Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

L incoln Glover had had enough of rain, cattle, ranching, and mud. This last week of May had really found Mother Nature angry. In the Texas Panhandle, she’d blown winds that had disrupted their planting, and then she’d sent rain that had washed everything away.

Since Uncle Ward employed rotational ranching and they moved their cattle, turkeys, sheep, chickens, and pigs around from pasture to pasture, something always needed to be done. Seven days a week.

They’d moved the main herd up into the hills already, but Uncle Cactus had reserved some cows and kept them on the ranch, so that he could watch them for medical reasons before he turned them loose into the wilds. He was also training some new cattle dogs, and he needed cattle to do that.

The sky thundered overhead, and Link tipped his head back and said, “Really, Lord?” His clothes bore burrs, seeds, random vegetational debris, and mud. The only good thing he could say was that he didn’t have burrowing owls at Shiloh Ridge this year. He and Dawson had built man-made nests for them at the top of the hill just outside of the Rhinehart Ranch property, and the owls had settled there instead of on either one of their ranches.

Link just wanted to go home, and he thought about Misty and what she might be doing that afternoon. She worked at an interior design firm and helped maintain the integrity of historical places. He wasn’t sure if she had a client that day or if she’d be home, but no matter what, he wanted to order dinner, shower away everything that had happened this week, and lay with his wife in his arms as they watched something on TV.

The problem was, he still had a couple of hours of work ahead of him, and that lazy evening with just him and Misty felt so far away. He got the last of the sheep through the gate and closed it, tying it off so nothing would come back out and nothing new could go in. He reached down and patted his horse’s neck because he wasn’t the only one out here putting in long hours in bad weather.

“Let’s go take a break,” he said. “Get a snack and some water.” He headed back to the stable, which took a good twenty minutes, and he didn’t make it before the sky opened, and rain began to fall.

“Of course,” he muttered, hunching down into his jacket, though it wasn’t cold, and stuffing his cowboy hat on as low as it would go to try to protect his face, neck, and shoulders. He and Morning Sky arrived back at the stable, and it took him another half hour to get his horse cleaned up enough to put in her stall.

He could take out another horse to finish moving the turkeys into the field that the sheep had just vacated. After that, he needed to go through some inventory in the equipment shed, and then he needed to check with his momma on the status of a couple of their planters that she had been working on.

Momma had started teaching Sunnie how to be a mechanic just the way she’d taught Sunnie to be a chef in the kitchen. Sunnie was real good with her hands, and she liked little parts and details and things coming together.

All the kids had one more week of school, and then they’d be working around the ranch for the summer. Daddy usually found a ton of projects that needed to be done that kids’ hands could do—anyone twelve and older. But this year, that was Link’s job.

Link was slowly and steadily taking over everything that Daddy usually did. He had to sit down with his father and make a list of all the things that kids could do. They could pull chicken wire tight, and the older kids could use a staple gun to put it in place.

Uncle Cactus had work to be done in his barn, and all the groundskeeping needed to be done. All the kids in Link’s family could use lawn mowers, weed eaters, and rakes. They tended to the vegetable gardens all summer, and they’d clean True Blue.

Rock especially loved being with the horses, and he worked with Uncle Cactus in their care, feeding, training, and general happiness. Lincoln had started putting together projects weeks ago, and he’d meet with everyone next week once school got out. They’d planned a few days on a vacation schedule, where they would take the kids down to the pool and to play in the river and give them a little bit of summer before they had to start working.

And of course, they had plenty of time to wade in the ponds, go fishing, ride bikes, fly kites, and do all the things kids did in the summer, around the little chores that Link would give them. They weren’t full-time cowboys like him. They weren’t the junior foreman.

Sometimes the weight of what Link did pulled at him, especially the thought of having to do it his whole life and especially having to be Bear Glover one day. He reminded himself that he had a dozen aunts and uncles and three times that many cousins. He would never be alone at Shiloh Ridge unless he wanted to be.

He had just finished washing his hands when Uncle Ward came in and said, “There you are. I’ve been texting you.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been out on the northwest side,” Link said darkly. “Not much service down there.”

“We’re calling it for today,” Uncle Ward said. “Where did you get?”

“I just moved the sheep into field four,” Link said. “The turkeys still need to be moved, and then the chickens gotta be let out.”

“We’re gonna do it later,” Uncle Ward said. “There’s word of some tornado activity kicking up.”

Link heard the alarm in Uncle Ward’s voice. “Really? Have they put out a warning?” He immediately thought of Misty and where she might be. Was she down in town? If the tornado siren went off, would she be able to make it to the ranch? Did he even want her to? If not, where would she shelter?

A calm, slow voice told him, Your grandparents live in town. Misty will be fine . Link took a deep breath, slowly enough to help him calm down.

“Just rumors,” Uncle Ward said. “Coming up out of Hondo, but I checked the radar, and it doesn’t look good. I want everyone home and accounted for in the next thirty minutes. I’m sending the message now.”

His fingers flew across the phone, and in the next five seconds, Link’s own device chimed out the tone he had assigned to Uncle Ward. He looked up and said, “Go on, now. Get home to your wife.”

“We don’t need to try to round up the animals and put them in the barn?”

Ward shook his head. “They’ll be better off if they can run.” He turned to leave the stable. “You’ve got the longest drive, so get going.”

Link nodded and said, “Yes, sir,” and did exactly that. He’d barely made it to his truck when his phone rang, and Misty’s name appeared on the screen.

“Hey, baby, where are you?” he asked. “Did you get Ward’s text?”

“Yeah, I got it,” she said, and she sounded near hysterics. “Are you on your way home?”

“Yep,” he said. “I just made it to my truck.” He turned the key in the ignition, and it roared to life. “I’m ten minutes away.”

“You’ve got to come up that hill,” she said. “It’s been so muddy lately.”

“I’m gonna make it, Misty,” he assured her. “Are you at home?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“I thought you were working in town today.”

“I did this morning,” she said, her voice pitching up. “Link, it’s really windy up here.”

“I’m gonna make it,” he said. “I’m on my way.”

Any number of houses sat down here on the main part of the ranch. He could find shelter for sure. The Top Cottage, where he lived, stood up a dirt road at the top of the hill, just across the border from the Rhinehart Ranch.

They’d had mudslides in the past and some felled trees during bad storms that blocked the road, but Link was absolutely going to make it to his wife. He couldn’t imagine her in their house alone during a storm, though he could probably get Dawson or Duke to go check on her. Heck, Dawson lived closer to Link than anyone in his own family, even though they lived on two separate pieces of property.

“I’m leaving right now,” he said. “I’m at the stables.”

“Okay,” she said, and her voice pitched up and broke again. “Please hurry.”

Link promised he would, and he ended the call so that he could use both hands to drive. The wind whipped across the ranch, lashing rain against the windows and the top of the truck. No wonder Misty was upset.

At the same time, her emotions didn’t make sense. She’d lived in Texas her whole life. She’d lived through hurricanes. She’d been in tornadoes. She had an apartment fire just a couple of years ago. Why was this the thing upsetting her so much?

Link pushed it out of his mind as he trundled past True Blue on his right, and then a few hundred yards later, Uncle Ace’s house on his left. He started up the hill then, slipping sideways in the mud as a powerful gust of wind blew over the top of the hill and slammed straight into his truck.

“Please, God,” he whispered as he righted it. “I have to make it.”

Messages came in fast and furious, probably from people reporting on the Everybody thread that they were somewhere safe. He hoped none of them needed help because if they did, it would be him and Uncle Ward out there providing it. Then what would Misty say?

Not only that, but Uncle Ward was getting up there in age, and he couldn’t do everything that he’d once been able to do. Uncle Preacher had some physical limitations, and though he was the other foreman at Shiloh Ridge, if someone needed physical help, it wouldn’t be Preacher out there doing it.

Probably Uncle Ranger or Uncle Judge. Uncle Bishop and Uncle Ace had plenty of strength left in their bodies, and they would come to anyone’s rescue too. Heck, anyone that bore the last name Glover would be there for anyone else who needed it.

Including your wife , a voice whispered, and Link’s grip on the steering wheel relaxed. The wheels spun; the truck slid in the mud; he quickly shifted into four-wheel drive, and the truck kept climbing.

His heartbeat rode on a roller coaster, up one moment and then plummeting the next. He’d probably have to fix the road later from the ruts he put in the soft mud, but right now, he didn’t care.

Inch by inch, foot by foot, minute by minute, Link climbed the hill, and the ten-minute drive from the main part of the ranch to the Top Cottage took twenty.

By the time he turned and came to a stop in front of his cabin, he had over two hundred messages he hadn’t read, and Misty had called two more times. She had his location, so she knew where he was, and he wondered if it looked like he hadn’t moved or something.

He noticed the wild way the tree limbs moved left, right, back, and forth in all different directions, all on the same tree. He left his lunchbox and cowboy hat and made a mad dash for the house. The two dogs that usually palled around with Link were already there, and Misty held a couple of towels in her hands. She straightened from where she’d been drying Dusty and Rio.

“There you are,” she said, and she burst into tears.

Link had no idea what to do with that. Misty wasn’t usually terribly emotional, but he had seen her cry over the past year since they’d been married.

“Hey, I’m right here.” He gathered her into his chest and held on tight. “It’s okay. Come on, let’s go inside.” His hopes of ordering in dinner and enjoying a lazy evening on the couch withered away. He’d have to make something, but that was fine. He could put a frozen pizza in the oven and call it good. He didn’t have anybody to impress, and he and Misty had had plenty of simple meals in their lives.

“Come on, you guys,” he said to the dogs. As he opened the door, he let them in first, then ushered in his still weeping wife.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Couldn’t you see me on the map?”

“You didn’t look like you were moving.”

“Well, it wasn’t fast.” He stepped out of his boots and then unbuckled his jeans right there by the door. “I’m gonna take everything off here. I’m so muddy and so wet.” And he felt so gross.

She laid out the two towels she’d been rubbing the dogs with. “Put it all right here. I’ll put it in the washing machine while you shower.”

She’d regained control of some of her emotions, but she made no effort to wipe her face as Link stepped out of his clothes and left them on the floor. “Thank you, baby.” He swept a kiss along her forehead and said, “I’ll be right back out. I promise.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’m okay.” She gathered up the towels and all of his clothes and headed off toward the laundry room while he streaked down the hall to the master suite to take a shower. Nothing had ever felt as good as that hot water, rinsing away the awfulness of this week.

The mud from his hair, and the weeds that he picked out of his beard, and all of the dirt and grime and grossness from his skin. He got dressed in a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. He took one down the hall to Misty, remembering that she’d only been wearing a T-shirt. She stood in the kitchen now, working at the stove, and he eased up behind her and said, “Mm, making breakfast for dinner?”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s about the only thing that sounds good.”

“I brought you a sweatshirt,” he said, and she turned into him, her eyes already filled with water again.

“Hey,” Link took her face in both of his hands. “You gotta talk to me. What’s going on?”

She tried to smile, but the gesture shook and crumbled right off her face. She closed her eyes and then opened them again, looking at him with the softest look of love and adoration. Link could drown in it, and he wanted to. If he died right now, this would be the best way to go, with his wife looking at him like he was the only man for her. Because he was.

“I don’t want you thinking you’re special or anything,” she said, her voice tinny and tight. “But you’re going to be a daddy.”

Link blinked, adrenaline sending waves through his veins, his ears catching on to what she’d said. It took his brain a good long minute to figure it out after that. “You’re pregnant?”

Tears spilled down her face again, and she said, “Yep.”

Link laughed because that felt like the best thing to do when finding out his lovely wife was going to have his child. He wrapped her up tightly and pulled her against his chest and said, “Is this why we’re crying all the time now?”

“Just today,” she said. “I just found out this afternoon.”

He kissed her ear and down her neck. “I don’t care if you cry every day for the rest of our lives.” He lifted his head and looked right at her. “I love you so much.”

“I’m scared,” she admitted. His beautiful, strong Misty only ever told him exactly how she felt.

“You are going to be the best mother in the whole world,” he said, taking her face in his hands again. “Absolutely the best.” And he meant it.

Because Misty knew how to nurture and care for those around her. She simply hadn’t had the opportunity to prove it to herself yet. But God had just granted her that, and Link had never felt more grateful.

Tears pricked at his own eyes, and he cleared his throat. “Okay. Okay, let me finish dinner. You go sit down.”

She giggled through her tears and said, “I’m capable of standing, Link.”

“I know, but….” His gaze dropped to her flat stomach, and then his hands moved there too. “But I’ll finish dinner, okay?” He raised his gaze to hers again. “You’re not special or anything. It’s just dinner.”

She burst out laughing, which made Link’s heart so happy, and then he pressed his lips to hers sloppily. As they sobered, the kiss became real, and slow, and beautiful. He pulled away and whispered, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Link.”