Saving the Soldier (Selkirk Family Ranch Book 2)

by Vartanoff, Irene

  She was forcing herself to read a financial newsletter on her tablet when she thought she heard a noise other than wind. Yes, there it was again. The sound of a large motor. A truck, maybe? A truck?

  She put down the tablet and raced to the nearest window fronting the driveway. Despite the blowing snow, the headlights of an approaching vehicle were visible. It had a large plow attachment and was plowing the driveway as it proceeded.

  “Do you see that? Everybody! There’s a plow!” she cried.

  A horn sounded as the vehicle neared the house. Paula ran into the kitchen to grab her coat. “Miss Betty, come see. There’s a snow plow out front.”

  “Land sakes. In this wind?”

  They hurried over to the main part of the house. Paula stepped out onto screened porch. It was icy here, with the heat of the house melting some of the drifting snow. She almost slipped, but she caught herself.

  “Look at that,” she cried. “That can’t be a state highway plow. They wouldn’t come down this long drive.”

  Addie appeared, shivering in just a sweater. Baron arrived with a coat on and put another over Addie’s shoulders.

  Paula looked at the snow plow again. “It’s a Humvee. An Army Humvee.”

  JD said, “Not quite the cavalry, but close enough. The National Guard.”

  She turned to stare at him. JD was the only one who didn’t look surprised by the arrival of the large military vehicle. “You arranged this, didn’t you?”

  JD grinned his cocky grin, but there was an angry look in his eye. “Called in a few favors.”

  “Why are they here?” she asked. “The wind will eventually die down, and the ranch vehicles should be able to cope with the snow then.”

  “To get me out. I didn’t come to the ranch of my own free will, as you may recall.”

  She stepped back. The sudden iciness in his demeanor told his true feelings for her.

  Amazement in his voice, Baron said, “You got the National Guard to come give you a ride?”

  JD grinned. “What good is Dad being buddies with the governor if we can’t get a little help now and then?” He made it sound so reasonable. The Selkirks had power and influence, but they rarely displayed it this openly.

  The Humvee stopped at the front porch. A man jumped out, and then, a woman.

  “Tess!”

  The man helped Tess up the steps.

  “Ta-da!” she cried. “Here we are to rescue you.”

  She swooped in and started hugging them, beginning with Miss Betty.

  “Hey, buddy,” the man said, shaking JD’s hand. “Good to see you upright.”

  “Welcome,” said Baron. “How many others are in your vehicle?”

  Tess said, “It’s just me and sourpuss here. I told Daddy I wanted to come out and join the fun. He insisted I get a ride with Rolf.”

  “Come on in, all of you,” Miss Betty said. “We’re just lettin’ the heat out.”

  She soon had the newcomers sitting down to an impromptu meal in the kitchen. Tess was fine. Rolf was obviously dragging.

  “Did you do any of the driving?” Paula asked Tess. Paula was pacing. The arrival of the Humvee was a direct threat to her plan to keep JD here until he took up the responsibility of running the ranch.

  “I wanted to, but he wouldn’t let me. My job was cheerleader.” She grimaced. “As usual.”

  With the weary air of having repeated it many times, Rolf said, “I’m the one with the Humvee experience. The governor entrusted me with the vehicle, and your father entrusted me with you. Both expected me to bring their precious possession through safely.”

  Tess pouted and then shot him a dark look. “They’d never have known if I drove for a bit.”

  Rolf looked as if he wanted to argue further, but a yawn prevented him.

  Paula stood on the sidelines in the kitchen as Tess and Addie conferred about the horses while Miss Betty heated up coffee for the newcomers. JD volunteered that he’d called the ranch hands’ compound this morning and they’d been out and fed and watered the other horses. Perhaps Miss Betty was right about his interest in ranching details after all.

  Baron wanted to know who the new man was. JD explained he and Rolf Pedersen were Army buddies.

  “Let me get this straight,” Baron said. “You called Dad, and Rolf, and Tess, too, and arranged for the National Guard to lend Rolf a Humvee?”

  JD nodded, that typical cocky look on his face. “Knew he could get through.”

  Baron rubbed the back of his neck. “But how could you get here so soon?”

  “Drove all night,” Rolf said.

  “It was lots of fun,” Tess said. She was her most animated, happy self. No sign of alcohol, for once. Her dark hair glowed against her light tan. When she was happy, she was movie star beautiful. If only she would stay happy and stay off the sauce.

  “But why?” Baron asked.

  “To take me home,” JD said. “I’m not staying. Didn’t ask to be here.” He shot Paula a distinctly unfriendly look. “I’ve got a hot date back at the hospital.”

  Paula smothered her hurt reaction. Whether that date was with a frisky nurse or with a doctor, JD was making it clear it wasn’t her business.

  Baron’s expression turned thunderous. “You’re just going to turn tail and run back to Cheyenne? After claiming you’re here to stop the sale?”

  JD winced, but recovered quickly. He said off-handedly, “The hospital is my home now. Anyway, it’ll be days before anyone else can get out here. Your guy in Salt Lake will have to cool his heels a bit longer.”

  “If nobody can get in or out, who’s feeding the cattle?” Tess asked.

  “No one. Haven’t you noticed the wind? This wind could keep up for days,” Baron said.

  “I’ll be ready to take you back in a few hours,” Rolf said, “but first I need a break.”

  “Of course he does. He’s been driving for two straight days,” Tess said. “Wouldn’t let me spell him. Macho man.” She glared.

  Rolf glared back. “Told you twenty times the vehicle is my responsibility.”

  He yawned again. “Anywhere I can zone out for a while? I’m beat.”

  Miss Betty said, “Got another guest room I can make up for you in a jiffy.”

  “Thank you, ma’am, but I wouldn’t put you to the trouble,” Rolf said. “I just need a little nap.”

  Tess gave him a disbelieving look, but said nothing.

  Miss Betty said, “Try the den for now. It’s at the back of the house and quiet. Got a nice couch.”

  JD turned to Baron. “While Rolf gets some rest, why don’t you and I take the Humvee over the ridge and hook it up to a hay wagon? Feed the cattle.”

  Baron looked surprised, then doubtful.

  JD said, “Come on. It would work. That baby can haul, and it’s steady on weird terrain. If we lose even a hundred cattle in this, we’re facing a substantial financial loss. No need when the Humvee can do the job.”

  JD seemed excited, even eager.

  Within minutes, Rolf had been shown to the den to nap. He’d insisted he should go with the men but they’d talked him into resting when he couldn’t stop yawning over his meal. Tess had sacked out in her old room. JD and Baron suited up again, while Miss Betty worked on readying another guest room.

  JD and Baron climbed into the Humvee. It slowly lumbered off.

  Chapter 15

  Somehow, Baron had assumed JD would be the driver. With a fake foot. Okay, he’d try. He could slew over and use his left foot.

  He’d never expected to be in a Hummer again. The last time he’d been in a vehicle like this had been in Iraq. That last day. He’d been riding shotgun when he saw the woman and the little girl standing at the side of the road, arms outstretched in supplication. He’d told the driver to stop. He’d pointed them out to Rob. Urged them to check out what the woman wanted.

  That little girl. She couldn’t have been more than five years old. The woman probably was a teenager herself, but all he co
uld see of her was her fearful eyes. The little girl showed no fear. Only curiosity. Probably seldom saw men who didn’t have swarthy skin and black hair. Rob was a blond. JD’s hair was light brown. They dressed funny, too. Different. She was curious. He wanted to give her some candy. All the guys carried candy to give to the children.

  The vehicle jolted and pulled him out of his abstraction. They were down in the valley where the ranch hands’ compound was. “Call the bunkhouse,” he told Baron. “Get some men to meet us at the barn.”

  “Not sure I know the number, only Hoot’s,” Baron grumbled.

  JD recited a number. “Try that one. And try not to be an obstructionist.” He didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm in his voice. “Your big deal buyer doesn’t want his first task here to be calling the knacker man to come get a lot of dead cows.”

  Baron finally made the call, after asking him to repeat the number. JD needed all his arm strength to steer the Hummer through the snow, otherwise he’d have made the call himself. Inwardly, he shook his head at Baron’s graceless greeting and commands to go to the barn. Baron now was telling the guys to bring shovels. Duh.

  JD maneuvered the vehicle past the various buildings, including Hoot’s cottage, the cookhouse, and the couple of homes of married hands, and over to the barn. He backed it up to the barn door.

  Four of the hands appeared. JD hopped out carefully, holding onto the door so he wouldn’t slide. He greeted the men and told them what needed to be done.

  Baron alit. The team was assembled. They swung into action with minimum fuss once JD was in charge. The trailer was attached, hay was loaded, and coordinates for finding the cattle were named. As many ranch hands as would fit hopped in.

  “Okay, let’s roll,” JD said, swinging into the vehicle. He nodded at one of the ranch hands who would remain. “Davis, we’ll call you when we’re on our way back for more.” The man actually saluted.

  The next part of the trek wasn’t as smooth. They couldn’t go quickly because the drifts made it difficult to discover where the land lay under the thick, treacherous coat of white. Baron at least seemed to know where the road ought to be. He was more relaxed now that JD was visibly in charge. Interesting.

  Apparently, Paula was right about one thing. Baron truly didn’t have any affinity for managing men. He was a smart guy, but he got awkward around people he was supposed to boss. Didn’t have the touch. JD had learned his in the service. He’d been smooth with the girls when he was a kid, but he’d learned how to get along with guys in the Army.

  Voyaging through the uneven terrain and steering around sometimes mountainous drifts was slow, tedious work. JD didn’t mind. No one was going to shoot at them. No woman would appear by the side of the road, swathed in black robes, with her arms out, begging. No little children would materialize.

  JD consciously relaxed his tense shoulders and tried to think of other things. He could do this despite a couple of missing fingers. He could do this despite a fake foot. It felt good. To divert himself, he asked the ranch hands questions about how they’d been faring during the storm. Then he asked them about the cattle, where they liked to be, how many would be in severe danger. Kept asking questions until they saw the first group.

  “Yee-haw! Here we come with dinner!” he yelled.

  He brought the Humvee to a stop. Everyone piled out and began to unload the hay. Red Angus cattle quickly surrounded the vehicle.

  The hands knew how much hay to leave. When they’d unloaded enough, they got back in. “Next stop,” JD said. And so it went. With their intimate knowledge of the ranch roads, JD didn’t waste any more time than the weather made necessary.

  Baron read off the coordinates where the cattle were, finding them via their embedded computer chips.

  “Good use of technology,” JD said.

  “I never thought we’d need to use it in crazy weather like this.” Baron said. “It never snowed once last winter.”

  The stiff wind continued to swirl around them menacingly, but the Humvee’s low center of gravity kept them steady. When they ran out of hay, they returned to the barn for another load.

  The hours passed. The work got done. Finally, the ranch hands confirmed that they’d covered enough of the Red Angus herd. Other groups were working elsewhere in the more remote acreages that had their own ranch house bases and ran some other breeds. The Selkirk ranch had more than one center because it consisted of so many other abandoned ranches.

  JD remembered visiting a couple of them as a kid. He’d even used that old line cabin a couple of times when he and a teenage girlfriend wanted to be real private for a while. When he asked about it, Baron said shortly it had burned down. He got a strange look on his face when he said it.

  Chapter 16

  Paula waited impatiently for Tess to wake from her nap. When she finally made an appearance in the kitchen, Paula grabbed her. “How did you persuade your dad to let you come out here?”

  Tess grinned. “I didn’t. I lied and told Rolf he’d insisted. I was in the hospital, visiting Dad, when Rolf showed up to get his orders. I ran after him and claimed Dad had said I should tag along. Rolf wasn’t pleased, but there was nothing he could do about it because the nurses wouldn’t let us back into Dad’s room for a while and Rolf had to get going.”

  “You pulled a con, in other words.”

  “Yeah.” She looked very pleased with herself. “Got myself an adventure.”

  Then she sobered a little. “It was a rough trip. The roads are terrible. SUVs were abandoned everywhere. We stopped a lot to check on them in case there were stranded travelers. Picked up cars full and took them to the next town. It happened over and over. That’s why it took us so long to get here. At one point, I had two infants in my lap.”

  Miss Betty gave Tess a sharp look. “So you wasn’t alone with that boy much? He didn’t try to take advantage of you?”

  Tess rolled her eyes. “Miss B., I’m all grown up. I can handle myself with men. Even Army men.”

  Paula and Miss Betty exchanged a glance.

  “So what’s the plan?” Paula asked. “Are you staying here a while or going back with JD and Rolf?” She managed to say JD’s name without any emotion in her voice. “Or are you taking the Humvee over to Salt Lake City to pick up Baron’s buyer?”

  “No way. I don’t want big brother to sell this place. I’m here to beat some sense into his head.”

  “You’ll have an uphill battle, since Addie definitely is for the sale.”

  “Because neither Robert Selkirk nor JD has stepped up to the job and taken the load from Baron’s shoulders,” Addie said, as she walked into the room.

  “You mean you wouldn’t push him to sell anymore if JD started managing the ranch?” Tess asked. She sounded accusatory. Paula was sure Tess hadn’t been drinking, but Tess drunk could be very aggressive and this sounded like Tess drunk.

  Addie looked at Tess with tolerance in her gaze. “I never did push Baron to do anything. It’s all up to him. He has more than done his duty for this family. He isn’t obligated to ruin his life just for some land and cattle.”

  Paula thought it ironic that Addie, who had banked a small fortune from her television career, could easily dismiss the life work of generations of Selkirks to build their family wealth. Addie only cared about the well-being of her man.

  “From what I’ve seen, Baron isn’t even thinking much about the management of the ranch anymore,” Paula said.

  Addie said, “That’s true, but it’s a good thing for him. Maybe not so good for the ranch, but if you Selkirks really care, you’ll do something about that.”

  Tess said, “Don’t look at me. I’m just a girl. I don’t have any say.”

  Addie, pretty, slender blonde with a sweet face, put her hands on her hips. “That’s absurd. Of course you do.”

  Paula said, “I’ve been telling you for years, your dad is a sexist, and your brothers may or may not be. Whichever it is, your vote is just as important as theirs in determinin
g what happens to this ranch. The three of you ought to get together tonight and hash it out. Obviously, Robert Selkirk doesn’t plan to come back here.”

  “Nobody’s going to listen to me.”

  “I didn’t raise you to be so down on yourself,” Miss Betty said. “Where’s your pluck? It’s as Paula says. You got as much right to a say in things as your brothers do.”

  Tess said, “I love this ranch, every bit of it. No one asks me what I want for my future, what I see for this ranch. What it could be.” There was despair in her tone of voice.

  “Then tell them. Make them listen. Get them on your side,” Paula said.

  “Thank you, Mother,” Tess replied. “I don’t need the stress on top of the stress.”

  “Why not move back here and take up the reins of the ranch management?” Addie said. “You’d do important work for your family, and be away from the whole VA hospital scene.”

  “I want to be an actress before I settle down to a lifetime of cattle ranching. Haven’t you ever wanted to just go and do something crazy?” Tess asked, desperation in her voice.

  Addie said, “Friends out in California told me moving to Wyoming was crazy. But I did it anyway,” she smiled, remembering. She bent a thoughtful look on Tess. “I’ve offered before. If you’re serious about wanting to go to Hollywood, I’ll call Caz today,” Addie said. “I owe you one and so does he. He’ll fix you up with a role on his TV show, and get you an agent, too. He’s a sweetie.”

  Tess eyes opened wide. “You’d do that for me? After how nasty I was to you when we met?”

  Addie waved that away. “You helped me when I desperately needed help.” She turned to Paula, “You did, too. If there’s anything I can do for you…”

  Paula’s mouth quirked. “I don’t need a trip to Hollywood, but I’ll take your offer under advisement.”

  “You for sure don’t need a horse gentled,” Tess said, teasing about her lack of affinity for the animals.

  Paula rolled her eyes. “Riding all day at roundup one day a year is enough for me. Maybe an occasional slow meander along some of your trails.”