by Alex Jane
"What about you?" Emmanuel asked Otis. "I'm guessing school's out a while longer. Did you get roped in to help too?" Given the uncomfortable glances the three men gave each other, he figured there was something wrong. "What is it? What did I say?"
Otis shrugged and picked up a piece of toast, trying hard to act casual. "It's not a big deal," he said, which meant it probably was. "I'm not sure if I'm going to be teaching at the school next semester."
Emmanuel slowly put down his fork, resting the tines on the edge of his plate, and leaned on the table with both forearms. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that," Otis said. "You've been gone a while, Manny. Things aren’t much like they used to be here anymore."
"Things can't stay the same," Emmanuel said bitterly. "But I don't see why you should stop teaching. Not unless you've become an idiot overnight. Which isn't beyond the realms of possibility, I guess."
"I must be an idiot if I'm still putting up with your crap,"
"Language," Joshua muttered.
Otis looked shamefaced and mumbled, "Sorry, sir," before going on. "I mean it. It's not a big deal. We had some new folk move into the area and they just need some time to get used to the idea of someone who looks like me teaching their children."
Emmanuel could hardly believe what he was hearing. He looked intently toward Ephraim. "Papa Caleb would never have stood for people treating anyone that way," he said.
"Yeah. Well." Ephraim groaned as he leaned back in his creaking chair. "Caleb's not here is he?" As soon as he said it, he looked as if he regretted the remark, and his expression softened. "Otis isn't wrong. A whole bunch of people up and left to find work elsewhere when the bank started buying up places when people got shorted on grain prices and couldn't pay off their loans. Then new people started moving in and…let's just say, they'd like things run differently round here."
"Differently, how?" Emmanuel was almost afraid to ask.
"Oh, nothing too outlandish." Ephraim sighed, holding up his coffee cup when Joshua offered him a refill from the pot. "There's talk of maybe trying to get electricity lines run up from Plum Creek, which would certainly liven the place up. But then more and more people seem to be having difficulty keeping ahold of their land. The ones who are managing aren't making a living anymore. Most of them sell all their corn for feed and get a pittance for it from the agent. If Seth wasn't keeping the co-op going I don't know what most of them would do."
"Is that legal?" Emmanuel asked. "Could the sheriff look into it?" The look that passed between his uncles didn't fill him with confidence. "Oh, what now? What happened to Dryden?" He almost didn't want to ask.
Seth's husband, Malcolm Walker, had been the sheriff after Joshua's father had retired. Once Malcolm had started to get a little long in the tooth, he'd handed over the reins to a dour man called Dryden, who, while he didn't have Malcolm's experience, ended up being a good man who'd appeared to have been keeping the place under control before Emmanuel had left.
"Nothing happened to Dryden. Nothing like you're imagining anyhow," Ephraim reassured him. "The bank managed to get their own man voted into his place, is all."
"The bank," Emmanuel said slowly. "I see. What's he like?"
Emmanuel's suspicions rose when another furtive look passed between Ephraim and Joshua. Otis didn't seem to feel the need to be so subtle and simply smirked. "Oh, he's plenty nice if you like them pretty and a little slow on the uptake."
Emmanuel raised his eyebrows and took a deep breath. "Sounds just like your type."
Otis shrugged. "He's doing his best. Or at least—"
"Or at least what?" Emmanuel asked when Ephraim interrupted Otis with only a look. When no one seemed much like they wanted to say anything, he simply shrugged. "Well I'll make a point of dropping in there today to make his acquaintance so he doesn't think I'm trespassing should he come by the homeplace." He thought that would be the end of it but given how the other three all shifted uncomfortably in their seats and found something on their almost-empty plates that was so fascinating they couldn't look him in the eye, he started to get a little worried. "You wanna tell me what the hell is going on?"
"It's nothing," Ephraim said.
"You keep saying that."
"There was some trouble a few weeks back and being that the sheriff looked a little out of his depth, Malcolm made a call and we had a marshal come by."
"All right." Emmanuel was becoming more confused by the minute until Otis spoke up.
"It's Asher Franklin." Emmanuel almost choked on his coffee. "We thought he'd be gone by the time you got here, which is why I didn't say anything."
"I still don't see why it should make any difference," Joshua said, adding another sausage to Emmanuel's plate. "I know you weren't exactly friendly as boys but—"
"Well, that's an understatement," Emmanuel said petulantly. He pushed his plate away but when Joshua glared at him and only pushed it back, he picked up his fork again.
"He used to torment Manny something awful," Otis said plain, as if to put everyone out of their misery. The uncles looked aghast as if it was news to them. "Y'know. 'Cause Manny's—"
"No," Emmanuel said. "He tormented me 'cause he was a bully and thought because he was an Alpha he could treat people like dirt. Me having no wolf to speak of was simply something he could use against me."
"I didn't realize," Ephraim said quietly. "I'm so sorry. I thought—well, I thought something else might have—"
"I'd say you don't have to see him," Joshua interrupted. "But it looks as if he might be around for a while. But if he gives you any trouble this time you say something, all right?"
Emmanuel didn't want to prolong the conversation by trying to argue that he was a grown man who could look after himself, so he simply nodded and mumbled, "Yes, sir."
"I'm a little disappointed you didn't say anything before, to be honest."
Emmanuel shrugged. "What was I going to say? He was an Alpha, plus Papa Jacob was such good friends with his father."
"They weren't friends. They only did business together. They were friendly enough, but if you had spoken up, Pa would have stopped having anything to do with them in a second for you."
"I know," Emmanuel said with an understanding smile. "It didn't seem worth the bother."
Ephraim shook his head and smiled gently back. "You daft thing. Anyway. If it's any consolation, I always thought the boy was a brat, but having met him again lately, he seems much changed. Hopefully you find him the same and he won't give you any trouble."
"Oh yes," said Otis, grinning over the top of his coffee cup. "He's definitely all grown up, I'd say."
Emmanuel knew that tone and eyed Otis suspiciously before sinking his teeth into a bite of sausage and hoping the knowing smile directed at him didn't mean what he thought it meant.
Chapter Two
The rest of breakfast was spent discussing more pleasant topics and Emmanuel trying to clear his plate. A combination of him having been brought up right and being caught up the conversation meant he kept on dutifully trying to force down what was in front of him. That was until he could hardly take another bite. When he scowled at the pile of food that didn’t seem to be getting any smaller, he was perplexed until everyone started laughing and he realized Joshua must have been sneaking food onto his plate since he sat down without him noticing. Not that Emanuel minded being the butt of a joke. It was nice someone thought to treat him so normally. Or as normal as things got in the Fletcher family.
Afterward, his uncles wasted no time in putting him and Otis to work. Like his grandfathers had, they worked the land to live and not for profit. Joshua had his workshop where he still made furniture, and whatever else they might need, out of wood that he got from the mill in town. Ephraim was a blacksmith, and although he still had a small forge down at the homeplace, he acting mostly as a farrier, which took up the best part of his day.
Although Ephraim had done most of the chores before breakfast, there was still plen
ty for the two additional hands to help with. And every step of the way, someone was there to check that Emmanuel knew what he was doing. At first he'd thought they were simply coddling him as his parents had been doing back in New York, every time Ephraim said, "You remember how to use the cream separator? Just pour it in and…" or "Now, when you groom her, don't forget to…" or "Make sure the tension on the belt is just…" and it was exasperating in a way, but mostly he thought the comments were meant as a kindness so Emmanuel didn't have to ask any awkward questions. But, of course, much like Joshua and his endless supply of breakfast food, the whole thing became a joke, and by the middle of the morning Emmanuel was laughing every time his uncle explained how to tip water from one bucket into the next.
He would never admit it to another living soul, but he was grateful for the extra instruction, especially when he and Otis were heading back down to the homeplace, each carrying a basket of chickens, and leading a cow and her prancing calf down with them. Emmanuel had grumbled that he was sure he could get milk and eggs from the store in town, but Ephraim raised his eyebrows and reminded him winter was coming and it wasn't unusual for them to be snowed in for a couple of weeks or more, and there was only so much snow you could eat. He'd mumbled something else about not knowing or trusting where his food was coming from, but Emmanuel figured he had a point regardless.
Ephraim had tried to get him to take a horse too, but Emmanuel wasn't quite ready for that yet. He wasn't quite sold on the cow, but she was on the small side and extremely docile. Most of the horses his grandfathers had raised had been sold off after their passing, but the few his uncles had kept were the pick of the bunch. Emmanuel had watched them grazing in the paddock, and then racing around when something got their blood up, feeling the same fascination he'd had when he was a boy. But when they'd got close, he'd started to feel hemmed in, like he couldn't breathe right, and he'd had to turn and walk away, taking gulping breaths with his hands on his hips, his eyes on the sky.
Thankfully, nobody paid him any mind, or if they did, they were subtle enough to keep their concerns from him and let him be until he was calm again. Not for the first time, he thought maybe he should give in and get a motorcar as his brother had suggested. But he didn't want to give in, not after having spent long hours talking with his Uncle Samuel about how he himself had overcome his fears and how his childhood pleasure of riding, which had been so cruelly taken from him, was one of his greatest joys again. It had been barely a year since the incident that had made Emmanuel so fearful. It was early days and he wasn't about to give up yet. But for now, the small milk cow and a few chickens would start him off on a good footing. And he was all right with that.
It didn't take very long to get the animals settled, between him and Otis. The old barn had a couple of stalls set up for the cows to overwinter, so they laid fresh straw and down and got the water and feed ready while the animals got acquainted with their new place in the pasture. The hens seemed happy enough too once he'd strewn some grain about. He'd checked the old hen house the day before and had found the structure relatively sound. Of course, his Uncle Ephraim, being a wolf as were his grandfathers before him, didn't have to worry so much about coyotes or wild dogs coming near their livestock, so as long as the chickens had a dry place to roost they hadn't thought much beyond that.
"Maybe you should get a dog," said Otis as he swung the rickety door back-and-forth on its hinges, frowning at the way the aging wood was barely holding together.
"I'll ask Seth about getting one this afternoon," Emmanuel replied, running his hands and fingers through his hair and wondering what it would be like to have a dog of his own. He'd never had one as a child, as his family had been constantly moving around, but Ephraim and Joshua had always had a hound, as did the pack house back in New York.
"It might do you good to have some company out here," Otis said as he let the door go and started to walk back across the yard.
"You're not sticking around?" Emmanuel wasn't sure what Otis's plans were. He had moved out of his parents' cottage on the homestead when he'd left for school in New York. Having always wanted to be a teacher and, being considered part of the family, he was afforded the opportunity just as anyone else would have been. But the big city had never been for Otis and he'd come home to Lastford, taking a place in town and teaching at the schoolhouse ever since.
"Depends," Otis said. "If I get to keep my job at the school then I can still be around once in a while. If not…" He blew out a long breath and shook his head. "I don't know. Duke said there would always be work for me in the stock yard. So I guess if the worst comes to worst he can set me up in an office somewhere I never see the light again."
"You sure he didn't mean as a cattleman? I can see you down in the pens, knee deep in cow crap."
Otis chuckled. "Lord, I hope it doesn't come to that, but the way things are going…"
"Never going to happen." Emmanuel shook his head and bumped up against Otis's shoulder as they walked. "I need an editor, remember? If I can get my head together it might even become a full-time position. Or, y'know, the Alpha would find a place for you in New York in a heartbeat."
Otis bumped him back companionably. "I know. I just don't want to have to leave Violet if I don't have to."
"Only Violet?" Emmanuel was joking, so he was a little surprised when Otis changed the subject.
"You coming up to the house for a bite before you leave?"
Emmanuel shook his head. "God, no. I'll still be full from breakfast this time tomorrow. You headed up?"
Otis nodded. "Yep. Gonna help Josh out with a table he's building while you and Ephraim go gallivanting."
"I wouldn't call going to the Feed and Seed gallivanting," Emmanuel scoffed as they parted ways.
"Give it a few months," Otis called back to him. "It'll seem positively exotic after you've been stuck here long enough."
After changing his clothes into something slightly more respectable, Emmanuel sat at his grandfather's old writing desk and made a couple of lists until he heard Ephraim whistle from up on the ridge. He made it up the incline quick smart and hauled himself up onto the bench seat next to his uncle with a smile.
It was pleasant to sit and be rocked by the gentle motion of the small wagon as the horses pulled them along. He and Ephraim chatted about nothing in particular as they traveled. A carriage passed them coming in the opposite direction and when Ephraim tipped his hat, Emmanuel did the same even though he didn't recognize who it was. When they reached the new bridge, the horses passed over the water without a fuss, despite the sound of their hooves echoing on the wooden boards, and then moved seemingly without being instructed directly to the Feed and Seed lot that was a little way along the road.
Indeed it became clear as soon as they got there that the animals knew exactly where to go, pulling up to the hitching post and shoving their faces into a trough of oats that was laid out next to some water.
"Seth must feed half the town if he's giving away oats like that," Emmanuel said.
"Keeps the animals happy," Ephraim replied, groaning slightly as he got down from the wagon. "Keeps the customers happy too. Besides, don't go telling him he's a soft touch. I wouldn't want to damage his ego."
The Feed and Seed was basically a glorified storeroom, a barn-like building which was divided up into rows on the left as they walked in, that housed the requisite animal feed and crop seed, tools, and anything a homestead might need in the way of hardware. They had equipment to hire too, like the plows and threshers, but they were kept separate. The place smelled part like a hay barn and part like the forge, all oil and metal under the grassy haze. At the back, beyond the sales desk on the right and straight across from the front door, was the office.
At first glance, the interior looked deserted when Ephraim wandered off down toward the dry goods, until a face appeared around the office door, and suddenly a figure was barreling toward Emmanuel.
"Manny Jackson, as I live and breathe!" Emmanuel didn'
t have much choice but to open his arms and get a chest full of cousin as Jonathon Fletcher crushed the life out of him. "Pa didn't tell me you were coming so soon, the old goat."
Emmanuel had to laugh and slapped him on the back, if only to get the man to let go so he could breathe again. "I wrote you last week, you liar."
Jonathon beamed, which was pretty much his default expression since they had been children. They had met when Emmanuel was ten and Jonathon was five, at their best guess.
Found wandering in the wilderness, Seth and Malcolm had adopted Jonathon—named for Malcolm's father, and the previous sheriff of the same name, who had been a great friend and mentor to Malcolm—when his family couldn't be tracked down, and the good folk of Lastford had decided their sense of charity didn't extend to taking in a lost Pawnee boy. It certainly hadn't done Jonathon much harm being as he'd barely stopped smiling since.
"You look well," Emmanuel said, patting Jonathon on his rounded stomach. He wasn't overly large, and what was there was mostly muscle, but he still looked crammed into his expensive-looking three-piece suit.
"As do you," Jonathon replied, although the sentiment was clearly a lie. Emmanuel figured he must look like a wraith next to his cousin. "Settling in all right?"
"It's hard to tell. I feel as if I've only just stepped off the train. Although, I seem to have acquired two cows and some chickens this morning so you could say things are progressing."
"You'll be needing some supplies then, I suppose," Jonathon said with a wink, going to the counter and taking up a clipboard.
"I made a list," Emmanuel said, pulling the scraps of paper out of his pocket and handing over the relevant one. "But if you think of anything else I might have forgotten, just add it on."
"I'll start you an account as a formality but don't worry about payment. At least, not until the bookkeeper starts screaming."
Emmanuel shook his head and huffed out a laugh. "I'm surprised Seth even has a business to run at all if he lets all his customers get away with that sort of thing."