Chapter Thirteen
It snowed on Thanksgiving Day.
That made it somehow more special. Granny had been up at the crack of dawn, Bella as well, to start cooking and baking.
I’d stopped by on my way to the goat barn to find them both singing along to “Shake It Off” as Granny and Bella were engaged in shaking their bottoms while rolling out pie crust. Bella was in her glory.
So was Linc, seated at the kitchen table, watching Bella like she was an angel from above who had come down to create a pumpkin pie just for him.
The way my best friend gazed at Linc from under thick lashes, I had to wonder if that wasn’t really the case.
Maybe the pie was just for our big, burly brother.
Chores went smoothly. It seemed every animal on the ranch was in a celebratory mood.
As I was forking out pens, the snow clouds drifted off to free a bright yellow sun.
The temps rose enough to turn the goats out.
Willy moseyed into the yard with some of the does, sniffed the air regally, and went right back inside.
The girls eyed the white stuff on their exercise equipment then turned on their hooves to go back inside.
Typical goats. I’d lure them out later once it was warmer.
Maybe the inch of snow would melt off, and they’d venture outside to get the stink blown off, as Granny always said.
Come noon, the house was packed with people.
Dahn, Dodge, and Ollie were there as well as Aiden.
My Aiden. His aunt and uncle had decided to take a cruise and were now sunning themselves on the deck of a ship on its way to Cozumel.
He’d shown up looking so damn good it was all I could do to keep my hands off him.
Black jeans, a dressy white shirt, and a handmade leather vest. I stole him from the others for a few minutes, taking him by the hand into the sewing/painting room.
When I closed the door, the family let loose with catcalls.
Lady could be heard whining softly on the other side of the door.
“She’s jealous,” Aiden whispered and pushed me against the wall for a scorching kiss.
I ran my hands up and down his sides as our tongues tangled.
We’d just been together the day before. A sleepover at his house, where I’d been loved so well, I’d had trouble climbing onto a horse to ride out with Baker to check the cabins were left in good shape for the next round of guests.
We had a group of snowshoers arriving on December 1st as well as a newlywed couple who were honeymooning here.
Bella nearly floated skyward when she saw the reservation.
She’d said the High Winds cabin was the most romantic spot on earth.
Breaking the kiss before things went too far, I nipped at his chin and wiggled out of his arms, grabbing a hand to take him to my paint table. Everything was covered with a sheet on my side of the room. Bella’s was a typhoon of lace, fabric bits, and spools of thread.
“These are my cowboys. They’re my current project.” I picked up one corner of the cloth and glanced at Aiden. “I’m…I get itchy sometimes. Painting on these things makes that itch in my head better. I guess that’s weird, but it works.”
“It’s not weird. Everyone has things they do to destress. People put jigsaw puzzles together, while others knit or do needlepoint or collect stamps. Do what makes you happy.”
“You make me happy.” I’d said it. I so wanted to tell him more, but I held back. He might bolt if I told him how I felt, so I held it inside. Someday, when he was less jittery, and we were sure we’d be staying…
“And you make me happy. So, your cowboys?” His dark, dark eyes widened when I yanked the cloth off my tiny men.
“Wow, these are amazing.” He bent down to check them out.
I waited at his side, beaming at the praise he was heaping on them.
“The detailing is amazing. I can even see what color eyes they have. Ford, this is incredible!”
“Thanks. So you like them?”
He turned to face me. “I love them.” He cupped my face, thumbs on my cheekbones, and stared at me.
I wet my lips. The air grew dense. I wanted to tell him.
Right now. Right here as we stood on dress patterns.
I wanted to say that I loved him. That I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with him here in Bastian Grange.
Maybe I would have if a scream of terror from outside hadn’t shaken me from the spell he cast on me.
“Daaaaad!” Dahn screamed at the top of his lungs. Lady scrabbled to her feet outside the door.
Aiden and I exchanged looks then bolted to the sewing room door in time to see Dodge and Ollie racing out the back door.
Aiden and I followed, hearts pounding in our chests.
Dahn was pinned in the corner of the goat pen by a mountain lion.
Amber eyes leaped from the terrified boy to the dog who ran full bore to clear the fence in a single bound.
“Lady!!” I bellowed to try to call her back, but she was having none of it.
Neither was the cat. It took one look at Lady before turning tail.
Over the fence it went like a golden bolt with my dog on its long tail.
“Lie down!” I yelled out at the top of my lungs.
The dog dropped to her belly like we’d been working on.
Baker came barreling up beside me, rifle in hand, as Dodge nearly broke his neck to get to his son.
“I was…I was…giving them cookies…animal…crackers…for Thanksgiving, and…and when I opened…opened the door the cat…was just there,” Dahn wailed into his father’s shoulder. Dodge held him close, whispering to the terrified young man that he was safe now.
“Lady, come,” I shakily called out. She rose, gave the air a sniff, and then trotted to the gate. Once it was open, I scooped her up to hug her and kiss her. Wet dog kisses coated my face. “You’re a heroine, you know that? You saved Dahn’s life.”
That may have sounded like a bold claim, but it wasn’t. A cougar could have easily killed Dahn or mauled him badly. Lady was a super dog, even if she didn’t have a blue cape or the ability to fly.
“That’s it. We’re calling Penton Grace. The Department of Wildlife Conservation is going to need to set up a trap.
Linc, Ford, come with me to check on the horses and cattle.
You all get back inside. We’ll be back to the house in a few,” Baker said, his breath fogging in front of him as the sun ducked behind a cloud.
“Dodge, get your boy inside. Give him some hot chocolate.”
Dodge and Ollie steered Dahn, who was wiping at his face to clear any signs of tears, back to the house where Granny waited in the doorway with a blanket for her grandson.
I placed Lady on the ground before turning to Aiden. “That was the second scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” I softly said as my sight fell on Bella curled under the protective arm of Lincoln. Her green gaze met mine before she buried her face in Linc’s broad chest. “Go on inside.”
“I think I’ll stay with you. Let Dodge, Ollie, Granny, and Dahn have a few minutes to themselves,” Aiden softly replied.
“Okay.”
Linc led Bella along as well, a hand on her arm, while we walked through the barns.
Everything seemed secure. No signs of an attack on the beefers standing about outside, billows of steam erupting from their nostrils with every exhale.
Small flakes floated downward as we made our way through the horse barn.
The horses were skittish, stomping about in their stalls, but not kicking down the doors.
We picked up the cat’s massive tracks in the light snow.
It had come down from the west, over a rise that looked down on the ranch, and had made a beeline for the goat barn.
Perhaps it knew the scent of goats or that was just the path it chose.
“Until the cat is caught and transported out of here, no one goes out without a firearm,” Baker informed us before we went back inside the house. “Dahn is always with an adult. Bella and Granny are to be escorted everywhere.”
“Bella knows how to use a handgun,” I blurted out before thinking.
She’d not take to being treated like a cut-glass figurine.
Everyone stared at me. “We grew up in New York City. Everyone has a gun. No big deal.” Which was not true.
Not really. No one in my family owned a firearm.
Bella and I had been introduced to handguns on one terrible night we were both hoping to maybe possibly someday forget.
They all looked from me to Bella. “I can shoot.” She then went inside, leaving us to stare at the back door closing.
“Granny shoots every morning,” Lincoln offered, his gaze on Bella’s back.
“Granny can’t hit the broad side of a barn.
She’s to be escorted everywhere. Even to the chicken coop,” Baker restated and glanced at the gutters when a soft cluck floated down to us.
Every chicken was perched on the rain gutter.
Smart birds. And people say chickens are dumb.
I’d have flown up there, too, if I’d been a chicken facing a mountain lion.
“Understood?” We all nodded. “Good. Let’s get inside.
I need to make a call,” Baker grumbled as he unloaded his gun.
The meal was delicious. The pies mouthwatering. Yet while we all tried to be nonchalant about things, we all knew none of us would rest easy until the cat was trapped. The sooner the better.
***
That night, I offered to stay home to protect the livestock but was nudged none too gently out the door by Bella.
“Go be with your man,” she whispered at the front door while those who were leaving for town were pulling on boots and coats. We both snuck a glance at Aiden who had been really quiet since the mountain lion incident. “He seems rattled.”
Guess I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. I returned my attention to Bella. “Okay, if you’re sure.”