Page 24 of The Cowboy Who Came Home
“I’m sure you could give us the exact date.” Rock sounded like his name—gravely and hard—but Bear smiled as he reached the gate that led into the family cemetery that overlooked part of Shiloh Ridge Ranch.
“And secondly,” he said, glancing past Link, who’d said nothing, to Sunnie. “All the other cowboys from all the other ranches are comin’ to help us here today. We have to show them a good time—and that we know how to work.”
“We obviously do,” Heather said. “We spent all day yesterday at Aunt Libby’s place.”
And the day before that, they’d been out at another ranch. A smaller, one-man unit run by Ace’s wife’s sister, Bethany Ann and her husband Kevin.
Today, Shiloh Ridge Ranch had the honor of hosting everyone from the surrounding ranches, and he wasn’t surprised at all to see Ranger and Oakley piling their teens into the truck. Bear didn’t turn toward the homestead where Ranger lived with his family, but instead, he steered his children toward True Blue, the bright blue family barn where they held almost all of the large gatherings on the ranch.
Yes, the Angel Tree still got decorated in the homestead, and some meals eaten there too. Birthdays, anniversaries, things like that. But big family parties for Easter or feeding all the cowboys on Market Day or after the round-up—those happened in True Blue.
Today’s festivities—if they could be called that—would stem out from True Blue. He’d left Sammy there twenty minutes ago to take the children to the cemetery, which was one of the first sites they’d cleaned up after the flooding.
It hadn’t been damaged much, as the river which flowed through the ranch sat much further back than the cliffs that led down to the second homebase of their property. Preacher and Mister lived down there, closer to the highway, and they’d built a horseshoe of cowboy cabins, a couple of barns, and a storage facility too.
As Bear let his children bicker about who got to do what that day, and who would pair up with the teens from Seven Sons Ranch, he let his feelings of gratitude flow through him. Not only that, but he could feel an inkling of heaven in his old bones. A light from above telling him that he’d done a good job with this ranch. That his father and grandfather were proud of him, and that it would be okay if he receded further into retirement.
He certainly had enough brothers and cousins—and now another rising generation—to help him. Bear had resisted fading further than he had in the past decade or so. Ward and Preacher were both foremen of the ranch, and they ran the day-to-day operations. Things Bear had used to do, so he could focus on his family.
But they had families too, and all the Glovers still stepped up and in to help each other whenever possible. Bear couldn’t even imagine what he’d fill his days with if it wasn’t getting up, getting his chores done, helping Sammy get the kids off to school, and then spending his days with fields, feed, animals, and the glory of the sun and sky. His horses. His dogs. His family. His land.
No, Bear wasn’t the sit-in-a-rocking-chair-and-sip-coffee type of cowboy, but as he watched Link reach the door to True Blue first and hold it open while everyone else went by him, Bear wondered if that sitting, rocking, and sipping lifestyle couldn’t also be part of what he did every day.
“Link,” he said just as the twenty-five-year-old turned to follow his siblings.
The young man turned back to him, and though they shared no genes, Bear could see so much of himself in Link. “Yeah?”
“You’re a good man, son.” Bear wasn’t sure how to articulate everything he felt. He’d been working on it with Sammy for a decade and a half, but it was easier with her. “Do you want to welcome everyone to the ranch?”
Link’s eyes grew wide. “I—me?”
“Yeah, you.” Bear smiled. “You know what to say. Lord knows you’ve heard me or Ranger say it a thousand times.” He stepped into his step-son who felt like his own flesh and blood and pulled him close, his hand curling up behind Link’s cowboy hat. “I’m getting old, and I want you to have whatever you want here on the ranch.”
He’d moved out while earning a two-year degree in agricultural management from City College in Amarillo, and when he’d come back to the ranch a few years ago, he’d not moved back into the two-story house where Bear lived with his wife and family.
Rather, Link had moved into a cowboy cabin with three other men, most of whom were at least ten years older than him. He was an agreeable man who didn’t say much, put his head down, and worked hard.
“I like working with Uncle Ward on the rotational ranching,” Link said, his voice quiet. He pulled back, and Bear let him go. Link looked past him, to those approaching True Blue. Their time was running out, and Bear didn’t need to practice a welcome speech. He certainly had given one plenty of times in the past.
“I’m not sure I’m meant to do what you or Ranger do,” Link said quietly. “But I sure do like working on the ranch. I like planning crops and moving the turkeys and sheep from place to place.” His eyes, which had been flitting all over tarnation, came back to Bear’s. “I could just do that?”
“And live in a cowboy cabin forever?”
“It’s not like I’m dating anyone.” Link gave him a smile. “So yeah, I’m okay there.”
“For now,” Bear said with plenty of emphasis. “You never know when you’ll meet someone and fall in love. Do you want to live on the ranch?”
Link took a big breath and blew it out. “Yeah,” he said. “I love it here.”
“Morning, boys,” Ranger said, and that ended their conversation. For now, Bear told himself again as he turned toward his cousin and the man who’d been at his side, running Shiloh Ridge, for decades.
“Morning, Range.” Bear drew him into a back-clapping hug too, and then he looked over to Ranger’s kids and wife. “Oak. Wild. Fawny.” The thirteen-year-old gave him a bright smile.
“Uncle Bear, did you know Momma got another cat?”
Bear grinned and grinned, his gaze traveling to Oakley in time to see her roll her eyes. “I heard.”
“We have a whole ranch to clean up,” Oakley said. She’d dressed the part too, because she’d never shied away from a ranch task. Before she’d come up here to be Ranger’s wife and raise her kids, she’d owned a massive motor sports complex, and before that, she’d been a winning Formula One racecar driver.
