by Barb Shuler
“You’re a messy Bessie, aren’t you?” I kissed her cheek loudly and pulled her to me. She curled in and I rubbed small circles as she babbled. It wouldn't be long, an hour or so before she was back to sleep. She was nothing if not a stickler for her routine. I blushed as I caught everyone watching me. They kind of creeped me out when they did that. “What?” I asked, softly.
Tate leaned in and kissed my lips quickly. “You’re a natural with her. That’s all.”
“You look good holding a baby,” Abigail said, her face as straight as it could be. I blinked and felt the heat rush up my neck again.
“Thank you?” I said, a little uneasy at what she might be suggesting. She had been saying that more and more lately. Was it a hint? I chewed my lip and looked down at Abbie, who was already closing her eyes and curling her fingers in my shirt. Whelp, seems my timing was a little off on that nap. I looked up and met Abigail’s eyes and she grinned before winking. I sat there silent as everyone else got up and went to get chores started. I kissed Tate again, this time a little harder.
“See ya in a bit, darlin’. Gotta head to town with the old man,” Tate said before kissing Abbie’s cheek.
“Don’t make me kick your butt, kid,” Joe scolded, playfully. Tate and I laughed. I quickly covered it up with a “Shhh” when Abbie stirred.
“I’m sorry, princess,” I murmured and kissed her cheek. “See ya later, handsome. I love you.”
“Hmm, I will never tire of hearing that,” he said as he leaned in again for another kiss. “I love you too.”
“Y’all go on and get out. Us women folk have things to do,” Abigail said swatting them both on the butts with a towel. I shook my head as I went to go take Abbie upstairs to bed.
A few hours later I was half frozen, aching and having to rub my ass after taking a dive off the bottom step. It was funny, until I went to stand up. Leave it to me. Danny had come to help us take all of the Christmas decorations down since the snow was getting ready to pile on more of its lush freeziness.
“Mama, I can't reach that last set of lights without a ladder,” Danny said.
“It's too slippery up here for a ladder, baby boy. I don't want you breaking your neck. We’ll wait. I want them down as soon as we can reach them, though.”
Danny frowned at the frown on Abigail's face. His arms were wrapped around his middle as we hunkered on the porch. I wasn’t as tall as Danny, but I was a lot lighter. Maybe I could climb up there easier than he could?
“I’ll climb up there. Danny can hold the line while I unhook it. I'm lighter than he is. I can go up and have it off in no time.” I nodded as I moved to the corner of the porch to the one unburied spot and climbed up on the banister. It would be easy peasy.
“Georgiana, don't you dare climb up here!” I heard the warning in Abigail’s face and grinned at her.
“That tone doesn't work on me, Abigail. Let me do this. It's not that big of a deal. Come on, Danny, I'm freezing my butt off out here.”
“Fine, then,” Abigail huffed before scowling. “Daniel, go help her and the two of you try to not break your asses.” Her face was drawn as she spoke.
“We’ll be careful, promise. I won't let Danny get hurt,” I said, meaning every single word.
I waited for him to reach up and take a hold of the porch beam before I climbed up onto the roof. It was colder than the arctic up here with the snow now covering my entire front. A few minutes later Danny and I were standing on the flat roof looking up at the lights that needed to come down. We had this. Piece of cake. We went slowly so we didn't go sliding to the earth below, and within no time we had them down and were trying to figure the best way off the roof. We climbed back down the same way we came up and that was that. The Cannon home had been de-Christmased. Now, I needed wine.
20
Springing Into Action
Tate
It's now the middle of April and the ranch is bustling. We had a new shipment of cows to be sent to a ranch down south. And another in the Dakotas. Horses were coming in and there was the influx of Abe’s animals that needed to be stabled. His new facility was just up the road. It was off the beaten path, but a vet in this area spends most of his time in his truck. Large animals don’t come in to see the vet, the vet goes to them. Right now he had a few small animals, well babies, that needed some extra love. Two baby bison and two mini baby donkeys. Georgie would be the one to keep them under observation while we were out doing the big drive with the McKinley ranch.
Georgie would be staying at the ranch with Abbie while the boys and I were out on the cattle run. We’d meet up with the McKinley’s and drive all the cattle into the south pastures. It was going to be a three day trek, possibly four if things went south at any point.
I walked across the yard and over to the truck where I found Pops, Danny and Jon staring off towards the corral just beside the big barn. My brow rose before I got a good look at what they watched. Georgie stood against the fence, Abbie in her arms. They were both layered with clothes so all you saw was two big marshmallows of color. I chuckled as I watched Abbie’s little hand run across the nose of one of the horses. We had three we were keeping as riding horses, the others would be put out in the pasture for now.
My girls loved the horses, we all did. We’d grown up with them, but there was something special about these three. It was as if they were old souls. They just knew what you needed and they did it. Then, every once in awhile you'll come across one that tears you up mentally and physically. Phoebe's pony is one of those. That joker is five years old and has the spirit of a wild bull in him, but he's very good with Phoebe. No one else can ride him but her. Crazy ass horse has a mind of his own when it comes to that.
I moved towards my girls and wrapped my arms around them, giving them both a big kiss to their cheeks. Abbie squealed when she saw it was me. I took her from Georgie and kissed all over her face.
“Hi, my princess,” I said, laughing softly as she wiggled so she could turn to see the horses. She pointed to them. “Ooooseys!”
I chuckled and nodded. “Yep, those are horsey’s. You like them?” Georgie curled into my side as Abbie clapped and made grabby hands at the horse.
“I think that means yes,” Georgie said, laughing.
“I think so too,” I said, giving Georgie another squeeze. “Okay, princess, go back to your Ma Ma. Daddy has to go help Pops load up the trailer.”
“Y’all leaving soon?” Georgia asked, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth.
“Yeah, we’ll be gone tonight, and the next two days. We’ll return first thing the next morning as long as nothing holds us up. The boys and I will return as fast as we can. You sure you'll be okay here with Abbie? Ma and Pops are leaving as soon as the trailers are loaded. They can take Abbie with them. You could go too… or come out with us.” I said, my brow furrowing. I didn’t like the idea of her being out here alone.
“Tate,” Georgie said as she leaned into me and narrowed her eyes slightly. “We’ll be fine. I'm more than capable of making sure things run smoothly here. You told me - as did Pops - that some fella named Rooster was coming out to help with the animals. I got it. Feed the horses, water the horses, feed the little ones, feed the baby, clean the baby, water the baby-”
I cut her off as my mouth met hers. I chuckled and pulled back. “Okay, okay, I get it. You got this,” I grinned as I kissed her again.
“Nathaniel! Stop kissin’ on that girl and get ya ass in gear!” I snorted at Pop’s words.
“Whoops, Pops is running out of patience,” I handed Abbie back to Georgie.
“We’ll come back out and see you off. I'm gonna take her in and get her a nap, maybe a snack if she won’t go down.” Tango barked at the word “snack” and we both laughed.
“Go, baby, I'll come get ya when we’re ready to go.”
“Byes byes,” Abbie said in a giggling babble as I walked away from them. I turned and blew my girls a kiss and went back to helping the boys load up the trai
ler. I hated we had to take this trip now. I didn't want to leave her. God, please let these next few days move by quickly. I missed them already.
* * *
Georgie
* * *
So, I kind of put on a brave face out there with Tate, but I was nervous as hell. What if something went wrong? What if an animal got loose? What if Abbie got sick, or hurt? What if there was a fire? My God, my head was spinning with the list of bad things that could happen. It was my mind overreacting with the stress. I knew that but I wasn’t able to stop it. It was building up like a boil. It was waiting to pop and squirt someone in the eye. I sighed as I flopped down on the couch, bouncing Abbie. I grinned as she squealed. I kissed her cheeks before pulling her jacket off. It was April, but the temp was still cold. We had a few “hot” days. Apparently when it's in the sixties here that is considered hot.
Excuse me, but to a Southern gal, sixty is not warm. These people were crazy. I wrangled myself out of my jacket and lay back on the couch with Abbie tucked into me. I made sure she was to the back of the couch - just in case. I pulled her little blanket over us and kissed her head. It wasn’t long before she was asleep. My eyes felt so heavy. I closed them and relaxed even more into the couch.
I came awake with a jolt when someone called my name. I felt the hand on my arm as I jerked up.
“Whoa. It’s me, baby. Relax.”
It took a few seconds for it to register that Tate stood before me. I grunted as Abbie shifted and started to fuss. Crapola. I shifted my butt around, pulled my feet under me and held her to me.
“I’m sorry, princess.” I looked up at Tate and gave him a small smile. “Sorry, I was having a weird dream, I guess.” he chuckled and sat beside me.
“It’s okay.” I relaxed into him as he kissed my cheek. “We’re getting ready to roll out. Can we take Abbie out for her hugs and kisses?”
I nodded and handed her to him. She curled into him, her eyes still dazed looking from being woken with a start. I needed to work on that. Poor kid. I was gonna give her a complex or something. I scooped up her jacket from the end of the couch and handed it to him. He got it on her about the time I got mine on. I slipped my feet back into my boots and we headed out the back door. Tango - our shadow - was right behind us. It was an odd thing to watch everyone embrace that little girl this enthusiastically just to be gone a few days. I mean my PaPa and I hugged when one or the other was leaving and he always kissed my cheek, but this was like they were going off to war, not just going on a cattle drive.
Though, in all fairness, this was a loving family. Last year, Abigail and Phoebe had stayed back to hold down the fort and keep Abbie. I was still the new kid, and yes, I had a helluva lot to learn, but I could do this. It was only a few days. Feed and water the animals, take care of the baby - I could do this.
* * *
~ One Day Later ~
* * *
With a curse I shoved the bucket above me, balancing it on the top bar of the fence and carefully climbed up to straddle the dang thing. Ugh. Every part of me hurt already and I still had more to do. I shook my head and whistled.
“Come and get it my furry beasts.”
I kicked my leg over the fence and jumped down. I managed to not topple over this time, so that was a win. Yesterday evening I did that exact same move, but the end result was me face planting when the weight of the feed bucket tossed me forward. It made me rethink this whole, “I can do this” attitude I had. It was a give and take. I gave, the ground took. I moved over to the big feed bucket - no, excuse me, feed trough - and dumped the grains in. The horses moved over quickly and lowered their heads.
“That’s it. Gobble that stuff up. Don’t want your daddy thinking I neglected you.” I laughed as my hand ran gently along the mare before me. She was a chestnut brown, almost hazel colored. She was absolutely gorgeous. I stayed out there another minute or so then headed back to the barn. I had the baby monitor sitting on the bench by the front door alongside my water bottle. Abbie was inside asleep with her big squishy protector while I got these chores done. I'd put her down for a nap an hour ago and I was shocked she hadn’t woken up yet. She had refused to nap yesterday, which was alright with me. I don't think she saw things happening the way they had. When she refused to go back down for a nap I brought her out with me and let her play with Tango. She ran - okay, so it was a fast toddle - around and then her cute little butt crashed hard not too long after dinner.
I moved over to the feed room, uh, tack room, whatever the heck it was called and put the bucket back where I'd gotten it from. Feed room. Yeah, this was the feed room. The tack room was across the stable, or barn. Again, whatever. There were too many names for the same dang things around here. How they figured this mess out I have no clue.
The two baby donkeys - who I'd named Bert and Ernie, because, cuteness - had already been fed. The bison babies - who I was calling Bill and Ted - that Abe had were eating good. The larger of the two was skittish, but coming around. The smallest one, he was a little more friendly, but that was when you had the food bucket in hand. Just like a dang man. Bring him food and he’ll be eating out of your hands.
I locked each stall back, and set the heating lamps to turn on in an hour. They'd stay on all night to make sure that the babies’ stalls stayed warm enough. It was supposed to be in the thirties tonight. Which, the thirty degrees I'd seen a few times in the south was nothing compared to what thirty felt like here. As in, here it should be called, “freeze your nuts off cold”. Before you say it, I'm well aware of the fact that I do not have nuts. But that's how cold it would be. If I had them, they'd freeze up and fall off. The boys were gonna freeze their asses, nuts and fingers off out there in the open prairies. Who drives cattle when it's still freezing out? Crazy ass ranchers, that's who. I sighed as I grabbed my bottle and the baby monitor. No sense in freaking out over it. They knew what they were doing when they went out. They'd know how to handle it.
I took one last look around, making sure I'd put everything back in its place. I could hear Abbie starting to root around in her crib. She’d be up to eat and hopefully I could get her back to sleep. I smiled and moved to the barn door. When it pulled back towards me I screamed. There was a man there. Beard, flannel shirt, big jacket that looked like something Tate wore and a grin on his face. I stepped back.
“Who in the hell are you?” I snapped. My fright turned to anger as he just stood there grinning.
“Sorry to scare ya, sugar. Names Roosevelt Turner. I was supposed to come by and help out?” His brows pulled together and he stared down at me.
“Rooster?” I asked, my head tilting to the side.
“Yeah, sugar, that's me,” he grinned as he held out his hand. I shook it and made my way out the door.
“Fine. Nice of you to show. I'm Georgie. I'm not your sugar, so please don't call me that. I’ve set you up a pallet in the bunk room on the back of the main barn.”
“Thank you, Georgie,” he said, still grinning.
“Breakfast will be ready at five. Lunch will be at noon. Dinner is half past six. They said you knew your way around. So, have at it. Leave this barn to me.” I walked towards the house.
That grin and the way he watched me kind of creeped me out. I moved inside and locked the door. I'm sorry, but he'd be eating on the enclosed porch. I wasn't letting him inside the house.
21
Unforeseen Trouble Strikes
Georgie
I was counting down the seconds until Tate and the family would be back. Yes, things were to that point already. I was missing Tate like crazy. And not only that, I was going stir crazy around here alone with nobody to talk to other than that Rooster dude. But let me be honest, I didn’t talk to him much. He creeped me out. Like, skin crawling kind of creeping me out. The way he watched me made my stomach flip. Maybe I was going crazy. Maybe not. I wasn’t good when left to my own devices. My imagination tended to run rapidly towards all things negative. It had been like that since I was a
kid.
I sighed at my own musings as I made my way over to the barn. I carefully balanced the tray in my hands so I didn't spill anything. I had made up a nice little spread for the baby animals and the two dogs that had been dropped off this morning. Abe’s assistant - Callie, I think it was - had called from the clinic to say she was sending someone over. The family was having troubles and the dogs would be staying with us for a few days. Apparently Abe’s clinic boarded animals when needed. I was okay with that. Better than the poor things just being left out in the wild. Or worse. They were big - like kinda huge - but very friendly dogs. They were also puppies still. They were about seven months old. Lord, I'd hate to see them when they were grown. Even Tango seemed to approve of them. Which I wasn’t so sure about when the man dropped them off. He’d acted a bit standoffish, but seeing as they were both female, we had no issues once he got a good sniff or fifty.
I jostled the handle of the barn and got the door open. I made my way into the barn and whistled. There was no sense in putting the dogs in a stall - well, not to me anyway - when there were no other animals here other than the babies and they were behind bars.
“Come on, pretties. Din Din time,” I smiled as the words fell from my lips. They sauntered out of a stall, their heads tilted to the side - ears flicking. I clicked my teeth as I went down to my knees. “That’s it, come on. I got you some yummy rice and meat.” I sat the bowls on the floor and started digging in the bowl of cut up fruits I brought for the baby donkeys. I had spent a couple of hours today while Abbie napped making a list of things they could eat. And what not to feed them. I’d get tired of eating that barley straw and hay Abe had brought in. I mean, really. They needed a little variety in their lives. I carefully got to my feet so I didn’t scare the dogs and moved over to were Bert and Ernie were. Grinning like the dork I was, I flipped the latch and pushed the door open.