Rocky Mountain Homecoming

She dropped her focus to where Shakespeare had appeared and was doing circle eights at her feet, his big thick tail swishing across her dark rust-colored taffeta skirt. Scooping up her hefty cat, she held him close, recalling how easily Zach had brushed her the wrong way with his headstrong manner.

“Zach’s a lot like your daddy.” Hugh’s overly eager nod only served to annoy Ivy. “Only your daddy has a good handle on things here, being so experienced. But with the cattle theft that happened a week ago not far from here,” he said, slicing a breath through his long teeth, “we need a foreman who knows what he’s doing, leading the way.”

“Cattle theft?” An ominous chill crawled down her spine.

Hugh hooked a thumb through his belt loop. “The theft has the ranchers around here sitting at the edge of their saddles.”

“I can imagine.” She draped Shakespeare over her shoulder like a baby—just the way he’d like it.

“As experienced as your uncle Terrance is,” Hugh said, reaching out and brushing a hand over her arm, “I wish that he was the one leading the charge instead of Zach.”

Ivy patted the cat’s back, provoking a loud purr from the feline as she recalled how her mama’s brother, Terrance, had worked for her father for years. “I don’t think I ever recall a time when he didn’t go about his business without a cheerful whistle. He was raised on this ranch.”

“Honestly, Terrance never gets much of a fair shake around here.” He fingered the brim of his hat. “But … he takes it in stride. He’s devoted to your father, that’s for sure.”

At every turn, her uncle Terrance had talked her father up as though he owned the entire state of Colorado and then some. So, it never quite made sense why he was the only person in the world her father didn’t seem to like.

“Terrance has years and years of experience, and a real head for business. But for some reason—” He yanked his hat off his head and slapped it against his long leg. “Why in the world are we talking about this, anyway? I haven’t seen my Ivy in six years and I’m rambling on and on about the ranch.” When he poked her arm, she had to bite back a wince as she silently calculated just how long it would take before a bruise would appear. “How’s the big city been treating you, dolly?”

The city had been wonderful.

But here. Ever since she’d been back, she’d been scrambling for a foothold. Struggling to maintain a strong front.

Until this moment, she’d felt inclined to keep her distance, since it was clear her father was eager to send her back east. But now she had no choice. If there were problems on the ranch, it was her responsibility to see to them, with her father unwell. She’d have to make sure that Zach was making the best decisions and that he wasn’t putting the ranch in jeopardy just because he was headstrong.

“Grand. I love it there.” Suddenly and strangely wary, she glanced past Hugh to find Zach staring right at her, his face set in a distinct scowl. Beads of perspiration glistened over his muscle-roped arms as he jammed his shovel into the ground again and brought out a chunk of dirt.

“Mama was right,” she went on to say, trying her best to ignore her father’s foreman. “There are so many opportunities to be had out east.”

Zach didn’t look happy, that’s for sure. Was this just one of his ways of throwing his weight around?

After a long yawn, Hugh snapped his jaws, jarring her nerves. “Your mama always did push for you to go, didn’t she?”

At times, her mother had been almost desperate for Ivy to leave the ranch. “Even when I was young and talked of owning a ranch of my own someday, Mama would push me that way.”

Ivy swallowed hard. The guilt and shame that had hung over her mama’s passing had seized any joy to be found in journeying toward her mama’s dreams.

At the sound of the front door slamming shut, Ivy glanced over her shoulder to glimpse Violet hurrying down the steps, two small braided rugs draped over her arms. And a clear look of intent on her round face.

“Good morning, Violet,” Ivy greeted as the petite woman scurried toward them, clad in an attractive gray-blue calico dress that matched her eyes perfectly.

“Hello, Ivy, dear.” She swiped at her brow then laid a veiled scowl on Hugh. “Hugh.”

Ivy’s heart warmed at the sight of the lively woman. Violet, nearly her father’s age, had been with the family for years. “Is everything all right?”

“Oh, yes, just fine.” The woman pulled up beside Ivy and patted the colorful braided rugs. “Just thought I’d get these out on the line to breathe for a while. Since it’s such a lovely day.”

Ivy slipped her focus to the rugs, sure she’d seen them hanging on the line yesterday when she’d arrived. “But they were hanging out yesterday, and the clothesline is in the back of the—”

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