“My daddy has a heart of gold,” Smiles said.
“Yeah, of course he does,” Wilder said. “Rock does too.” And Wilder had been out on double-dates with him and Clover. They were really good together, and Clover allowed Rock to be himself, and he tended to her every need, want, or desire in the most effortless way.
“And then there’s this,” Heather said. “Where are they going to live? They both work here at the ranch.”
“Oh, I’m sure my daddy’ll just build them a house somewhere,” Robbie said with a grin. “Here’s my idea for Gun and Clover: He should take her breakfast over the Thanksgiving break and tell her he can’t stand to live one more day without being engaged to her.”
“That so sounds like Gun,” Pearl Jo said with a grin.
“And just ask her.” Robbie nodded like that would do, and Wilder happened to agree.
“Hey, Wild, it’s me.”
Wilder’s pulse skipped at the sound of Gun’s voice, and he twisted toward the front door. His cousin and best friend walked in, slowing when he saw the crowd. “What’s going on here?”
“We’re talking about you,” Wilder said, going straight for the truth. “Pearl Jo has some great ideas for how you can propose to Camila.”
Gun frowned, but he came closer to the table. Wilder got up and gave him a quick hug. “Sit there. I’ll get you some food.” He did that while Gun took his seat.
He folded his arms and glared at his sister. “All right, then. Tell me what you’ve got.”
A hush settled over the group, and Wilder couldn’t wait to hear what Pearl Jo would say…and how Gun would react.
20
The Sunday morning sun slanted through the trees as JJ Walker pulled his truck onto the wide gravel drive, dust trailing behind him. The sermon today had been good—simple, and peaceful, and familiar. The sound of Pastor Knowlton’s voice seemed embedded in JJ’s mind, as he’d grown up listening to the pastor preach.
Today, he’d talked about weathering storms, and how we can always look to the Savior and find a sense of calm. As he’d spoken, he’d dimmed the wall in front of the right-hand side pews, and gradually, a gorgeous painting of Christ walking on water during a dark, stormy night had come to life.
JJ didn’t feel like he was currently being tossed to and fro, scared the vessel he rode in might suddenly be plunged into the deep. But a growing, incessant gnawing restlessness had carved out a place in his chest and wouldn’t go away.
“It’s just because this is your first year with pregnant cows,” he said to himself as he drove past the house, where Ruby’s car still sat out front. So she hadn’t gone over to Clara Jean’s ahead of him as she’d said she might.
His sister was hosting them for a Sabbath Day lunch, as she sometimes did. JJ loved going to his sister’s house, becauseshe’d married his best friend, and JJ enjoyed spending time with both of them. Ruby and Clara Jean had become fast friends too, and though they lived somewhat different lives, they were close in age, liked a lot of the same things, and got along really well.
Ruby hadn’t come with JJ to church that day, because she’d had yet another restless night, with severe heartburn and an upset stomach that had forced her to retreat to the couch. “I just feel bad keeping you awake,” she’d told him, and JJ could admit he slept better when she wasn’t sighing or coughing or trying to find a comfortable way to be.
Still, he missed her in bed, and he’d swept a kiss along her hairline before he’d headed out to the ranch at dawn’s first light.
He still hadn’t been back for longer than to shower and throw on his church clothes, at which time, he’d found Ruby in her pajamas in bed. She didn’t seem to have a fever, and she said she’d only been dozing for the past hour.
“I might go ahead to CJ’s and help her with the rolls,” she’d told him. But with her car still out front, she hadn’t done that.
And JJ wanted to check on his herd again. For the first time, he’d bred his longhorns this past spring, and he expected calves as early as Christmas. He had about fifteen pregnant cows, though some of them wouldn’t deliver until February.
JJ didn’t particularly enjoy calving season, because it meant a lot of monitoring, and he sometimes had to go out in the middle of the night to help with a birth. Now that he’d taken over his father’s part of Seven Sons Ranch completely—and added his own land and this longhorn herd—JJ had actually hired more cowboys to work during calving season.
That way, he could assign late-night and early-morning shifts to them…and stay in bed himself. Sawyer, Uncle Skyler’s son, had started taking on more responsibilities from his daddy, and JJ fully expected to be working together with his cousin in only a few more months.
JJ’s daddy and Uncle Skyler had been working Seven Sons together for years, so the situation wasn’t new. It just felt new to JJ. Every step. Every day, though he’d been back in Three Rivers and on the ranch for over three years now.
The daily unpredictability was actually something JJ really liked about ranching. Even something as simple as the temperature could make a day a total nightmare or purely pleasant.
Right now, he parked outside the big barn he’d expanded behind the house, killed the engine, and dropped from the truck. Yes, he’d checked his longhorns this morning. First thing, of course.
But he wanted to make sure they had plenty to eat and drink, as pregnancy in cattle could be unpredictable.
He kept all the cows in the big pasture attached to the back of the barn, giving them plenty of room to spread out among the Panhandle scrub brush and trees while still keeping them somewhat contained.
