Marrying the Rancher

by Roz Denny Fox

“Tandy, he’s been cramped up in that cage. Can you carry him a ways? I want to take this trap down as evidence.”

  “I used to carry sixty-pound packs. Happy as I am, I’ll manage.”

  Wyatt spoke quietly to the boy. “Listen, buddy, I need you to let your mom give you a piggyback ride to the ranch. Or partway, anyhow. Okay?”

  “Uh-huh.” Scrubbing his eyes, Scotty dived for his mother.

  “Oh, sweetie,” she said. “Look by the trees. You helped the baby wolf find his family.”

  Sure enough, three wolves stood rubbing noses. A second pup wiggled out from under a scrub bush to join them.

  Wyatt punched his fist in the air and smiled for the first time. “Thanks to you, Scotty, the smallest of my wolves is saved. I know their den is over this hill and down the other side. With luck this will be a lesson learned so they won’t venture so near civilization again.”

  “I was scared the bad man would see me,” Scotty said raggedly after Wyatt boosted him onto Tandy’s back. “It started raining hard. I guess he didn’t wanna get wet.”

  “Scotty, what in the name of heaven made you leave the corral when Manny expected you to be there when I got home?” Tandy jiggled him a bit.

  “I only wanted to track like Wyatt. I followed two bunnies to a road I never seen before. I heard a car and hid. ’Cept it wasn’t a car. It was funny looking and the bad man drove it. I followed him up here. Are you mad at me?”

  “I should be, but I’m too relieved to find you alive. We’ll have a serious talk, however, about what will happen if you scare me like this again.”

  “Tandy,” Wyatt cut in. “I want to snap photos with my phone. Start out. I’ll catch up. I want to call Manny to ease his worry and ask him to contact the local Game and Fish office. And the sheriff. If they’ll meet us at the ranch, with my photos and what Scotty saw, maybe we can nail who did this.”

  “All right, but hurry. This storm has slacked, so I don’t want to risk meeting Preston coming back to check his trap. You know he’s responsible.”

  “Yeah. I’ll be quick.” When she left, he hurriedly took pictures and made a brief call to Manny.

  The cage was awkward to carry, but Wyatt joined Tandy at the base of the hill. “Manny is thankful I called. Said he’d aged ten years waiting to hear.”

  “He’s not to blame. I shouldn’t have left him, knowing he was hurt.”

  Wyatt grunted. “There’s enough blame to go around. I promised to stay until he was healed, then things got complicated and I took off.”

  They reached the intersecting fire roads without seeing another human.

  “Mama, I can walk now,” Scotty said.

  She let him down. “No running off,” she said sternly. “Hey, did you know you tore your jacket?”

  “Nope.” The boy felt around and found the hole.

  Wyatt spoke up. “You put the piece we found in your pocket. Can you stitch it back? Finding that was the whole reason we kept going.”

  “You’re right. I’ll sew it back on.” She glanced at Wyatt. “Gosh, you can’t see around that crate. Your load is awkward, what with your backpack and the dart gun, too. Is the path wide enough to let you hold the cage by one side and me the other?”

  “It would allow us to travel faster.”

  She dropped back to take one side. “The debt I owe you for finding Scotty is more than I can ever repay. I worried you’d already left the area and I’d be forced to ask the sheriff to round up a search party. I wasn’t sure any neighbors would’ve joined in.”

  “That prospect makes my blood run cold.”

  Meeting his darkening eyes over the top of their shared burden, Tandy responded with feeling, “We needed you and you were here for us. I wish with all my heart you could stay forever.”

  Scotty ran back and slipped his hand in Wyatt’s. “I want you to stay forever, too. Why do you hafta go away?”

  “Scotty,” Tandy stressed, shifting her gaze, “you know how Mama’s job required me going to other countries? Wyatt’s takes him off to other states. Much as we’d like, it’s not fair to ask him to quit his job and be a cowboy.”

  “Oh.” The boy’s face crumpled. “You look like the cowboys I saw in Mark’s movies. And you helped Mama move our cows. This morning Manny said he’s getting too old to cowboy. Can’t you take his place?”

  “Honey, Wyatt loves helping wild animals. I imagine he earns a whole lot more than I can afford to pay a cowboy.”

  “I don’t gotta have birthday presents. That saves money.”

  “Scotty, honestly!” Tandy sighed in exasperation.

  “I had time after I left and slept in my pickup to do a lot of thinking. Since we’re almost at the ranch and this needs taking care of...” Wyatt wiggled the crate before adding, “We can dig deeper into this later.”

  “I’ve no idea what’s left to say, but of course we can talk again.”

  They rounded the end of the barn. Wyatt slowed his steps. “I’m disappointed the sheriff’s not here. Neither is a rep from Game and Fish it appears.”

  “Scotty, run ahead and let Manny know we’re back. Ask if he made the phone calls Wyatt requested.” Tandy nudged him.

  Scotty took off, arms and legs pumping.

  “Oh, to have his energy,” she murmured. “My legs feel like I’ve run a marathon.”

  “Thankfully he has no idea the danger he was in. Give me the crate. You go on in, where you can sit down. I’ll put this inside the barn if that’s all right.”

  “I’ll help. If you spent the night in your pickup you must be as worn out as I am.” She maintained her hold on the cage.

  “I’m stoked by the prospect of having solid evidence against Hicks. I never believed my wolves killed Rollie’s heifer. Add how Scotty witnessed Hicks setting this trap, he’ll play hell justifying a lot of his actions. Most especially harassing you.”

  Tandy buried her hands in her jacket pockets, stepping aside while Wyatt closed the barn door. “What do you think will happen to him? When I moved here I recall hearing his wife had fallen off a ladder and badly injured her back. A store clerk said Violet didn’t want to go to a nursing home, so Preston’s been trying to care for her.”

  “He told us he had a bad back. Hey, you sound as if you’re developing a soft spot for the old so-and-so.” Wyatt draped an arm around Tandy’s hunched shoulders.

  “I shouldn’t, except Violet was a good neighbor when my mom was ill. They both were. I’m not vindictive. I saw where that led in war-torn countries. However, when I think of what could’ve happened to Scotty...” She kicked at a rock.

  “There are always gray areas. How about we lay out what we can prove to Sheriff Anderson and whoever comes from my field office? See what they suggest.”

  “I’m good with that. Here comes Scotty. I hope nothing’s wrong with Manny.” She slipped out from beneath Wyatt’s arm and hurried to meet her son. “Did you see Manny?”

  “He’s got chicken soup and cornbread. He said to tell you the coffee’s hot. Oh, and he has towels if anybody needs one. I dried off my hair.”

  “We probably all need dry clothes,” Tandy said. “I’ll stop at the house and get ours.”

  “It’s a toss-up whether dry clothes beat out hot soup and coffee.” Wyatt grinned.

  “Did Manny make Wyatt’s calls?” Tandy asked her son, quickening her steps to keep up with his skipping along.

  “Yeah. He said if we hurry we’ll have time to eat ’fore they get here. Who’s coming? Not the bad man?” Scotty’s eyes grew big and anxious.

  “No, not him. But people who’ll want you to explain again everything that happened after you tracked the bunnies.” Tandy finger-combed his messy hair.

  “Okay.” He deftly slipped out from under her hand and darted up the steps to Manny’s cas
ita.

  “I believe I’ll grab dry clothes out of my duffel,” Wyatt said, stopping at his pickup.

  “I can smell that coffee.” Tandy dug her house key out of her pocket. Veering off, she climbed her porch steps and went inside.

  After grabbing dry clothes, she headed over to the casita a few minutes later. She greeted Manny, who opened the door and bent to pet Mr. Bones. “Food is most welcome, but should you be standing on your bad leg?” she scolded Manny.

  “You all are a sight for sore eyes. I made soup ’cause I had to do something to keep from worrying and hating myself for falling asleep instead of taking better care of Scotty.”

  “Hush, I won’t have you berating yourself. It’s shame on me for leaving an almost-six-year-old to look after you. Sit and put your feet up.” She tossed Scotty his dry jeans. “I’ll run change then I’ll dish up the food.”

  “I’ll help,” Wyatt said, suddenly appearing out of the bathroom, rolling his wet clothing. Setting the bundle by the door, he stopped to rub a wiggling Mr. Bones’s belly. The dog bounded up and sniffed Scotty’s boots and slunk away howling.

  “I bet he smells the baby wolf,” Scotty said, yanking off his boots before dashing away to change out of wet jeans.

  Wyatt helped the hobbling cowboy to a kitchen chair and pulled over a second one to elevate Manny’s injured knee. “So, you were able to connect with Doug Anderson and someone at my field office?” he asked, stepping to the sink to wash his hands.

  “Yeah. Wes Rowe. They should both be here in an hour or so. The sheriff had to run down to the county judge to get a warrant. He sounded surprised by what little I told him about Hicks.”

  Tandy entered the kitchen and picked up the soup ladle. “We’re all surprised.”

  Within minutes they sat around Manny’s small table, tucking into the meal, talking little except when Scotty, on his own, apologized to the old cowboy for running off.

  “Your grandpappy used to say ‘all’s well that ends well.’ I’d laugh at him. Guess I never understood what he meant ’til now. I hope for all our sakes this situation with Pres Hicks ends well.”

  “He’s done so much wrong, I guess he has to pay a price,” Tandy murmured.

  They’d finished eating but were still in the kitchen chatting when a loud knock sounded at the door. Tandy was up clearing dishes. “I’ll get it,” she offered, because Scotty had crawled onto Wyatt’s lap and fallen asleep. The picture they made seared into her heart. All too soon such a heartwarming domestic scene promised to be permanently hopeless. They’d confront Preston, the issue of his hatred toward the wolf project would be resolved one way or another and Wyatt would leave. Maybe Manny, too. The soup and cornbread balled like lead in her stomach.

  She picked up Mr. Bones, who outraced her to the door. She dredged up a smile for Sheriff Anderson. A tall stranger, also in uniform, doffed his hat as she stood aside to let them enter.

  Manny limped out of the kitchen, trailed by Wyatt. He still cradled the sleeping Scotty on one shoulder. “Sheriff, Wes,” he murmured, extending his free hand. He introduced Tandy and Manny to Wes Rowe. “This is Scotty, Tandy’s son.” Wyatt lightly patted the boy’s inert back. “He’s had quite a day. If everyone takes a seat Tandy can fill you in on events leading up to now. Then I’ll show you the box trap. Afterward maybe she’ll wake Scotty so he can add his side of the story.”

  She began to relay how badly she’d been treated at the special meeting called by the Cattle and Sheep Ranchers Association. She detailed subsequent run-ins with Hicks, her voice growing stronger with each incident.

  The sheriff, who’d been taking notes, raised his head when Tandy outlined a series of events involving her neighbor’s cattle, her fence, her bull and her stream. “I’m so sorry about what you’ve dealt with, Tandy. I should’ve taken that prank with your bull more seriously, but it really did sound like something the Hanson kids would do and I just wouldn’t think Preston capable of such things.” Quirking a brow, he added, “You know, last month Preston filed a complaint against Halsey Copper Mining Company for damming Quail Creek. They own the land and water rights he’s used for thirty years. So, he requested to lease the Eagle Crest mesa. I assumed for the stream that cuts through there.”

  “That explains why he wants the wolves gone. They and a lot of elk water along Eagle Creek,” Wyatt said.

  “Hicks’s water fight with Halsey doesn’t allow him to take half of Tandy’s stream, does it?” Manny asked. “I can back her up on a lot of what she’s said.”

  “If Quail Creek is dry, it’s clearly why he flattened my fence and let his cows drink from my steam overnight. Now I see why he moved his cattle to graze on what used to be Lonnie Wright’s estate,” Tandy mused aloud.

  “He did what?” The sheriff clicked his ballpoint pen a half dozen times. “That whole parcel is in litigation. Damn Preston, this gets murkier and murkier. Let’s go see that box trap,” he told Wyatt, heaving his bulk out of the easy chair.

  “Wait a minute.” Tandy pulled out her cell phone. “I took pictures this morning. I have one of Hicks with dogs Wyatt says are hybrids. I have at least four of his cows grazing on Wright’s grass. But I’m afraid it’s my fault he tried to trap the wolves. I told him Wyatt had left.” She looked horrified.

  “I told you to spread the word,” Wyatt affirmed. “I’m thankful he didn’t decide to shoot the pack.”

  Sheriff Anderson flipped through the frames. “Will you forward these to me, Tandy?” He gave her the number.

  Wyatt got up. “You’ll want the photos I have of paw prints near Rollie Jefferies’s dead heifer, too. I also shot some at the trap along with my wolves’ tracks so you’ll see they don’t match.”

  The wildlife officer rose. He waited by the door until Wyatt transferred the dead-to-the-world boy to Tandy’s arms and joined him.

  Mr. Bones dozed in Manny’s lap.

  Anderson put his phone in his shirt pocket. “I want to load the crate into my SUV so I’ll drive to the barn. We’ll return for the boy’s testimony. Then Rowe and I will decide how to proceed.”

  The trio left the casita and the sheriff climbed into his vehicle.

  “I bet you can’t wait to wave goodbye to this assignment,” Wes Rowe remarked to Wyatt as they walked toward the barn.

  He shrugged and after a pause said, “I signed up with the department to protect wolves and assist them to live in peace alongside ranchers. I wish things were going better here.”

  “I prefer to work a desk job. Do you want this guy jailed?”

  “Not my call, Wes.”

  “Nor mine. But our recommendations could tip the scales.”

  “I’d rather leave the decision to Tandy. It’s her ranch. Preston Hicks is her nearest neighbor. He carries a lot of weight with other ranchers and she and Scotty need to live in this community.”

  “What, are you sweet on her?” Wes grinned and nudged Wyatt’s arm.

  “I can’t deny it, but suffice to say it’s a complication neither of us knows how to resolve. She knows I love my job. And all the travel required is a huge hang-up. She and her ex were both in the military. Tandy wants stability for Scotty. I can’t fault her for that.”

  “Hmm. When I get back to the office let me forward you some information about a new state program.”

  Wyatt would’ve asked more questions, but the sheriff beat them to the barn.

  Wyatt called to him that the box trap sat just inside. He and Wes sped up, but Sheriff Anderson had already circled the crate a few times before they got there.

  “I checked. Preston doesn’t have a commercial nuisance license. I thought if he did and had been awarded the Eagle Crest lease then he’d be within his right to trap and remove wolves. How can you be sure he’s the one who set this thing?”

  “Scotty saw him.”


  “That’s the testimony I need to wrap this mess up.” He lifted the crate into his patrol SUV and dusted off his hands. “I dislike questioning kids, but if his mother agrees, I will. See you men back at Manny’s house.”

  “How old is the boy?” Wes asked Wyatt on their return hike.

  “Almost six.”

  “That’s young. Will he hold up?”

  “I’ve found him to be remarkably sharp.”

  “And it’s plain you have a close relationship.”

  “We do. Nevertheless, whether or not Scotty does an interview is up to his mother. I don’t have any say.”

  “But you’d like to,” Wes said around a grin as he mounted the porch steps.

  His casually spoken observation stopped Wyatt in his tracks.

  Chapter Ten

  Scotty, who’d obviously awakened while they were gone, plowed past the sheriff and Wes to pounce on Wyatt, who’d lagged behind. “I was scared you’d gone away again,” the boy cried, grabbing Wyatt’s waist. “Mama said you only went to the barn, but she wouldn’t let me go see.”

  Wyatt swung the boy aloft. “I promise I won’t leave for good without telling you goodbye. Is that a deal?”

  “Uh-uh. I don’t want you to go away for good.”

  “Scotty.” His mother’s warning reached out onto the porch.

  “I’m definitely staying next door until Manny’s on his feet. Let’s go inside. You were asleep when Sheriff Anderson arrived. And you haven’t met Wes Rowe, a friend of mine from Arizona Game and Fish.”

  “Did they go arrest the bad man?” Scotty whispered in Wyatt’s ear.

  “No. At least not yet. Should we sit by your mom?”

  “Okay. But can I sit on your lap?”

  Wyatt didn’t have to answer since there was only room on the love seat by Tandy for one person. He squeezed in next to her and held Scotty.

  “Do you prefer I call you Mrs. Graham?” the sheriff asked.

  “If this is informal, how about calling me Tandy? For anything legal, Ms. Graham is appropriate.”

  “With your permission, Wes and I would like to hear what your son can add with regards to the box trap.”