Page 81 of The Cowboy Who Came Home
Pearl Jo immediately turned to her mother. “Can we go today?”
Holly Ann smiled at her and then Mary Ann. She hugged her niece and pressed a kiss to her blonde hair. “Yes, baby, we’re going out to Uncle Kevin’s farm today, remember? If you work hard for an hour, you can see the kittens.”
“Before you then work hard for another hour,” Ace said.
“Right,” Holly Ann said.
Bethany Ann and Kevin arrived in the kitchen, and Ace took a long look at his brother-in-law. Kevin had fallen out of a moving tractor during the last harvest, and he’d broken his leg and injured his back. He’d had surgery in March to clear out some cartilage from a couple of his ruptured discs, and he and Bethany Ann had had to face some really hard facts in the past year.
So hard, they were losing their farm. “Losing” wasn’t really the right term. But they’d lived on and worked that small ranch for a couple of decades now, and selling it wasn’t going to be easy.
Going through their house, their barns, their stable, and their storage sheds wasn’t going to be easy for anyone. Thankfully, Ace had recruited Ward, Ranger, and Mister to come help him and Holly Ann and the kids today.
He expected to have to keep after his kids to put things in boxes instead of playing with them. Ward was stopping by From the Ground Up to get one of his wife’s big trucks for garbage, and Ace saw a couple of trips to the landfill in their future. And Holly Ann had been prepping lunch and dinner for today—for over a dozen people—for a few days now, so Ace expected to eat well today too.
He ate well every day, as Holly Ann took such amazing care of him and their family. He shook hands with Kevin after noting the limp, and he pulled Bethany Ann into a hug. “It’s going to be great having you guys so close.”
“I’m still not sure about living up here,” she said. “Don’t you guys need that house?”
“No one’s lived in it for a fair few years now,” Ace said.
“Since Preacher and Charlie built their place,” Holly Ann said. “Bethany Ann, stop worrying about it.” She threw her sister a sharp look.
Ace turned away from them and found Kevin reaching for the counter as his wife released his arm. “Any idea what the ranch market is like right now?” he asked.
Kevin sighed and said, “It’s not great, actually. The realtor said our place needs work—as if I don’t know—and that the cleaner we could get it, the easier it would be.”
“He said it would probably take three to six months,” Bethany Ann said. “But don’t worry. We have enough saved up for rent.”
“And if you didn’t, it would be fine.” Holly Ann threw a look to Ace, but he said nothing. He’d taken the idea of having Kevin and Bethany Ann move into the Top Cottage to Bear and Ranger, and the whole Glover family had to vote on it.
They’d voted unanimously to allow them to live there, and Ace had suggested a modest rent. Not that the ranch needed the money—and that was why Holly Ann kept giving Ace meaningful looks.
He shook his head slightly and moved to sit down. “Come on, boys. Time to pray and eat.” He’d talk to Kevin about the issue of rent later, but he didn’t believe for a single second that he or Bethany Ann would agree not to pay anything. They had too much pride for that.
As soon as the prayer finished, Ace’s phone rang. “It’s Ward,” he said, swiping it from the table and standing. They had a rule of no phones at the table, because Gun would text twenty-four-seven if they didn’t.
And that included him. “Hey, brother,” he said as he moved to the fridge. “What’s up?”
“Listen, I’m real sorry, but I can’t come down to Kevin’s place this morning. Judge found a huge section of fence that’s down, and we’ve got to go get the cattle back.”
“Sure,” Ace said though his heart fell to the soles of his boots. “We’ll manage.”
“I’m pulling in Mister,” Ward said slowly.
“And Ranger?”
“You can keep Ranger.”
That still left Ace two men down, and that was four hands he really needed. Defeat paraded through him, but what was he supposed to do? “Okay,” Ace said with a sigh. He pulled out the orange juice and set it on the counter. “I’ll see if I can recruit a couple of boys from Three Rivers, what with it bordering their land and all. Maybe they can just run over real quick.”
In that moment, God shone a light into Ace’s memory. He needed to make another phone call right now. “Good luck with the cows, Ward.” He ended the call quickly, because Ward might recruit him to round up their lost cattle if he stayed on the line too long.
“Ace, baby,” Holly Ann said.
“We lost Mister and Ward,” he said without looking at her. “I just need a minute.” He glanced over to her, caught her nod, and tapped to dial Squire.
“Howdy, Ace,” the other cowboy answered.
