The Traherns #1

by Nancy Radke

  “Yes. Next time take a horse. They don’t run out of gas.”

  “My horse wouldn’t have managed this trip,” I said, climbing in beside him. “Where can I fill this?” I held up the can.

  “I guess at the general store. I think Wylie keeps gas out back.”

  “It takes diesel. It’s a tractor.”

  “Then I don’t know. A tractor you say?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where’d you get it?”

  “It belongs to Doctor Web.”

  “Oh, that tractor. I’ll take you there.”

  “Thanks.” I leaned against the back of the seat and relaxed.

  “Hey, Mister. Here we are.”

  “Huh?” I woke up with a start. We were stopped outside the doctor’s home.

  “You were powerful tired,” he said. “Good thing you weren’t driving.”

  The doctor’s car was in the parking area, so I knew they had gotten home safely.

  Sam came outside. She’d had a shower and changed into clean clothes, making me aware of how dirty I was.

  “What happened? Where’s the tractor?” she asked.

  I held up the gas can.

  “Oh. Where at?”

  “Just past where the mountain road meets the main road.” I climbed out of the buggy. “Thank you,” I told the old man.

  “Always welcome,” he said, turning his team. As he drove away, I followed Sam to where they had a large tank of diesel. I opened the can lid, put in the nozzle, and worked the pump.

  She looked puzzled. “Why did you come here today? Is Mickey worse?”

  I shook my head as I pumped away.

  “Mickey’s doing fine,” I told her. “I, uh, didn’t pay you for your doctoring services.”

  “I didn’t ask for any.”

  “Well, the regular doctor did, and he didn’t do as much as you did. It struck me as unfair. So I’m here to pay you for taking care of Mickey so quickly.”

  And ask you to come back. And ask you to marry me. How did I say that? This young woman looked like she could rope a catamount and ride it.

  “Then, thank you. I would refuse, but we need the money.”

  “Do you still need a job? I was a mite hasty. With Mickey down, I’m needing someone like you and Bear to get the cattle out on different pasture while we build the barn and put up some fences.”

  “I thought you didn’t want any women.”

  “I thought I didn’t either. But…”

  She waited, but when I just stood there with what must have been a goofy look on my face, she frowned. “But what, Barnabas?”

  “Well, Sam, I’ve been getting an earful from all my people that I, uh…”

  “Yes?”

  “I, uh. I’ll give you your money now, while I’m thinking of it.”

  Proposing to Becky had never been this hard. I finished pumping the diesel, hung up the nozzle, and put the lid on the can. Then I pulled out some money. A ten-dollar gold piece. The weight was good and I handed it to her.

  “That’s close to a week’s wages,” she said.

  “That’s what the new doctor charged to look at what you did for Mickey, and say you did a good job. He didn’t do anything.”

  “Dad never charged that much.”

  “How’s he doing?”

  “His leg is really sore, but he doesn’t think he damaged it any.”

  “Well, when the folks around here find out how much the new doctor charges, I’m thinking they will be more than happy to have your Dad come again.”

  We climbed into her car and she drove back to the tractor. She was a careful driver, and very skillful. I poured the diesel into the tractor while she checked on the cow. Then we drove back to the clinic.

  The doctor came outside as I clanked to a stop. We unloaded the cow and I put the wagon back and unhitched it.

  “Come in and clean up, Barnabas,” he said. “Sam can get that cow comfortable while you get a shower. I’ve got some clean overalls that should fit you, and a work shirt. You’ll look like a farmer, but at least they’ll be clean. Those have holes burned in them.”

  I showered and dressed in the clothes he provided. I had to adjust the straps, but overalls pretty much fit whomever you put in them.

  Samantha was the kitchen, rattling pans.

  The good doctor gave me a funny look. “What happened out there at your place? She told me she had a job wrangling cattle, then she come back three days later and said she didn’t.”

  “It’s all men out at my ranch, Doctor. I didn’t feel it right for her to be there, a young single woman—”

  “Good looking.”

  “Yes, that too.”

  “So, what are you doing about it?” he asked.

  “Huh.” I grinned. “Well, I’d like to. I mean…”

  “You interested in her?”

  “Well, yes. But—”

  “She thinks she needs to take care of her old man.”

  “You’re not old.”

  “Thank you. I’m not. I want grandchildren. But I got me a stubborn woman for a child who refuses to consider anyone, and puts aside her own happiness, just because she worries about me. Now why don’t you give that job back to her, and take her out there and show her how to feel like a woman?”

  “Doctor. You don’t know me. Why would you—”

  “You’re a Trahern, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Our families go way back. Unless you’ve gone rogue, I’d trust you with my life. And with my daughter. You proved it by sending her home. Now take her out there again.”

  I stood and shook his hand. “Thank you, sir. I will.”

  “Sam,” he yelled.

  “Yes, Dad?” She ran into the room.

  “Go get your things. Barnabas is taking you back to his ranch. You’ve got your job back.”

  “But…”

  “I don’t need you here. Things were getting mighty busy, but with that new doctor in town, we’ll be able to split up the work. Go pack. Barnabas brought his wagon so that you can take all your things.”

  She looked at me, and I nodded.

  “All right,” she said, and ran out of the room.

  The doctor looked me over. “I heard from my dad, Charlie Web, that you got married, then lost your bride in an accident.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “A terrible thing. I know it may seem heartless to suggest you marry again, but a man without a woman has a mighty lonesome struggle. Life just loses all its joy.”

  “You’re right,” I agreed. “But how will you fare?”

  “There’s a widow out the other side of town who’s been giving me a smile. I think I’ll go see her now that my bones are all mended. I was making sure the healing was done before I told people I could come see them again. I’m just not ready to wrestle a steer yet.”

  “If you need any help, let me know,” I said.

  “You take care of my girl. I tried to get her to consider some of the men in this here valley and she would have none of them. She’s stubborn, but she is also a fighter. She won't give up, or give in. Once you got her on your side, she'll stay. You just got to prove yourself worthy of her.”

  “May I ask her to marry me?”

  “You better.”

  “Dad!” Sam came into the room, red-faced. She must have been on her way into the room and overheard my last statement.

  “Well, he does have a point there. You being the only female. I think you should get married before you go.”

  “But…”

  “Don’t you like the idea?”

  “Dad. We haven’t talked—”

  “Who needs to talk? He needs a wife, you need a husband.”

  She looked at me like she didn’t know what to do. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. He had managed to bring things out in the open. It was up to me now.

  “Sam. Would you marry me?”

  “No,” she said.

  I looked at the doctor. He was cons
idering his daughter.

  “Why not?” he asked. I dreaded hearing her answer.

  “He just wants to marry me, so I can live out there and work. I don’t think that’s reason enough.”

  “That’s not the reason,” I said.

  “Then what is it?” she demanded.

  “You know I got married. You know it’s been just a short time since I lost Becky.”

  “Yes. Everyone knows.”

  “I miss her. I loved her. But that’s not saying that I can’t love you. I’m a lonely man, Samantha. I had the happiness of having a wife for a short time. I want that happiness again.” I stopped to take a breath “She was happy. I want that for you. Will you marry me?”

  I held my breath again. If she refused me this time, I’d not bother her any more.

  “You won’t compare me to her?”

  “No. Why should I? Actually, Becky and I were just off our honeymoon, headed home. I didn’t get much chance to know a lot about her.”

  “You want kids?”

  She was as brash as her father. I hadn’t even talked about children with Becky.

  “Certainly. At least a couple. More if you want them.” I wiped my brow with my hand and realized my fingers were ice cold. It was the strangest conversation I’d ever had. Her father just sat there and nodded his head. She frowned at him.

  “You think I should marry him?”

  “Yes, I do. He’s a Trahern. They are honorable people. It will be good for a Web to marry a Trahern. You couldn’t do better.”

  “I remember Grandpa telling me about Trey and Mally’s wedding,” she said.

  “My grandparents,” I said. “I heard it from them. Charlie Web played matchmaker.”

  She still hadn’t given me an answer. I wondered if I should ask her again. She looked at me and then at her father. Suddenly she jumped, spun around and ran into the kitchen. I heard the sound of a pot banging on the stove and ran in behind her.

  “Drat and tarnation!” she said, taking off a pot of stew that was almost cooked dry.

  “Did you save it?” I asked.

  “Barely. I remembered it before I smelled it.” She grabbed a dipper and added water, stirred it, then put it back on the stove.

  “Sam, I know this is sudden. I’ll go home and wait for your answer. You don’t have to give it to me right this minute.”

  “Don’t you want me?”

  “Yes. But I don’t want you to feel forced into making a decision.”

  “I’d already made it. Up at the ranch. That first night when you got all uppity and told me I had to sleep in the cabin.”

  Uppity. My spirits dropped lower than my boots.

  “I realized you moved Joe in with you, so as I could have a private place. You were taking care of me. Security. A woman needs security.”

  I nodded. I didn’t know where she was going with this.

  “I made up my mind about you then and there. Why do you think I wanted to stay so badly?”

  That threw me. “Why?”

  “So as to make you like me. But I wasn’t doing very well.”

  I did a quick reshuffle of my thoughts. What was she implying? That she had wanted to stay for my sake, as well as the job?

  “Yes, you were doing well. Too well. I didn’t want to send you away. I felt I had to.”

  “To protect my honor?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I just don’t want to be married to someone who only wants a wife to work for him.”

  “But that’s what wives do. They’re a helpmeet. Someone to work alongside a man, to help him, to love him, and to make his life a joy.” The words were coming to me now. “I’d want you to share my work, but also my life. Our children.”

  She nodded. “Children.”

  “I realized that I could put all my effort into building a ranch, but if I didn’t have a wife and children to build for, then it would be useless.”

  The pot of stew was boiling again, and she moved it to a cooler spot on the stove.

  “Today? Tomorrow? When?” she asked.

  Was that a yes? “I’ll let you decide. Today is fine for me, but—”

  “Dad! Get your boots on. We’re going to the preacher. Grab me a couple of gunnysacks and put in some hens while you’re at it. I want eggs to cook with. And phone Wylie. We’ll make him a witness. He started this.”

  I could hear the doctor’s footsteps as he left the sitting room, then the ring of the phone as he cranked the handle to get the operator. He gave her the number, then waited to be connected.

  “I’ll need to stop at the store and get me some clothes fit to be married in,” I said.

  “We’ll get married there,” she said. “It’s as good a place as any.”

  “You wanted me, the first day?” I asked, hardly believing it. I had been pretty rough on her.

  “Yes, sir. I want a man who’ll stand up to me. I know I’m stubborn and I don’t want a ‘yes’ man. I love it when a man goes all strong and protective.”

  “Wylie said you turned down everyone who asked.”

  “They didn’t measure up. So you were talking to Wylie about me?”

  “Like your dad said, I brought the buckboard so I could take you home.”

  She laughed. “Eight. I want eight kids.”

  We had twelve. Once she got started, she didn’t want to quit. We had eight strapping boys and four beautiful girls during the years of the Great Depression and World War 2. We always had chickens, cows, and a vegetable garden, food on the table, hay in the barn, and several children in the local school.

  Samantha continued her doctoring, working free for those who had no money. I even bought her a car when she assured me she could get home sooner if she didn’t have to rest the team. I also paid to have a phone line brought to our ranch.

  Bear accompanied her for years, then his offspring, when he got old.

  Neighbors came, building ever closer to us. They had children, whom Samantha delivered. She now gets letters from them, all over the world, telling her what they are doing.

  Our boys spread out, moving into Washington, Oregon, and Idaho mainly. Ben took over the running of this ranch. Charlie, Glen, and Matthew became farmers. We also have one doctor, two preachers, and a newspaper editor in the family. One of our girls married a rancher, one an Oregon logger, one moved to Alaska after the war and lives up there with her husband, and the fourth lives in Canada.

  Then the government made the land around the Umatilla into a National Forest and cut our grazing area. We had to get grazing leases to feed our cattle. Ben cut back the herd accordingly. We’ve had to contend with sheep grazing on our land, huge cattle losses at times, and, at other times, large herds. Forest fires and pine beetles. During all this, our family has survived.

  Once a year we travel to Walla Walla to see my family and spend time with the Webs. We meet at Pioneer Park, with its stately oak trees, as there are so many of us. We sit and visit with Charlie Web and Kimana, now in their nineties, and Mally. Trey is gone, a heart attack in his nineties, when he went for a long walk on a 112 degree day.

  My dad, James, still has his herd of Hereford cattle from Sir Galahad, the bull that my mom, Brynn, brought out from Maryland. Like Grandpa Trey would say, we were building strong.

  And do I remember Becky? Yes. As a cherished memory of a first love that was pure, and not lost forever, because on it I built another life, one that she would have been proud of.

  THE END

  Thank you for reading “The Trahern collection.” If you enjoyed these books, I would appreciate it if you'd help other readers enjoy them too by recommending them to friends, readers' groups, and discussion boards, or by writing a short review on Amazon. Thank you.

  Next in this series is the modern-day story, Appaloosa Blues, with Adam Trahern.

  I am now finishing up a story about Shorty, whom you met in The Happiest Man in the Territory. Shorty’s story is called, The Tallest Man in Texas and should be out in May,
2013. I will continue to write more Trahern stories, as ideas come.

  Also planned is another series, Brothers of Spirit, with men in the CIA, FBI, and local law enforcement, with stories featuring Owen Putman, Robyn Duvall, and others, some linked with the Sisters in Spirit series. These will be full length novels. I don’t expect any of these to be out until 2014.

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  OTHER WORKS BY NANCY RADKE...Sisters of Spirit Series

  Boxed set of #1-4 of the Sisters of Spirit novels. This gives you four super reads, ranging from a simple love story in Turnagain Love to a life and death struggle in Courage Dares. All are sweet, contemporary romances with lots of action but without the language or sex offered by many authors. These are safe to give to teenagers, grandparents, and anyone wanting pure romance.

  There are eight full length novels to this series, from 60,000 to 100,000 words. The last one, Appaloosa Blues, contains the story of Adam Trahern, the great, great, great grandson of Trey and Mally.

  All sweet, all ranch, the “end” book of both series. The Sisters of Spirit are here again. Pick up APPALOOSA BLUES, #8 Sisters of Spirit Sweet romance, contemporary. This is the only Trahern story written in third person. It is a contemporary romance, with the focus on the romance, but it is “sweet,” with no sex scenes or strong language.

  SISTERS OF SPIRIT

  The Sisters of Spirit are a group of girls who attended Virginia Tech around the same time and stayed in the same dorm. The group was started by Stormy and Jo, and included mainly western girls, although Jennel was an honorary member from Boston. Each has her own story which can be read separately from the others.

  SHOW & TELL BIBLE SERIES

  Do you have little children? Captivate them with Bible stories.

  “Tell me, I forget, show me, I remember…” Chinese Proverb