The Rancher's Daughter

by Pamela Ladner

  The sound of the pipes racking as he shifted down to turn into the driveway vibrated the whole truck. Why did she have to have pipes on her truck? He supposed it was the tough thing to do, when you were a country girl. Heck, he remembered a time when he too had pipes on his truck. That was before he got his diesel drinking dually.

  He drove slowly up the driveway when he really just wanted to hurry up, but growing up on a ranch, he knew the rules. You didn’t fly down a rancher’s driveway in case of cattle being in the drive. He pulled up in front of the house and climbed out of the truck leaving the keys in the ignition. He headed to his father’s office ignoring the woman staring at his back.

  He needed to get his head clear. What he really needed was a cold shower after riding beside her for so long. Nevertheless, he knew the shower was out and decided to make his self busy, doing something else.

  He walked in the office and slammed the door behind him. He sat down at the desk and picked up the phone. “Rocking K,” the voice answered. Heath cleared his throat and told his former boss he would not be returning to the Rocking K. They talked a little bit and Heath even gave him a few names of people whom he thought could handle the position, then said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.

  The door opened and Josey walked in. She was a woman on a mission and she got that intense look on her face, as if she could tear the hide off him. “You listen to me, Heath Jenkins. You’re not going to get by around here if you think you can just ignore me. You can stop pretending like I don’t exist, I know what’s wrong with you.” She turned around and locked the door. Then she slowly made her way to the window and lowered the shades. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her so fast Heath nearly lost his balance. Her lips locked with his and his arms went around her waist. “We can’t do this in here.” He said tearing his lips from hers.

  The kiss was full of passion and he ached to have her riding him. It was the middle of the day and he couldn’t let her ruin the reputation and the respect she’d built up with the men. Therefore, he kissed her and that was as far as he let it go. He wanted more but he held himself in check. It was tough but he did it. They weren’t children anymore who couldn’t control their urges.

  She laid her head against his chest and he held her in his arms. “What am I going to do about the ranch?” she asked. “You’re going to marry me and you will take my money and pay off the loan. This is my home too Josey. I want to save it as much as you do.” She looked up at him and Heath planted a feather light kiss on her forehead.

  The words, I love you crossed his mind but he wasn’t ready to speak them yet. He wanted to show her his love with his actions. He knew words were meaningless without action, so he kept his mouth shut and just held her.

  She stepped out of his embrace and went back to work. Heath raised the shades and watched her from the window. He sat back in his father’s chair, his elbow resting on the arm of the chair and his chin resting on his fist, and just watched her.

  So distracted was he that he didn’t notice his dad enter the room. “Ahem!” he cleared his throat to get his sons attention. Heath jumped at the sound and knocked some papers to the floor. “Boy, if you’re going to take my office you could at least get some work done.” His dad grinned, his white dentures shining.

  Heath just smiled back with a half-cocked grin that said it all. “I was just about to do some paper work. What can I do for you, Dad?” “You can stop ogling that girl and get to work for one,” Sam said laughing. Heath shook his head and got up to give his father his seat. “Make a pot of coffee, would you?” Sam asked, while sitting down to his desk.

  Heath looked around and saw the coffee pot setting on a counter next to the refrigerator that they kept the vaccinations in. He searched through the cabinets for the makings and started asking his dad some questions. “A lot’s been going on here since I left. I got a few ideas I want to run by you and I thought if you liked them, you could run them by J.W and Josey. Do you think you might be willing to hear them?” “Sure, sure go ahead. I’m all ears.”

  Heath turned the coffee pot on and took a seat in front of his father’s desk. “Well, has J.W done any dealings with registered cattle and selling bull semen, since I left?” “No, there was a time way back there when we’d discussed it but that was around the time of his accident. You thinking we might need to rethink it?” He asked.

  “Well, I dabbled in it over the last five years or so. We were working on building a breeding program at the Rocking K. Granted though, they already have the registered stock. I’m thinking if we can talk J.W into selling some of his lesser stock and go out and buy a couple of high quality registered bulls, we could build a breeding program and bring in more money at auction.” Sam nodded his agreement. “If we do our homework right we can get some good bulls. We need to figure in birth weights and all that too. I’ve been looking at a few bulls online. Here I’ll show you.” Heath pulled his father’s laptop around and typed in the webpage address, then turned it back around so Sam could see.

  Sam took his glasses out of his front shirt pocket and put them on. He strained his eyes to read what was on the computer in front of him. He looked at the pictures of a couple of bulls and read below the birth weights and all the important stuff. “Well now, looks like you have been doing your paper work. I tell you what save this website into my bookmarks and I’ll get J.W in here soon as possible to have a look see.”

  Heath did as he was instructed then he closed the laptop, got up and fixed them both a cup of coffee. His dad shuffled some papers around then went to work on making out a list of jobs that needed seeing to around the ranch, assigning names to each job, then he handed the list to Heath and told him to get busy. “I’ll see to it right away, old man.” He joked.

  On a ranch, there was always something to do. Something was either broken down and needing fixed, or cattle were getting out and fences needed fixing. There was a number of things that needed doing. He went to work pointing out jobs for the hands and then found a few things that needed doing that he could see to himself.

  Hilary was working with the new horses, and Josey was cleaning stalls. No job was beneath her even though she was part owner. The hay field needed tending to but the tractor was broke down so Heath put a hand to work on it. He climbed the stairs to the hayloft to throw down a few bales of hay, to feed to the horses. The hay was getting sparse so he hoped the tractor got fixed soon.

  “Look out below.” He yelled down to nobody in particular. A sixty-pound bale of hay dropping on a person’s head could break a neck and in turn, that could kill someone. So he was always careful to give full warning before dropping hay out the loft.

  Josey looked up when she heard him yell and stepped out of the way just in time. “Thanks for the heads up,” she called. She grabbed the two bales he threw down and moved them out of the way so she wouldn’t be hit by any more bales he might throw out the hayloft. She quickly cut the hay string then deposited the hay into each stall.

  She heard the sound of a cat screeching and new that Heath must have stumbled onto the mama cat that had her kittens in the loft. She was a sweet thing. Hilary found her on the side of the road. She was Siamese and when she found her looked to be half grown and half-starved.

  Three little Siamese kittens came running down the stairs and spread out in all directions. Heath followed behind them and the mama cat nearly took his feet out from under him when she moved around him to the step where Heath was about to put down his foot.

  “That damn cat is trying to kill me,” he swore. He walked over, propped up his leg on the hay bales she had stacked, and pulled up his britches leg. The cat had torn his leg up. “Did you step on her?” “I stepped on her tail, I didn’t even see her, and she scared the life right out of me though.” The mama cat came over to Heath and rubbed against the side of his leg. All was, forgotten.

  Heath went back to work, finding things to do. He patched fence, fed cattle, checked on a pregnant heifer and by the tim
e lunchtime arrived, he was starving. Everyone washed their hands and piled in the dining area to eat. They said the blessing and everyone dug in. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn and okra lay spread out on the table. It was delicious too.

  Everyone ate in silence, savoring every, last bite. It was true, that Hilary and Josey could cook. No one beat their food. They were always well fed on the ranch.

  Chapter Ten

  Backing the trailer up to the corral, Josey felt the stress from her money problems weighing on her. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and used her mirrors to line the trailer up. She watched as her father held up his hand for her to stop. The men were herding the cattle into the trailer and Josey got out to help. As they loaded the last of the cattle, she closed the trailer gate.

  J.W loaded himself into the passenger side of the truck and Josey got behind the wheel. They were, headed for an auction to sell some cattle. J.W suddenly had the urge to buy registered stock. He hadn’t really discussed it with her. He just informed her that they were going to take some cattle to auction and buy registered stock with the money. That meant leaving with a lot of cattle and coming back with a handful. Josey knew what those registered cattle cost. She had scrolled through online catalogues posted by some of the bigger outfits who had more money than they knew what to do with.

  On the way, her father talked nonstop about Heath and how he was sure to save the ranch. Josey knew it was petty of her to be jealous especially since she’d already agreed to marry him. She just couldn’t help it. She wanted to be the one to save this ranch. She knew she couldn’t do it alone but it still bothered her. She hated to admit defeat.

  J.W stopped his talking and Josey took the opportunity to turn the radio on. She listened as the speakers blared out an old country tune. It was one of those beloved old tunes that was easy to remember and she started belting out the words to it. J.W shook his head at his daughter and smiled.

  The miles rolled on and Josey belted out one old country song after another. J.W wasn’t one for singing but he joined in a time or two.

  The turnoff to the stockyard came into view and Josey slowed down. She was almost disappointed to be at their destination. She was enjoying herself in her music. It took all her cares away. Now all that stress had returned. She lined up behind another truck and trailer. The line was moving slow today. She was ready to get it over with. Normally she enjoyed a good auction but she wasn’t in the mood for it today.

  Finally it was their turn, she pulled up to a shoot and several men began unloading and tagging the cattle. She signed some papers while they were finishing up, then went and parked. J.W went to get them a good seat while she checked in to get her number.

  She spotted her father in the crowd and found her way to him. His white cowboy hat shielded his face, but she noticed the sweat on his face anyway. She gave him her number and told him she’d be right back. She went to the concession stand and got them both a large coke then returned to her father. It was going to be a hot day and she wondered why the air was not on. Normally they had it blasting right on you and it was so loud she had a hard time hearing the auctioneer. They always ran registered stock at ten o’clock and unregistered at two.

  The seconds ticked by slowly and the air finally came on. The auctioneer apologized for the heat, saying only that they were having some problems with it. The auction still had a little while before it started so she suggested to J.W that they leave their things at their seat and go have a look out back at the cattle.

  He looked at several bulls checking the number to see if they were registered or unregistered. He jotted something down in a little notebook after he looked at a couple he liked. The auction was just about to start, so they made their way to their seats.

  J.W sat back with his arms folded never bothering to bid until at least ten had gone through then he threw up his hand. He was smart about it and he won every time he bid.

  The registered cattle ended and they went to get a lunch plate and returned to their seats. They still had to wait for their cattle to be auctioned before they could pay for their new stock and get them loaded.

  Finally, they ran their cattle through. The bidding started high then went low, and then they raised it back up. Josey was happy with the price they got for the cattle. It wound up being enough to cover the bulls they’d bought and have a little left over.

  Once again, they lined up out back to get their cattle loaded. Once they finished, they headed home. J.W was tired so he rolled up his jacket to make a pillow and leaned against the door with it between his head and the window. The radio was giving Josey a pounding headache so she turned it off and let down the window.

  The cool breeze blowing in felt good to her face. The trailer squeaked and bounced along. She could smell the sweet grass and her mind began to wander. She thought about her time with Heath at the creek and her mind wandered back ten years ago. She remembered how in love they were back then. She thought about their fight and tears came to her eyes. She wiped them away, and let her mind wander some more.

  She realized she had ruined his life. She had ruined both their lives. Yet Heath had done well for himself. He’d moved on and made a name for himself. She couldn’t take that away from him. He had dreams of owning his own property and he deserved it. If he stayed here and married her, then he’d be stuck with this ranch and all her bills and he’d never be able to make what he wanted out of it. She couldn’t ruin his life twice. She wanted him to be happy.

  More and more her mind began rationalizing things. She realized she couldn’t marry him. It wasn’t fair to him. He didn’t love her anymore. They were good together and they had loved each other once but they had grown apart. She knew in her heart she couldn’t hold him to his proposal and she would have to break off the engagement.

  As much as it hurt her to picture him with someone else, she did. She imagined him falling in love with someone else and she didn’t want to stand in his way. She wiped more tears from her eyes. Her turn off was just up ahead so she slowed down. She had to stop zoning out and concentrate on her driving. She had a load of cattle in the back and taking a turn too fast could be disastrous.

  Chapter Eleven

  It had been a week since the auction, and Josey still hadn’t talked to Heath. She didn’t know how to. She tried to bring it up several times but couldn’t find the right words. Today she decided, she would definitely tell him.

  She was working in the round pen with Legend when she finally made her mind up. She saw him walk behind the barn not two minutes ago, and she was about to tell him. She left Legend in the round pen and marched in the direction she’d seen him go. She found him underneath the tractor. He didn’t hear her walk up so she cleared her throat.

  Heath rolled out from under the tractor and looked up at her. He had grease on his face and gloves on his hands. He raised an eyebrow in question waiting on her to say what she came to say. He was smiling though. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” she said. “I don’t think we should get married.” His smile faded. His jaw clenched shut. “What’s this all about?” he asked her. She drew her eyebrows together. “I just don’t think it’s fair to you. You’ve got yourself some mighty big plans and I don’t want to keep you from doing those things. You said you wanted to buy your own ranch, and well, I think you should.”

  Heath’s face was turning red, his jaw ticking. He was angry, she hadn’t meant to make him angry. She thought this would make him happy. He was free to go and buy the ranch he’d always wanted and marry the woman he loves. She had thought it through this was what was best for him. She was sure of it. So why was he mad?

  When the yelling started, it could be heard in the next county over. He was hurting and he was angry. He had loved this woman all his life. Yet he could never make her happy. He didn’t want a life without her, but she hadn’t wanted him. They fought for a while. The ranch hands all scattered in the other directions.

  “Just like that you’re going to
throw my ring back in my face. I should have known you’d break off the engagement. You’re a piece of work you know that. It’s just like it was ten years ago. You never wanted me anyway. I came back for you. I came back to help you, to keep you from losing this ranch.” “Well, I never asked you to come back!” she yelled. “Fine, I’ll leave then. I promise you I will never come back. You will never have to see my face or worry about me taking your precious ranch from you. I’ll go back to West Texas, and I’ll stay the hell away from you.” He stomped off and she watched him go.

  She tried to replay it all in her head. What went wrong? What she could have done different, she didn’t know. She only wanted what was best for him. Why couldn’t he see that?

  She caught Sam looking at her from his office window and she looked away. She couldn’t bare it. He would hate her now. It didn’t take Heath long to pack. He threw his bags into the bed of his pickup and got in his truck. He never even looked at her as he drove past. She watched him leave, her heart breaking. What was she doing? She thought about their fight the first one and the last one. She ran and saddled up Legend. She rode out at a gallop, leaving everything behind. She rode until she came to her favorite place at the creek. Then she dismounted and let Legend graze. She leaned against a tree and wept. She felt as if her heart had just, been ripped out for the second time.

  The hours past and still Josey cried. She lay on the ground against the tree and closed her eyes. She dreamed of Heath. She felt like she was dying inside. Why had she just sent the man she loved away for the second time? She questioned herself, was she a raving lunatic? Her dreams revolved around Heath. She dreamed of being his wife and having his children. She dreamed of lying in his arms at this very spot, and watching their children play in the creek.

  The sky grew dark and Josey didn’t care or notice. She was in a stupor. To her being inside her head was better than being in the real world. In her dreams, she and Heath were happy. In reality, they were over. It was her fault. She hated herself for what she’d done. She started getting cold and she wrapped her knees in her arms and rocked back and forth. Still the tears came.