Serious Cowboy (Cowboys of Duncan Ranch #2)

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Aaron was distracted all during the subsequent week thinking about Joy. Luckily, his increased duties on the ranch kept him so busy he couldn’t think about her much when he was at work. The ranch doubled in size a few years back due to a neighboring ranch owned by Levi Mason challenging them to a competition which Sam’s wife won.

Aaron still heard tales about that competition, about the uniqueness of the situation in general. Especially from Sam who was clearly still proud of Whitney. Every time he talked about her, his features lit up as if he’d just won the lottery. In a way, maybe he had.

Whitney Duncan had become something of a legend on the ranch and within her husband’s family.

Putting the backhoe into reverse, Aaron continued to widen out a spring-fed pond on what used to be the Mason Ranch. With this heat, it was grueling work, but he felt thankful for the machinery making the job so much easier. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he contemplated how it might be to climb into the pond to clear it out by hand. The getting wet part didn’t honestly sound half bad, but the rest wouldn’t be as fun.

The engine on this piece of equipment clanged noisily, so it took Aaron a couple of minutes to realize that his walkie-talkie was beeping at him. Sam came over the channel they used, his voice fuzzy and rushed. But the reason for that soon became apparent.

“It’s Whitney,” he said. “She’ s experiencing preterm labor, so I’m taking her to the hospital in Billings as we speak.”

Aaron turned off the engine altogether. Would she be all right? Whitney was a strong woman, he’d seen the evidence of that himself. But going into labor early could be a real problem.

“We’ll hold down the fort,” he told Sam, hoping to bolster him.

“Well, I’m leaving that up to you. I know I just gave you the apprentice position, so this might be a trial by fire. But I trust you. You pretty much know what to do. If anything crazy comes up, just call Bryce.”

“He’s staying?”

“He is. He insisted. Everyone else is going, though.”

Everyone else likely meant the retired Duncan grandparents, Josh and Maddie, Pete and Lilliana, and possibly Bryce’s wife. The Duncans took family seriously, and anytime something scary cropped up, they circled all the wagons. Aaron’s own family was the same way.

The hardest thing about being left in charge of the ranch hands was the reaction of some of them. When Aaron gathered them all together to make the announcement about Sam leaving him temporarily at the helm, a handful of the hands balked.

Bobby Dean, the eldest of all of them thrust out his chin and bobbed his head as if acquiescing, but Kiefer and a couple of the others threw Aaron some bitter glances. One or two could even be called venomous. It didn’t bode well.

Not that Aaron planned to show it.

It didn’t help that he was so much younger than the majority of these employees. While there were a few other hands in their twenties, none of them had been offered such authority. Granted, Bryce, as the owner, would still be the lead on every final decision, but Aaron was going to do his best to not require Bryce’s attention. The oldest of the Duncan brothers had enough to think about right now.

“So,” Kiefer sauntered over inside the barn where Aaron had gathered everyone to give out assignments in person. Leaning against the wall with his boots crossed and his arms folded over his chest, he drawled, “You taking over, newbie?”

“Sam put me in the driver’s seat, yes.” Aaron kept his tone carefully neutral. He knew any arrogance would cause dissension in the ranks, but so would playing it with too much leniency. He might be younger than most, but despite the nickname, he was far from green. With five years here and four years at another ranch nearby, Aaron had all the experience necessary.

“It’s not right,” someone Aaron didn’t immediately identify grumbled from the back.

“Just a wet-behind-the-ears kid,” mouthed off another, and Aaron decided he’d had enough.

“Get to the list of tasks that have been assigned,” he raised his voice. “I will be checking if I feel the need to because the last thing Sam or Whitney needs is to worry about the ranch right now.”

His words had the desired effect. These men respected Sam and Whitney even if they didn’t respect him. It might be a tad manipulative to bring the couple up in order to squash any open animosity, but Aaron didn’t care. The ranch had to be taken care of, and he was going to do whatever he felt necessary to do it.

“Sam has you on backhoe duty, newbie . That tells me all I need to know about how much he really trusts and respects you.” And Aaron didn’t have to survey the man to recognize his snide and condescending tone. He knew who it was. Brock Beatty, someone Aaron grew up with.

Unlike the others who referred to him by his nickname, Aaron had no illusions about any friendliness coming from Brock’s direction. The man was a bully, always had been and probably always would be. He’d been a thorn in Aaron’s side, in particular. Brock was a year older, a loudmouth, and barely did enough on the property to stay in the Duncans’ good graces.

The only reason he had a position here at all was because his mother had asked Sam to give her son a chance. Since she was one of the kindest most loving people in town, Sam had agreed. She volunteered at the soup kitchen, visited shut-ins, and read to the blind and bedridden in hospitals and nursing homes. How such a saint bore Brock as her son, Aaron would never know.

“We’ve all been on every duty. It’s part of ranch life,” Aaron told him.

“Just think it’s funny that you’re stepping up is all. I mean, it’s not like Sam is here to confirm anything.”

“It’s a no-brainer that my brother made Aaron his apprentice, Brock. Who else would Sam have asked?” Josh, the second brother and unofficial horse whisperer, chimed in.

Aaron hadn’t seen him come in, but he felt glad the man made his presence known. And the amazing thing about Josh was that he said all this with this air of confusion that was completely believable. He didn’t sneer right back or snarl like Bryce would. He simply asked questions as if he was sincerely curious to know the answer.

Brock kicked the toe of his boot into a dirt clod at his feet and mumbled, “Never mind.”

Josh didn’t approach, didn’t say anything else, and Aaron realized that was for his benefit. He wanted to demonstrate to everyone that Aaron could stand on his own. Only after the group disassembled did Josh stroll by. “You got this, newbie.”

And Aaron offered him a grateful smile. Yes. Yes, he did.

The next week became a busy one as Aaron maintained his original duties along with his managerial ones. There was a general tension on the ranch due to Whitney’s situation. Although the doctors were able to stop her labor with medication, she had to stay because it took two days for them to halt the contractions altogether. Since it was far too early for her to deliver, this meant she had to be on mandatory bedrest.

According to Sam, she wasn’t happy about it, especially when he insisted on remaining home with her for a few extra days. Whitney was amazing, but she was also stubborn. Aaron suspected her husband was hanging out with her at home to help her with whatever she might need but also to make certain that she obeyed the doctor’s mandates.

Maggie Duncan was there at the main house overseeing the weekly Friday lunch when Aaron came in, so furious he could spit nails about something he’d found. The second he saw the family matriarch standing there, though, he shoved as much of his anger aside as he could. Maggie wasn’t the one who usually took over the lunches they provided to all their employees, so that must mean that assistance was thin on the ground.

He couldn’t add to the family’s burdens.

Not even if he yearned to rail at the entire world.

He plastered a benign look onto his features, but even though he hadn’t been around Maggie that much, she somehow saw right through him. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“What makes you think something’s wrong?” he asked, not eager to lie to her. Better to sidestep the inquiry.

“I am the mother for four sons.” The wisdom written across her expression reminded him of some sage all-knowing creature from a fantasy movie. “I can read that annoyance you’re feeling like it’s a book.”

No sense holding it all back then.

“Someone left a gate open over on the eastern side that lets out onto the rural route. Apparently overnight.”

“Ohh,” she said with a long sighing noise. She would’ve known what that meant. Cattle not fenced in will inevitably wander all over the place, especially when the breach lasted for so long.

It might not have been so unforgivable had that gate not led out into the road. It was a miracle that no one driving late at night had hit one of the cows and suffered a frightening accident.

And since they escaped from Aaron’s assigned area, he felt almost sure it had to be Brock’s doing. He hated to think that anyone could be so petty as to endanger the lives of other people just to satisfy some ridiculous grievance they might have, but he’d witnessed similar behavior and worse out of the man before.

“Yeah,” Aaron answered by way of confirmation.

“No one hurt?”

“Not as far as I know.”

“It’ll be okay then.”

Only then did he absorb that there was a hush over everyone as they stared at him and Maggie.

“Go on with your tale, Mom,” Pete said, and Aaron cottoned on that he must’ve interrupted something.

“It’s just that I know what Whitney’s going through. Being ordered to lie still when everything inside you is screaming to prepare for that child—or in her case, children—and to get things ready. Josh was a preemie and had to spend time in the NICU, you know.”

Aaron’s head automatically angled toward the same man who’d spoken up for him on Monday. He’d never heard this story.

“Preemies can be so much smaller than their full-term counterparts. Bryce had been almost nine pounds, but Josh was only three pounds three ounces.” Crinkles formed over her upper lip. “Everything about those babies seems so delicate, so breakable. They have to be monitored so carefully all the time. And then there’s the chance that something will go wrong that they can’t fix.” She shakes her head.

“It’s difficult. I pray that Whitney and Sam won’t have to deal with anything more than what they’ve already had to.”

Aaron felt this intense anxiety at the thought of history repeating itself in this family. Whitney had spoken to him about her unstable childhood in foster homes and how she’d never felt safe. She deserved to have her chance at motherhood be a smooth one.

Surreptitiously, he texted his folks under the table after inhaling his tuna on rye. Should’ve done it a few days ago since they live in Billings and could act as go-betweens.

Aaron: Did either of you peek in on Sam and Whitney Duncan while they were in the hospital there? Did anyone let you two know what was going on?

Dad: Of course, she did. You know your mother.

Mom: Took Whitney a lovely spray of irises, roses, and baby’s breath. Wrote on there that it was from everyone in our family. She was very sweet and bursting with gratitude.

Aaron: I’ll transfer some money to cover my share.

Mom: Not necessary. But thanks.

Leave it to his mother to have her finger on the pulse of whoever might need it. She probably had phone trees and other methods for people to reach out to her in such instances. It should’ve been him who’d told her but hadn’t been.

Aaron: You’re the best.

One right after the other, each of his parents sent their texts seconds apart.

Mom: I know.

Dad. We really are.

Aaron snorted at his parents’ joke.

Yet in spite of all the rigamarole of the past few days, his mind returned to the image of a woman and a totally different child. Joy and her daughter. Rocky Ridge was a small town. It was only a matter of time before he’d come nose to nose with Joy again. He wanted to handle it better than he did that first time.

He just didn’t know how.