Saddle Up(81)

“So what brought you out to my mother’s ranch?” Judith asked.

“Miranda,” Keith replied.

“I asked him to come and help with the horses,” Miranda said.

“Horses? What horses?” Judith asked.

“The mustangs,” Miranda replied. “Jo-Jo and I are turning the ranch into a mustang sanctuary. The first of two hundred horses are supposed to arrive tomorrow.”

“Two hundred mustangs?” Judith dropped her fork with a clatter.

“Yes.” Miranda looked to her grandmother in question. “I thought Jo-Jo told you about it.”

“She told me you were preparing to adopt some horses, which is ridiculous enough,” Judith retorted, “but she said nothing about turning the entire ranch into some kind of petting zoo! What is this about, Mother? Have you lost your mind?”

“It’s not a zoo, Judith,” Jo-Jo said. “It’s a federally subsidized wild-horse sanctuary.”

“Zoo? Sanctuary? You’re just splitting hairs. Messing with wild horses is pure insanity!”

“No, it isn’t,” Jo-Jo insisted tersely. “It’s a means of keeping my home. The horses will generate enough income for me to do that.”

“But you’re selling the ranch and moving to Phoenix,” Judith said.

Jo-Jo shook her head. “No, Judith. I already told you that I’ve changed my mind about Phoenix. I took the ranch off the market weeks ago. This is my home. It will always be my home. I expect you to bury my bones here, or at least cast my ashes.”

“But I don’t understand,” Judith persisted. “We spent months talking and planning your retirement.”

“You spent months talking and planning, Judith. You never asked what I wanted. I considered it only as briefly as I did because I didn’t want to be alone, but Miranda’s arrival has changed all that. Now we’re contracted with the BLM to provide a permanent home to several hundred wild horses. Gravy anyone?” Jo-Jo asked, practically shoving the boat across the table.

“No, thank you.” Judith waved it away.

“What about you, Keith?”

“Sure,” he replied, flooding his potatoes while intently watching the exchange. The mustang announcement had exponentially escalated the tension at the table.

Nearly hissing with rage, Judith spun on Miranda. “This is all your doing, isn’t it? She’s an old woman! She doesn’t need this kind of stress! Do you want to put her into an early grave?”

“That’s enough, Judith!” Jo-Jo stood, hands braced on the table. “I’ve done less real work around this place since Miranda’s arrival than I’ve done in the past two years. She’s been a godsend to me.”

“If you were struggling here, why did you let Marvin go?” Judith asked.

“I told you why,” Jo-Jo replied. “And I didn’t replace him because I couldn’t afford to.”

“Well,” Judith huffed. “I guess there’s nothing more to say about it.”

“Good,” Jo-Jo replied with a brittle smile. “Does anyone want pie?”

*

After doing the dinner dishes, Miranda and Keith escaped to the front-porch swing, where they snuggled up together in a blanket. She drew a breath of air into her lungs and exhaled a wispy cloud of vapor, silently watching it dissipate into the night as she composed her thoughts.

“Dinner tonight went about as horribly as I could possibly have imagined. I’m really sorry about the third degree you got from Robert and Judith and how rude they’ve both been to you, Keith.”

“It means nothing to me, Aiwattsi. They mean nothing to me. I only care about the opinions of people who matter.”

“I know you’re right.” She sighed. “But Jo-Jo matters to me, so I hate to have come between them.”

“It’s not you. It’s your aunt. She is a very unhappy woman.” His arms tightened, pulling her closer. In his arms, all of the unease that had preoccupied her since their tiff the day before melted almost instantly away. “It’ll be all right, Aiwattsi,” he reassured her. “They’re only here for a few days. Then all will go back to normal.”

She wondered what normal was. Nothing about her life was normal anymore. “I hope so,” she said. “The time can’t pass quickly enough for me.”

A coyote howled in the distance. Another one echoed the call, vividly reminding her of another cold night she’d spent wrapped in Keith’s arms. So much had changed since then. It now seemed like eons ago.

“It’s so clear out here,” she murmured, gazing up at the heavens. “So peaceful and beautiful. There’s nothing like the Montana sky at night.”

“I’d argue the same about the Wyoming sky,” he said. “I’d love to show it to you one day.”

She turned to face him. “Do you still miss home so much, Keith?”

“Yes.” He stroked her hair. “I miss how it was, but things have changed. It feels less like my home now. They say home is where the heart is… My heart is with you, Aiwattsi.”

Hers gave a lurch into her throat. “What about the sequoia and the tumbleweed?” she asked.

“Did you know tumbleweeds are actually dead?” he said. “The only living parts of them are the seeds they carry and spread around. You see what a great metaphor that was for me? Rolling from place to place just spreading my seeds?” He gave a derisive laugh. “But I don’t want to be a tumbleweed anymore. You’ve changed that. How can I convince you that I can be what you need?”