by Nathan Jones
He could only laugh at the absurdity. Two fruitless years looking for her, and if he'd just waited she would've contacted him. After it was too late, of course. “No, I started looking for you two years ago.” He felt his face flushing and looked away. “I've needed to know you were okay ever since you left.”
“So you waited three years?” his friend asked in a light tone, although there was a slight edge to it. Happy as she seemed with her fiancé, was she also thinking of the life they might've had if Skyler had come sooner? “Can't have missed me that much if you took that long.”
He hunched his shoulders defensively. “That's what Tabby said. That I only left once I was eighteen because I was going a-courtin'.” Lisa gave him an inscrutable look, and he felt his flush deepen and hastily kept going. “By the time the Camptown refugees' situation was settled, Sangue had withdrawn out of Utah. We went right back to the ranch and started to rebuild. That ate up the better part of a year on its own, and we basically had to start our herd again from scratch with a few animals we bought from the League at great sacrifice.”
His friend was still staring at him with that same expression. “We sold some of our herd to someone in Utah the summer after the war ended,” she said. “A young bull and a buck goat. We did it through an intermediary, never knew their names.”
“Might've been us.” That certainly sounded like what they'd purchased around that time, since Trapper had donated all their animals but the milkers and young does and heifers to feed the newly arrived Grand Junction refugees. Skyler looked away uncomfortably. “As for why I stayed even after the ranch was up and running, well, it was slow going at first. And also Trapper . . . wasn't the same after the Battle of the Ridge.” She just stared at him blankly, and he shook his head. “Sorry, used to that being a life-defining moment for people.”
He haltingly described Sangue finding Camptown, and the refugees having to flee into the mountains in a grueling death march that ended on a western ridge of the Manti-La Sal range, boxed in by the enemy. How the Northern League had showed up at the last minute to fight the bloodies in the valley below and offer the refugees a way out, while Trapper and the fighters had stayed and fought off more than four times their number to buy everyone time to get away.
He didn't mention his own guilt that he'd let his injury and the need to see his family to safety be an excuse to not join the others in that heroic sacrifice. Or the guilt he felt every time he'd seen Trapper's haunted expression and thousand-yard stare.
Or worst of all his moments of relief, when he was truly being honest with himself, that he had escaped that horror. Few had.
“Less than fifty of Camptown's fighters walked off that ridge, out of close to two hundred,” he whispered. “Most of them wounded. My dad doesn't talk about it, but from what I've heard they threw themselves into a meat grinder to keep the bloodies back so everyone else could get away. Ever since then he falls apart if he helps with butchering an animal, and he stopped hunting and trapping completely. I had to stay to be there for him, for Mom and the kids, until I knew he was moving past it.”
He fell silent, lost in thoughts of his family. In worries for them, after being gone for two years. He hoped they were all okay.
Lisa leaned down from her saddle and gently rested a hand on his shoulder. “I'm sorry, Sky. That was a pretty rotten thing for me to say, after everything we've gone through together. After what you went through after I left.”
Rotten or not, she was right. Whatever his reasons, however good they might be, he'd waited too long to find her. Too long by almost a year, it looked like. It wasn't anyone's fault but his own. And maybe the universe for taking a steaming dump on all his hopes and dreams.
Including, it turned out, any he might've had with Adalia.
The young woman's extended family all watched curiously as she led the way to her house, accompanying Skyler inside to get his stuff and leaving her dad and the ranchers waiting outside. That gave Skyler a momentary hope that she wanted to talk, give him a chance to get through the sudden wall of cool distance she'd thrown up since witnessing his reunion with Lisa.
It had been less than a day, but he was already starting to think of her as a friend. He'd hate for that to all end over some misunderstanding.
“I never got a chance to tell you I was searching for-” he began the moment the door closed behind them.
“So I guess that's it,” the young woman cut in sharply. Her expression, her tone, were almost as reserved as when he'd first met her after chasing off those ruffians, and most of the warmth was gone from her vibrant brown eyes. “You learn the ranchers are old friends, and suddenly any interest you had in finishing the work you promised goes out the window?”
Skyler pushed down a surge of righteous indignation. He prided himself on keeping his promises (with the exception of unreasonable ones in life or death situations, he supposed, like when he'd joined the fighting in the Mountain War in spite of his mom's wishes). But what stung just as much was her abrupt cooling towards him.
“I'll come back for it as soon as I can,” he snapped. “But like you said, these are my friends. Close as family. You really want me to ignore their plight when a dozen or so squatters, including the men who hassled you, are rustling their livestock and might become more bold and do worse?”
“Of course not.” Her expression thawed slightly, although not as much as he'd hoped. Then she rallied, eyes flashing. “But forgive me if I get the feeling you're throwing me out the window, too!”
He stared at her in complete bafflement. “What?”
Rather than answering, Adalia stormed over to where he kept his things and scooped them all up, grunting at the weight. Skyler hurried to help her, and she wasted no time piling everything on him and stepping back, arms crossed. “I'm glad you found your friends. They'll be waiting for you.”
So that was her goodbye, huh? He turned towards the door, feeling strangely hurt. “I'll be back to finish the field,” he said as he shouldered it open.
Her only response was a noncommittal noise with more than a hint of disbelief in it. Or maybe that was just his imagination.
Mr. and Mrs. Ruiz were waiting outside, and Skyler nodded to them. “Thanks for your hospitality.”
The older man just grunted, although his wife patted Skyler's arm warmly. He thought she looked a bit disappointed. “Thank you again for what you did for Adalia, and for your hard work today. You're welcome to come back anytime.”
“Appreciate that,” he replied; at least he still had one friend here. He hefted his gear and headed around the house to Junior's temporary paddock.
Lisa was waiting by the stallion, introducing herself with a carrot which the horse contentedly munched. “He's beautiful,” she said, stroking his nose. “Is he Mary's?”
“Gray Rose's, actually,” he said. “She had him not long after you left. Horse is his sire, though.”
His friend frowned at him. “Where's Surly?”
Skyler felt a brief pang; he hadn't thought about his first horse, his faithful companion, for a while. “Had to leave him behind when Sangue chased us into a dead end and we needed to climb to escape. Looked for him after the Mountain War ended and it was safe to return to the area, but no luck.”
Her eyes filled with sympathy. “I'm sorry. I know how much you loved him, and how hard you worked to train him into the perfect mount.”
He nodded, unable to keep from thinking with even more grief about Sulky. But he couldn't bring himself to talk about the faithful if cantankerous mare he'd taken into the fighting too soon, and gotten shot out from under him. So he joined Lisa at Junior's side and patted his neck. “This fellow's named Horse Jr., although I call him Junior.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course that's his name. Your family and your horses.”
“Says the girl who named her horse “Nibbly,” he teased back. She made a face and he laughed, glancing over to where the faithful mare waited with Jared holding her reins. His smile
died when he spotted the young man's glower.
He cleared his throat and stepped away from his friend, flushing as he got to work loading his pack and saddlebags onto Junior's back. “Your fiance seems a bit uptight about me.”
“A bit understandable wouldn't you think, considering our past? Which I've told him all about, by the way.” Lisa glanced over at the man, giving him a warm smile, then turned back soberly. “He's got some rough edges, I'll admit, but beneath them he's a diamond.”
Skyler grunted; it came out more disbelieving than he'd intended.
“He is.” His friend started to put a hand on his arm, then glanced at Jared again and withdrew it. “I know this is hard for you, Sky, but I love him. I love him like I never thought I'd love anyone after you. Please, for me, make it work with him.”
He wasn't sure if that would even be possible, and not only because of the ranch hand's prickly demeanor. But he couldn't ignore a plea like that from his oldest friend, agonizing as it was to hear. “I'll do my best, Lisa. I just hope he cooperates.”
She held his gaze intently. “Even if he doesn't. He's got stuff in his past that makes this hard for him, but he's a good man. Give him a chance, even if he doesn't make it easy.”
Fantastic, that didn't raise any red flags. “If I'd come a few months earlier . . .” he said, then instantly regretted it.
Lisa's eyes narrowed, although her tone became gentle. “But you didn't, and I moved on and found Jared. I'm happy. If you can't accept that I'm not sure what to say, aside from you can go back home and try to move on yourself.”
Skyler thought of Tabby, probably married to someone else, more than likely one of their friends, and felt a bit more of his world come crashing down. “Like I said, I'll do my best,” he growled, finishing tying down his gear.
He led Junior from the paddock and pulled himself into the saddle, looking down at his friend. “How about we go deal with these squatters?”
✽✽✽
The Hendrickson's ranch wasn't large compared to his family's back home, but compared to others Skyler had visited in his travels it would be the envy of even a prosperous place like Lone Valley.
Nine cattle he could see, the herd distribution suggesting they either butchered at least one steer a year for meat or sold it, probably to the Northern League. They looked to be transitioning out of goats, the remaining ones all milkers or their young kids; probably selling the excess there, too. As for horses, they now had seven including the ones Lisa and Jared rode, two of them younger and one a foal.
The animals had been brought in close to the prosperous looking ranch house and barn, probably in response to the squatters and the missing goat. They were being looked over by another familiar figure: Uncle Bob, older and more weathered than Skyler remembered, slouching in the saddle of the same horse he'd had back in Utah with his gun laying across his knees, ready for quick use.
Out front of the house another familiar figure, petite and just beginning to show gray in her long dark hair, was bent at work in a large garden, helped out by a boy of eight or nine. Bryant? Another boy, three or so, was playing with a pile of dirt nearby under Aunt Vicky's close supervision.
In spite of himself Skyler felt a lump forming in his throat at the sight.
These beloved faces had been his friends for most of his life, practically family. They'd been a godsend for him and his mom when things had fallen apart in Utah Valley after his dad died, traveled with them on the disastrous journey to Texas, and then helped them build a new life in Trapper's valley.
Watching them leave all those years ago had torn a deeper hole in his heart than he'd realized, and seeing them all alive and well after worrying about them for so long, content and living a peaceful life in a prosperous place, lifted a burden he hadn't realized was so heavy after bearing it for so long.
He glanced over and caught Lisa watching him, expression becoming warm and soft at the sight of the tears he hastily blinked away. She leaned out of the saddle to put her hand over his on his reins. “Want to wager on whether they'll recognize you faster than I did?” she teased gently.
He laughed; she always had known what to say at times like this, when otherwise it might've been awkward. “Considering you nearly went for your gun when I came running down that hill shouting like a lunatic?”
“Nearly?” Jared said, not clear from his tone whether he was joking. It earned him a slap on the arm from his fiancée.
Lisa's family had noticed their approach, and at the sight of a third rider Bob whistled to a dog, who alertly took up position keeping an eye on the animals, then adjusted his rifle to hold in one hand and reined around to meet them. In the garden Vicky straightened, one hand rubbing her lower back, while Bryant bolted across the yard to the corral where they'd be taking their mounts and hauled open the gate.
Conner kept happily playing with his dirt pile, oblivious to the excitement until the three of them were almost to the yard. Then he began jumping up and down and waving in excitement while his mom came to hold his hand, obviously worried about him running out under the horses' hooves.
“Guess who!” Lisa called as Bob reined in near the corral. The older man was squinting at Skyler with a funny look on his face, while Vicky had slowed to a stop halfway to them, eyes wide as she searched his face as if not sure she was seeing things.
Skyler took off his hat to help them out, revealing his somewhat scruffy length of sandy hair. At that the petite woman's hands flew up to her face, tears springing to her eyes. Uncle Bob cursed quietly and threw himself off his horse, closing the distance as Skyler dismounted in time to pull him into a crushing bear hug.
Aunt Vicky was only a few steps behind, while Bryant and Connor stood openmouthed nearby, wondering who this stranger was that their mom and dad were making such a fuss about.
Between Vicky's tearful hug and Bob slapping him on the back and tussling his hair, Skyler caught sight of Lisa standing with Jared a short distance away. His friend was grinning like the sun, but he couldn't help but notice that her fiance had a sour look on his face.
He wondered if the guy's own entry to the family hadn't been quite so enthusiastic. But while Skyler was willing to feel awkward about hugging Lisa and spinning her around like his true love when she was already engaged, even if he hadn't known that at the time, he wasn't about to apologize for being happy to see her family.
It had been too long, and he hadn't even known they were still alive until half an hour ago.
He soon found himself answering a barrage of questions about how his mom and Trapper and Molly were doing, as well as giving news about little Miles, who'd been born not too long after the Hendricksons left and so they'd never got a chance to meet, and baby Micah, born about two and a half years ago.
Lisa and Vicky both went nuts over the news of the babies, and relentlessly plied him for any cute stories he remembered about them. He was just getting into the frightening complications surrounding Micah's birth when he caught sight of Bryant edging around Lisa's leg to stare at him with wide eyes.
Five years had changed the kid so much that Skyler barely recognized him, but some hints of his wary nature, as if he half felt like an outcast even among family, remained. It made Skyler think of that morning so long ago, the day after he and Trapper and Bob had returned from the trip where they discovered Grand Junction had fallen to Sangue, when his dad had given him a talk about how he'd been failing to treat Bryant like part of the family, as he deserved.
They'd all struggled back then. Bryant was the product of the unspeakable abuses Aunt Vicky had suffered when she was a captive of the bloodies in Newpost ten years ago. Everyone knew it, everyone tried to pretend it wasn't so, and with the perceptiveness of a child Bryant had sensed the pain and bitterness surrounding his very existence, and had assumed it was his fault.
Knowing that, they'd all tried extra hard to be nice to him, but it had never seemed to be enough.
Skyler had tried harder after Trapper had set
him straight, for what little time he'd had before the Hendricksons left. And that was probably what prompted him to try harder with today's reunion with the boy, who'd practically been his little brother for the first years of Bryant's life.
So he clapped Bob on the shoulder, patted Vicky on the back, and gently disentangled from them, making his way over to the other member of the Hendrickson family he'd known so long ago. “Hey, Bryant,” he said amiably as he dropped into a crouch. “Remember me?”
The boy shook his head and inched a bit closer to his sister.
Looked as if he was still a bit skittish around people, even after all this time. Skyler felt another pang of sympathy for the hard life Bryant must've led, when even the most important people in his life had sometimes had problems accepting him.
To say nothing of those who hated the invaders from South America and didn't care if the target of their vitriol was an innocent little boy, so they hadn't tried at all. Skyler wondered if people around here were as thoughtlessly or even openly unpleasant to Bryant as they'd often been down in Emery; as the Ruiz family could testify, looking similar to Sangue these days added another hardship to lives that would already be difficult enough simply with struggling to survive.
Aunt Vicky immediately hurried over to hug her son. “Bry guy, honey, this is Skyler. Remember us telling you about the boy who saved you back in Utah?”
Bryant nodded solemnly, but showed no other response. So Skyler smiled and offered his hand. “It's good to see you again, Bryant. You were always like my kid brother back when we all lived in Utah.”
The boy hesitated, then with the same solemnity shook his hand. He didn't say anything, but Skyler still had a feeling the introduction had gone well.
Vicky hurried to introduce him to Connor as well, who warmed up as soon as Skyler offered to toss him up in the air and spin him around, same as he used to with Molly and Miles and Thomas. With that Bryant's desire to join in overcame his reserve, so Skyler gave him a turn as well.