Thankful for the Cowboy

by Mary Connealy

  But she’d just invited them to stay for the winter. Which wasn’t a good way to stop a beginning.

  And anyway, that kiss, that wonderful kiss. It was more shocking for being far more passionate than any kiss she’d ever shared with her beloved Dougal.

  In fact, she hadn’t quite realized a kiss could be like that. And she couldn’t stop herself, about twenty times a day…or fifty…wondering if they could try it again.

  When they were busy eating, Megan went on. “I know we have to settle into our home sooner or later, but until all our shared work is done, eating together makes sense. And the nights are cold. It’ll be time to keep a fire burning soon. Two cabins will take twice the work to heat.”

  That was the pure truth.

  “You’ll find your house easy to heat. It’s halfway to a dugout, with only a sod front wall and a bit on the sides, and that facing the southeast. We picked a sheltered place out of the north wind. Burning a fire to cook with will be nearly enough to keep you warm. The dugout walls insulate you from the wind getting in. And the sod walls keep packing tighter and tighter as the years pass. They’ll be as solid as stone before long. The roof can be a problem, but we’ve avoided that by making a good portion of the house more dugout than soddy, and using the dugout as most of the roof. You’re going to be very comfortable in there. You’ve got a good supply of buffalo chips to heat the cabin and cook over, just like we’ve been doing here.”

  “S-so,” Megan stumbled over her words and her eyes got wide and sad, “we can’t stay then?”

  Lauren couldn’t contain a smile. “I think you should stay, at least for a time. I was just thinking of how strong a wall of sand is, in stopping the wind and keeping out the cold. Maybe you could stay through Thanksgiving. We’re crowded in here, but that’s life on the prairie. Small homes. Tight quarters. And everyone has to behave so we can live together in peace.”

  Tom said, “I don’t think we’ve had a bit of trouble doing that.”

  Lauren thought of a couple of moments they’d had some trouble but she didn’t mention them. “True enough. We’ve all dealt well together. There’s aplenty left to do. We need to gather more buffalo chips.”

  The MacKinnons had to use them for burning, and the Drummonds had been helping gather a good supply. They didn’t have to go far afield. Lauren had never seen a real buffalo but she could barely imagine how many of them would have needed to graze in these sandhills to leave fuel enough to use for years. Well dried cow chips worked well, too.

  “I’ve one more well to dig for you and a windmill to put up, and one for me. I need a well near my house that’ll also serve for the cattle. I’m hitting water with no trouble about ten feet down, so it won’t take long. Two weeks and I’ll be finished, I’m hoping.”

  “That’ll take us to near Thanksgiving,” Lauren said. “My favorite holiday.”

  “How do you celebrate it?” Megan asked. “We hadn’t much when Da couldn’t work. But we had enough and we were thankful for it.”

  “Niall and…” Lauren caught herself before she said Conall. Swallowing her regret, she said, “Niall can hunt a turkey. He can flush one out of the grass.”

  “I’ve been keeping my eyes open, Ma.” Niall ate with enthusiasm, as did all her boys. And Tom. Megan ate well, too. Lauren had to admit she was hungry at every meal. When a body worked long, hard hours, it needed food and plenty of it.

  “There’s a good-sized flock that is nesting in a sheltered valley west of here. I can fetch around a big old tom for you.”

  The table froze. All eyes went to Tom. He smiled. “No need to fetch me. I’m right here with my feet under your table. But a turkey sounds perfect.”

  Then they broke into laughter. Tom included.

  “I’ve saved back some of the best potatoes, and our pumpkins grew well this year. I can make a pie.”

  The whole table burst into questions about the pie and all the other food they’d have.

  “I’m learning from all of you every day,” Tom said. “About the bounty of this land. You’ve made our settling here much easier than it could have been. Aye, Megan and I have plenty to be thankful for this year.”

  “You’re teaching me how to dig,” Niall said with a smile. “I never knew there was a fast way to dig a hole.”

  “Any job can be done well or done poorly.” Tom reached for the bowl of stew, thick with chunks of venison, potatoes and onions. “I’m learning from all of you every day. It’s proud I am that I’ve some skill to bring to this land.”

  “You’re turning into a top cowhand, Tom.” Lauren passed the plate of biscuits to him and eager hands plucked so many away she wondered if the biscuits would reach him.

  Tom passed the stew around and everyone had seconds.

  “I look at all of you here and have no wish to see anyone absent from this table. And you’re right that it’s easier when we’re all coming home to this place.” Lauren very carefully did not look at Tom. The two of them would just have to see that there was no more of the nonsense such as what had gone on in his cabin the other day. There would be no more kissing. She’d do her best to never be alone with him, and when she was, she’d make things clear.

  Megan smiled and almost bounced with pleasure. “I admit I’ve a lot more to learn. I am not feeling quite ready to be running a home on my own.”

  “And I find I like having a daughter.” An impish notion made her look at Tom and add, “As well as another son.”

  “I’d make a poor son, Lauren, seeing as I’m your age and well you know it.” His eyes narrowed.

  The rest of the table laughed and she joined in. Then Tom did, too.

  Turning aside from that, she added. “I was out here when I was nineteen years old and with no more idea of what to do than one of our longhorns. A few folks along the way had explained how to build a sod house, but we made plenty of mistakes before we got the house up. It’s glad I am, to be helping you. Sparing you some of the struggles we had. It’s a treat to pass on what we’ve learned out here. And your windmills are a blessing. Meeting you. Having good neighbors, water for my cattle. I’ve plenty to be thankful for this year.”

  Megan jerked her chin with a gleam of pleasure in her eyes. “We’ll stay then.”

  After the evening meal was done, and the kitchen set to rights, Lauren and Tom sat in the two rocking chairs Dougal had made years ago.

  The youngsters sat on the floor, their heads close together, talking and planning.

  Lauren picked up her mending and worked on it while she watched her boys so friendly and, honestly, fascinated by the girl in their midst.

  It struck Lauren that Megan, for all that she claimed to be twenty-one, probably needed a mother as much as her sons did. Lauren couldn’t help but wonder if she’d have her hands full getting the MacKinnons out of here and in to their own home.

  Especially when Lauren’s heart wasn’t in it.

  Chapter Seven

  Thanksgiving was coming soon.

  There’d been no more foolish kisses. Lauren had that strange impulse under control.

  Of course Tom had been working miles away with Niall all week, while Lauren did her best to finish up Tom’s house.

  There’d been a hunting trip, but Niall and Duncan, not Lauren, had gone out with Tom. They’d heard geese honking overhead and rode to a large pond a stretch south where the geese spent the night. They brought home a feast, with plenty extra to pound into pemmican and feathers to collect for pillows.

  They’d also come back with a bucket of buffalo berries that hadn’t dropped off their bushes yet. All three of them had bleeding hands, but there was enough begging that Lauren promised a pie for Thanksgiving.

  They’d left the turkeys alone because Niall didn’t want to scare the flock away before the holidays.

  The weather was brisk and there was frost in the morning. But the days warmed nicely. Come December they’d do a hunt for big game like deer, elk and antelope. They’d shoot a goodly number of the
m to last the winter.

  But they couldn’t go after big game like that too early. It wouldn’t keep. The meat wouldn’t freeze solid until at least mid-December.

  Lauren’s last well was nearly done. Tom had announced at the breakfast table he’d finish today but it was on the farthest west side of Lauren’s newly purchased land, while Tom’s land was to her east, so Tom asked for food to carry along for the noon meal and supper. He said he and Niall wouldn’t be back until the windmill was finished even if they had to work in the dark.

  Lauren had a goal for the day of finishing Tom’s barn.

  “What’s our horse doing over here?” Megan, riding beside Lauren, pointed at the buckskin mare, one of the horses that had pulled Megan’s wagon. Tom and Niall only took one wagon with them to the windmill sight so two of his four horses were left idle each day. Megan was riding one of them, the other was left in Lauren’s corral.

  Except here she was. This horse had jumped the fence. And she was anything but idle.

  “Shh!” Lauren reached quick and grabbed Megan’s reins. She pulled both horses to a stop.

  “We don’t want to make the new mama jumpy.”

  Rory pulled his horse to a stop on Lauren’s left and smiled across Lauren to Megan. “You’ve got a foal. And she’s a little beauty.”

  Duncan was to Rory’s left and his horse stopped easily. Her boys were skilled riders, and they were savvy about nervous mamas and young animals. Only Megan hadn’t had enough experience to know they needed to stay well back.

  Rory said, “I didn’t see her with the other horses this morning, but some of them were beyond the curve of the sandhill by their corral. I didn’t go check to see if they were all counted.”

  “C-can we just watch her for a while?” Megan asked as if afraid to make a decision herself.

  The buckskin horse stood, alert, watching them with her ears forward. Ready to run or fight, whatever she needed to do to protect her baby. It looked about a half hour old. Still wet, but on its feet and nursing, its tail jerking in time as it suckled.

  “She must’ve had it right in front of the barn,” Lauren said quietly as she watched the gangly baby. “She looks almost black but when she dries off, I’m thinking she’ll have a reddish brown coat. She looks nothing like her mama.”

  Leaning forward to rest his forearms on his saddle horn, Duncan said, “She came here, where she’d been picketed while we were working, to have her baby.”

  “I reckon she knows where home is.” Rory watched the little tyke.

  The mama remained on alert. She shook her mane and whickered a threat at them.

  “We’re not going to be able to work on the barn this morning,” Lauren laughed. “Not without upsetting the new mama. Let’s leave her to her wee one for a while.”

  “I’ve wanted to scout the land, some, Ma,” Duncan said. “Right now, Tom is thinking to dig a well for his cattle, but close enough to his house that he can use it for himself and Megan. We haven’t had time to look for ponds or springs. We should do that before he starts digging.”

  Lauren nodded. “This looks like a good morning for scouting.”

  “I’m not done watching,” Megan said in a hushed voice.

  “It’s a beautiful sight.” Duncan seemed to settle in all the more. The horse wasn’t happy but she didn’t run off. “We haven’t had a baby around for a long time.”

  “Not counting cows,” Rory said.

  They all laughed then quieted to watch the foal learn to use its wobbly, long legs and find warm milk to keep its belly full.

  Finally, the time ticking away, Lauren said, “I’m ready to ride.”

  Megan made a faint sound of protest, but gathered up her reins.

  “I’ll stay and watch for a bit longer, Ma. And Megan can stay, too. You and Rory can ride to the south and we’ll take the north.”

  “The north’s toward the river, but the river is on beyond their property line. Still, you might find water.” Lauren grinned at her son.

  “That’s my plan.”

  Lauren found herself chuckling. “It’s a fine enough plan. Rory, can you tear yourself away?”

  Rory backed his horse and Lauren did as well, they’d need to back trail themselves a bit because there was a big old sandhill that crept up close to the barn. And to go past it took them too close to the barn. They gave the horse plenty of space, then walked their horses for a spell so no thundering hooves would disturb the mare.

  “Maybe after we scout, instead of finishing the shutters on the barn, we can move Tom’s cattle so we at least get something done today.” Rory, always worrying. “That will give the mare and foal plenty of time to settle in.”

  “I’ve never seen this before.” Lauren’s heart pounded as she looked at real wealth.

  It was at the far south end of Tom’s land but still firmly in his boundaries. Water. Gushing, beautiful, musical, miraculous water.

  This spring was more valuable than gold.

  She was struck hard with envy. And it would’ve been a lot worse if she didn’t have three new windmills.

  “Do you think this spring might run year-round?” Lauren looked at her very bright young son, Rory, sitting tall in his saddle. Well, straight, Rory wasn’t what you could call tall yet.

  He swung down. He was thirteen and still just a lad, but he was a fine cowpoke and knew this land well. He dropped the reins of his well-trained cow pony and went to the splattering water coming out of the hillside. He skirted the boggy edges of the pool formed by the streaming spring and got close enough to reach his hands out. He scrubbed them good and smiled with the pleasure of it. Then cupped his hands and let them fill and sipped tentatively, tasting.

  Looking up, his eyes glowing with delight, he said, “It’s almost ice cold, Ma. And I can taste the mineral in it. It’s an artesian well. And from the speed it’s flowing, I’d bet it keeps running through the winter.” He cupped his hands again and drank deep.

  “Tom can easily water fifteen head with this. It might be enough to water fifty head.”

  The pool wasn’t large, but it ran off in a thin creek to the south. Most water around here flowed to the Niobrara and it was easy to find a stream by walking the river banks, and seeing where water flowed in, then following the stream back to its source.

  “Yes, and he doesn’t need to build himself a windmill, at least not for a few years. He can try and find a buyer for both of the windmills he’s got left. He’ll make enough to buy the supplies for four more.”

  Lauren nodded. She wasn’t sure if Tom wanted that. He had the skill to do it, but he’d turned more and more of his attention to the land, his cabin, and helping care for Lauren’s herd. He’d taken to hunting and he’d help tend both places. He was going to be delighted with his new foal.

  “We’ve never crossed this creek in all our riding along.” A steady creek tumbled and rolled along to the south.

  “It flows south. I wonder what river it’s meeting up with down there?” Rory studied the spring, the pool, the creek, then drank more.

  “We all rode out following the river. No one had crossed this area away from the river.” Lauren did some calculating in her head as she watched what looked like a dependable water source. “We could buy land along this creek.”

  “Or Tom could.” Rory grinned at her love of water.

  “Yes, maybe we both could. We could form a ranch that follows the water, and buy out to the sides of it far enough there’d be plenty of grazing for the cattle. You boys brought some money back with us from our trip to town. We should ride right now, back to the land office, and buy this up. Give Tom a chance to buy more if he’s money enough.”

  “What are the rules about buying land when you’ve already claimed a homestead?” Trust Rory to think of the details.

  “I don’t know. And I don’t know what cash money Tom has. But this land isn’t dear. We learned that. And one of the reasons is water. We can probably buy a lot for a few dollars an acre. I’m go
ing to talk to Tom and all of you about it. Someone needs to ride into Fort Niobrara to the land office there and get this land safely, legally in our hands. This water changes everything.”

  “We’ll do it over supper.” Rory was excited. Lauren hoped it was because of the water, but she feared it was the mention of riding to the fort.

  Youngsters shouldn’t get used to running to town every few months. When Lauren and Dougal had first come here, the nearest town was two long days ride away. They’d go in once a year and stock up on what was absolutely essential for survival. They got along well living off the land.

  “If we drive the fifteen head of cattle we owe Tom over,” Lauren said to Rory, “and guide them here, they’ll stay because of the water.”

  “I suspect you’re right, Ma, but we’ll all need to take turns watching them the first few days.”

  Lauren considered how likely they were to keep cows over here. She wouldn’t be shocked if the cows didn’t cooperate.

  “If they do run back, we’ll just separate them out again. They’ll learn.” Lauren reined his horse away from the bubbling well.

  It was a beautiful sound that water gushing up from deep in the ground.

  “I’ll take a turn watching over them once they’re here, Ma,” Rory said. He wasn’t given quite as much freedom as the older boys and Lauren was trying to break the habit of treating him like a child. Her baby. She knew she trusted the older boys with far more when they were Rory’s age.

  “You’ll get a turn. For a couple of days, we’ll probably keep a watch out here, even overnight. But we’ll make that decision based on how they act. There’s lush grass here and plenty of water and the pond is such that it’s sheltered from the north wind. It’d be a likely place for a cow to call home.”

  “Let’s go get the boys and find some cows.”

  They rode back toward the barn, mindful of the new mama and baby. Staying back a piece they met up with Duncan and Megan coming back from their scouting trip.

  Excited, Megan burst into talk of all they’d seen.