Daisies in the Canyon(48)

“I’ve got an idea if we can get this truck to moving. We’ll use the truck to block the part of the yard fence where the cattle broke the wood down and came through. It doesn’t have to fill all the hole, just enough that the bull can’t get out.”

“The dogs are having a fit, but he’s ignoring them,” Bonnie reported. “Shiloh let them in the house. She’s going to wipe them down and get them warmed up by the fire.”

Abby nodded. “Okay, you get in the truck. When I give you the signal, back it out slowly.”

Bonnie nodded.

Abby shoved the board into the wet earth and gave Bonnie the thumbs-up sign. The tire spun a couple of times and then it caught and jerked backward with so much force that the board went flying. Abby fell backward again and more mud splattered all over her.

Bonnie applied the brakes and Abby waved at her to take the truck on to the ranch and block the hole in the fence with it. She didn’t even try to wipe her face clean but climbed on the four-wheeler and followed Bonnie, who must be pretty damned good at parallel parking because she maneuvered that truck right into the hole. Abby would bet there was less than six inches of space on either end.

When she finished, Bonnie trotted out and settled in behind Abby. In twenty minutes both four-wheelers were parked back in the barn. They looked like shit, but then they’d been run through mud and manure and dodged lightning bolts. If Rusty didn’t like it, he could damn sure wash them down all by himself.

They jogged through the cold rain to the house and the minute they were inside they started undressing, throwing coats and socks in a pile together. Shiloh had put another log on the fire so they were greeted with a toasty-warm and, more importantly, dry house.

“Does the leg need stitches?” Bonnie asked Shiloh.

“I’m accident-prone, so I carry a first-aid kit with me. I just cleaned it and bandaged it,” Shiloh answered. She’d put her cute little pajama top back on, but now she wore plaid boxer shorts with it and the scratch on her leg had been covered with gauze and tape.

“You go first,” Abby told Bonnie when they were inside. “I’ll get dried off, throw the jackets and socks in the washer, and change into dry clothes. Then I’ll start some dinner. Hamburgers all right with everyone?”

Bonnie padded down the hall in her bare feet. With no makeup and her hair hanging in strings, she looked young enough to be carded at any bar. The only thing old about her was her eyes, and they left no doubt that her life had been the roughest one of the three.

Abby loaded the washer, started it, and headed down the hall to her room, where she stripped naked and dried off. She grabbed a pair of flannel pajama pants from the dresser drawer along with underpants, a bra, and an oversized T-shirt. She dressed in record time and carried a pair of socks to the living room, where she flopped down in Ezra’s chair. Clean, dry clothing had never felt so soft or good.

“So, hamburgers?” she asked Shiloh.

“I’m so hungry, I’ll take a knife and carve a chunk out of that son of a bitch on the porch if we don’t have enough hamburger thawed out,” Shiloh said.

Abby couldn’t hold back the laughter. She wiped at her eyes and said between hiccups, “I can’t believe that just came out of your mouth. I can see Bonnie doing that, but not you.”

“Oh, sister, you’ve got a lot to learn about me. I’m tough as nails on the inside even if I’m not brave enough to sit in that chair,” Shiloh said.

The conviction in her voice told Abby that she could definitely be a force to be reckoned with even if she hadn’t helped get the vehicles out of the muddy fields.

“We can have ice cream sundaes for dessert and you can make cookies later for our nighttime snacks,” Shiloh said.

“Thank you. I’ll put the burgers in the skillet, so I can make the cookies while they’re cooking. We can eat them warm with the ice cream.” Abby left the chair and padded to the kitchen in her socks.

She peeled an onion, sliced it thin, and laid it on one side of a plate while the burger patties cooked. Then she chopped lettuce and sliced a tomato. When she finished that job she took the pickles, mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup from the refrigerator and set everything on the cabinet. Her stomach growled loudly and she looked at the clock. Two thirty! That meant they had to go back out into the weather in two hours and feed the cows again. And they’d have to use her truck since the work truck was now serving as a barricade.

The cookies were in the oven. The hamburger patties were about done and everything else was ready, so Abby went to the living room and leaned on the back of the sofa. The blaze in the fireplace licked at the logs, consuming them to make heat. Was that what love did? Those flames would fade and die like Ezra’s love for his three wives?

Bonnie came out of the bathroom decked out in mismatched pajama pants and a shirt. She took one look at the chair and, after sucking in a long lungful of air, sat down on it.

“That rain and all that work made you brave enough to sit in Ezra’s chair?” Abby asked.

“Not brave at all,” Bonnie said. “But Ezra is not going to have power over me where this chair is concerned.”

Vivien left the fire and curled up at her feet. Martha stretched to take up the room Vivien left behind.

“Kind of funny how they know which woman they should take up with, isn’t it?” Bonnie rubbed Vivien’s ear between her thumb and forefinger. “Strange thing is that I like this old hound more than I do my mama most days. Don’t get me wrong, I’d fight to the death with anyone who said a word against her, but some days I don’t like her too well.”