Chapter Ten

~ Miko ~

I sat next to the injured dog, gently petting him to reassure him as the veterinarian checked him over. He'd been a little freaked out when I retrieved the needle, but had calmed down for the most part.

He still seemed to be wary of others, pressing into me every time someone came close. I hoped that the fact that he didn't avoid me meant he was no longer scared of me.

I liked the idea of having a pet of my own. I'd never had one before. There had been birds and fish at home back in Japan, but they didn't belong to me.

The one time I had tried to adopt a stray cat that had wandered into the family compound, Eldest Uncle had put him to death right in front of my eyes. I never tried again.

"Keep the wound clean and dry, change his bandages once a day, and make sure he gets plenty to eat and drink. He should be fine in a couple of weeks."

"Thank you, Doctor."

The older man smiled. "Most people call me Doc or Doc Hank."

I gave a quick nod. "Miko."

"Keep an eye on him and don't let him go outside unsupervised for awhile. I don't want him falling into the wrong hands and ending up like this again."

"Are you saying this was done deliberately, Doc?" Jos asked. "Any idea who might be doing it?"

As much as I hated to admit it, I had drawn that conclusion as well. There was no way the puppy could have gotten that wire wrapped around its paw like that without human help.

"There have been a few other incidences around the county over the last couple of weeks. I've informed animal control and the sheriff, but so far there are no suspects."

"Was it just dogs?"

"No." The veterinarian started putting his stuff away in a black leather bag. "To my knowledge, there have been attacks like this on two dogs, three cats, and one horse."

"All the same way, with wire wrapped around them?" Jos asked.

"Pretty much. The type of wire has changed here and there, but the method seems to be the same." The vet shook his head as he glanced down at the puppy in my arms. "Whoever is doing this is sick in the head."

I couldn't agree more.

Jos crossed his arms and stared down at the dog for a moment before looking at the vet. "Do you think this is something we need to be worried about here on the ranch?"

"It wouldn't hurt to be a little extra vigilant, especially since you found the dog here on the ranch, but honestly, I think it's just a bunch of stupid kids."

If it was indeed kids doing this, then I had to wonder about their parents. Kids had to be taught evil. They weren't born that way. Cruelty to animals was learned behavior.

"Well, I'd better get going. Got a steer to check out over at the Walker place. Damn thing tangled with a mountain cat."

"Tell Cooper and Ethan hello for me," Jos said.

"Sure will."

I waited until the vet had left the room before turning to Jos. "Cooper and Ethan?"

"Yeah, they own the Eagle Creek Ranch on the other side of the valley. They raise mostly cattle, but they've recently gotten into the horse business. Since we tend to raise more horses than them, we do business together from time to time. Good people."

"Do you know them well?" I admit curiosity was eating away at me, and maybe just a bit of jealousy. An emotion I had no experience with and wasn't sure how to deal with.

"Not that well honestly. Ethan took over his father's ranch about a year ago. He's a lawyer from back east. I'm more familiar with Cooper. He's been at the ranch for about ten years, but didn't become the foreman until Ethan arrived."

I felt like there was a story there, but I wasn't brave enough to ask.

"It's just about time for your riding lesson," Jos stated. "You ready?"

"Oh, um." I glanced down at my pants. "This all I have."

Jos frowned as he looked me over. "Maybe we need to take you into town and get you some ranch clothes. Those might work fine for that stuff you did this morning in the yard, but they'll never last on the ranch."

I grimaced just imaging the cost. Back in Japan, I'd only been given new clothes once a year, and then it was only two sets. If anything happened to them, I had to either repair them or go without.

"Get your puppy and bring him downstairs. Mrs. Gibbons can keep an eye on him while we run into town and get you something to tide you over until we can order you a new wardrobe."

I lifted the puppy into my arms without comment. While I understood the concept of a new wardrobe, I had no practical experience with it. I wasn't exactly sure what all it entailed.

I followed Jos downstairs to the kitchen. He directed me to the new doggy bed set up in the corner. I gently laid the puppy down as to not aggravate his injury and then gave him a gentle pat on the head.

In Japanese, I told him to behave himself and not cause Mrs. Gibbons any trouble. I also told him I would be back as soon as I could and I would take him outside for a bit.

I doubted he understood a word of what I said, but he licked my hand anyway. I didn't care what anyone said, this little guy was a keeper.

When I stood, I turned, pressed my hands together, and gave a respectful bow to Mrs. Gibbons. "Thank you."

"Of course." Mrs. Gibbons smiled as she glanced at the large puppy. "He's a sweet boy. He'll be fine until you get back."

With one last glance at the puppy, I followed Jos out to his pickup. I climbed into the passenger seat and secured my seatbelt before folding my hands in my lap and looking out the front window.

"Ready?" Jos asked.

I nodded.

"There are a couple of places in town that we don't go," Jos said as we got underway. "A bar called Bobby's Place is at the top of that list. The people there aren't very nice."

Jos gave me a look that made me think they'd eat me for breakfast. "There are a few other places. I'll point them out as we go through town. You should never frequent those places, okay? Especially not alone."

"Yes," I answered just so he knew I'd heard him.

"If anyone gives you any trouble, you just tell them that you're my husband and you belong to the Cross Creek Ranch. They should leave you alone."

I leaned forward a little as I turned my head to look at Jos. "Is okay to say husband?"

Jos's eyebrows snapped together. "You're my husband, ain't you?"

I wasn't so sure.

We'd come in from the airport without any stops so I hadn't had that much time to look around. I had been too afraid of where I was headed to take much notice anyway.

This time was different.

We were apparently quite a ways out of town so there was nothing but woods and open field for awhile. When I slowly started to see houses I knew we were getting closer.

"How big is town?" I asked as I glanced at Jos.

"Well, let's see." Jos frowned for a moment. "I think we had somewhere around seven thousand people at the last census, but there could be more or less now. That was a couple of years ago."

I knew enough to know that was pretty small. Osaka, Japan had almost three million people. Huge difference.

When we reached town, Jos began pointing out different businesses, some we could visit and some we could not. It was a quaint little town, something I was totally unfamiliar with. Osaka was a bustling city. This was not.

Jos parked the truck in front of a small clothing store. I glanced out the window and stared at it for a moment.

Jos climbed out of the truck and walked around to my side, opening the door. I undid my seatbelt and then slid out onto the sidewalk. I stuck pretty close to him as we walked inside.

I wasn't exactly afraid, but I didn't know the rules for a place like this. It wasn't like I'd been inside of a clothing store before so I had no idea what to expect.

"Hey, Agnes," Jos called out.

"Jos, what brings you in today?"

I glanced around when I heard a woman speaking until I spotted her near the back of the store, a stack of boxes in her hands. She had a bit of gray at her temples and some wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, but other than that you couldn't tell she was a day over thirty.

Jos looped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me forward. "This here is Miko. He needs to be outfitted for the ranch. Just a couple of changes of clothing for now. We'll come back for more later."

I swallowed nervously when the woman's eyes pinned on me. Jos hadn't said exactly who I was so I wasn't going to either.

"What size do you wear, honey?"

"Um, seventy-one centimeters."

The woman frowned. "What's that in inches?"

"I believe its twenty-eight inches." If my measurement conversion was correct.

She looked me up and down for a moment before nodding. "You look to be a small in shirts. I think I can get you properly outfitted for the ranch."

"Oh, um." I glanced at Jos. He said just a couple of things. What did "outfitted" entail?

"Go into the dressing room," Agnes stated. "I'll bring you some stuff to try on."

What in the hell was a dressing room and where was it?

Jos grabbed my wrist and pulled me over to a curtained doorway. He shoved the curtain aside and then stood back. "I'll be waiting out here for you. I want to see everything when you try them on, make sure the fit is right."

With that, he pushed me into the room and drew the curtain. I glanced around, not that there was much to see. It was a rather small space. There was a bench on one side and several hooks in the wall just above it.

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing until someone knocked on the wall. "I have some things here for you to try on," Agnes called out.

I moved the curtain aside with my arm and then took the small stack of clothes she held out to me. After dropping the curtain, I set the clothes on the bench and started undressing.

I was a little curious as to what she had picked out for me. I'd never gone to a store to try on clothes before. There were two pairs of jeans, one dark and one faded. Of the three shirts she had included two were button up and one was a simple black T-shirt.

I tried on one of the button up shirts and the dark jeans first. The jeans, while fitting well around most of my body, were a little long. They also weren't the same loose fitting pants I usually wore so it felt a little weird.

I stepped out of the dressing room so Jos could see. He was sitting on the small couch across from the dressing room. He looked me up and down before giving me a nod.

I glanced down at my feet. "They are a little long. I think I need a shorter pair."

"They need to be a little long," Jos stated. "You need room for your boots."

I was getting boots, too?

"Go try the others on."

I went back into the dressing room and undressed, carefully refolding the clothes I had just tried on and setting them on the bench, and then put on the next set. When I stepped out of the dressing room this time, Jos just stared at me, not saying a word.

I started to grow nervous.

Did I look bad?

Did the faded jeans and the T-shirt not fit right?

"You can wear those," Jos finally said. "Wear the flannel shirt over the T-shirt."

I gave a nod.

"Go gather your stuff and bring it out. I'm going to go talk to Agnes for a moment."

I was so confused.

When I came out of the dressing room a moment later, Jos was at the counter with Agnes. She was scanning tags on clothes before putting them into a bag.

A lot of clothes.

"Jos—"

"Since those jeans and stuff fit you so well, I figured it would be a good idea to grab a few extra pairs. I also grabbed you some more shirts." I gestured to the other side of the store. "We need to get you some boots."

Still confused, but I followed Jos over to where the boot display was located.

"Do you see anything you like?"

I glanced at the wall and then down to the boots Jos was wearing. They were brown and faded, almost distressed looking, but that gave them a unique look that I liked.

"Can I get some like yours?" I asked.

"What size do you were?"

I did the quick conversion in my head. "Size nine, I think."

Jos scanned the row of boxed shoes until he found what he was looking for. He grabbed them and walked over to a bench. "Sit down and try these on."

I slid off my shoes and grabbed one of the boots, pulling it on. It was a little bit of a tight fit, but I figured that was due to them being brand new. Once I wore them for awhile they would loosen up.

I pulled the other boot on, tugged my jeans down over them, and then stood up. When I heard a swift inhaled, I glanced up at Jos. "What?"

He was staring at me weird.

The man shook his head. "How do those feel?"

"A little tight, but aren't they supposed to when you first get them?" I'd never worn cowboy boots before, but I had had winter boots in the past. The basic concept had to be the same, right?

"How tight?"

"Not too much." I pointed to the widest part of my foot. "Most of it is here."

"All right, grab your shoes and let's go to the register. If these don't loosen up in the next couple of days or you start to feel uncomfortable, we'll come back and try a different size."

Like I'd complain. I was getting new clothes and new boots. It was a gift I didn't often receive. I wasn't going to be ungrateful by complaining.

I grabbed everything and hurried after Jos, meeting him at the check-out counter. Agnes came around the counter with a pair of scissors and began cutting off tags, which I had totally forgotten about.

That would have been embarrassing.

My mouth dropped when the final total was rung up. Three hundred and twenty dollars? That was insane.

I grabbed Jos's arm. "That's a lot of money, Jos. I don't—"

"Are you going to deny me my right to buy new clothes for my husband?"

My head snapped back and I quickly glanced around to see if anyone had heard his words. Agnes seemed to be the only other person in the store and she was sporting a wide grin.

"No, but—"

"Baby, you need the clothes if you're going to be staying at the ranch. While I am sure your clothes are comfortable and worked for you in Japan, they won't work here."

Baby?

Since when?