Mature Content: No
With: Hannah Cory, Mike and Sam Wentworth
Time of Day: Mid-morning
As Mike made his way from the bunkhouse to the barn, he thought about how things had been going so far. It had been over a month since he, Sam and Charlie had started working here and they were getting used to the ways things were done here. Shade, had been pleased with the work they had been doing and had made their jobs permanent. They were all beginning to form good friendships with the people they worked for and the people they worked with. All except for Charlie, who was still having problems with Clara but that was going to be a work in progress for some time to come.
Just as he neared the barn, he caught the sight of a rider approaching. Not being told to expect someone, Mike thought of who it could. From this distance, he couldn't tell if the person was friend or foe, so just to be certain, he touched the gun in his holster in an act of readiness. Prepared, he waited for the rider to come near.
Hannah Cory looked around as she approached the bunkhouse and barn area of Lost Lake Ranch. She had always felt that this area was meant to serve as a guardhouse for passage to the main lodge. As if the trail along the gorge, Ishmael's Pass, wasn't deterrent enough! Hannah spotted a man she did not know heading toward the barn and slowed Jingo, her splotchy marked roan, down to a slow trot and then to a walk.
The man seemed at ease, so maybe he was a new hand? Truthfully, Hannah had not been out to the ranch since shortly after Shade's return. He was tall and lean with dark hair and even handsome features. Definitely not someone that Hannah had seen around. Of course, Lost Lake's men were usually only in town on weekends because of the long ride.
Bringing Jingo to a stop near the man, Hannah pushed her hat back and let it hang by its strings on her back. She dropped to the ground and faced the stranger with a friendly-enough smile, "Howdy," Hannah greeted the man. She knew the badge on her vest was easy to see, so she did not bother with the whole deputy marshal spiel. "I'm Hannah Cory, brought copies of the latest wanted posters out for the ranch. Shade and Quentin like to have them to make sure whoever they are hiring is on the up-and-up."
Mike nodded, "Shade told me that someone would be around eventually to deliver these. I'm glad it was you and not the marshal."
He knew that the Kalispell deputy was a woman but this was the first time that he had seen her. In over the month or so he had been here, he had only been town a few times, mainly on the weekend which was usually spent with Matt and his brothers as they all got to know each other again. Learning his new job, the men he had working for him and how things worked here had taken up the majority of his time. Now that he was getting on top of things, he would have more time for other things like meeting the deputy.
He smiled, "Sorry, I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is Mike Wentworth. I'm the day foreman."
"Oh, you're one of Matt's brothers!" Hannah exclaimed in surprise. "He told me that you would be arriving when we had lunch sometime back. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wentworth."
Hannah and Matt had followed up their lunch with a Sunday afternoon of visits so she could introduce him around the area. It had been pleasant, and she had enjoyed his company. Her instincts had told her not to get too vested in the man's interest. He was likely simply being friendly and polite. Hannah had run into him off and on in town since then, so he was a bit surprised that he hadn't mentioned that his brothers had settled at Lost Lake Ranch.
"I had heard that the ranch hired a new foreman to replace Ezra Hale," Hannah added. "Welcome to Kalispell."
"Oh, you're one of Matt's brothers!" Hannah exclaimed in surprise. "He told me that you would be arriving when we had lunch sometime back. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wentworth."
Mike raised his eyebrow. In a way, it didn't seem odd that Matt failed to mention knowing the deputy as he was the owner of the town's only hotel, so it made sense that he would have lunch with her. It was her exclamation of surprise that intrigued him. She seemed to be very impressed with Matt.
"It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am," he answered back.
"I had heard that the ranch hired a new foreman to replace Ezra Hale," Hannah added. "Welcome to Kalispell."
"Thanks for the welcome. I've spent most of my time here on the ranch, learning the ropes. When I've been in town, I've been spending time with Matt as it's been a while since we've all been together. There's been a lot of catching up to do."
He paused briefly to assess the deputy. Her clothes did nothing to give away anything about how much of a woman she really was as her buckskin jacket hid a lot. Her hair was long and messy, probably from the ride here but there was one he was sure of. If brother Matt had taken the time to have lunch with her, then there must be something.
"Now, that I've met you, I'll make sure to come and say hello the next time I'm in town. Maybe we can have lunch and I can ask you any questions about these flyers after I've taken good look at them."
Hannah nodded, "I am there almost every day," she told Mike with a bit of a cheeky grin. "Lunch would be good too. By then, I should also have any recall notices to pass along as well." She turned back toward Jingo, reached up to grab the handhold on the bareback pad and vaulted onto his back, reining him back a few steps as he tossed his head. She did not want the fractious mustang to take his sometimes evil temper out on the ranch's foreman.
"Take care, Mr. Wentworth. Keep Shade Thornton in line if you can," Hannah could not resist the subtle dig where the ranch's owner was concerned. She had actually put aside any lingering hatred she felt over her humiliation when Shade left her all those years ago. It didn't mean she wouldn't add a dig here and there. "Have a good day," she added as Mike touch his hat in acknowledgement. She backed Jingo up rapidly, then whirled him about and set off at a canter. Hannah's thoughts were rather in a whirl as she wondered if all of the Wentworth brothers were so handsome and well-spoken?
~*~ An Hour or So Later ~*~
They were a little more than halfway back to Kalispell when Jingo suddenly stumbled hard and slowed from his easy canter to a limping walk. Hannah pulled the reins back, "Whoa, Jingo." The horse tossed his head and tugged at the reins. He knew which way was home and he wanted to get back to the barn. "You stubborn cayuse," Hannah said in annoyance and vaulted from the saddle to the ground, putting more of her weight against the reins in her hand. Jingo reluctantly stopped his forward motion. Hannah kneeled and ran her hands along Jingo's right foreleg which he was holding slightly off the ground. It was immediately apparent that the horse had cast his shoe. Standing up, Hannah dropped the reins leaving the horse ground-tied while she looked around, finally locating the horseshoe on the side of the trail. She was still in a quandary. She had ridden off without a spare shoe, horseshoe nails and her farrier's hammer. Besides, Jingo seemed too tender for tacking the shoe back on immediately. He must have stepped on a rock.
Hannah used her hoof pick to do what she could for her horse, scraping away a few bits of rock and grit from the frog. She set his hoof back down, noting that Jingo was still favoring it. He would probably need a few days rest before she had him shod again. Hannah patted the horse's shoulder, "Come on, boy. We have quite a long walk ahead of us if we are going to make it home by nightfall."
With that, she set off along the road with the horse in tow.
I always feel I belong where I am.
Sam had been checking the fence lines nearest to town for some hours. It was not that exciting in the scheme of things but it was something that needed to be done. Each hand took a turn at checking them in various parts of the ranch and today just happened to be his turn on this side.
Over the last month, he had been gradually getting to know the men he was working with including those who had returned from the cattle drive. Mike was doing a good leading them and Shade Thornton had been impressed enough to keep all of them around, which was a good thing as he didn't relish the idea of working for Matt or making a long trip south.
He was about to set off back to the bunkhouse when he spied in the distance someone walking their horse along the main road back to town. For the rider to be walking meant that the horse had a problem. Kalispell was still a long way off but the rider was closer to town than the ranch house. Of course, there was no question that he was going to help the person, which meant a ride into town. By the time, they got there it might be too late to return and he liked the idea of that.
After guiding his horse down the hill they had been on, it only took a few minutes to catch up the rider. As he got closer, he noticed that the horse was favouring one leg and that there was something odd about the rider. The rider was not walking the way most men would. That confused him a little and as he slowed his own horse down, he decided to make his presence known and hopefully not scare the poor man.
"Howdy."
Hannah had set an easy pace for Jingo's sake. It would mean not reaching town until after dark, but there was no sense in hurting the horse worse. She had been walking for quite a while when she heard the sound of hoofbeats behind her. Expecting the rider to come abreast of her or even pass her if they were not inclined to stop, Hannah felt her shoulder blades tense up with they stopped behind her.
"Howdy."
The man's voice was friendly, a bit startling, and not one known to her. She carefully removed the strap from her six-gun and turned around slowly. Hannah raised her cat-like blue-green eyes up to peruse the rider taking in his blond, boy-next-door good looks and noting that he sat at ease on his horse. Since he was apparently not an immediate threat, she moved her hand away from her six-gun and nodded pleasantly.
"Hello," she replied, making sure that she turned so that the badge on her vest was readily apparent.
I always feel I belong where I am.
Sam got off his horse and made his way over. He could now see that she was a woman and that she was also a deputy. It was no secret that Kalispell had a female deputy and he had already a couple of men bad mouthing her the few times he had been in town before getting the job at Lost Lake and since. Even though it was hard to comprehend why someone, let alone a woman would want the thankless job of deputy, it still respected those that chose the profession and the same would be for the woman standing in front of him.
"I see that you're having trouble with your horse. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Remembering that he hadn't introduce himself, he tipped his hat, "By the way, the name's Sam Wentworth."
Hannah stared at the tall, good-looking brother and then grinned, "Another Wentworth!" She laughed and held her hand out toward him, "I know your brother, Matt and I just met your other brother, Mike at the ranch. I was dropping off this month's batch of wanted posters."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Hannah Cory. As to your question about old Jingo here," she patted the horse's neck gently, "He cast a shoe and seems to have gotten stone-bruised in the process. I appreciate that you stopped. Sadly, I'll just have to take it easy walking Jingo to town."
Hannah had to admit to being impressed by the three brothers she had met so far. All of them were polite, well-spoken men. It was a pleasant turn from the ones she normally encountered.