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“Come on back,” he told Cody, slapping him on the shoulder. “I’ve got my investigator on this case...”
His voice faded away as they went into his office and closed the door. Abby took a deep breath and went back to the case notes she was making. Ridiculous, she told herself, to be so intimidated after six years. He was just a man, after all, not some raging monster. She remembered him that long-ago night, yelling and cursing her. It was her father all over again, a man out of control, big and dangerous. She took another deep breath and forced herself to concentrate.
They were in the office for several minutes before they came back out. Mr. Owens shook hands with both of them, assured them that he’d given them all the information he had, and walked them to the front door.
Abby kept her head down. She didn’t even look up when Cody went out.
THEKITTENSINthe barn were white with blue eyes. Lucy was mesmerized by them. She sat in the loose hay with two of them in her lap, stroking them and laughing when they purred.
“Oh, Aunt Abby, it’s just heaven to live here,” she said with a big smile. “I hated where we were.”
“So did I, baby,” Abby replied, sinking down beside her. They were both wearing jeans and cotton blouses and light jackets, because it was early autumn. Soon, the birches and cottonwoods would don their bright colors and leaves would fall and crunch underfoot. She sighed. “I don’t think I’ve been this happy in a very long time.”
“We can stay, can’t we?” Lucy asked worriedly. “I mean, that mean man won’t come here?”
Abby forced a smile. “He’s the sheriff, sweetheart. I’m sure he has better things to do than visit people who don’t...well, who don’t want him around.”
Lucy relaxed. She nodded and went on petting the kittens.
“It was a long time ago,” Abby said absently. “His wife had just died, only days after your parents did,” she added very gently. “He was hurting and sad and...”
“But we didn’t do anything,” Lucy protested.
“I know that. But he didn’t.”
Lucy was quiet for a minute or two. “I didn’t act like that when Mommy and Daddy...well, after they were gone.”
“Neither did I. But people react differently.” She moved closer. “We’ve both blown it up in our minds until we think of the sheriff as a monster. But he protects people. That’s his job, and he must be good at it, because he’s starting his second term in office. And he was a deputy sheriff for years before he became sheriff.” She glanced out the barn at the pasture where cattle were grazing behind an electrified fence. “Marie, where I work, said that he hates men who hurt women, that he’ll go to any lengths to send them to jail. She said Cody’s father got drunk and beat him and his mother.”
“Oh.” Lucy was thoughtful. “That’s sad.” She noticed the look on her aunt’s face. “Did your daddy do that to you, Aunt Abby?”
She bit her lip. “Yes. To me and your father and your grandmother. He was vicious when he drank.”
“Is that why it scared you when the sheriff was yelling at us?”
Abby took a breath. “Maybe it is. I don’t know.” She looked at Lucy. “Since we have to live here, we have to try to get along with other people. The sheriff has no reason to come out here, after all. We probably won’t see very much of him.”
Lucy nodded. “That’s good.” She looked up. “Does he have any kids?”
“No. His wife was a doctor,” she replied. “She was concentrating on her profession.” She picked at a loose thread on the hem of her jeans. “She lived in Denver most of the time.”
“Didn’t she miss him?”
“Look,” Abby said. “He’s playing with your shoelaces!” She laughed and indicated one of the kittens.
The distraction worked. Abby had a lot on her mind. She didn’t want to add the sheriff’s issues to them.
THEYBROUGHTTHEplaying kitten into the house to live, after a quick trip to the vet for bloodwork and vaccinations. He was male and sweet and funny, and he commandeered Lucy’s bed the first night he was in residence, ignoring the nice cat bed they’d bought him, along with other necessary accessories.
Abby started to protest, but when she saw the sleeping child smile as the kitten clawed its way under the covers and onto her shoulder, she gave up. They’d named the kitten Patrick, for reasons neither of them could quite explain, except Lucy said that he looked like a Patrick. They’d both laughed over that. It was a new thing, to laugh. They’d lived in poverty and misery and grief for so long. Moving to the ranch was like living a dream. Abby prayed that it would last.
ASTHEDAYSwent by, work became more familiar. She learned the names of all the office workers in the legal practice and where to get the best food. She took Lucy to little Matt’s birthday party and met several local mothers. She liked them all. Lucy enjoyed herself, too.
Abby also went to check out the skating rink. It was delightful to note that they not only rented skates, they sold them as well. It was a sideline the owner told her that had become quite lucrative. Abby decided then and there to fit them both with skates that had toe stops, not the hockey boots that were familiar to beginners. That was also the sort that Abby and Lucy owned. Lucy had loved skating on the rink in Denver and she was very good on the ice. So was Abby. It seemed a great many people in Catelow, and outer regions of Carne County, spent time at the skating arena. In fact, while she was there, she met a couple who’d come down from Billings to skate at the rink and have lessons from the Olympic medalist who taught there. Maybe, Abby thought, if the ranch prospered, she might enroll Lucy in a skating class. There hadn’t been nearly enough money for lessons in Denver.
THERANCHDID, indeed, run itself, thanks to Don Blalock, who was a magician when it came to keeping the operation going. Abby made time in the evenings to sit with him at the computer and go over the books and learn how the sales team worked. She hadn’t even known that there was one. Don explained that it was a specialized thing and needed people who knew what they were doing. Besides, he added with a grin, it kept the ranch solvent. That being said, their salaries were worth paying.
There were so many things that had to be done even on a daily basis that it blew Abby’s mind. Just keeping the tack up to date and the animals checked and fed was a nightmare of tasks. Soon it would be winter, and the ranch was already being prepared for the cold weather that would result in making things complicated. As she learned about her great-uncle’s enormous spread, she was even more grateful for Don.
