Appaloosa Blues (Sisters of Spirit #8)

APPALOOSA BLUES

Sisters of Spirit #8, The Traherns modern day

By Nancy Radke

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Table of Contents

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CHAPTER ONE

Adam Trahern sat on his horse, alone, his blue heeler, Murray, sitting beside him as he studied the ranch lands spread out before him. He was at his favorite lookout point where he liked to come to watch the sunset. He often became so caught up in keeping the ranch going, that he missed coming here. This place renewed his spirit, helping him keep going when the economy, or his neighbor, or both, proved difficult.

Now he had a new problem. One which could change his life for the better or completely destroy all hope. If only he would figure out which way to proceed. He had to control the situation with Grandpa Davies, his elderly neighbor. If he couldn’t, several lives would be ruined, including his.

His cell phone rang and he reached into his pocket and brought it out. Cell phones were a great invention, but they never let you rest. You were almost always reachable, unless you turned the irritating thing off.

“Trahern here.”

“Hey, Adam. Could you look at forest road 25? Moira thinks she saw a covered truck go up it. None of ours.”

The local ranchers with mountain pastures, were losing beef, and had banded together to watch for strange vehicles, anything large enough to put a calf into and haul away. They’d asked Adam to be their eyes, since his ranch lay on a ridge of its own above the rest. He had a large telescope at home which he could train on a parked vehicle. Sometimes he could even read the license plate.

Reaching into his saddlebags, he pulled out his binoculars. “I’ll check. I’m in a pretty good position right now for that road.”

He dismounted and swept the road. Nothing at first, then he saw it, a small panel truck coming up the ridge road, past the few trees that grew there.

Here in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon, the roads were on the ridges, the heavy growth of trees covering the valleys. It made it easy to see who was traveling the roads, especially since he’d invested in high-powered binoculars.

This truck stopped and a dark-complected man got out and looked to be taking pictures. Another man with light brown hair joined him and they stood talking and pointing around. The dark-complected man was taller than the other, but Adam had no way of telling how tall they really were. They were dressed in jeans and T-shirts, the standard ranch wear.

He’d never seen them before. They could be there for many reasons, one of which was to steal cattle. Or they could be hunters, scoping out the area for bow hunting. Or they could be loggers or government men. They got into the truck and continued up the road, along the ridge and out of sight. If they were taking cattle, they weren’t doing it right now.

This was the fifth truck he’d checked on today, from different parts of his ranch. Most had driven right along. One other had stopped and the people got out and walked to the fence line. He had decided they were taking a bathroom break and wrote them off as possibles. Other vehicles, such as jeeps and cars traversed the mountain roads, but Adam couldn’t watch them all.

One of these days someone would luck out and catch the men doing the stealing. Robbers usually always got caught, sooner or later. The longer it took though, the more damage they did. Many of the ranchers were barely hanging onto their property. This was grazing land, not farming land. The soil was shallow and rocky.

You could lose a weak animal to a predator, or an accident, or the winter. This hurt you, but not as much as a thief. Thieves were a different breed of cat, taking the best you had. Your breeding stock.

The sun set in a spectacular blaze of flashing lights, and, as he watched for it, a splash of iridescent blue formed across the skyline just before the sun went down.

He put his binoculars away, remounted and rode home through the pastures. It wasn’t that far, only twenty minutes. He was soon at the corrals, getting there at about the same time Johnny rode in.

Johnny. Johnny and Karen. Jo and Gramps
.

What a mess. What was he going to do?

“I don’t know what I should do.” Joanna Davies threw up her hands. She sat with the other women in the Sisters of Spirit group, in a rare moment when they were all together. This time they had gathered at the Sheraton Hotel in Seattle for the double wedding of Alison and Chantal, who were marrying their two Superbowl champions, Josh Logan and Jake Earle.

Of the original group, only Stormy and Jo were unmarried, and Stormy’s wedding to Kyle was set for next month. He was there with them, enjoying his introduction to everyone.

Jennel and Zack were there with their three-year-old girl and year-old boy. Ellen and Jared now had a two-year-old boy. Perri and Hugo showed up with five-month-old twin boys. And Angie and Ryan proudly displayed a newborn baby girl. Connor was on his ship, but Mary was there, confident and smiling, being one of Alison’s bridesmaids.

Hugo had paid the wedding photographer to take photos of all the women together, then the group with their husbands and children, then each family separately. He and Perri had decided to do it before the group became so involved with other things that they couldn’t get together again.

The Sisters had been using social media to keep in touch, but nothing could beat a face to face chat. They had gathered in the lounge to visit while waiting their turn to be photographed, but Jo’s cell phone kept ringing.

Turning it off, Jo decided to ask for advice. “Should I go back home or not?”

“Who’s boiling the pot?” Stormy asked, who knew best how to make a pot boil without using any fire.

“Ha! My sister, Karen. She’s been texting me non-stop to come home this summer.”

“Why don’t you? You never went while we were at Virginia Tech together.”

“Or afterwards,” chimed in Robyn Duvall, who as the newest Sister was still not quite up on everyone or everything. “I wondered why you didn’t visit your family last year.”

“Is your grandfather still causing trouble?” Angie asked, her newborn sleeping soundly in her arms. “I remember you saying he would have a heart attack whenever he got angry, and that your family had to watch everything you said about…someone.”

“Our neighbor. Adam Trahern. Gramps can’t stand him. When I’m home, I’m right in the middle. Things quiet down when I leave. So I’ve been absenting myself for a few years in hopes the situation would improve.”

“So, did it?” Angie asked.

“No,” Jo said, shaking her head. “It got worse. Gramps is now accusing Adam of stealing our cattle.”

“I’m a little clueless,” Robyn said. “What caused this in the first place, and why are you such a catalyst?”

“Adam lives just two ridges over from us. When I was thirteen, his father crashed into my grandmother’s car on our country road. Ed was drunk and going too fast. It killed her and ruined all our lives. My grandpa never forgave him. When Ed committed suicide, Gramps just transferred his hatred to Adam.”

“Why would he do that?” Stormy asked.

“I’m not sure. For some reason, he blames Adam.”

“But why do you feel like you have to stay away?” Robyn asked.

“I have my grandmother’s name and I look a lot like her. I’ve always been my grandfather’s favorite. Anything I do or say about the Trahern family really upsets him. He had several strokes before I left. None since.”

“How long have you been away?” Jennel asked.

“Six years, almost.”

“It sound like you’ve been using school as a way to escape.”

“Yes. And I knew that. I’ve got my MA and was thinking of getting my doctorate. But what I really want is what you guys all have. A husband and children. Love.”

“You can check out my stepbrother, Owen,” Perri said. “He’s a hunk. And wonderful. You can come visit Hugo and me.”

The others laughed. “She is always offering up Owen to one or the other of us.”

Perri shrugged. “Yes, I do. But you all keep marrying other men.”

Jo smiled at her. “I met Owen when he came to Virginia while you were there. He is a hunk. But I need to resolve this problem first. I just don’t know how to go about doing it.”

“What’s the problem?” Ellen asked, coming in from having her picture taken. “You’re next, Stormy.”

Stormy stood up, but tarried long enough to hear Jo’s answer.

“The problem is that my sister, Karen, wants to marry Johnny Trahern, Adam’s brother. They’re all afraid to tell Gramps.”

“Oh, wow, how did that happen?” Perri asked.

“They were both at the same community college last year. I just found out that they’d started dating on the sly during high school. They were in the same school musical their junior year.”

“Does any of the rest of your family hate Adam?”

“Only Gramps. We all realize it’s silly to blame Adam for what his father did. But Gramps’ heart is so fragile, he holds both families hostage. If there were any way to get him to forgive Adam’s family, I’d do it. Karen deserves to be happy.”

Jennel bounced her little boy on her knee. “Well, staying away hasn’t helped things. I say you should go home and talk to your grandfather. Maybe if he realizes he’s the real reason you don’t come back, he’ll try to control his anger.”

“He might be using his condition to control everyone,” Ellen said, who had come from a demanding family.

“Or he may not care,” Angie added. “Going home never worked for me. But I agree with Perri. You need to try.”

“And if I kill my grandfather doing it? I love my grandpa.”

The group spoke, overlapping each other. “Don’t think that way.” “You should go.” “He brought it on himself.” “You need to see your family again.”

“What if Karen elopes?” Perri asked.

“Now that would be a big shock. It would probably kill him,” Jo said.

As the oldest Sister, Jennel summed things up as she usually did. “Look, Jo. Make a decision and do it. Call your folks and your grandfather and tell them you’re coming home for a while. Don’t set a definite time. Then stay as long as you need to.”

Robyn still looked puzzled. “What’s this neighbor like? Is he approachable?”

Jo thought a moment, picturing the handsome rancher before answering. It would be difficult after not speaking to him for seven years, but she could approach Adam. Still, could she trust him not to antagonize her grandfather?

“I don’t know.”

“Is he as old as your grandfather?”

“Oh, no. He’s just four years older than me.”

“Married?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

Robyn laughed. “Oh! I see. I get the picture now. No wonder your grandfather keeps his feud going.”

They all laughed, and Jo shook her head. It wasn’t anything like that. She had had nothing to do with Adam since the incident in high school.

“Maybe you can go with Karen when she tells your grandpa, and just give her moral support,” Jennel said. “Once she’s married, you can leave.”

“If you still want to leave,” Robyn added.

The rest of them nodded.

Stormy returned to the lounge and motioned her cousin to be next. Perri stood up, paused and said, “Go home, Jo. You have a family who loves you and should be part of your life. Go help Karen. See if you can straighten out your grandfather’s thinking. If you don’t go, I think you’ll be sorry you didn’t try.” She left the room.

The others nodded. “Give it a try, Jo.” “Yes, do.” “Stop avoiding it,” they said.

“Okay. I’ll go. But I left all my stuff at school. I only brought an overnight bag.”

Angie shrugged. “Robyn has to go back to finish out the quarter.”

“Yes,” Robyn said. “Just tell me what you want and I’ll ship it out to you.”

“Stay a couple of days here and hit the Seattle malls,” Jennel said. “Zack and I would be glad to have you longer. You’re such a big help with the kids, you’re no trouble at all.”

“Text Karen. Tell her you’re coming. Then you can turn your phone back on,” Ellen said, and they all smiled and nodded. Jo wondered if they had any idea what she was getting into, and decided they probably did.

The next morning Karen picked her up at airport, ecstatic to get her home. As they walked to the car, she brought Jo up on all the latest on their family and neighbors. As soon as they got inside, Karen proudly showed Jo her small diamond ring, which she put on her left hand. “I have to be so careful where I wear this. I put it on when Johnny and I are together, which is always in private. I can’t even wear it when I’m away from Gramps. He has spies everywhere.”

“You mean friends and neighbors who would congratulate him, not knowing that he didn’t know.”

“Right. Everyone knows him.” Karen started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

“And you. Everyone who’s lived here anytime at all knows both our families.”

“True.”

“And how is Gramps?”

“He seems to get more and more impossible each year you’re gone. Like, all the ranchers have been losing calves the past year, including us. Gramps blames it on Adam. Dad told him that Adam has had some stolen too, but Gramps said that Adam would say that just so no one would suspect him.”