Page 25 of The Cowboy Who Came Home

So if she wanted another cat, Bear wasn’t going to tease her about it.

“And if you’re going to tell everyone about that kitten.” Oakley nudged her daughter toward the door. “Remember, you’re helping Aurora with her kids today.”

“Momma, I don’t want to babysit all day,” Fawn complained as they walked in and the door to True Blue closed behind them.

Wilder would turn sixteen this year, and he looked so much like his name. His hair grew long and curled—a little wild. He had both Ranger’s and Oakley’s dark, dark, deep eyes, and he could look like he might go postal in one moment and then those eyes sparkled with life and laughter in another.

“Daddy, can I work with Link and Smiles today?”

“I don’t even know if Link and Smiles will be together,” Ranger said. “But go on in with him. Stand by ‘em, and you’ll probably get your way.”

The two boys went inside, leaving Bear with his cousin. Behind them, gravel crunched under tires and engines growled as cowboys from other ranches started arriving in their trucks. Bear sighed and looked at Ranger. “We’ve been here before. We can do this.”

“Tornadoes,” he said. “Blizzards. What’s a flood?” Ranger grinned, and together, they turned to start greeting the other ranchers and cowboys from around Three Rivers.

Hours later, Bear’s back ached as he helped Finn Ackerman lift a fence post that had once been the cornerstone of a pasture. “Got it?” He grunted out the words as the man half his age bore the weight of the post.

“Yep.” Finn too spoke in a clipped tone, and his face scrunched for a moment while he got the heavy post up and over the lip of the trailer. Relief sang through Bear’s muscles then, and he hadn’t even been doing most of the work.

“Lunch time,” he said, and Finn clapped his gloved hands together.

“You guys have way less water up here,” Finn said, something Bear had heard multiple times from the cowboys at Three Rivers. “Have you been to town?”

“Several times,” Bear said, glancing over to Aaron, one of his cowboys from here at Shiloh Ridge. He had Rock, Wilder, and Robbie with him too, and Finn came with a cowboy named Thomas from Three Rivers, and Alex and Edith Baxter from a small ranch northeast of town.

“Seems like all the water flowed out of the hills,” Edith said as she came to Finn’s side. She had a smudge of mud on her face, and as she looked at Finn, Bear definitely saw fireworks between them. “We’ve still got quite the raging river at Coyote Pass.”

“Same,” Finn said.

“That’s why we haven’t been up north yet,” Bear said. Everyone would be working at Shiloh Ridge today and tomorrow, and then they’d all take a much-needed break for the Sabbath. Monday, the cowboys had agreed to work in town, where water still ran down some streets as it continued to drain out of the foothills.

Rhett and Tripp Walker lived on the same road—Quail Creek—at the bottom of the hills here at Shiloh Ridge—and they’d been flooded the entire week. Thankfully, they could relocate to Seven Sons Ranch across the highway and further south, but Bear wouldn’t want to have his whole family living in someone else’s house for very long.

“Seven Sons on Tuesday,” Aaron said. “Won’t we start heading up north next week?”

“Three Rivers is on Thursday and Friday,” Finn said. “I know that.” He slid his hand into Edith’s. “When are we going to your place?” He glanced over to Alex, who’d pulled out his phone.

“Saturday,” Alex said without looking up. “We’re hoping the river recedes before then.”

“Another week,” Bear said. “And it’s not supposed to rain. Should get back to normal.”

“Well, water has to have somewhere to go,” Aaron said. “Our lakes and ponds are over-full, so.”

Bear’s stomach growled, and he turned away from the conversation. “Come on, boys. It’s lunchtime, and then Ward or Preach will have more work for us.”

“Can I drive, Uncle Bear?” Robbie asked.

“I’m older than you,” Wilder said. “If anyone gets to drive, it’s me.”

“I’m his son,” Rock said. “I should get to drive.”

Bear rolled his eyes toward the heavens and prayed, “Lord, help me survive these boys.”

Behind him, several people laughed as they loaded up into the big dump truck they’d brought out here to pick up their large fallen items.

“I’m driving,” he said over the teenage boy bickering. “It’s Aunt Dot’s truck, and it’s not your normal fare. Just get in.” All three boys could fit in the space for two, as they all seemed to be made of skin, bones, and muscles, and Bear got behind the wheel.

He waited for the other cowboys to load up in Aaron’s ranch truck, and he didn’t miss for a moment the way Finn and Edith stuck super close to one another, all smiles despite the soggy mess here at the ranch.

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