The Baby In The Back Seat
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“Who are you?” Magraw demanded with a scowl. “Ain’t seen you around these parts.”
“No one you need to know,” Sam answered. He reached behind him, grasped the handle of the rifle praying it wouldn’t go off and shoot him in the foot. Just to make sure, he held the muzzle away from him. “Now, do yourself a favor and leave quietly.”
Magraw thrust out his jaw. “Seems to me you don’t have a say in what happens to the ranch. Unless—” he smirked “—you and the lady are some kind of kissin’ kin.”
Laura gasped and tried to push her way in front of Sam. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw Hank coming around the house and starting for the porch. Sam caught his eye and shook his head. The last thing he wanted was an all-out free-for-all, let alone a shooting. He wasn’t that anxious to die. “I think you’ve said enough. Get out of here. Now!”
When Magraw hesitated, Sam shifted the rifle and raised a questioning eyebrow. With a final look at the weapon, Magraw cursed and took off for his car.
Sam waited until the car disappeared down the road before he waved off Hank, turned and led the way into the kitchen.
“Somehow I don’t think you’ve seen the last of Magraw.” Sam gingerly put the gun down on the table, stood back and eyed it warily. “Sounds to me as if someone wants to get their hands on your ranch pretty bad. I don’t think they’ll stop with Magraw.”
Laura stomped her way into the kitchen. “I can take care of them, too.”
Sam shuddered at the thought of Laura defending her territory with the rifle. “Maybe, maybe not. Now unload that damn thing and put it back where it came from.”
“It’s not loaded,” Laura said with an icy look. “You didn’t think I’d keep a loaded rifle around, did you? It’s not safe.”
“You could have fooled me,” Sam answered with an anxious glance at the rifle. “Loaded or not, get rid of it, please.”
Laura picked up the gun and stored it in the broom closet. “You act as if you’ve never handled a weapon before.”
Sam reached for his cold cup of coffee, took a deep swallow and grimaced. “Never before, and never again,” he said fervently. He strode to the door leading to the living room to check on Annie. The baby was fast asleep on a nest of blankets on the floor. The dog lay stretched out beside her, his nose between his paws, his unblinking eyes watching Sam.
Sam muttered a prayer of thanks at the way Laura’s pet had bonded with the baby. He turned back to the kitchen and to Laura. “Now please sit down and give me the details while my heart slows down to normal.”
“What details?”
The way Laura asked the question told Sam she thought it was none of his business. Except now that he’d seen the lengths Laura intended to go, he was making it his business. “Magraw said you’re on the verge of losing the ranch. True?”
Normally a private person used to taking care of herself, Laura considered the question. Sam Harrison may be a man she’d only met yesterday, yet there was something about him that made her feel she could trust him.
“Here, let me warm that coffee for you. But first have some of this.” Laura reached into the refrigerator, took out the remains of a chocolate cake and set it on the table. “Hank tells me chocolate cake always gives him a shot in the arm. You look like you need it.”
Sam regarded the three-tiered chocolate cake and enviously thought of the way the old ranch hand must enjoy Laura’s tender loving care. “You bake cakes for the help?”
“Hank’s more than help,” she said simply. “He’s family.”
Sam was ready to believe it. From the way she’d taken to Annie, it was too bad she didn’t have children of her own. He owed her. “Anything I can do around here while I wait for the replacement car?”
“No, thanks.” She poured Sam a fresh cup of black coffee and another for herself. “I’m used to making do on my own.”
Sam glanced at the broom closet. “Without the gun, I hope. So, how about telling me what the problem is. Money?”
Laura shrugged helplessly. “Magraw was right. I don’t have enough funds to increase the herd or to hire men to take care of the small amount of stock I do have. Hank does the best he can, but that’s not the only problem. There’s…” Her voice trailed off as she moved to gaze out the window.
Sam rose and went to stand beside her. The sadness in her voice, the anxious look in her eyes troubled him. As far as he could tell, she was alone in the fight to keep her heritage.
He knew from being alone. It was a cold place no one, especially a caring woman like Laura, should have to experience. She needed a sympathetic ear, and he was ready and willing to listen. It was the least he could do for her in exchange for all she’d done for Annie and for him. “There’s what?”
“Taxes,” she said succinctly. “I’m about to open a camp for young children in order to make enough money to pay the next installment, due next month.”
Sam nodded. “Do you really think boarding six kids for the summer is going to be enough to keep the ranch going?”
“It’s a start. If all goes well, we’ll advertise for more campers.”
“Who’s we?”
“Katy O’Donnell. Katy’s been a friend of mine since we worked at the hospital. She’s planning on coming here to help out.”
Now Sam was really interested. Instead of the camp being a pipe dream, the idea was sounding better by the minute. “Another nurse?” Laura nodded. “Seems to me you’re right. The camp is a good place to start. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”
Laura shook her head. “No, thanks. You have your own life to take care of. I need to take care of mine. Not that I don’t appreciate your offer,” she hurried to add, “but this is something I have to do myself.”
Sam glanced out the window to where Hank was entering the barn. “How does Hank enter the picture?”
“Like I said, he’s family.”
Lucky Hank. Lucky Annie. Lucky him, Sam mused. Lucky to have found a woman as strong and big-hearted as Laura Evans. After the way he’d trashed her ranch, any other woman would have sent him packing. “Where are you going to find the campers?”