Page 35 of Cowboy Don't Go

He shook his head. “Doubt it. Anyway, I always imagined—or hoped—she’d found some kid to love her and that she had a good life.”

“I’m sure she did.”

He smiled a little sadly. “Hope so.”

They broke through a stand of trees and found themselves in an open field covered with end-of-summer wildflowers that had turned to straw. The grass here was still a little green and they pulled up the horses and let them graze for a minute. “This still Hard Eight land up here?” he asked.

“It ends a little way up ahead. But yes. This is all ours down to the valley.” Shay dismounted. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

*

They took the horses with them as they walked a short distance to an outcrop of rock where a small creek ran down the mountain, following the jagged granite boulders in its path. Shay knelt beside the outcrop and pointed to the small gush of water spilling out from the mountain. “It’s a mountain spring. Freshest water you’ll ever taste. Luckily, it’s on our land, but I suppose if water companies found it here, they’d want to ruin everything and bottle it up.”

The horses dropped their heads to the small creek for a drink and Shay cupped her hands into the trickle of spring water and took a long drink. “Try some.”

He did. And she was right. It was the best-tasting water he’d ever had.

“This little spring feeds our ranch and has forever, I guess. A decade ago, or so, another rancher tried to divert the water to his land, but that was short-lived. Tom Hardesty would do anything to protect this land. Our legacy. He wasn’t an easy man, but I guess we’re lucky he was so hardheaded.”

A distant rumble of thunder brought their gazes to the dark clouds that had begun to gather to the west with the suddenness of typical Montana weather. One minute the sky could be clear, the next, a downpour waiting to happen.

“We’d better get back before that storm that’s coming hits. Looks like it’ll be a good one.”

She followed his gaze with a worried look. “The weather forecaster didn’t say anything about rain today.”

“Looks like he was wrong.”

A movement to their right caught Cooper’s eye. Some animal darting into the brush. She-Ra whinnied an uneasy high pitch squeal.

“What was that?” Shay asked, hopping to her feet.

“Not sure. Coyote?” He reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a pistol.

Her eyes widened. “You brought a gun with you?”

“Not gonna stop a bear, but it’ll stop a coyote if need be. We’re in prime wildlife territory with this fresh water source.”

Something moved in the bushes, rustling the drying leaves of the scrub. Cooper aimed the pistol in that direction, then yelled, “Yahh!” to scare whatever was in there away. But instead of a coyote, a small brown and black pup flattened itself to the ground, poking its nose under the bushes.

“That’s no coyote. That’s a dog! Put the gun down.”

He leaned closer. “You sure?”

Shay approached the scrub and spoke softly. What appeared was a small puppy. “Oh, no! What in the world are you doing all by yourself, all the way up here, baby?”

Indeed, it was a puppy, clearly starving, skinny and covered in dirt and burrs. It looked like it had been out here for days or longer. The pup whined and thumped its tail on the ground, edging out from the brush with a hopeful wiggle. Still, the pup cried in fear as Shay approached it, but didn’t run. Desperate, the puppy seemed willing to overcome his fear to ask for help. Gently, she lifted the pup in her arms, cradling him there.

“Poor thing! Who could do this?” Shay said. “Just . . . why? He can’t be more than two months old.”

“Maybe we should look around, see if there are any others.”

As they spoke, another one crawled toward them out of the bush. That one was white and brown coated, equally as scruffy and skinny as the other one. They searched for more, but if there had been others, they were gone now. By the time they’d finished catching that one, lightning streaked behind the mountain and thunder cracked loudly close behind. The puppies were shaking uncontrollably with fear.

“What if we’d never come?” she said. “These two were just abandoned here. They wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”

“We’ll get them back to the ranch, get them to a vet. But we’re not safe out here,” he said. “We need to find some shelter ’til that storm blows over.”

“We’re miles from any shelter I know,” she told him.

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