The Rancher's Prospect

by Callie Endicott

  “Uh, anyhow,” he continued after a pause, “I was offered a job in Texas and thought it would be nice to be someplace where nobody knew me. After a while, I was made foreman.”

  “It must have felt good doing it all on your own.”

  “Yeah, it was nice. The Gordons had barely heard of the McGregors or Nelsons, so I had to prove myself the same as anyone else.”

  “Do you ever regret leaving Texas?”

  “Yeah, whenever Grandpa and I get into a fight.”

  Tara chuckled. “You’ve had some doozies. I also suspect you have Walt’s dry sense of humor. By the way, what did you ask him this morning?”

  “Nothing dramatic. He mentioned bringing Grandma up here every fall, and it surprised me. My folks used to take us camping on the other side of the ridge when I was a kid, but not Grandpa. I always thought he was too busy on the ranch...wouldn’t even take a vacation.”

  “Doesn’t ranch work get quieter in autumn?”

  “Some.”

  Tara fingered one of the Montana agates Josh had told her about. “I know it didn’t go well this morning, but perhaps you could try asking him again about Evelyn. When he’s in the right mood, he tells wonderful stories about her.”

  “Maybe.”

  Tara knew better than to push, though she wasn’t sure where the conviction had come from.

  Josh emptied his rocks into the discard pail. “It’s interesting—for some reason we never came over on this side of the ridge when we camped up here.”

  “Then you missed out on the hot springs.”

  “Nah, there’s hot springs over there, just nothing like the pool.” Josh’s voice dropped. “That’s been a real pleasure.”

  Tara swallowed, fairly sure he wasn’t just talking about warm water.

  * * *

  JOSH WATCHED FAINT COLOR brighten Tara’s cheeks. Her reactions weren’t what he’d expected. In his experience most women were blunt when it came to sex, or else they were coy. Neither seemed to fit Tara, and she obviously didn’t want to discuss what had happened.

  He looked down at his tray of rocks, though it was hard to focus on them. A much more attractive image was the memory of Tara coming up out of the water, a hint of steam rising from her bare skin, his perfect fantasy.

  Trying to shake the provocative memories away, he laughed. “Now when I go to sleep at night, this is what I keep seeing—rocks and more rocks.”

  “Me, too, but at least you can put names to a lot of them. What prompted your interest in geology?”

  Josh thought back to when his grandmother had first told him the story of Boxing N sapphires. He’d been eleven and had come into her personal sitting room to find her examining polished stones in a carved wood box.

  “It was Grandma Evelyn.”

  He went on to tell Tara how his grandmother had shown him the stones and told him what each one was called—aventurine, pink quartz, sodalite, amethyst, jade...dozens and dozens of them. Then Grandma had told him about the sapphires on the Boxing N. Finally she’d said, quite intently, “Josh, there are gems all over this ranch if you know how to see them. Don’t confuse them with anything else.”

  Tara looked at Josh. “She sounds like a wise woman. Maybe she wasn’t just talking about sapphires.”

  Josh shook his head. “Don’t get sentimental on me.”

  “You should know by now that sentiment isn’t my strong suit. I’m too practical.”

  “If you weren’t sentimental, you wouldn’t have gone looking for family,” he retorted. “As for practicality, you didn’t know about Lauren, but you still tried, hoping someone out there would be looking for you, too.”

  “I suppose. But I’m sure your grandmother must have been terribly sentimental.”

  “Yes and no. She believed in being practical, just like you, but she was also an artist. I swear. Grandma Evelyn was interested in everything. The year before she... Well, I got her a smartphone so she could look up something on the internet whenever she wanted.”

  Tara was a good listener. She nodded quietly and seemed to be waiting for more, so Josh tried to describe the strong, funny and beautiful woman who’d connected with each of her grandchildren in individual ways. She’d been an artist who illustrated children’s books and had painted unique birthday and Christmas cards for every member of her family. Her garden had been like a painting as well, beautifully designed and tended.

  “I still have the cards Grandma gave me,” Josh said, his throat painfully tight. It still didn’t seem possible she was gone.

  Tara was silent for a long moment. “It sounds as if she was a second mother to you.”

  He nodded slowly. “She was. I could always tell her everything.”

  Tara shifted uncomfortably and finally leaned forward. “I’m probably going to say this wrong, but I think you’re unbelievably fortunate. Not because Evelyn died, but because she was really, really special. Having someone you can grieve for so much... Even the grief seems like a gift.”

  She dumped the rocks she’d checked into the bucket, then walked away to refill her tray.

  Josh watched, his mind churning. Tara was right. He was fortunate, and Grandma Evelyn’s life was certainly more important than her death.

  Then something awful occurred to him... Did Grandpa Walt wonder if he wished Evelyn had lived instead of him? Pain twisted through Josh’s midriff. There wasn’t any way to reassure Grandpa without making him think it was true.

  * * *

  TARA GAVE THE STONES in her tray an extra washing to allow Josh some time alone. He was a pain in the ass, but his devotion to his grandmother’s memory was endearing. A lot of people would’ve tried to keep those feelings hidden.

  Like her.

  She sighed. It would be wonderful to stop being the cold fish that Pierre had accused her of being. Perhaps it would be different if she’d had someone in her life like Evelyn Nelson. Evelyn sounded remarkable. Josh’s stories dovetailed many of his grandfather’s tales.

  Tara determinedly focused again on the stones in her box. It would be amazing to find a sapphire, but what were the odds? The mountain was part of the ranch, so Walt’s grandfather could have found gems in the area while exploring as a boy, and it didn’t sound as if he’d needed to dig for them. So if this was where the Nelsons often camped, why hadn’t the stones been rediscovered? So far they’d searched without any success. Of course, Josh’s ancestor might have gotten any gems that were near the surface, so anything left was deeper down...

  Tara mentally groaned. There were too many tail-chasing questions to consider, and the biggest one that she’d tried to answer, over and over, was about Walt. In the end, if they didn’t find sapphires, how would he react?

  She wanted to believe he saw the adventure as the most important part of their journey into the mountains, but there was no way to know for sure.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  JOSH STRETCHED, TRYING to loosen the knots in his back. If anyone thought gem prospecting was exciting and romantic, they should try searching for Montana sapphires, especially after sleeping on the ground.

  The previous day he’d ridden out early to deal with the ranch payroll but had returned by evening. Though Tara’s ability to handle the situation was far greater than he’d given her credit for in the beginning, he still believed it best for him to be there, as well. He kept losing track of the days on the mountain; it had only been the reminder on his phone that had alerted him about another pay period. Despite his decision to support the endeavor, Josh had almost been embarrassed by the load of food he’d hastily gathered to bring back with him—he’d originally gone into the mountains to bring his grandfather home, and now he was finding ways to prolong the interlude.

  Josh finished washing his tray of stones in the creek and began looking through them. Wa
lt was sitting nearby, sorting rocks, as well. His physical health had continued to improve, and he was even cooperating occasionally on things that were better for him, such as getting proper rest and not overdoing it.

  Tara had gone back to camp to do her laundry and make lunch. In the beginning Josh had dreaded the times she left him alone with his grandfather, but those were improving, too.

  “Do you think Tara is disappointed we haven’t found anything yet?” he asked, trying to sound casual.

  Walt shook his head. “She’s worried about me, that’s all.”

  “Is that what she told you?”

  “Not in so many words. You have to learn to read Tara’s eyes, son. It’s all there, no matter how hard she tries to keep it hidden.”

  Josh tipped his head back to gaze up the mountain, unsure of what his own eyes might reveal. On the upper reaches, a bald eagle took off from a rocky crag, rising higher and higher on the currents of air. The powerful flight of the bird made him hold his breath for what seemed an endless moment.

  A sigh from Walt suddenly drew Josh’s attention. “Something up, Grandpa?”

  “You reminded me of Evelyn just now. She loved eagles, anything wild and free. Sometimes I think she would have preferred being mauled by a mountain lion than having me shoot it to protect her. Luckily I never had to do more than scare one away.”

  Josh was startled. For a second he saw pain in his grandfather’s face, a grief so raw and terrible it made his own seem mild. It was gone quickly, but it made Josh think that Walt might be suffering far more than his family had realized.

  “Tara feels the same about wild animals,” Walt said in a lighter tone. “You should have seen her face when she learned about the rifle. I told her it was mostly to scare critters off...though it didn’t work with you.”

  The sly joke was so unexpected it took a moment to sink in.

  Josh laughed. Tara claimed he shared Grandpa’s sense of humor. Maybe she was right about that, as well.

  * * *

  LATER IN THE AFTERNOON, while Walt rested, Josh kept thinking about his new perspective on his grandfather.

  Over by the creek, Tara was working doggedly, taking less time than usual to admire the rocks that had washed down from the higher mountains.

  Josh finally cleared his throat, and she glanced up.

  “I’ve been thinking about what you said about Grandma and Grandpa,” he murmured. “You’ll probably say, ‘I told you so,’ but I’m starting to agree—he misses her more than any of us have realized.”

  No triumph crossed Tara’s face. “I felt funny saying anything since I haven’t known him that long, but when he talks about Evelyn, it’s as if he’s bleeding.”

  “I guess we’ve been too close to see it.”

  “Don’t forget, you’ve been grieving, too. I’m a stranger, so maybe it’s easier for him to talk to me. I don’t think he wants you to worry.”

  “You aren’t a stranger any longer, you’re his friend.”

  Her mouth curved in a smile. “And nobody was more surprised than me to realize it.”

  The sound of footsteps drew both of their attentions; Walt was returning from the campsite.

  “I see not much has gotten done. You’ve been lazy,” Walt announced brusquely.

  It was the sort of comment that usually rubbed Josh wrong, but Tara grinned, unperturbed. “We just didn’t want to find any sapphires without you.”

  Surprisingly, Walt chuckled, and Josh wondered if he’d learned something else...that his grandfather wasn’t always looking for a fight when he said something annoying. Maybe he simply wanted to talk and didn’t know how to begin the conversation.

  * * *

  JOSH KEPT THINKING ABOUT his grandparents as they sat around the campfire that night.

  “Grandpa, tell me something about Grandma Evelyn that I haven’t heard before, okay?” he asked finally. “I’ll understand if it’s too hard to talk about it, but it would mean a lot.”

  Walt gazed into the fire for a few minutes. “I don’t know what you have and haven’t heard. You know we met in San Francisco.”

  “Yeah, in Chinatown, and she thought you were stubborn.”

  “Bullheaded,” Walt corrected. “Come to think of it, you may not know that I was busy trying to convince an idiot that New Mexico was a state in the union, not a separate country. The idiot was Evelyn’s great-uncle. She watched the fireworks between us and then came over to propose to me.”

  Josh’s mouth dropped open. “The day you met?”

  “The same hour. It took me longer to decide.”

  “How long?” Josh asked, his mind reeling.

  “Five minutes, but only because I was playing hard to get.”

  Josh laughed, feeling both joy and sorrow; it was odd how close the two emotions could be.

  That was the first of several evening conversations, though he kept losing track of the time passing. When he got a chance, Josh scribbled notes in a notebook, sometimes by firelight after the others had gone to sleep. He carried the notebook to keep records on ranch business, but Grandpa’s stories were far more satisfying.

  Yet even when Walt laughed, his face alive with memories, Josh began to see the stark pain in his eyes. It was never far away.

  One evening Josh finally leaned forward. “Grandpa, wouldn’t it be easier if you hadn’t loved Grandma so much?” he asked. “You wouldn’t hurt this way now.”

  Walt stared as if he’d lost his mind. “Boy, you’ve got it wrong. Having one day with the person you love is worth a lifetime of grief. The only thing I regret is putting off our dreams. We’d planned to travel and explore the world. God knows what I was waiting for, but we were both healthy and it seemed as if we had plenty of time. Now what do I have?”

  “The Boxing N,” Josh said instantly. He’d give the ranch back to his grandfather if it would help.

  “Evelyn was my life, not the ranch. I’m sorry that it’s been so hard for me to stop...”

  Walt didn’t finish, but Josh knew it was probably the only apology he’d ever get for the way things had been the last several months. And in all likelihood, they’d return to their regular life when this trip was finished. Grandpa would fall back into the same old pattern—arguing and interfering, frustrated that things weren’t being done the way he’d always done them.

  Josh knew he’d have to look for a compromise, something that afforded them both some dignity. In the meantime, he didn’t know what else to say.

  “We’ll work something out,” he murmured finally.

  Grandpa nodded. Silently he poked the fire with a stick.

  Tara didn’t look up; she was reading on the other side of the flickering fire ring. She rarely joined in the conversation, giving them space to talk. Yet Josh was beginning to wonder what she thought about all of it.

  A month ago he would have said it was impossible he’d spend weeks on Smaug’s Mountain hunting for sapphires...with his grandfather, no less. Oh, yeah, and a beautiful, stubborn city woman who’d managed to get through to Walt when no one else had.

  It still boggled his mind that he was here instead of watching over the ranch—it was critical to get operations back on track. But that would have to wait, at least for the moment.

  * * *

  AT TWO THE NEXT AFTERNOON, Walt smiled affably and left for the campsite for his daily nap. Tara watched him go, glad that he was moving more freely, despite the lingering pain in his leg.

  “He seems better,” Josh said, as if he’d read her mind. “But how did you get him to agree to that walking stick? He’s refused to use a cane.”

  “Because a walking stick isn’t a cane...and because I brought two, one for each of us. He wasn’t happy about it at first, but I pointed out that they’re popular with hikers of all ages. I found
them at your sister-in-law Emily’s gift emporium—apparently they’re hot items.”

  Tara halfheartedly flicked her finger through some wet stones. She’d felt moody all day. The way Walt talked about Evelyn was a reminder that she’d probably never have that kind of love in her own life. She just wasn’t the kind of person that people liked much, no matter what Josh claimed.

  Josh was different, though, and there was no reason he couldn’t have it all. It was insane that he had put love on a schedule—something he’d contemplate after achieving success on the ranch. When would enough be enough? If he wasn’t careful he’d turn into an old man, watching his siblings with their children and grandchildren, wondering had happened to the years.

  In a way, he was exactly the same as Walt, putting the Boxing N ahead of everything else. Walt’s plans to travel with Evelyn could never happen now, but at least he had other memories. What would Josh have?

  Still, he had chosen to join in with the sapphire hunt. It would be nice to think he might be learning something, for his own sake.

  By the creek Josh shifted so his shadow wouldn’t cover the stones he was sorting. “I can’t believe how much Grandpa has opened up about Grandma Evelyn. I’ve always assumed he was closed and distant, but you never thought so, did you?”

  “It’s different for me. You’re filtering everything through a lifetime of experiences.”

  “Maybe. He almost talks about the ranch as if he hates it now, but he hasn’t been able to let go, either.”

  “I don’t think it’s as simple as loving or hating the Boxing N.”

  “I suppose.”

  Tara wondered if Josh truly understood what his grandfather was trying to say about priorities. Walt didn’t think ranching was a bad thing. He loved the Boxing N. It produced good beef cattle and fine horses and provided employment for a large number of people.

  But Walt also knew he could have given the ranch to Josh a long time ago. He and Evelyn could have been traveling the world on the day of the accident; instead they’d been hit by a drunk driver less than a mile from the Boxing N gate.