam’s story of driving Mitch’s plane all by himself on the way down.
“Wow, Adam. That’s really something. I don’t think Mitch has ever let anyone else fly his plane.” Magda took a cookie off the plate and took a bite. “He must really like you.”
“Uh huh.” Cookie crumbles dropped from Adam’s stuffed mouth.
Olivia hobbled into the room. “Excuse me? Do we talk with food in our mouth?”
Adam swallowed. “No, ma’am.”
Magda grinned. She ruffled Adam’s hair and stood. “Can I get you something, Olivia? Iced Tea? Coffee? Lemonade?”
“Coffee, if it’s already made. I don’t want to put you out.”
“Grab a stool. Coffee’s hot. How do you take it?”
“A little milk, please.” Olivia bit into a cookie and moaned. “These are wonderful, Magda. What’s your secret recipe?”
Magda set a cup of coffee down. “The back of the chocolate-chips package. I think you’re probably just hungry.”
“I don’t know about that. Adam and I are cookie experts, aren’t we?”
Adam nodded enthusiastically.
He reached for another cookie, but Olivia slid the plate out of his reach. “You’ve probably had your fair share.”
“Momma. Magda. Tell her I didn’t have that many.”
Magda began storing the extra cookies in a plastic bag. “Sorry, partner. I don’t get between a guy and his mother. But tell you what…” She pulled out a small sandwich plastic bag. “I’ll store some ’specially for you. Then when your mom says you can have more, you’ll have your own stash. How’s that?”
His face lit up. “All right.”
Olivia finished her coffee and glanced at the clock on the stove. “Magda? Would you please show Adam and me to where I’ll be staying? With all the rushing around and the travel down, I’m beat. I think an afternoon nap is just what the doctor ordered for both of us.”
“Not me,” Adam declared emphatically. “I’m not tired and I’m too old for a nap.”
Olivia sighed. Had they not just had this discussion? “Tell you what, pal. You go lie down with me. If you’re still awake after thirty minutes, we’ll get back up. Deal?”
Adam pasted a stubborn look on his face and crossed his arms. “I’ll go, but I won’t fall asleep and you can’t make me.”
Olivia noticed Magda sucking in her bottom lip, restraining a smile tickling the edges of her mouth.
“Okay. Fair enough.” Olivia stood. “Whenever you’re ready to lead the way, Magda.”
Magda sealed the cookie packages and slipped them into the cabinet. “This way.” She started back toward the dining room and entry hall.
“C’mon, Adam.” Olivia balanced herself on her crutches. “Don’t argue with me.”
Adam slid off his stool with a loud thud on the hardwood floor. “I’m coming, but I’m not going to sleep.”
After going back through the formal dining room, a formal living room and down a short hallway, Magda pushed open a set of double doors. The three of them stepped into a coffered-ceiling entryway, the master bedroom to their right overlooking the pool and the master bath to their left. The hardwood flooring continued into the master bedroom but stopped at the master bath, where brown marble with gold swirls began.
After Olivia thumped into the master suite entry hall, she realized the master suite encompassed the entire end of the house.
“Wow.” She turned her head to look around. “Big.”
“It is. You ought to have to clean it.” Magda laughed. “The master bedroom is this way.” She hiked a thumb over her shoulder. “You’ve obviously figured out the bathroom is the other way.”
Olivia and Adam followed Magda to the bedroom. The spacious room had a coordinated, designer feel. A yellow duvet covered a massive bed with tall, thick posts and handcrafted headboard and footboard bearing the Lazy L brand. The bed dominated the room. Mahogany bedside tables, mirror dresser and highboy glistened from diffused lighting. The Lazy L brand was repeated in the thick multi-colored rug. Olivia’s luggage rested unopened on the bed.
“Don’t worry about unpacking your bags.” Magda lifted the suitcases off the bed and set them by the dresser. “I’ll help you with that when you wake up.”
“Where’s my stuff?” Adam turned in a full circle examining the room.
“Upstairs. You have your own bedroom up there, remember?”
“Oh yeah.” He looked at Olivia. “Can I go up there for my nap?”
Olivia smiled. “I don’t think so. Not today. For now, stay here with me.”
Adam’s grin fell in disappointment, but she knew her son. Out of her sight and he’d talk his way out of an afternoon nap. By early evening, he’d be one cranky little boy.
“Fine, but I’m not going to sleep.”
“Right,” said Olivia.
Magda pulled back the yellow silk comforter, exposing pale yellow sheets. Olivia was tall enough to sit on the edge, but no way could Adam reach the mattress without help.
“Here. Let me help.” Magda lifted Adam. When his feet were dangling, she untied his tennis shoes and slipped them off.
“Thanks, Magda.” Olivia slipped off her shoes and let them drop to the floor. “Okay, Adam. Scoot over to the other side of the bed.”
He bounced across the bed on h
is bottom. He looked over his shoulder at Olivia. “I’m not tired.”
“I know. Lay down just for thirty minutes, then we’ll get up.” Olivia’s head hit the soft pillow with a puff. “Thanks, Magda. Lay down, Adam.”
Adam lay down and shut his eyes. Magda closed the curtains over the doors leading outside, then flipped off the light. The bedroom door clicked softly behind her.
After convincing Joanna that he wasn’t angry with her—when in reality he was quite put out—and assuring her that he understood she was just trying to help, Mitch headed off to the barn. Hobbs kept an office there. Even though Mitch had offered him much better office accommodations, Hobbs always said staying in the barn kept him close to what was going on. Plus, Mitch suspected Hobbs enjoyed the smell of leather and horses as much as Mitch did.
“Hobbs.”
“I’m in the office,” came the muffled reply.
Hobbs had taken the door off the office a few years ago and had it cut in half, converting the once solid door into a makeshift Dutch door. The upper unit stood open while the lower unit was closed. This was as close as Hobbs would ever come to an open-door policy.
Mitch leaned on the edge of the lower door unit’s sill. “How’s that new calf doing?”
Hobbs looked up from the spreadsheet on his desk. “The one born right before you left?”
Mitch frowned. “Is there another new calf?”
Hobbs shrugged. “Nope.”
“Then, yeah. That calf.”
“Doing fine. Kept him and his momma here for a couple of days. Wanted to make sure both of them were okay after that rough delivery. Sent them down yesterday with the other calves and moms.”
“You got them in Lee’s Pasture or have you moved them yet to Black’s Ranch?”
As the Lazy L had grown and bought up surrounding acreage, Mitch and his hands had never bothered to rename the lands. It just seemed easier to keep calling them what they always had. So Lee’s Pasture had been bought from Chuck Lee. Black’s Ranch had been owned by Russell Black.
“Right now, they’re still in Lee’s. Figured I’d wait until you got back to move ’em to Black’s.” Hobbs pulled a sheet of paper from his desk. He always had the current cattle-rotation list handy.
Mitch didn’t do grain-fed cattle. He believed cattle raised in the field on grasses produced better tasting and more tender beef. To keep the herd adequately supplied, he and Hobbs followed a field-rotation schedule that kept the cattle moving from area to area, providing fresh grass while allowing the previous field time to replenish. Moving cattle on a regular basis was time consuming and labor intensive, but all the extra work had paid off. The Lazy L produced the highest quality beef in the state.
“Let’s move them tomorrow. I’d like to get them a little closer. With the drought, the ocelots in the area will be hungry and thirsty. It’d be safer for our calves and the ocelots. I’d hate to have to shoot one of those fellers.”
“Right. What time you want to head out in the morning?”
Before Mitch could answer, the radio on the desk squawked. “Hobbs.”
Hobbs keyed the mike. “Yeah. Hobbs here.”
“We’ve got a cow down.”
“Damn it,” Hobbs muttered. “Where?”
“Section 320.”
“Ocelot?”
“Maybe. I’m thinking wild hogs though. She’s torn up pretty good.”
“Okay, let’s get the rest of the cattle moved out of that section and into…hold on a sec.” He pulled out his rotation schedule and glanced at Mitch. “Move ’em to Lakeland area?”
Mitch nodded. “That should work. Have the guys haul the carcass as far away from the rest of the cattle as possible.”
Hobbs keyed the mike. “I’ll be heading down your way shortly. Look around for any other lost cattle. Be there in about thirty.”
Mitch stood. “Give me ten to change clothes and I’ll head down there with you.”
Hobbs stood then shoved his chair under his desk. “You don’t have to come along. You got better things to do than clean up a dead cow.”
“Today, I think I’d rather deal with a dead cow than women.”
Hobbs snorted. “I feel that way every day.”
Mitch jogged back to the house. As was his habit, he let himself into the master suite entry hall using the French doors leading to his private deck. Since Joanna had moved out and vacated one of the walk-in closets, Magda had separated his clothes. His rough work clothes and boots were in the smaller closet adjacent to the master bedroom. His dress clothes had been moved to the larger walk-in closet adjacent to the master bath. Personally, he had no preference which closet was his, or if his work clothes shared space with his nicer things, but if the segregation of his work duds made Magda happy, then fine with him.
On reflex, he glanced into his bedroom as he passed. Olivia was asleep in his bed, a sight he’d never thought he’d see. One long slender leg curled outside the sheet covering the rest of her. His body tightened at the picture.
Then a little head popped up beside her. Adam grinned and waved.
Mitch waved back and crooked his finger in a come-here motion.
Adam checked his mother, slid from the bed and hurried across the floor, his sock-covered feet gliding silently on the wood flooring.
“Hey, buddy. What cha doing?” Mitch whispered.
“Taking a nap, but I’m not sleepy. I told Momma that, but she made me lay down anyway.” He motioned to Mitch to come closer. “I think she made me take a nap because she was sleepy.”
Mitch bit the inside of his lip to keep from laughing. Smart kid.
“What are you doing?” Adam asked.
“I’m changing my clothes and…” Mitch paused. Would telling a five-year-old about a dead cow scare him? He tried to remember about himself at that age. Would he have been scared or grossed out by a dead cow? Probably not. In fact, he’d have loved it, blood, guts and all. He made his mind up. “Remember Hobbs who drove us to the house?”
Adam nodded.
“Well, he and I are going down to Section 320. I have a, well, something killed a cow. The ranch hands are moving the rest of the cattle to another field for grazing tomorrow. Hobbs and I are going to drag the dead cow farther away and let the wild animals have it.”
Adam’s eyes lit up. “A dead cow. Cool. Can I come?”
Mitch hesitated. He glanced toward Olivia. Still asleep. Would she mind if he took Adam? But then, wasn’t that why he’d insisted she bring Adam to the Lazy L, so he could get to know his son? Mitch didn’t spend a lot of time hanging around the house, so if he wanted to spend time with his son, the boy would have to come out with him. Hell, truth be told, this place was way too fancy. He’d tried to tell Joanna they didn’t need anything like this, but she had really loved the plans. Guilt at not being with her when she’d miscarried James’s child had driven him to giving her carte blanche when it came to spending his money. She’d made a dent in his bank account, but he’d figured that if building this damn house would help with her post-pregnancy depression, then at least he’d been there for her this time. But now he was stuck with the palace, as his parents called it.
“Let’s go find Magda. I want her to know where you are in case your mom wakes up and looks for you. Okay?”
Adam’s grin lit up his face. His eyes sparkled with excitement.
Mitch remembered feeling that way when his dad took him along on ranch chores, especially ones his mother thought too disgusting. Those were always his favorite. And a dead, chewed-up cow would have been the ideal chore for him and his dad.
They found Magda reading a magazine on the covered patio overlooking the swimming pool and adjacent whirlpool. She looked over her shoulder as Mitch and Adam walked through the French door. She frowned at Adam. “What are you doing up? I thought you were down for a nap.”
Adam crossed his arms over his puffed-out chest. “I’m too old for a nap. And I’m not sleepy.”
“I see.” Magda
laid her magazine on the glass-top table in front of her and picked up her iced tea. She took a sip. “So what am I going to do with you the rest of the afternoon?” She checked her watch. “I have a load of towels coming out of the dryer in ten minutes. You want to help me fold them?”
He shook his head. “Me and Mitch are gonna move a dead cow.”
“Really?” She stood and motioned for both guys to follow her in the house. “Adam, I left a couple of cookies on the counter for you. You want them?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He took off for the kitchen in a run.
“You’re taking Adam with you to take care of a cow carcass?” Magda slugged Mitch’s arm. “Are you nuts?”
He rubbed the spot where she’d hit him. “He’ll love it. I did when I was his age.”
“Yes, but you grew up here. He’s a city kid and—” She broke off as Adam came back into the living room carrying a cookie in each hand. “Here, Mitch. I brought you one.”
Mitch took the cookie. “Thanks, pal.” He ate the cookie in one bite. “Magda thinks you’d rather stay here and help her.”
Adam shook his head vigorously. “No. I want to go with you.”
Mitch smiled. He wanted Adam with him. He wanted to show Adam the ranch and all the cattle and horses and… He laughed to himself. How sad. He was trying to impress a five-year-old boy. But this just wasn’t any boy. This was his son.
“Okay. You need to get some shoes on.”
Adam hurried from the room.
“If Olivia wakes up, let her know Adam is with me, okay?”
Magda snorted. “When Olivia finds out you’ve taken her son to see a dead cow, that cow may not be the only dead thing around here tonight.”
He shrugged. “I’ll handle Olivia.”
Chapter Nine
Olivia paced the kitchen. Thump of the crutches, stomp of her good foot. Thump. Stomp.
“I can’t believe he took Adam to see a dead cow. What was he thinking?”
Magda stopped kneading the bread dough and turned to look at Olivia. “Probably thinking he wanted to show Adam the ranch.” She went back to work on the dough. “Adam wanted to go, so Mitch took him. Besides, do you know a little boy who wouldn’t want to go out with the guys rather than take a nap?”
Texas Two Step: Texas Montgomery Mavericks, Book 1 Page 13