She stared at him mutinously before dragging the winch to the double loft doors and lowering it to the wagon.
With a chuckle, he threw the bale over his head to top off what he had already stacked before following her.
She dropped to the wagon and was scrambling across the shifting bales muttering to herself.
He started to argue that she should stay in the barn when he noticed a trail of dust coming down the valley road. Tightening his eyelids into slits, he made out a gray truck.
The cable jerked under his hand.
“Pull it up, cowboy.” Her sunburned face glared up at him, and when he pointed to the road, she turned to see what he was pointing at.
“Yay!” Shrieking, she started down the bales, stumbling over the uneven, soft surfaces.
Baya vaulted off his hand from the loft to the hay wagon and followed her to the ground.
The gray truck had pulled up to park at the house, and almost immediately, the passenger side opened.
Dick stepped down, stretching his back; on the other side of the truck, Todd Rainwater did the same stretching exercise before slamming the door shut. He walked around the truck to lean against the fender.
Bonnie careened into Dick, giving him a hug. She grabbed his hand and held on. “I'm so glad you came. How did you get here so fast? If you'd told me, I would have had something baked. Oh, Dick, I am so glad you're here. I need your help.”
Stopping a few paces away, Baya crossed his arms over his chest and glowered as Bonnie hugged the man again.
Todd grinned at Baya.
Baya rationalized he should be grateful to the old coot. Dick had, after all, introduced him to Bonnie. But he'd been around the man too many years to start trusting him now.
Dick's gaze judged him from the top of his worn straw hat to his scuffed boots. “You look like something the cat drag
g
ed in.”
“You're not looking much better, old timer.”
“I see you're walking on your own again.” Todd's whiskey-burred voice interrupted.
The tall man moved between Dick and Baya. “I wasn't sure you'd ever recover from that last trampling.”
“
This is the first I've seen of the valley. If I'd known it was this prime, I may have considered giving up my freedom,” Todd said.
“Where're you working?” It was all Baya could think to ask, as his mind tried to come to grips with the surprise visit and not bristle at Todd's comment, either.
“Cheyenne. It took a little doing for Dick to spring both of us or we would have been here a day ago.”
Bonnie was pulling Dick toward the house, so Baya and Todd followed along.
Fear mingled with jealousy as Baya watched the easy camaraderie the three shared. He knew Bonnie had chosen him; he knew she responded to him. Even so, he had seen Dick wow peopleâespecially womenâbefore.
Only Bonnie wasn't some easy buckle bunny hanging about the rodeo.
He glanced at the man beside him. Todd was approximately the same height as Baya, but thinner. Ironically, he still had the loose-limbed body of a teenager. Thin, sharply defined shoulders, the man carried most of his muscles bunched in his biceps and forearms. He looked like the construction foreman he was.
Dick dragged him all over the country, having him build things out of what seemed like nothing, sometimes.
Baya had seen him repair a wooden chute once, out of pieces of scraps lying around. The way he handled wood one could see that he loved the feel, the texture and shape of it. For carpentry, it had looked like a piece of art when he was done.
The foreman stopped at the porch, looking around at the newly replaced lumber. He looked over the ceiling and the house. “You have a lot of rot?”
“Some.” Baya removed his hat and combed fingers through his hair before shrugging. “I don't really know what I'm looking for. Bonnie wants to paint the house, but I say we have to wait.”
Todd nodded. “Someone took good care of it. These fieldstone houses are few and far between anymore.” As they walked inside, he drew in his breath. “Wow. You have a showcase here, son.”
Bonnie turned at his words. “Would you like to see the rest?”
At his nod, she led him through the living room, still crowded with her furniture.
Todd listened to her, nodding as she told him what she wanted to do. His hand rubbed knowingly over the surface of a bureau and gripped the knob of the maple bed she wanted in Daniel's room.
Dick stood in the hallway and watched them. Shifting his gaze to catch the openly jealous look on Baya's face, he grinned. “You're gonna lose her to a fifty-year-old man if you don't watch out, rider.”
“Nonsense, old man. Why are you here?” Baya tried to shrug it off and prove he wasn't worried as Bonnie led Todd through the dining room.
The foreman's deep, whiskey-softened voice murmured in answer to her chatter when she showed him the stairway. They walked up it, leaving Dick and Baya still standing in the foyer.
“You gonna let her lead him right into the bedroom?”
Baya scowled and the older man shook his head
“You know as well as I do that man has women loving him from sea to shining sea, and you are letting him waltz her right out from under yer nose.” Dick started stomping up the stairs after them.
Baya trailed along behind.
As he reached the hallway, Baya glanced out the window and noticed the half empty hay wagon standing in front of the barn.
Bonnie seemed to sense his gaze and turned. Her face was flushed with excitement.
“I have to get back to the wagon,” he said. “I'm afraid we'll get a rain, and I'll lose what we have.”
“Oh, I forgot! I'll come back out to helpâ”
“No you won't,” Dick interrupted her. “I'll go. You called for help, after all. We'll decide what to do when the wagon is unloaded.”
Baya stared at him open-mouthed. “You came to help?”
“What do ya think, that I came to picnic? I told her she could call me if she got into trouble, and she called.”
“Iâ” Bonnie began defensively, but Baya held up a hand.
Looking at Todd, he saw the sardonic grin deepening, silently laughing at him. He turned back to Dick ready to argue. But he needed the help. “What's this going to cost me?”
Dick narrowed his eyes and drew an angry breath
“Food.” Todd's rumble rolled over the hallway. “Just feed us, little lady.”
“Let's get the job done.” Dick jerked a nod toward the barn and hay wagon.
Baya touched his arm and pointed to the back stairs. “This way.” He stopped at the head of the stairs, turning back to Bonnie. “Have any ideas for supper or do I need to grill steaks?”
The tenseness on her face became a tentative smile. “I have pork roast out. It will do.”
He nodded and turned to follow Dick and Todd down the back stairs.
~*~
Baya paused in the process of pushing boulders to shove back his hat and rub sweat and grit off his face.
Dick was driving the tractor to clear as much of the rubble as they could from the rutted mountain track.
He and Todd were using brute strength to get the rest of the rocks pushed over the slope and into the creek.
They had gotten the smaller herd of cattle down to the western pasture.
If he could wait a few weeks, he would be able to mow the meadow.
Dick was against them working the land that had cattle on it, but Todd agreed it was a good idea if one waited until nature had cleansed the area. That meant they needed rain.
Baya didn't bother to tell them he had a degree in land management. He just let them bicker over it in their own way.
Their way being, Dick picking and arguing, and Todd grunting hedged comments back.
Although still wary, Baya had begun appreciating the two men over the last three days. He had always been distrustful of their interaction, and he never could understand why Todd traveled with Dick. Dick would cut him down every chance he got, but Todd seemed to ignore him. Dick ran around, yapping like a terrier. Todd sat silent, smoking and drinking with dark amusement on his face. Todd worked as foreman for Dick, who worked as traveling supervisor for a large construction conglomerate. Still, they mixed like water and oil.
Until this week, Baya hadn't even known that Todd rode. The tall man always sat in silence while Dick jabbered about horses, rodeos, and men they knew. Yet when they did a reconnaissance on the mountain herd, Todd had automatically reached for Lady and saddled her with sure, efficient movements.
Dick went on Phoebe while Baya had swung into Skip's saddle.
They were clearing the roadbed because Todd commented that they should do it now.
Baya had argued. He wanted to wait until after the meadows were ready for haying.
“Some of the cattle we already brought down came in limping a little and it'd be a shame to lose any to a broken leg,” Todd drawled.
Baya had taken the advice to heart.
The tractor jerked to a stop beside him, and Dick hopped down to put his shoulder against the boulder. They jumped clear as the rock sprang loose and rolled down the hill. It stubbornly stopped at the edge of the creek and settled.
“Seems that one has an aversion to water,” Todd said with a laugh.
“Is it cleared enough for you, cowboy?” Dick asked with his usual belligerent stance.
Baya looked around him. The road was clear. Deeply rutted, but clear of the main rubble. He nodded. “Bonnie probably has food on. We could get something to eat before we bring the horses up.”
Todd leaned the long pole he'd cut as a pry bar against a nearby aspen tree. “I could get used to that woman's cooking.” He eyed Baya's lean frame and snorted. “You keep tucking it in and you'll be looking like Dick. All round and soft.”
That's all it took to set Dick off. He started enlightening the world on how he could work circles around the younger men. How Todd was burning up his life in beer, women and cigarettes. They'd have been bums on a street to nowhere if he hadn't played nanny to them all these years. They were still bums, just bums with a future. And a sketchy one, at that.
Copying Todd's example, Baya crawled back on the tractor and leaned against the rusting wheel wells. The two shared a grin behind the older cowboy's back and let his opinions wash over them.
Dick got the thing turned and they started the bumpy ride down the mountain. Gripping the fenders, Baya prayed they'd hold. He had no desire to fall under the tires of the Cricket.
Riding up from under the shadow of the trees, Baya narrowed his eyes and scanned for the house. He could feel the mocking gaze of the man across from him, but he didn't care. Each day as they returned, he searched for a glimpse of his wife.
She was on the porch, watching as the Cricket rolled out of the shadows.
He felt the glow start at his feet and roll through his heart. A jump from the back of the tractor almost had him landing on his hands as his bum knee gave way. He staggered, righting himself, and fast-walked toward the porch.
She stepped around the water bucket she cleaned paintbrushes in to greet him.
And when he kissed her, it felt so right.
“What's for lunch, lady?” he asked as he hugged her to him.
She shoved him away. “Ugh! You're all sweaty,” she teased.
“Well, you smell like paint, but I like you, anyway.” He nuzzled her neck. “If it weren't for a few unwelcome visitors, I'd have to do a scientific experiment on the effects of mixing sweat and paint fumes.”
She giggled. “I take it you're over being angry about me calling Dick.” She drew back to look into his dirty face. “They have helped, haven't they?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but I still have to put up with Dick, and I don't trust him as far as I can throw him.”
She just shook her head. “I have a nice chicken and rice salad. If you're at a breaking point, you could come and feed.”
“You sound like we graze our way through your kitchen.”
“Isn't that what you do?” She turned at the doorway and raised a cocky eyebrow at him.
He just grinned and yelled for the other two to hurry up. He was hungry, but it was a toss-up whether he was hungrier for his wife's companionship or lunch.
Dick was expounding another story as they plowed through the rice and chicken and pecan salad. Fresh iced tea, homemade bread and sliced peaches kept making their way around the old wooden table.
Bonnie left to answer the phone in the hallway. At the sharpness in her voice, Baya jumped from the table and picked up the extension in the kitchen.
“Mom,” The voice on the other end was full of tears. “Come get us, Mom.”
“What is it, girl?” Baya tried to talk soft, but fear had his voice rumbling like distant thunder.
Sobs came from the other end.
“Honey, what happened?” Bonnie soothed. “Is something wrong?”
“Daddy slapped her.” Daniel's voice piped up on another line. “He said she had to watch us while he was at work. She's real bossy and mean.”
“Am not!”
“You are, too.”
In the background, Hope's treble voice piped up. “Un-huh!”
“How long have you been watching the other two, Faith?”
“Since we got here.” The sniffles at the other end of the line lessened. “I can't take care of them. Daddy was angry because the dishes weren't done. Daniel and Hope had made tents in the living room, and he was real mad when he came home.”
“Yeah! He yells at her all the time. He said she was just like her mother, lazy and worthless,” Daniel interrupted again.
“He yells at us, Mommy.” Hope added to the conversation with a shout of her own.
“Is your father working half days?” Bonnie's voice came out still and cold.
“No,” Daniel answered. “He has to feed us. He said we shouldn't drink up all the milk, because he can't afford another gallon. He whacked me for eating the bananas.”