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“Sounds fine. I’ll let Dr. Spight know that you’re coming. He said if you couldn’t, he’d make time. But he’s been busier than a cat in a corn crib battling a pox outbreak in town.”
Which meant Kent wasn’t going anywhere near town if he could help it. He had enough scars on his face, no need to add more. He tugged his gloves free of his fingers and dug in his pocket for the relief of the little chalky tablets. Talking to people always upset his stomach and left him clenching his jaw until his scar throbbed.
“Thank you for the warning. I’m afraid I’ve been out here for the last month and don’t get into town often.” Not even for church anymore.
Conrad pushed away from the fence and headed back for the barn to retrieve his horse. “I hope the thistles get choked by the new grass soon.” He stuck his foot in the stirrup. “But I suppose that would mean the rain has to come. Seems like a long time since I prayed for rain.”
Kent chuckled. “Sometimes, the very thing you think you’ve got in abundance is the one thing you lack when you need it most.”
As Conrad rode away, Kent’s thoughts pestered him. Before he’d left, he’d had abundant time with Alice and he’d been sure that would never dry up. Now, because of his mistakes and his hatred for his own face, he’d never have that again.
He couldn’t bring himself to pray for that time again, either. How heartless would that be? He tugged the bandana he wore all the time now up around his nose, hiding his face. The animals might not care, but Conrad’s arrival had taken him unaware. Better to be prepared than sorry.
He glanced up at the hay maw, virtually empty after years without a crop that was worth harvesting. The herd had lived on grass and clover, and what little they’d been able to cut and put up. The Lord had given them what they’d needed and not a single jot more.
Pa came up and slapped him on the shoulder. “You out here woolgathering?” His eyes seemed clear, but they always did. Kent wished he knew how to help Pa, but he seemed to have changed in ways that couldn’t be reversed.
“No. Conrad Oleson was just here, saying he has a sickness in his cattle. He’s been getting hay.” If Pa thought there was a reason, he’d get a stock of hay too, just in case. With other ranches needing it, they may not be able to get any when the time came. “He’s thinking ahead and getting a supply of hay to be prepared.”
Pa narrowed his eyes. “We’ve never had to purchase any before. Are you trying to be lazy, not wanting to do the cutting? Will you even be here for it?” He waved his hand wide, showing the whole spread. “We’ve got more acres than some people will see in their whole life and you want me tobuyhay?”
No, what he wanted was Pa to trust him. “I want to make sure you have what you need when things get scarce.” Because with vast areas that hadn’t grown back after the floods and this year’s dry spring, lack was a genuine concern.
* * *
Father’s officealways smelled like leather and pipe smoke. Alice stood by the window, breathing in the familiar scent, and watching the distant sheep in the pasture. After her adventure the day before, she hadn’t been ready to venture out that day and work as usual. For once, she’d allowed Ma to coax her into staying indoors.
Unfortunately, with nothing to distract her mind, she couldn’t shake the lingering images of Kent as he’d tended to Blaze the day before. Oh, she’d talked big. Told him she practically wanted his head on a platter. Her heart felt none of that. It cried like a weak kitten at seeing him again. He was home, yet she was still unwed, meaning he’d lied. Why wasn’t that enough to make her hate him?
Pa strode into the room, ignoring her presence for a moment, until he settled in his chair and moved around his ledgers and papers. “I noticed Blaze was injured yesterday . . . ” The statement hung in the air between them.
She hadn’t told anyone that Kent had put ointment on her horse’s wounds and bandaged up the poor beast. After she’d arrived back at the barn, she’d relieved the animal of her weight, unsaddled him, gave him the best rubdown he’d ever had, and then put him up for the night. “I managed to get him tangled in some brambles.” She tried to think of a place on their own property where she could’ve run into similar problems, but the vast options left her without a viable untruth.
“I went to change his bandages this morning, since Ma needed you in the house,” he turned to face her, “and both the bandage and the ointment were unfamiliar to me. Definitely not what we use here.”
She swallowed hard. Lies begot more lies. If she told him she’d had Dr. Spight look at Blaze, he would wonder why such simple scratches required the need of a doctor, and there would be no bill. Not to mention, if her father asked the doctor about it, he would confirm that the visit never occurred. Papa wasn’t opposed to Kent, but she was, and she didn’t want Pa pushing her to forgive him. He would go on about Christian charity and how she must. Phooey. She didn’t want to.
“If you must know, Kent Douglas happened upon my situation and insisted on treating Blaze. I asked him not to, but he couldn’t let me be.” She crossed her arms and held her breath, hoping he would let the situation go but fearing that, like Kent, he wouldn’t.
His brow furrowed. “Either you were over there, or that didn’t happen. Kent hasn’t left his barn, near as I can tell, since he came back. There are men who get along on both sides of my fence and I hear what’s going on over there, same as I’m sure Louis hears what’s going on over here. Either you’re not telling me the whole truth, or my men aren’t.”
She turned away from his steely gaze. Those eyes had pried the truth from her since she could speak, often with merely a look. She hated lying. Why had she thought that was an option? Building suspicion where there should be none would only lead to more issues. “I wanted to see for myself if he was home.” The words poured forth in little more than a whisper but hurt her heart as if she screamed them.
“Dear girl.” He reached out for her hand with his weathered one.
She stepped forward, letting him hold her, yet the tension between them built. Would he forgive her? Riding over there and being seen could cause so many problems for him. Her rash decision had been a dangerous one.
“You can’t ride over there as you please like you used to. I know you rode over there when Kent first left, waiting for word. But Louis is worse now than he ever was. Dangerous. I can’t have you putting your life in danger by going over there. As much as I’m sorry to see you give up on Kent, I must insist that you do until Louis improves.”
She squeezed his hand and held in her smile. That she could agree to. She’d planned to do as much anyway. There was no room in Kent’s heart for her, so she would pitch every shred of him out of her own. For her sake and for her father’s. “I agree. I won’t be riding anywhere near the Douglas land again.”
“Good.” He gave her hand a brief squeeze, then released her and turned back to his work.
She noticed his hunched shoulders and almost frantic hunting through the papers on his desk. “Is there something I can do? You seem out of sorts, and tired.” Even more tired than he had before.
He frowned with his head bent and he would’ve managed to hide it if she hadn’t come around to face him. “Father?”
Glancing up from his papers, he nodded at her to sit. “With Gideon and Leo working so hard and trying to be with their families, I’m not sure how to bring them my concerns anymore. The ranch is theirs and I wanted it that way. But . . .” He wiped his brow.
