When Love's Gone Country - By Merri Hiatt Page 0,27
for two in the tub.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
While Bob and Meg soaked their aching muscles and flirted like a couple on a first date, Alex caught up with Frank and Emma as they were heading back to the main house.
“Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering how the cows were doing, the ones who were sick earlier?”
“Much better now,” Frank said. “They was poisoned.”
“Poisoned?”
“The water. We was lucky they didn’t damage the well or the spring, that would’ve taken the whole ranch down.”
“Any leads on who did this or why?”
“I’ve got my suspicions, but no proof. The boys are askin’ around. People who do things like this like to brag about it. Word gets around pretty quick.”
“Is that the goal, to put you out of business?”
“Some people don’t like that we offer city folk the chance to come and be a ranch hand for a couple weeks. They say it takes jobs away from the town folk.”
“I suppose it does.”
“But there’s another side to it. It’s a great learning opportunity. And, because we take in more money, we’re able to pay our hands more. That’s one of the reasons we have such a low turnover rate with staff.”
Emma added, “We don’t have anyone at the Double Y who hasn’t worked here at least three years. No other ranch ‘round these parts can say that. I think it rubs ‘em the wrong way that our staff are so loyal.”
“Do you have plans to protect the spring and the well? It seems like it was much too easy for someone to just walk into the ranch and do whatever they wanted.”
“We’ve beefed up our patrols. We do regular testing, too. We’d know if someone had tainted our water supply. We just didn’t think about them targeting one specific water trough.”
“We also don’t want to go around being paranoid all the time,” Emma said. “If someone wants to do somethin’ bad enough, they’ll find a way. I ‘spect it’s always been that way.”
“I suppose so,” Alex said. “I guess I had an image in my head of country folks all banding together when something bad happens.”
“We do, for the most part. A few years back, the O’Grady’s were hit hard when the river flooded. The ground was saturated. Crops destroyed. It was a hell of a mess. Every rancher for a hundred miles gathered their hands and showed up to help redirect the water. That was a mighty task, I’ll tell ya.”
“You couldn’t replant after that. Did the farm go under?”
“The ranchers all gave five percent of their earnings to the O’Grady’s that year. It allowed them to get through the winter, re-till the land and plant again. They had a bumper crop the following year.”
“A handshake still means somethin’ ‘round these parts,” Emma said.
“That’s good to hear.”
“Back to your original question. The cows are on the mend. Doc Williams knew what to do once he figured out what was causin’ the problem. It’ll take about a week for them to get back to normal, but a few of ‘em stood up this afternoon. That’s a step in the right direction.”
Alex nodded, then made his way back to the ranch hand quarters.
“What’d they say?” Purity asked.
“Cows are better. They’ll recover.”
“Oh good. I was worried.”
When Alex didn’t show any signs of relief, Pure asked, “What’s wrong now?”
“They don’t seem very concerned that someone is trying to put them out of business. If it were me, I’d be setting up a perimeter with someone on duty twenty-four hours a day.”
“Maybe they do things different in the country.”
“Maybe.”
“There’s something else bothering you.”
Alex avoided Purity’s eyes.
“It’s Jacob isn’t it?”
When he shuffled his feet, Pure knew she’d hit the nail on the head.
“You saw this coming. When the boys first showed up, you were the one who was most concerned about what was going to happen to them down the road. Well, it’s down the road.”
“I know Meg and Bobby are doing the best they can and they’ve all been in counseling for years.”
“But?”
“But you don’t just snap your fingers and make things better. Those boys suffered so much abuse. It changes a person. They see the world differently, even if they don’t realize it. Jeremy had Jacob, but Jacob never had anyone he could rely on.”
“And he still feels like he doesn’t.”
“Exactly.”
“How can we change that?”
“I don’t think we can.”
Chapter Seventeen
Charlie Mankins rang the bell to awaken the city ranch hands. He wondered how long it would take Alex to recognize him. “You got