“Where’s Wyoming?”
“Good morning to you, too,” Cass said with a smile. “She had to run into town. Her brother needed her. Some kind of family problem.”
Emerson remembered what Wyoming had said the night before—how men always needed looking after. Had she been talking from personal experience?
“What’s her brother like?” He set about making the General’s coffee. Cass raised a brow but didn’t say anything. When he was done and had cleaned the pot, she’d make another batch—her way—for everyone else to drink at breakfast.
“Ward?” Cass shrugged. “He’s kind of high maintenance, if you ask me. He got married a couple of years ago to a real piece of work. Mindy is only twenty-three, and I think she thought marriage was going to be more fun and games than it turned out to be—especially with Ward. He works at the radio station, drumming up advertising. Mindy has been staying home with their baby ever since Elise was born. I get the feeling from Wyoming Mindy is a bit of a shopaholic. Anyway, whenever she and Ward need a babysitter, they call Wye.”
“Is she babysitting today?”
If Cass thought his interest in her friend was strange, she didn’t say so. Instead she grew serious. “Wyoming didn’t spell it out, but from what I heard, it sounded like Mindy didn’t come home last night.” Cass shook her head. “She did this once before, and it really freaked out Ward. Rightly so,” she added. “He’s got work today, and Mindy left him high and dry with no one to take care of the baby. I don’t know what she’s thinking. I’m not sure that marriage is going to last.”
“Sounds rough,” Emerson said before he took the General his coffee. He came right back, since the General liked to start his morning in peace and quiet. He dumped out the coffee grounds, quickly washed the pot and filter, set them in the drying rack and accepted the plate Cass offered, heaped with bacon, eggs and toast. “You don’t have to cook for me, you know.” He took a bite of a piece of bacon as he sat down at the table. Cass made quick work of drying the coffeepot and getting a new batch started.
“I know.” Cass smiled at him. “But I’d cook breakfast for an army if it meant I didn’t have to muck out horse stalls.” Her smile broadened. “Are you and the General off to Billings today?”
“Not today,” Emerson said. “I’ll see if the General needs any help this morning, but if you all don’t mind, after that I’d like to take a ride.” He’d hoped to ask Wyoming to come along, but that would have to wait for another time. Meanwhile, he couldn’t help wanting to see the lay of the land, now that there was a chance some of it might belong to him someday. He wanted to see how it felt in the saddle, too. On the one hand, up on a horse he wasn’t putting weight on his ankle. On the other hand, on past excursions, holding his feet in the stirrups had made his ankle ache after a while. He hoped today would be different.
“We don’t mind at all,” Cass said. “Just ask one of the guys if you need somebody to point you in the right direction. Take any horse except Atlas. Lena isn’t one for sharing.”
Emerson had gathered that much during his time here, but he didn’t mind. He liked the frank way Lena talked and behaved. You always knew where you stood with her.
He wished he could read Wyoming as well.
After breakfast he spoke to the General and helped him with one or two work details before heading out to the stables. The General had let him know the night before that he wanted some time to himself today. He was going through some old paperwork he’d found in his office and didn’t want to be disturbed.
“Make yourself scarce,” he’d said when Emerson asked if he was sure he could spare him.
On his way to the stable, he met up with Brian. “Take Button,” Brian said. “He’s steady, and he could use the exercise.”
Fifteen minutes later, Emerson rode south, his heart rising as the vista spread out before him. Keeping the far-off mountains in front of him, he went cross country for a while before picking up a trail and winding into the higher elevations of the ranch. For the next several hours he let the spare beauty of the place soak in, appreciating its size. Over the last couple of weeks, he’d spent most of his time close to home, closeted with the General, helping him with day-to-day tasks and trying to get him to do his physical therapy exercises. The General’s health was improving, and he could make his way around the house without much help, but he’d be doing a lot better if he’d buckle down to those exercises.
When his stomach began to growl, Emerson turned, lunch on his mind, but on the way back he stopped at the Park, a flat stretch of ground about a quarter mile from the barns and outbuildings where a half-dozen trailers stood. Until recently they had housed hired hands, but Cass and her sisters had driven out those men months ago when they discovered they were trying to use the property as a distribution center for drugs.
Now the trailers sat empty, which was a shame. While some of them were older, most looked in good repair and should be put to use, to his way of thinking. They each sat a little distance apart, bushes and small trees between them adding to the sense of separation.
Emerson considered them from Button’s back, flexing his foot to lessen the ache
