The Texas Rancher
Page 4
Before .long Josie had the house straight, if not back to its previous splendour, for curtains needed replacing, and the carpets were on the threadbare borders. Not that any of these things bothered Josie, for the washing of curtains and the polishing of furniture had made it a home again, not the shell of a dwelling she had walked into a short while
before.
The garden, too, came under fire from her busy fingers, and the weeds were ruthlessly torn up and piled in a heap for burning. This work was confined to the evenings, but she had to be careful not to overdo the amount of time she spent on these chores, working them in while her grandfatnei snoozed on the back porch, and timing her return to the house when she judged he would be ready for company. If she was tired, and there were many evenings she could cheerfully have gone straight to her room and collapsed on the bed, she successfully hid this fact from him. The satisfaction of putting all in order again drove her on relent
lessly.
By the time two weeks had passed, Josie had broken the back of the wwk needed to be done on the front and back gardens, and had been able to turn her attention to the outer fringes of what was left of her grandfather's property, and as she surveyed the rotting fences and open spaces caused by the collapse of the fences, she could well see Kade Boston's point. Those fences would have to be seen
. to, although most would have to be replaced, she
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thought as her fingers touched the rotting wood of
one section.
Her forehead creased as she tried to assess the amount of fencing required, but she gave up the struggle after a while. She would have to ask Nat tor help on that one. It was no use asking her grandfather, for before she knew it he would be tackling the job himself, if only to prove that he was still capable of such work, but he was not, for Josie had not missed the fact that he got breathless extremely quickly, and she meant to get the doctor to give him a check-up when she could persuade him to seek medical aid. So much had already been accomplished since her return that she saw no difficulty in getting her way in this matter, if she chose the right time to bring the subject up.
The fact had gradually been borne in on her that it was her supposed desertion of him that had been the prime factor in his enforced way of life. Bitterness in seeing his life's work slowly edging to a standstill through lack of funds, coupled with the fact that he was being held to ransom, was hard enough to take, without the added sorrow of an uncaring granddaughter.
As Josie was slowly straightening out the house and the surrounding land, so too was her grandfather's life changing. Meal times were prompt, and no waiting until he needed to eat. Canned meals were a thing of the past for him�Josie saw to that, for her stay in lodgings while she was at college had taught her how to cook, for there had been no extra money to pay for such luxuries as having her meals cooked for her, as some of the other more well-endowed students had had. It had
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been a case of subsisting on the grant she had obtained, and when that had dried up, finding an evening job to keep her going until the next cheque arrived.
Although it had been hard, Josie was now grateful for the lessons learnt on how to survive on the barest amount of money available, tor had she received what she should have received from her grandfather, she would have been featherbedded right through college, and would now have been flummoxed on how she could possibly feed not only herself, but her grandfather also, on the small wage she earned each week at the soda fountain. Although it was not so small as she had at first imagined, going by Nat's apologetic air when he mentioned the amount, and she had in tact been pleasantly surprised. Yes, she could manage, and was happy to do so.
Apart from the curiosity aroused by Josie's return, shown by the sudden inrush of folk to buy anything from candy to ice cream, giving them an excuse to take a good look at the newcomer in their midst, there was no sign of their attitude towards her grandfather changing, and this worried Josie, for she knew Nat had complied with her request. She could hardly have been ignorant of this, for although curiosit) was there, there had been no friendly overtures from the people Nat had introduced her to. That they saw her as a modern version of 'Diamond Lil' was only too plain, and she could sense their disappointment in finding her dressed in a cheap cotton dress, much as the women wore themselves, and Josie felt that
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she ought at least to sport a diamond bracelet to
live up to the part.
Eventually the day arrived when she returned home to find her grandfather scowling over a letter he had received that morning, and passing it over to her with a curt, 'Must be getting short of respectable citizens,' he left her to peruse the con
tents. It was an invitation for her grandfather to sit on
the town's welfare committee, and Josie's heart sang as she read the polite, almost pleading missive. It was their way of saying sorry, she was sure of it. She looked back at her grandfather, who was
pretending he was busy filling his pipe, but she knew he was waiting for her comments. If he had read that invitation once, he had read it a dozen times, Josie thought, judging by the several creases made where it had been folded and unfolded.
Managing to instil some indignation into her
'voice, Josie said quickly. 'Well, they've got a nerve! How can you be expected to sit on a committee? I mean, surely they've got some younger folk they can ask? No, Gramps, you turn them down, you've done your share for the town. It's time you took things easy.' To her hastily concealed delight, he jumped on the oblique challenge with a growled, 'Just you hold on a moment. I'm not ready to be put out to graze yet.' He was silent tor a moment or so, then he said, 'Been wondering just liow long Kade Boston would run things around here. Guessed he'd taken more on his plate than he could handle.' He rubbed his chin, a sign that told Josie that he would accept the invitation. He always did
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that when he had some scheme in mind, and his next words proved it. 'Guess there are a few things I'd like to bring up.' He gave her a fierce glare. 'Folk thought I'd buried my head in the sand these past few years, so it's about time I put them right on that for a start.' He nodded to himself. 'About time some of them came calling too, so you can get acquainted.'
This was not exactly what Josie had in mind, but she was content enough that the first steps had been taken to embroil her grandfather in the affairs of the town again, but woe betide anyone who spoke disparagingly of his granddaughter! She could see squalls ahead if he caught even the slightest hint of such gossip, but it was a chance she had had to take, telling herself that it would be a very brave man, or woman, come to that, who left themselves wide open to Joseph West's fire, and were sure to tread warily in this direction.
Now that her main objective had been reached, Josie gave her attention to other matters. The fencing being the more pressing item on the agenda, she put the question to Nat the following day. It did not occur to her at the time to mention the specific reason why she needed the fencing so urgently, and Nat had assumed it was wanted to fence off certain areas of the garden, with the result of a delivery a few days later of a goodly amount of definitely inferior fencing left outside the house for Josie's inspection.
Her first reaction was to make arrangements to have it returned. It was absolutely hopeless for the task she had in mind, she thought, as her blue eyes gazed bleakly at the weathered and worm-eaten
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staking. No wonder she had got it so cheaply, she thought miserably. Why, it was in no better condition than the fencing she had wanted to replace.
However, a small incident later that evening caused her to change her mind, and even be grateful for any sort of fencing, inferior, or otherwise' She had wandered down to the edge of the property with the intention of seeing whether there was any hope of salvaging parts of the fence that had either been trampled down by
cattle that had strayed over the boundary, or had simply collapsed through neglect, when she came across a young steer foraging around what had once been a vegetable garden. Picking up a stick and uttering a few bloodcurdling yells, she drove it back to the other side of the boundary, taking particular note of the gap it made for in its flight out of the vicinity.
Keeping a cautious eye out for any furthel strays, she found that it had apparently wandered off from the herd, for she saw no sign of the rest of the herd and fervently thanked providence for this, for she doubted whether she could have handled the situation on her own.
As she watched the young steer disappearing over a ridge, in the distance, her brooding eyes came back to the gap. It had headed automatically through that section, and that meant it had been there before, and judging by the churned-up soil. so had a few more. Her glance strayed along the boundary line and she noted that though there were several gaps in the dilapidated fencing, the gap in front of her was by far the worst and re
-quired immediate attention. Deciding that any kind of fencing was bettel
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than none, Josie headed back to the front of the house where she had left the fencing delivered earlier, and hoping the notes her grandfather had started to make in preparation for his debut on the town committee were still keeping him occupied, she ferreted out an old wheelbarrow, and piling as manv stakes as she could safely transport in one journey, she made the cumbersome passage back to
the boundary line.
Having successfully managed that part of the operation, it was a little disconcerting to find that she had forgotten a few but vitally important items, such as a heavy duty hammer to knock the stakes in place with, not to mention some form of wire or twine to lock them together. Josie could have wept with frustration at such foolishness on hei part. She just wasn't thinking straight; couldn't have been, to have even imagined she could manage such a task on her own.
However, it wasn't long before the streak of obstinacy she had inherited from Joseph West took control, and she refused to be beaten. She had got so far, and simply would not give up now. With a determination bordering on desperation, she made the return journey to search out the items she required. The hammer, she was sure, was somewhere in the house, and she vaguely remembered coming across it on one of her tidying up spurts earlier on; she had tucked it away in the box of
tools in the packing room just off the back porch. nd there just might, she told herself, be a few more things in that room that would come in handy�such as the twine that used to be tied ound the boxes of produce when the market
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garden sold vegetables to the neighbouring farms and town stores.
On these thoughts her heart lifted out of its despondency; all wasn't lost yet. It all depended on how much time shejhad left before her grandfather demanded to know what was keeping her so busy. Her fears on this score were soon allayed by his recumbent form as he lay asleep in his old rocking chair on the porch, one hand still clutching the paper'he had started to make notes on.
Josie smiled as she passed him; it was probably the first sleep he had had that day. The letter would have kept his mind busy during the day, in which case she would have all the time she required for the task in hand, she told herself, as she entered the old storeroom.
Collecting the hammer, she looked around for some of the twine she had hoped to find, and was rewarded shortly by finding a complete spool. Her fingers touched the strong cording; strong enough to do the job, she told, herself happily, and a fence was a fence. The cattle would see a barrier, and that would be good enough to keep them out. They were not likely to examine it for weak structure, or note that the staking was worm-eaten.
Armed with the necessary tools, this time re- membering 'all she would need t0 complete the job, including a knife to cut the twine when needed, Josie made the final trip out to the boundary. The work proved not quite so hard as she had envisaged, tor she was able to replace the fencing without a great deal of physical exertion by sinking the stakes in the holes left by the previous
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fencing, hammering them in without too much bother.
When the gap had been closed, she interlocked each stake with the twine, and when she had finished she stood back to admire her handiwork.
With her head on one side and her eyes slightly narrowed, she nodded to herself. It wasn't what
one might call perfect, but it would do the job until she could make other arrangements, and next time, she told herself, she would make certain Nat knew just what she needed the fencing for�per
haps he would also know of someone who would do
the job for her when she had saved enough money to buy good fencing. On this thought she gave a sigh; if what she had paid out for the stakes was anything to go by, it was going to be a long time before she could afford to buy the wood, let alone pay someone to put it up for her.
It was dusk by the time Josie returned to the house, and she was in dire need of a shower, and was now beginning to feel the effects of her labour. In all she had had to make three trips out with the fencing on the wheelbarrow, and the ache she felt across her shoulders was due to the unaccustomed exercise of not only pushing a loaded barrow, but the hammering in of the stakes.
Her grandfather awoke just as she passed the porch and sat up abruptly, then looked down at the paper in his hand, trying to pretend that he had been studying it for some time. 'Guess I've not been much company tonight,' he said a little apologetically to Josie, adding a shade defiantly, 'Got a lot of things I want to bring up at that meeting.'
In spite of her tiredness Josie had to grin at this
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little white lie of his to preserve his dignity. 'Of course, Gramps,' she said with a twinkle in her eye. 'And I took the opportunity to do a little gardening. What I need now is a cool shower, so I'll leave you to get on with your notes,' and she left him staring after her with a- suspicion of an answering twinkle in his eyes.
The following morning she told Nat about the invitation her grandfather had received from the town committee, adding with a smile, 'He was tickled pink�although he would have hated me to know it. I was only afraid he'd turn it down flat, so I advised him to do just that.' Her smile widened
- to a grin. 'He rose to the bait beautifully!' Nat grinned back at her. 'You haven't forgotten how to handle him, then?' he said teasingly. 'You could always twist him round your little finger, if I recall rightly.' 'It's because I'm so like him,' answered Josie, then her expression sobered as she thought of all the wasted years between them. She ought to have known he wouldn't push her out of his life as her aunt had intimated that he had, and he ought to have known better than to think she had changed that much. Her expression gave Nat an inkling of her thoughts, and his glance sharpened as he asked, 'There's more to that story than you've told me, isn't there?' Josie's blue eyes rested thoughtfully on the serving counter in front of her. 'It doesn't matter now, Nat,' she said quietly. 'The thing is, every
' thing's turned out right.' Her voice grew fierce as she added, 'And that's just how it ought to be.'
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Nat sighed, and turned his attention to replacing the empty sweet jars with full ones. 'Guess you'll tell me when you're good and ready,' he said
sadly. Two evenings later Josie slipped down to the boundary to see if her fence was still intact, and long before she reached the boundary line she stood blinking in astonishment at the sight that met her incredulous eyes. Of her tireless efforts two nights ago there was no sign�but there was indeed fencing there, and her bemused eyes took in the staunch six-foot wired stakes�strong enough, she presumed, to withstand a herd charging at full gallop! Her eye then caught the remnants of her puny efforts. The worn stakes had been pulled out of the ground and just flung down by the side of that impressive barrier
, making it look even more innocuous than it really was. Her glance went back to the fence, and she saw that not only had the original gap been covered, but the whole of the boundary line as far"as she could see. Her breath expelled slowly as she thought of the cost of the operation, and she wondered if her grandfather had come to some arrangement with Kade Boston�had he sold him more land? On this thought her hands clenched by her side. Had Kade Boston been back to bully him when she was at the store? There was only one way to find out, and Josie turned on her heel and marched back to the
house. ; She arrived back just in time to help her grand- I father win the battle over the bow tie he was
tussling with in his preparations for his appearance
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on the committee that evening. 'Gramps?' she demanded as she gave the tie a final tweak into position. "Have you sold some more land to Kade Boston?'
He straightened his cuffs before he replied indignantly, 'Said I wouldn't, didn't I?' and gave her a suspicious stare. 'Why?' he barked.
Josie swallowed and wished she had held her tongue. If she wasn't careful he would find out about her attempts to fill that gap in the boundary. 'Oh. well,' she said, managing to sound casual about it, 'there's a brand new fence up now that covers the whole boundary�a pretty formidable one, too,' she added idly, 'and I just thought ...' She left the rest of the sentence unsaid.
Joseph gave the matter some thought, then to her amazement grinned. 'So he got tired of waiting for me to dig in that long stocking he thinks I have, did he? Well, that's up to him. Now if I'd made my own arrangements and it hadn't suited his purpose�well, that would be a different kettle of fish�as it is, he's taken the matter into his own hands and he'll have to foot the bill. I'm not complaining.'
Josie gulped; did that mean that her grandfather would have to pay the bill if the fencing already there was unsuitable? For it certainly had been, that much was obvious by the way it had been thrown aside as so much rubbish, she thought, as she recalled where it had been left. 'You mean he didn't say anything about what he was going to do?' she persisted, trying to stem the ghastly implication of what the result of her enforced labour