Page 20 of The Cowboy Who Came Home

“What we got?” Cal asked.

Uncle Pete nodded to the iPad. “Sent the drones out over the cabins. They don’t look bad.”

“Standing water everywhere,” Reese said.

“Yeah, but it’s what? A foot or so deep?” Pete tapped and the screen on his tablet moved. The drone flew steady and straight, and it showed the homestead with standing water in the driveway, on the lawn, and down in the patio area that led to the basement.

“Might be water in the basement at the homestead,” Pete said, and Reese made a note on a sheet of paper. Finn saw that a couple of other sheets had already been filled with might be’s. Nothing had been said about the cabins, but the barns and stables had a couple of pages each. They sat right on the ground, so that made sense.

“Have you found the herd?” Cal asked.

“Not yet.” Pete moved the drone over to Brynn’s place, and Reese made a few notes. Finn saw his truck sitting there, and since it hadn’t been washed away, his thoughts of leaving the ranch and going to check on Edith grew tiny wings that fluttered behind his pulse.

“My house has a couple of broken windows,” Pete said, nodding to Finn. He reached for a blank page and a pen and wrote it down, noting the locations for Pete. “And my whole backyard is now a river.”

Finn looked at the tablet then, a feeling of wonder pulling through him. No, he didn’t want to see the majesty of God in a destructive way, but there was something powerful and silence-inducing in seeing a raging river where it shouldn’t be. Where he’d never seen it before.

“Pastures,” Pete said, and Finn pulled himself out of the mini-stare-fest he’d fallen into. “Fences around all the pastures. Those are gone.”

“This is the west side,” Cal said. “The lower end of the ranch. The herd’ll be east.”

“Do you think the road to town’s been washed out?” Finn asked. “Are we going to go check on grandparents today?”

“Your daddy says tomorrow,” Uncle Pete murmured, his concentration on working the drone. “Here’s the wash. Or what was the wash.”

“Trees down,” Reese said, pulling forward another piece of paper. “Fences gone. The path for free ride from Courage Reins is obliterated.”

The list went on and on, and the small tributary that broke off from the west arm of the river just north of town—the one river of the three that ran right through ranch property—was now a gushing waterwork of its own.

It got listed, as did the outlying cabin that had the front door standing wide open and water inside it—five steps up.

“But that water is all coming back in toward the ranch,” Cal said. “To that tributary and the pond here.” He pointed to the top left corner of the tablet. “The herd has to be up here.”

“Let’s see.” Pete navigated the drone, and since Three Rivers Ranch was such a big place by square miles, it flew over nothing but fields for a minute. Then two. “The water’s not standing here.”

“Doesn’t look like it.” Reese watched the screen, as did Cal.

“Horses there,” Cal said, pointing to the bottom left. Pete adjusted the movement of the drone, and sure enough, a sizable herd of horses came into view. “Looks like most of ‘em.”

Uncle Pete kept the drone above the equines for several long seconds. “I don’t see Rebel,” he murmured. “Or Queen Elizabeth.”

Finn’s patience started to wane, but he kept his attention on the task at hand, and they found the herd taking up the northeast corner of the ranch, where all the fence lines were still intact. That butted right up against the highway that led back to town, and it didn’t have standing water on it either.

The drone came back down the half-mile lane and around the corner, and it was wet, but not washed away. Finn’s hope lived on, and once this task completed, he got the task of finding his father so assignments could start being made.

In Finn’s honest opinion, the men in the room seemed ready to fling themselves from the windows just to get out, and he found Dad just out in the hallway, talking on the phone. “…think that should work. Pete’s doin’ our assessment right now, and I’ll know more then.” He caught Finn’s eye and turned toward him. “I’m being summoned, Bear. We’ll stay in touch…yep…sure thing. ‘Bye.”

He lowered his phone and met Finn’s eye. “How’s it look?”

“There are pages and pages of things,” he said. “And some of it we can’t do until the water is gone.”

“Of course.” Dad turned to go back into the room, but Finn took a half-step in that direction. His father’s eyebrows went up.

“Could I…go into town and check on Grandma Heidi and momma’s parents?”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” he said. “We’ve got a ton going on here.”

Finn scuffed his boots along the floor. “Could you spare me for a couple of hours? I want—I told Edith I’d come out to Coyote Pass to see what they need help with.”

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