He had promised Sierra a tour of ranch headquarters while they arranged for the journey ahead. Ordinarily, he would have looked forward to such a tour with a pretty, young woman, but he was still uneasy about her role in the ranch family, and she had been alternately charming and snappish. Jack had taught him to withhold premature judgment about folks, and that was where he stood.
Sierra stepped through the doorway, with the front of her wide-brimmed hat pulled down her forehead to ward off the morning sun. Her hazel eyes, shaded by the hat brim had a grayish-brown cast today, he noted. The previous night in the lamplight, he had thought they had a more greenish tint. Jack’s eyes played those tricks, too. She wore boots and britches that were nicely snug from his viewpoint, so he figured she was prepared for horseback if they took the notion.
They did not start the tour off on a happy note. “I was annoyed that Grandpa Jack wasn’t here for breakfast,” she said. “We just met, and he takes off like a scared rabbit.”
Jordy took it somewhat positive that she referred to Jack as “Grandpa.” She and Jack would be the last of their blood, so maybe she did not want to cut that string whatever grudge she held. “You signed Jack up for a big chore. He’s in town putting everything together.” If the horny old geezer wasn’t in Tess Wyman’s bed, Jordy thought.
“I guess I should just be glad he agreed to help me.”
“That’s progress,” Jordy said.
“You don’t think he should do this, do you?”
“No.”
“I don’t think you like me much,” she said.
"I don’t dislike you.”
“Weasel words.”
“Let’s get moving,” Jordy said. “We have things to do today. Things to see.” Thor was snoozing on his old buffalo robe. “You coming, Thor?” The dog looked up at him with sallow, sad eyes and then slowly got to his feet and stretched lazily.
“He doesn’t show much enthusiasm,” Sierra said.
“He’s pouting because Jack’s not here. Thor puts up with me, but I know I’m not his first choice as a companion.”
With Thor trailing behind, Jordy and Sierra headed down the steps that led to the level ground where the other ranch buildings had been erected.
“Thor,” Sierra said. “The name doesn’t fit somehow. Isn’t Thor some kind of Greek god or something?”
“Norse. God of thunder and lightning, associated with storms, according to Jack. He showed up on the porch one night in the middle of a terrible storm. He was drenched and shivering, only a few months old. We never could figure out where he came from. Jack said Thor must have dropped him off. That’s how he got his name. It was about twelve years ago, not more than three years after Jack took me in. He said he was keeping the pup for me.” Jordy chuckled. “Well, Thor and I played together sometimes, and we got along fine. But if Jack was around, the dog trailed after him.”
As they walked out onto the flat ranch yard, Sierra said, “Last night, you promised to tell me how you came to be here.”
“I’m just another stray Jack took in. Most of the hands on this ranch are strays of one sort or another, wandering aimlessly till Jack gave them a place to root. Even old Rudy. He’s a strange duck, and I don’t think a lot of men—or women—wanted much to do with him. But he latched on to Jack and has tagged along since they first met during the revolution. I think folks stick with Jack because he treats everybody the same, no matter where you come from, what your color is, or even if you are a little bit loony. The only thing he won’t excuse is whining about the cards life has dealt you. He would say get off your ass and find a different game or learn how to win at the one you are playing.”
“You think he is God, don’t you?”
“I think he is human, but I don’t know if God made a better man.”
They walked in silence toward a row of stone dwellings along the back fringe of the ranch yard. The houses were constructed in a variety of shapes and sizes, a few small rectangular structures, several L-shaped. The house setting downslope from the headquarters residence was a two-story structure, smaller than Jack’s house but spacious, nonetheless.
Jordy said, “The larger house nearest Jack’s is occupied by the Cortez family. You will see a set of steps near the back that provide easy access to Jack’s. The cottage next to it is Rudy’s. Consuelo and Josephina look after that house, too, so the place doesn’t turn into a pigsty.”
She seemed to be only half-listening. “I’ve lost you,” Jordy said.
“I’m sorry. I did hear you. My mind keeps wandering off. I’m confused, I guess.”
“What do you mean?”
“This Jack Wills you have told me about is not the same Jack Wills I have been hearing about all my life—the man Grandma and Papa always told me about. This sounds nothing like a man who would totally abandon a one-year-old child.”
Jordy said, “He did not. Never. Jack said he never knew anything about a baby. Your grandmother sent him away before he was aware that she was with child. When he returned, she had disappeared. He didn’t know where she went. She knew he was a Ranger, though, and Texas Ranger headquarters was in Austin. Your grandmother could have left word for him there anytime. Jack would have found some way to be a father to J. T., probably left the Rangers.”
“So he says.”
“No, he did not say. I figured out the rest myself. I don’t know the fine details. But that is how it had to be. You will likely never hear that excuse from Jack. That’s not his way. Now,
