Cowgirl, Say Yes. Brenda Mott

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СКАЧАТЬ wanted to run after the man and yank him from the saddle. Maybe knock some sense into his head or, better yet, start on the other end with a cowboy boot to his butt.

      She watched her dogs, who circled her feet, sensing something had upset her. Duke, her German shepherd, growled, and Bruiser, her miniature pinscher, trotted briskly down the driveway, looking right then left. His high-pitched bark warned he just might mean business if something was amiss. Only Sasha, the Australian shepherd, wagged her stubby tail, her red-speckled body wriggling along with it.

      “You’re too late, Duke,” Tess addressed the German shepherd. “You should’ve bitten him while you had the chance.”

      “MACY, why did you do that?” Exasperated, Wade sat at the table, looking at his daughter. Her eyes filled with tears, making him feel every inch the creep Tess Vega obviously thought he was. “Why did you lie to Tess and tell her I said she could have Amber?”

      “Because,” Macy said, swiping angrily at her tears. “I don’t want Amber to go to the sale barn.”

      “But, honey.” Wade softened his tone, reaching out to put his hand on Macy’s shoulder. He gave her a gentle squeeze. “If you don’t sell her, then you won’t have any money to put toward a new horse. Amber’s getting too old to do barrels and poles. You know that, don’t you?” The barrel-racing and pole-bending events Macy competed in required a lot of running, coupled with sharp turns around three fifty-five-gallon drums set in a cloverleaf pattern, or six poles placed in a row. To compete on a regular basis took a lot of physical effort for a horse.

      Macy sobbed, no longer able to hold back. “I know. But I love her!” She said the word as though it was foreign to him, making him feel ten times worse. He’d never meant to make his daughter so upset.

      “Baby, don’t cry. I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just trying to be practical. You know, Grandpa Darland was always the same way when I was growing up. Horses get old, Macy. It can’t be helped. Just like we all do. And when they’re too old to use, then you’ve got to be sensible and ship ’em to auction. Replace them with new ones. You’ll find another horse to love.”

      “You don’t ship people off to auction just ’cause they’re old,” Macy snapped, some of her spunk returning. She sniffed loudly. “If so, Grandpa Darland would’ve been hauled off long ago.”

      Wade let out a chuckle and rumpled Macy’s hair. “Better not let him hear you say that.” He sighed, searching for a way to make her see reason. “Macy, it’s not the same thing at all. Horses aren’t people.”

      “Amber’s people to me. And if you won’t let her stay here, then I want her to go live with Tess.” Her lip trembled, but she bit it, fighting for control. She’d always been a tough little cuss, which broke his heart all the more.

      “Honey, it’s not that I don’t want Amber to live here. I was only trying to help you see the smart thing in selling her so you can have a new horse. I can’t afford the purchase price of one right now, with my leather business just taking off.” A good 4-H horse could run into the thousands, and Wade’s new business selling tack and leather belts was not yet well established. “You understand, don’t you?”

      She frowned at him. “I understand that part of it, but I still don’t want to sell her.”

      “Okay,” he said, holding up one hand in surrender. “You don’t have to. Nobody’s trying to force you to sell your horse. I just thought it might be a good idea, that’s all….” He let the words trail away. Had he given Macy the impression he was trying to force her to sell her mare? If so, he hadn’t meant to. He simply didn’t understand her way of thinking, any more than he understood Tess’s.

      A horse sanctuary, for God’s sake. Who would ever dream up such a crazy thing? Horses weren’t pets the way dogs were. He could see the sense in an animal shelter, but a horse sanctuary? He’d grown up on a working cattle ranch of over six thousand acres, and all the cowboys on the place, including his own father looked at the horses they rode as working animals…part of the operation, just like the tractors that furrowed the hay fields and the pickup trucks that delivered the bales. When horses broke down, it was time to get rid of them and replace them with something newer, something better.

      But his daughter, it seemed, had different ideas, in spite of being raised on a working ranch herself. He blamed people like Tess for that, even Bailey Murdock. Oh, sure, he liked Trent and Bailey both, but they weren’t native to the area. Trent came from California, where things were viewed differently, and Bailey was from the city—Denver. Not that he had anything against folks from California—or from the city, either, for that matter.

      It was just…well…take Trent’s fancy horse. Arabians. For the life of him, Wade couldn’t figure why anyone would pay thousands of dollars for a hot-headed horse that wasn’t good for much, as far as he could see, except prancing around, looking pretty.

      And Bailey had gotten Macy all fired up about pets and saving stray animals.

      More than ever, Wade wished Deidra were still alive. Trying to fill the role of father and mother wasn’t easy. Sometimes he made the wrong choices. Apparently this was one of them.

      Pulling his thoughts back to the immediate situation, Wade wrapped his arm around Macy’s shoulders and drew her into a hug. “You can stop crying,” he said. “Amber can stay.”

      “She can?” Her blue eyes wide with hope, Macy looked up at him, wrenching his heart.

      “Yeah, she can. But that means no new horse until we get some more money somehow.”

      “I don’t care.” A smile lit her face. “As long as we don’t have to send Amber to the sale barn.”

      “Fine. Now, finish your chores, then do your homework.” He picked up the milk glass and cookie plate that sat empty in front of Macy. “I’ll get your dishes this time.” He gave her a wink.

      Macy slid her chair back, stood and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I love you, Daddy.” Then she raced out the door.

      “I love you, too, baby.” Wade spoke softly, the words echoing in the empty kitchen.

      He moved to the sink, rinsed the dishes and stuffed them into the already overcrowded dishwasher. Absentmindedly, he added detergent and flipped the switch. The machine whirred to a start, quickly filling the kitchen with the scent of hot water and lemon.

      Wade opened the fridge and took out a package of hamburger, ground from their own beef on the Circle D. How on earth was he supposed to make ends meet with what the ranch was bringing in? Yet if he sold the cows and got out, they’d no longer have the luxury of eating as many steaks a week as they wanted. He’d seen the price of beef in town, and it angered him beyond words that the rancher and the farmer weren’t the ones making money off the meat and produce sold in the supermarket. The middleman was, and without the homegrown beef to supplement their food supply, they’d be hard-pressed to eat well.

      Wade shaped the burger into patties while his mind raced.

      Still, his leather business was gradually picking up, and he did have the new Web site nearly up and running. Cowboy Up could turn out to be a bigger hit than he’d imagined. There was a lot to be said for the World Wide Web, and working in the house rather than out in the barn or elsewhere on the ranch would give him a lot more time to spend with Jason and Macy.

      Yet СКАЧАТЬ