Charlotte Carter - Montana Hearts

“Now see vhat you’ve done?” Dr. Zoom shook his finger in Sarah’s direction. “Tell him it isn’t so. I’m not a—you know—vone of dose.”

“Yeah, you are,” Toby insisted.

“Is zat what you think? Huh. I vill show you. You know vhat you get when you cross a pair of trousers with dictionary? Huh, you know vhat?”

“Naw, I don’t know. What?”

Dr. Zoom did a little hop on Sarah’s thigh. “You get a smarty-pants, that’s vhat. A smarty-pants like you, huh?”

Toby’s giggle was infectious, and he had a wicked, little-boy gleam in his eyes. “Hey, Sarah, can you teach me how to do that?”

“But of course, young man. I am the greatest teacher in the world.”

“What’s she going to teach you, son?”

They both looked up at the sound of Kurt’s voice.

“Sarah’s a ventriloquist, Dad. It’s really cool. Her lips don’t move at all. An’ she’s gonna teach me.”

Just like his son, Kurt cocked his head to the side. “Ventriloquist?”

Her face flushed and she shrugged. “A little hobby I have.”

“Really? I used to love stuff like that when I was a kid.” He sat down cross-legged opposite her, his grin as eager as Toby’s. “Show me.”

Dr. Zoom proceeded to conduct a ridiculous conversation with Kurt about being a bowlegged cowboy. Kurt laughed and so did his son, the cares and battles of the day forgotten.

Sarah hoped her botched dinner would be as quickly forgotten.

Toby made an effort to speak without moving his lips, which left the words unintelligible. “Hey, I don’t get it.”

“If you really want to learn, let’s start with some easy exercises. There are lots of sounds you already make without moving your lips.”

“Like neighing like a horse?” Kurt asked.

The realization that Kurt was interested, too, gave Sarah’s heart a little jolt. She couldn’t help reacting to the mirthful twinkle in his golden-brown eyes. Her mouth felt dry and she had to lick her lips. “It’ll be easier if we start with the vowel sounds, A, E, I, O, U. Try making those sounds without moving your lips.”

Toby gave it try, slipping only on the O and U sounds. Kurt repeated the exercise with the same level of success.

She grinned. “I can see you’re both going to be great students. You practice and we’ll work on lesson two after you feel comfortable with those sounds.”

Later in the guest room, she sat down and opened her laptop. First she sent an email to Tricia Malone, who was handling her business in Seattle while she was gone. Without providing any details, she explained she’d be staying in Sweet Grass Valley for the summer and promised to call her soon.

Then she ordered a couple pairs of jeans, casual tops and some sturdy shoes online. Her city clothes weren’t at all suitable for the rough wear and tear of ranch living.

That task accomplished, Sarah slipped between the crisp sheets on the bed and picked up her Bible-study book as she did every evening. Tonight’s passage was from Colossians 3:12. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (NIV)

Sarah would certainly need patience with Beth, compassion with Kurt, who was still grieving, and gentleness with Toby. She prayed she would be up to the task the Lord had given her.

And do no harm, she warned herself as her eyes closed and the book slipped from her fingers.

The following morning, Kurt recruited Toby to help him move the mother herd to the north section to graze on the fresh grass. Beth, who could handle cattle well enough when she wanted to, claimed a headache. He didn’t press the issue.

“Come on, Ellie Mae. Let’s keep the girls moving.”

Speaking in a calm, easy voice, Kurt reined his horse Pepper closer to the lead cow and her young calf, who had slowed their pace. His approach caused Ellie Mae to accelerate to her previous speed, and the rest of the mother herd followed suit, their calves trotting along beside them.

“That’s my girl,” Kurt murmured. “You remember how sweet the grass is in the north section, don’t you?”

On the opposite side of the moving herd, Toby held his position so the cows wouldn’t wander off track and mosey down into the gully that cut through this section of the Rocking R Ranch. As young as he was, Toby had been riding since before he could walk and held his seat well on Longtail, a dun-colored gelding Kurt had broken to saddle a decade ago. He remembered how Zoe had watched him work the horse during those late summer evenings, the setting sun streaking her blonde hair red and gold.

The image of her shimmered in his memory like a distant mirage. His breath caught in his throat, his heart lunging an extra, painful beat.

He touched his heels to Pepper’s flanks and forced thoughts of Zoe away. She’d been gone for over a year. A stupid accident, a wrong-way driver hit them while they were on their way to a second honeymoon in Seattle and had nearly killed him, too.

In those early days, with Zoe in a coma and barely alive, Kurt had almost wished he had died first. He wouldn’t have had to make the most difficult choice in a man’s life—to let the woman he loved go. He’d prayed. He’d railed at God. Pleaded. Bargained. Cursed. Blamed Him.

Brain dead. Vegetative state.

Those words thundered in his skull like a depraved farrier banging a horseshoe into shape around a villainous anvil.

How could Kurt blame God when he’d been the one who had agreed to remove Zoe’s respirator?

In the course of a year, he’d gone from that catastrophic moment to having another woman living in his house. A tidy package of spunk whose silly antics with a dummy had made him laugh again. Even now, the memory of the prior evening brought a smile to his lips.

When they reached the north pasture, Kurt eased away from the herd to let them graze on their own. With the cows stopped, the calves didn’t need a formal invitation to start suckling their moms.

Past the boundary of the Rocking R, Kurt noticed a surveying crew at work. Curious, he wondered what Ezra Stone, his closest neighbor and owner of Double S Ranch, was up to.

“Can I go back home now, Dad? I told Joey I’d ride over to his place today. He’s got a new Nintendo game.”

“Sure, son. Just be sure you’re back for supper.”

“’Kay.” Reining his horse around, Toby touched his heels to the gelding and took off at a gallop.

Kurt could only hope the horse had enough sense not to step in a prairie dog hole and break his leg.

Deciding to check on the surveying project before he went back to the barn, he trotted over to the fence. A pickup owned by T&K Engineering of Billings, MT, was parked nearby.

“Morning,” he called to the closest man, who was wearing an orange safety vest and a Seahawks ball cap.

“Morning.” A young guy, he tipped the bill of his cap. His sideburns reached all the way to his jawline.

“What’s the survey for?”

“Don’t know. We’re just mapping the elevations and putting corner stakes in.”

Kurt lifted his Stetson then resettled it on his head. “Ezra didn’t tell you what he’s planning to do?”

“Nobody named Ezra hired us.” He checked his clipboard. “Looks like an outfit called Western Region Cattle Feeding hired us. They’re headquartered in, uh, Cheyenne.”

Dread landed in his chest with the weight of a boulder. Adrenaline surged, readying him for a fight. He tightened his hands on the reins, which made his horse back up a few steps.

He knew that outfit. There’d been talk of them on the ranchers association website and articles in the Billings newspaper. They ran concentrated animal feed lots and had a reputation of not caring what sort of environmental damage they did as long as they showed a profit.