Page 61 of Barbed Wire Hearts

He looks at me strangely, but hands it over after unlocking it without question. I snap a few pictures before passing it back to him. At his look of confusion, I clarify. “I needed to remember,” I murmur. “And I don’t have a phone right now.”

He studies me before nodding and passing it back to me again. “Take as many as you’d like.”

I smile brightly in thanks before tucking it into my breast pocket and waiting for Dakota’s signal. When he whistles and the dogs start leaping at the cattle to get them going and everyone starts whooping and hollering, the cattle start to move. Slowly at first, before they start picking up and heading out the open gates. We surround them on the sides and in the back, herding them in the direction we want to go. It’s a slow process at first, but once we start picking up some speed, things move at a slightly faster pace. I join in with my whistles and hollers, grinning from ear to ear.

This is it. This is the cowboy shit I signed up for.

“You stay in the back with me, Wiley, and Levi,” Dakota tells me as the cattle start heading in the direction we need them to. “Everyone else will focus on the sides.”

I nod, my mare, Maple, prancing along, equally as excited as I am. The cattle dogs pace along the sides, bumping any cow that tries to get out of line.

“I hear you loud and clear,” I say, smiling. “So, do we just ride silently the whole time?”

Dakota laughs. “No. We can talk. Or we can listen to music as long as we still pay attention. It’s all fine.”

“Yeah! Music!” Wiley says, before gesturing for Levi to turn on the Bluetooth speaker on the back of the side-by-side. The moment he does, Wiley pops out his phone and connects to it. “We need our anthem.”

Levi groans, but he doesn’t turn the speaker back off as music jingles loudly. Wiley starts dipping his shoulders as the familiar sounds of Shania Twain start filtering through the air. He looks over at me with a flamboyant body roll before he takes off his hat and holds it up in the air.

“Let’s go, girls!” he shouts, and surprisingly, everyone else answers back. “We’re going out tonight and feeling alright, gonna let it all hang out?—”

I can’t help it. I start singing along, laughing as every single man shouts, “Man, I feel like a woman!” at the top of their lungs.

The sun starts shining after a while, but it’s not nearly as bright as the family around me makes me feel. This feels good, like home, like warmth.

I know this is a huge undertaking. I can’t imagine the stress Naomi must have organizing everything. Each night, after we travel about five miles, we’ll camp for the night. Naomi will organize dinner to be brought out for everyone. She’ll make sure the horses and the dogs are loaded up and taken back to the ranch to rest and be fed and washed down. The camper and trailers have to be pulled out to where we’re at. We have to set up camp each night. It’s all a huge ordeal, but things still seem to be organized well and run smoothly. Though, I suppose if this has been happening all the way back to the eighteen hundreds, they’ve got the process down already. This cattle drive is one of the longest running drives in the U.S. It’s considered historical by this point, and every year, Steele Mountain helps keep the tradition alive.

When the second ranch joins us, their cattle numbers barely make ours look any larger. The man that rides up to tell Dakota “hello” looks exhausted, great dark circles around his eyes. There are far more cowboys with him than I’d think necessary for what looks like a couple hundred cows. It isn’t until Dakota leans over his horse and hugs him that I realize there’s something I must not know.

“What a sendoff, huh?” the man says sadly. “You think they’ve got horses in Heaven?”

“If they don’t, I don’t want it,” Dakota replies back with his own sad smile. “Let me know if you need anything during the drive, Frank.”

“Will do, Dakota. Thank you for the offer to watch over my family. I’ll owe you a favor in the next life.” The man tips his hat to me and rides off to join his other cowboys.

“What was that about?” I ask, frowning after him. He sits stiffly on the horse, his shoulders tense. Though it’s the wrong position for riding, I can tell he’s no stranger to it. It’s as if he can’t help it.

“That’s old Frank,” Wiley murmurs. “He’s got brain cancer.”

“Terminal,” Dakota adds. “They gave him a few months at most. This’ll be his last cattle drive.”

“What?” I gasp, looking after him again. I watch as an older woman and two teenage boys ride up on their horses, their smiles bright even if their eyes are just as sad as Frank’s. Happy to give him this, but sad at what it means. I blink at the sight of Frank’s family surrounding him as we continue herding the cattle. I notice Dakota encourages our cowboys to help keep a watch on Frank’s small group. Frank focuses on his children and wife, encouraging them to drive the cattle, and I realize he’s passing on his legacy despite a few of his kids not being quite old enough yet. The oldest looks to be barely a teenager, the youngest barely six. I never thought I would find so much love out here in the Wyoming mountains, but here I am, teary-eyed over a stranger. It’s like out here in the country, they feel things a little deeper.

We don’t cross any highways or rivers on the first day thankfully, and though we only go for five miles, it takes all day to herd such a large group. William happily rides on the saddle with me, only hopping off every so often to take care of his business. After the first hour, I unsnap his leash and allow him to follow along with us as he pleases. He alternates between following through the bushes, batting at any rabbits he finds, and riding on the saddle with me. When evening comes and the trailers arrive, I’m grateful. I know my thighs will probably ache tomorrow, and more so after this drive, but it’s a good ache. One that shows just how much work I’m doing. It doesn’t surprise me when William enters the camper and stays, refusing to come back out. He’ll come out in the morning. He may love adventure, but he loves air conditioning more.

I happily accept the plate of food Naomi brings me, and when Wiley shows me the little tent they have for me so I’ll have some privacy if I need it, I’m even more happy. Sleep comes fast, but my dreams? Those are filled with three particular sexy cowboys and the lingering looks they shoot my way throughout the day.

When one of the cattle dogs, a young pup named Jethro that refused to leave the cows for the night joins me in my tent, I don’t care. I cuddle him close and fall fast asleep, ready for tomorrow.

The Crows are a distant threat I don’t have to think about.

ChapterThirty-Nine

Kate

Bright and early the next morning, we meet up with another rancher. This one has nearly two thousand head of cattle and comes with their own large group of cowboys.

“This here is the Circle Bee Ranch,” Wiley offers when I peer at them. “They’ve been raising bees forever. They have the best fresh honey.”

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