Page 31 of Stockman's Showdown

Charlie shrugged, while loosely holding the reins. ‘I’m guessing she named you cupcake, coz you’re no cupcake.’

‘Hell, no.’

‘But you are part stockman and part soldier with a truckload of toughness you only get from living a hard life. I’ve heard them say you’ve got ice in your veins, but you’re also a decent fella underneath it, too. You're a bloke who takes care of his family and for that, I take my hat off to you.’ Charlie tapped the brim of his hat. ‘It’s what I tried to do for my family. But…’ He sighed heavily, regripping the reins of his horse as it steadily plodded along. ‘All I’ve got left is my granddaughter, and I’m truly blessed to have her around. Reckon you could do me a favour, Ryder?’

‘What’s that?’

‘When I go, do you reckon you could keep an eye on my granddaughter for me? Wouldn’t want her getting into trouble, is all.’

‘Isn’t Bree planning some holiday?’

‘Reckons she’s gonna do a road trip to the nearest international airport to catch the first plane out to Tahiti.’

‘Why Tahiti?’

‘Bree reckons they’ve got no dangerous animals there. No deadly spiders, snakes, scorpions and other whatnots like we live with. Even though they may have some stingers and sharks in their waters, they’ve got no crocodiles and Bree plans to do a lot of swimming in between drinking cocktails on the beach.’ Charlie chuckled, ducking under a low branch.

Again, Ryder scoured the sides of the creek bed for any sneaky swamp puppies, checking his rifle sitting neatly against the saddle.

He ducked low under a branch as the creek widened, and where the water was barely a trickle. ‘Wasn’t Bree going to some game’s finals?’

‘The Stanley Cup. It’s the ice hockey finals. Brutal game.’

‘How did Bree get into watching ice hockey?’

‘I dunno, for sure.’ Charlie shrugged his shoulders, readjusting his grip on the saddle. ‘She had her reasons for it.’

‘Which are?’

‘Well, at the end of the day, Bree would fill up her trough with water and ice to make this outdoor bath where she sits in front of the outdoor tellie. There, she’ll have her jug of gin in one hand and the remote control in the other, and that’s where she’ll watch ice hockey. I don’t think that kid’s ever seen snow or a live game. But, after working in front of that fiery forge in the smithy’s shed, hammering hot metals during an outback summer, you need something to cool down from that kind of heat, and them ice baths of hers have proven to be priceless. And then watching men skate around on ice must help her cool down some, too, like some trick of the mind or something?’ Charlie shrugged. ‘I prefer the footy myself.’

‘Have you tried those ice baths?’ Because Dex had put in the request for an ice machine in their new bar.

Charlie nodded. ‘Oh yeah. Coupla times. Especially after spending all day hammering out a new legacy brand, it did the trick, lickety-split.’

‘Which reminds me… How much do you want for our station’s branding iron?’ He’d assumed buying this station that they’d get the cattle brand that went with it, yet somehow the crafty master brand maker had ownership of the Elsie Creek legacy brand.

Charlie grinned. ‘It’s not for sale. But I’ll make sure Bree brings it down for the next draft. But there’ll be no more pound work for my granddaughter in them there drafting yards. I promised her that. You should send in Ash to man the gates or get a young jackeroo to jump the rails… It’s good you’ve got Harper learning the sticks, and Mia working the muster dogs. Give either of them girls a few years and they could start working on the drafting calls.’

‘And you’ll be on the top boards, teaching them.’

‘Nah.’ Again he sighed with his shoulders drooping. ‘You’ll want Bree doin’ them calls. She’s got a better eye than me. Always did, from the time she was nine, manning them gates, when she could barely reach the chest height of some of them cattle.’ He snorted out a chuckle. ‘It fair dinkum used to upset my wife, it did. But not that kid. Bree was fearless in that pound. Still is.’ He gave a wry grin, rolling his shoulders that seemed to fill with pride. ‘I know the kid lets me think I’m in charge, but she’s the one who knows the cattle better. She’d make a helluva head stockman, or a stock inspector, if she wanted. But she likes working as a blacksmith these days.’

‘Didn’t you say that Bree went away for a while?’

‘She did—when she married that devil, Finn.’ Charlie’s tone sharpened as he continued. ‘He’d been working here for a while, and he was a good stockman, too. But, like most men who were starting a family, he wanted to own his own land. Finn’s mob were from Queensland, so Bree went with him. First Queensland, then Victoria for a bit, too.’ Charlie scowled at the path ahead, his grip tightening on the reins. ‘But then I ended up in hospital. And just like that, Bree showed up with her son, telling me she was moving back in with me. She took care of me, Darcie, little Liam, and this station.’

His expression softened as he added, ‘Boy, were Darcie and I glad to have Bree back home, too. Darcie adored her like a niece.He would’ve liked you and your brothers.’ Charlie gave Ryder a firm nod, a glimmer of approval in his weathered eyes.

‘Is that why you sold us the station?’

‘And that you’d agreed to maintaining the caretaker’s caveat.’

That caveat had the caretaker living in the best house, which overlooked the prettiest paddock on the property like it was a separate farm.

‘You said Bree came back to run thingsagain. Was Bree running the station before?’

‘You could say that.’ Charlie grinned wryly, patting down his chest, that again seemed to fill with pride. ‘Of course, she had us two old fellas mentoring her, letting us think we were in charge. But that clever kid was pulling the puppet strings her way, and everyone prospered.’

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