The Delivery of Decor (Shiloh Ridge Ranch in Three Rivers #7) - Liz Isaacson Page 0,81

he said, and she grinned at him with all the power of gravity before practically hopping onto the back of the ATV with his older brother.

Ranger eased them out onto the road and down past Brutus. Ward watched them until they went around the curve that led to the Ranch House.

“Guess we’ll see them down below,” Preacher said, his eyes glued to Ward.

“Yep,” Ward said. “Let’s go see if that ATV can get past the debris.”

“They’ve already moved a ton of it,” Bear said, starting toward the back yard again. “Come see.”

Everyone had come out to see, and Ward found Mister, Judge, Oakley, Sammy, Bishop, Ace, and Duke standing in the back yard of Bull House. He, Bear, and Preacher stepped into the group, and Ward asked, “Where are the kids?”

“Etta’s feeding them,” Sammy said.

Ward noted that all of the pregnant women were absent, and as he looked down toward the debris, he hoped they were all okay. The road crew Huey had brought had made great progress already, and the excavator had already arrived. It moved earth by the clawful, and Ward watched in amazement as a big chunk of dirt and gravel got moved from one side of the road to the other.

It crashed down the hill, but that didn’t matter. They just needed the earth on the ranch-side of the road to be stable.

“We should put a retaining wall in,” Ward said.

“Did Dot say that?” Bear asked, leaning out to see past the people who stood between him and Ward.

“No,” Ward said. “Just seems like common sense to me.”

“Yeah, probably,” Preacher said.

“How are things?” Cactus asked as he strode to Ward’s side. “I had a hard time getting out of the house this morning. Mitch isn’t feeling well.”

“Uh oh,” Ward said. “How’s Willa?”

“She’s not feelin’ too well either.” Cactus wore a growl on his face as he looked below. “Looks good here though.”

“Better,” Bear admitted.

The buzzing whine of the ATV filled the air, and Ward looked north to find Ranger and Dot approaching.

“You know, Jeremiah has that crane,” Preacher said. “He could lift the trucks down if we can’t get them past the debris.”

“They’re gonna get that rock out of the way,” Bear said. “Then it won’t be a problem.”

“Just something to consider if they don’t,” Preacher said.

Ranger brought the ATV to a stop, because there wasn’t quite enough room to get by. The excavator took several more bites from the earth, and then the operator started to move it.

“Is there anything down below that we should worry about?” Huey called up.

“What do you mean?” Bear asked.

“We’re gonna push this boulder over the side.” He gestured to the main object blocking their escape from the ranch, as if they couldn’t see it. “Is it going to hit anything?”

Bear looked at Ward, and Ward looked at Bear. “The Kinder Ranch is on the other side of the road,” Ward said. “I can’t imagine there’s anything there.”

“How far will it roll?” Preacher asked.

“I guess we’re gonna find out,” Bear said, almost under his breath, almost as a growl. “If I’d have known that’s all they were gonna do, we could’ve been down there digging and pushing a rock over a hill.”

Ward didn’t think the men on this ranch could do the work of an excavator and road engineers, but he wasn’t in the mood to deal with Bear’s grizzly persona. He kept his mouth shut as Bear said there was nothing in the way of that rock.

The excavator operator brought in the arm of the machine, the claw buckled under as if he was putting it away for the day. Instead of shutting it down and jumping from the cab, he extended the arm straight out until it met the rock.

“All clear!” he called.

“Clear,” several men shouted back. The machine started to hum and growl and groan. It clanked as it adjusted against the rock. A hiss sounded as the weights on the excavator dug in.

Ward started to pray. Please, Lord, move that rock. Thou can move mountains and send down rain. Please move that rock.

“Faith can move mountains,” Preacher whispered, and Ward closed his eyes, putting every ounce of faith he had in God, and in that excavator.

He opened his eyes when Bear said, “Dear Lord, it’s moving.”

As if by magic and sheer will, the boulder moved. It moved and moved and moved, and the excavator followed it until gravity took over and it rolled down the hill.

Great, terrible noise rose from the earth as it did, and