Lilly could tell the woman was working out the details in her mind. She waited and listened.
“And if you tell Daisy, she’ll probably tell everyone and put herself or him or both of them in further danger.” Willow took a drink.
Lilly nodded. “Right, she’s such a talker and likes Jacob so much she’ll let it slip even if we tell her to keep it a secret.”
Willow nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid she would.”
The two women sat in silence for a few minutes. Lilly knew she had to ask. “So, now that you know that someone has tried to hurt Daisy, do you want to quit watching her?”
Willow shook her head. She looked insulted when she asked, “Why in the world would I want to quit? Me being here might keep her safe.”
“Thank you, Willow. I was just worried you’d be afraid and want to quit. I realize now we should have told you earlier.” Lilly felt tears fill her eyes. It felt good to talk to another woman about what had been weighing so heavily on her shoulders.
Willow reached across the table and took her hand. “No, I’ll protect that little girl with my own life if I have to. No child should ever be threatened like that.” She patted Lilly’s hand. After a moment she continued, “I’m surprised Daisy hasn’t told me.”
Lilly tried to smile instead of cry. “I don’t think she understands what happened. She was asleep and didn’t wake up until the cows woke her up.”
“I have noticed that she’s a heavy sleeper.” Willow released Lilly’s hand and carried her empty cup to the washbasin.
“That she is,” Lilly agreed.
Willow turned with a teasing grin. “But that still doesn’t answer my question.”
Lilly scrunched her face much like she’d seen Daisy do when trying to remember what the original question was. Hadn’t she answered all of Willow’s questions? Her brow furrowed.
Willow laughed. “What’s with you and Jacob?”
“Nothing.” She raised her hand and touched the spot where his warm lips had met her cool skin.
“You sure?” Willow asked, crossing her arms and leaning her hip against the sideboard.
Lilly got up and carried her empty teacup to the basin. “Of course I’m sure. Jacob is a nice man who works hard. He’s here at the house because of Daisy. Nothing more is going on. Jacob is Daisy’s brother. He’s nothing to me.” Lilly hated that she’d just repeated herself, as if she had something to hide.
Chapter Seventeen
The next morning, Lilly’s words still cut through Jacob like a sharp westerly wind. He didn’t feel much like riding to town and decided instead to eat the slice of cake for breakfast and go take care of the horses in the small pasture.
He watered the horses and fed them fresh grain. His supplies should be arriving any day. Jacob’s mind ran over the conversation he’d overheard the night before. He shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but now that he knew how Lilly really felt about him, Jacob told himself he’d not lower the guard around his heart.
Halfway through the morning, Caleb arrived. He dismounted, tied his horse to the fence and then hurried to meet Jacob in the pasture. Jacob had been checking the horses’ hooves, making sure they were still in good condition. “Jacob! Guess what happened this morning?”
Jacob had forgotten that Lilly had said she was going to exchange Caleb and Asher’s duties. He grinned. “You fell out of bed and bumped your head. Why else would you come yelling into a corral with half-wild horses?”
Caleb shook his head. “No, that’s not it.” He eyed the closest horses. “Miss Lilly came to the barn and told me to get Asher and Sam and come to the house. When we got there she told us that Asher and I were going to exchange duties.”
“Really?” Jacob released the horse he’d been working on and let it return to the rest of the herd.
“Yep, she said that if I like taking care of the pigs, chickens and cows, I can keep the job.” Caleb puffed out his chest.
“How does Asher feel about the arrangement?” Jacob asked, walking to the gate.
Caleb followed. “He’s as pleased as I am.” The grin on Caleb’s face grew wider, if that was possible.
“And Sam?” Jacob held the gate open for Caleb to pass through.
The young man sobered. “He wasn’t happy at all. For one thing he didn’t appreciate being summoned up to the house with Asher and me. After Miss Lilly told us the news, we were dismissed. On our way out, Daisy stopped me just outside the door and I heard Sam talking to Lilly.”
Jacob realized that Caleb had done just as he had the night before and eavesdropped on Lilly and Sam. Neither of them should have done that. He wanted to hear what the foreman had to say but didn’t want to ask. “I imagine he wasn’t very happy.”
“Nope, he told her that she’d been giving you more and more of his job and asked her if she thought she could run the ranch without him.” Caleb shook his head. “I have to admit, Miss Lilly didn’t take kindly to that line of questioning.”
“I’m sure she didn’t.” Jacob walked over to where he’d tied off his horse that morning.
Caleb followed. “Nope. Miss Lilly told him she didn’t want to find out, but she was still the owner of the ranch and could move the men around as she pleased.” He sighed. “And then she told him that she valued him as a family friend and didn’t want to lose him.”
Jacob led his horse to the trough. “So that must have made him happy.”
The boy shrugged. “I suppose so. Daisy asked about the kittens and I told her that if Lilly didn’t mind, I’d show them to her later. When she ran in to ask, I left.”
“It sounds like she worked it all out.” Jacob stretched his back.
“Well, I haven’t got to tell you the best part yet.”
Jacob laughed. “There’s more?”
“Yep, guess who mine and Asher’s new boss is?”
He sobered. “It’s not Sam?”
Caleb rocked back on his heels. “Nope.”
An uneasy feeling settled in Jacob’s stomach. “Then who is?”
The boy laughed happily. “You are.”
That explained why Sam felt Jacob was taking over more of his job. “But why?”
“Miss Lilly said it was your idea to move us and thought since you are always close to the house and Sam is usually out in a pasture or attending to business in town, that it was the perfect solution.” He walked to his horse.
Jacob really wished Lilly had talked to him about all this before appointing him boss over her ranch hands. He pulled himself up on his horse and rode up beside Caleb. “Has Asher said how many cattle and pigs you’ll be taking care of?” he asked, aware he had no idea what Lilly owned as far as livestock was concerned.
Caleb straightened in the saddle. “After I got back to the barn, I spent about an hour with Asher. He says that right now we have about a hundred cattle on the ranch. Sam took most of the herd to market.” He rubbed his chin. “Since you’re my boss, I need to tell you that Asher thinks about fifty head of cows are missing. They’ve been missing since before the cattle drive.”
Jacob frowned. “Does Sam know they are missing?”
The young man looked at him. Worry filled his eyes. “Asher didn’t tell him. He was afraid Sam would fire him for losing them. You aren’t going to fire him for losing them, are you?” Caleb asked.
Maybe Sam already knew that the cattle were missing. Didn’t he keep up with the livestock? Or did he just take it for granted that Asher wouldn’t lose them? Even though Jacob didn’t know Sam well, he felt like he knew the man well enough to know that Sam knew everything that took place on the ranch.
He realized Caleb was staring at him. “No, I’m not going to fire him, but I would like to talk to both of you when we get back to the barn.”
“That’s what I told Asher
you’d say.” Caleb’s happy grin was back in place.
Asher met them in the yard when they got back to the barn. He grinned. “Hello, boss.”
Jacob swung down from the saddle. “Asher.”
Caleb and Asher followed Jacob into the barn. Jacob tied his horse to one of the stall doors and motioned for the two young men to follow him to his room. He held the door open for them to enter and then told them to sit down.
Caleb took the chair and Asher sat down on the edge of the bed. Asher looked about the room with interest. “Nice place you have here,” he said, still smiling as if it was his birthday.
“Thanks.” Jacob shut the door. He decided to treat the men like he would his younger brothers.
Although if truth be told, Jacob had a feeling that Asher might be older than himself. It was in the way the man acted. He let on that he was younger but there were signs in his facial expressions that said he had wisdom, and wisdom usually came with age.
Jacob pushed those thoughts away and crossed his arms over his chest and focused on Asher. “Caleb tells me that you have several head of cattle missing.”
Asher’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes, sir.”
Jacob shook his head. “Don’t call me ‘sir.’ I’m not angry, I just want to get to the bottom of this. When did you notice them missing?”
Asher nodded his understanding. “A few days before the cattle drive.”
“Did you tell Sam?”
He shook his head. “No, not this time.”
This time? Jacob stood a little taller. “This has happened before?”
“Yep.”
Jacob didn’t like getting one-word answers. “Look, Asher, I’m not angry with you. I just need to find out what has happened in the past. We’re both at new jobs. I’ll help you with yours but you have to help me with mine, too. So no more one-word answers.” He waited for Asher’s nod. “Did you tell Sam about this when it happened before?”
In his thick Irish brogue, he answered, “I did.”
Jacob grinned. Well it wasn’t a one-word answer. “What did he say?”
Caleb spoke up. “Come on, Asher, just tell him.”
Asher took a deep breath and blurted, “He said not to tell Miss Lilly, that it would only upset her. Said he’d take care of it.” Asher exhaled.
Jacob sighed. “I’m guessing you never saw those cows again.”
Asher shook his head. “I didn’t tell him this time because it didn’t do any good the other times and the last time I told him he threatened to fire me, if I lost more cows.”
“All right, now we’re getting somewhere.” Jacob didn’t like what he was thinking and he didn’t want the young men in his care to get fired. “Well, let’s start fresh.”
Both men nodded their agreement.
“Caleb, I want you to do a head count on the cattle we still have. Also, count the pigs and chickens. I want to know exactly what we have.”
Caleb stood to leave.
Jacob stopped him. “Don’t discuss our meetings with any of the other men. I have a feeling we three are on our own, especially since Sam and I are at odds.” He had to find the cows that were missing. Jacob’s gut told him Sam was setting him up.
“I think you’re right. I’ve already been told that if I was smart I’d move my bedroll out to the cow shed. I’m not welcome in the bunkhouse anymore.” Caleb shook his head. “And I cleaned the place up for that man. You’d think he’d be more grateful.” A grin pulled at Caleb’s lips.
“You’ll bunk here in the tack room with me. And I’m going to have you take care of milk cows only, not the herd.” It was his understanding that Asher took care of only the milk cows. Until today he hadn’t realized it had been the whole herd.
Caleb nodded.
Asher asked, “What about Sam? He’s not going to like that Caleb’s workload will be lesser.”
Jacob had a feeling Sam wouldn’t mind. If he was right, and he thought he might be, Sam would welcome having the herd back in his care. “I’ll take care of Sam. Asher, I want you to move in here, too. Make yourself familiar with the barn, the horses and all the tack.”
“All right, boss.” Asher seemed pleased to be moving out of the bunkhouse.
Caleb looked around. “It’s going to be crowded with three of us living in here.”
It was Jacob’s turn to nod. In one morning he’d been given two men to worry about, along with the horses, cows, chickens and pigs.
With the added responsibility, Jacob figured he’d be too busy to spend extra time with Lilly. Maybe that was Lilly’s thinking, too.
Jacob decided to start taking all his meals but the evening meal in the barn. He wasn’t about to give up his time with Daisy. Reading to her in the evenings was the only bright spot in his day. If he kept busy enough, maybe he could forget he was unlovable.
* * *
Lilly pushed the hair off her forehead and swiped at the sweat running down the side of her face. Just one more row she encouraged herself. She’d been hoeing weeds since dawn this morning. If she went by the sun’s position in the sky, it had to be close to eleven o’clock. But pride in the tiny plants poking their heads through the soil fed her resolve for an abundant harvest in a few months. She had squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, corn, potatoes, green beans, pinto beans, sweet potatoes and lettuce. When summer was almost over she’d plant turnips, pumpkins, cantaloupe and popcorn. With the few apple trees on the property, plus the walnut tree in the backyard and the persimmon trees down by the pond, she would have dried fruit and nuts to go with her vegetables.
She finished the next row and hurried to the tool shed to store her hoe and gloves. When she entered the house, Willow motioned for her to go to the bedroom. There Lilly found the tin tub filled with warm water and suds almost running over the top.
A grin split across her face and she shouted back to the kitchen, “You’re a doll, Willow.”
A little later, Lilly was dressed in her favorite day dress and in a better frame of mind than she’d been in for a while, she headed back to the kitchen armed with a plan and her sewing basket. The smell of something cinnamony wafted through the house, with a touch of something else Lilly couldn’t quite identify.
“What’s that smell?” she asked as Willow removed something from the oven side of the cookstove. “And thanks for the bathwater. It was lovely.”
“It’s a molasses cake. I found the recipe in the front of one of the novels in my bedroom. It called for cloves and, oh, my, I hope it tastes as good as it smells.” She set the cake on a slice of wood on the kitchen table. “By the way, who reads novels?”
“Daisy’s mom, Gertrude. She loved to read and spent many hours in her room doing just that. Since Daisy’s birth I haven’t had much time for reading but maybe now that you are here, I’ll find more time.” She picked a crumb from the edge of the cake pan and popped it in her mouth. “Willow, that tastes wonderful.”
“Oh, good. I’m glad. Now I need to finish the chicken and dumplings and lunch will be ready.” She turned back around and questioned Lilly. “What are your plans for the rest of the day?”
“I’m going to make Daisy a new bonnet and I have to hem the new dress I made her from one of her mother’s dresses.”
“I can help you with that.”
“No, I really need to finish it myself so it can be a birthday gift from me. But I sure could use help with the party and decorations.”
“We’re having a party? And decorations?” Willow barely contained her excitement and Lilly laughed.
“We sure are and since it’s the first party we’ve had since my father’s passing, I want it to be outstanding.”
“And when is the big day?”
“In two weeks.”
“Oh my stars! That doesn’t give us much time.”
Willow poured the chicken and dumplings in a big bowl, then followed with a bowl of green beans cooked with quartered potatoes and bacon. She set one of the last home-canned jars of pickled beets on the table. “If you’ll ring the bell, lunch is served.”
Asher and Caleb showed up for lunch, Asher appearing uncertain to his welcome and ready to run at the first sign of trouble. “Jacob said Asher could eat in his stead since he wasn’t going to be here in time. Is that fine with you, Miss Lilly?” Caleb lost no time in taking his place at the table.
“That’s fine with me. Come on in, Asher, you can sit by Caleb.” Lilly wondered what kind of a ruckus it would stir up with Sam, but it couldn’t be helped at this point. “What’s taking Jacob’s time right now?”
Caleb could barely restrain his aggravation at being kept from the delicious food in front of him. Lilly hid her smile but shared a knowing look with Willow.
“Don’t rightly know what’s keeping him. Seems to have something stuck in his craw, but ain’t sharing no input with the rest of us.” He placed his hands on the table and Lilly had barely slid her chair close to the table when he said the prayer himself. Three sentences. “Lord, we sure are mighty thankful for this food. Bless it. Bless us. Amen.”
All through lunch Lilly pondered Caleb’s words about Jacob. They were in the middle of cleanup when Willow touched her lightly on the arm.
“I’m sorry, Willow. What did you say?”
“Well, I’ve talked the legs off a chicken and you’ve heard none of it so I’m thinking only one thing steals a woman’s mind like that. A man. And you’re making up all kinds of reasons why he didn’t come for lunch and it’s obvious he could have since he’s in the barn.”
“It’s that obvious?”
“I’m afraid so.” Willow watched Lilly lay out the material on the table for a bonnet for Daisy. In less than five minutes she had it cut out and ready to pin together for sewing.
Pony Express Hero Page 14