Page 12 of The Outlaw and the Heir

He left with what few clothes hadn't been torn, his mustache burned off by a reading candle that had fallen on him, his hair in patches from a particularly persistent and bitey horse, and swearing never to return. Lizzie claimed he kept up his correspondence with her, but from the look in her eye, I guessed he wasn't keen on seeing any of us again, even her. It was, after all, well past the time when she should have been in talks about going to Boston, but I'd yet to hear anything about it.

"That man didn't know an udder from an ass," I said with a snort. "But I saw those math equations he'd been showing Lizzie. He was plenty smart."

"And didn't have any sense."

"Guess that's so."

He stared at me again, and the air of expectation weighed heavily on me before he shook his head. “I've got enough on my plate without keeping an eye on those three. Which is whyyou'regoing to do it."

I stared at him in shock. “M-me? But...why?"

"Because, like me, you're the one with the most experience dealin' with the ranch and the men. This was a family idea, which means family should take care of it. I won't be able to do it justice with all the stuff I have to do. Your brother don't know one end of a tool from another, and Elizabeth...has her hands full."

Again, it wasn't a secret that Lizzie was probably the sole reason George's business ventures had been as successful as they were. Perhaps another father would have disapproved of his daughter running his son-in-law's business on the sly, eitherbecause George should have been doing it or because it wasn't her place. Then again, another father would have perhaps shown a measure of pride and some worry that his only daughter was doing what should be a man's job. Not this father, though; he’d never said a word to me about Lizzie and George's less-than-secret arrangement, but if I was right, he wouldn't say anything so long as results continued to roll in.

I wasn't happy to have my day-to-day affairs trampled over and treated as though they didn't keep me busy. Yet again, however, I knew better than to complain. “And you think I can manage those three?"

"I think you'll figure out the best way to keep them busy and show them the ropes. Even that one who seems thicker than iron or the one with a temper."

"And the mouthy one?"

"Well, you should be able to figure him out too. You got more power than he does. Learn how to use it," he said, his brow creeping up slowly as if daring me to object. Something we both knew I wouldn't dare do even if I hated his plan and had several reasons to back up my objection. "You've got complete power over them."

That brought me up short, and I cocked my head. “Complete power?"

"They were given into our care. That means we have the permission of the law to enforce our own law so long as they are alive and haven't been released from that care. Thatalsomeans we're responsible for what they do. I hope I don't have to explain what would happen if they managed to escape and caused trouble in Rapture," he added with a raised brow.

"No," I said, resisting the urge to look away from what felt like silent judgment on his part. I wasn't as good with the books as Joseph or good with people like Lizzie, but I wasn't stupid. If even one of the three got away from the ranch, it would lookbad. If they turned up in Rapture, we'd look even worse. And if they ended up causing trouble in Rapture, we’d look like fools who couldn't handle their business. Reputation counted for a lot, especially when you depended on the townspeople to ensure your business stayed in business.

"Good," he said, accepting my answer thankfully. The last thing I needed was for him to doubt me. "But that also means you can use whatever you need to keep 'em in line."

"I...don't even know where to begin," I admitted before I could stop to think about how pathetic and incapable that made me sound. Then again, it wasn't like I had any experience with outlaws, at least in the sense of keeping an eye on them or showing them the ropes. There was no getting away from outlaws in this area, but dealing with them involved either shooting them or dragging them to the sheriff in Rapture.

"It ain't the first time you've run into something you didn't know how to handle, and you figured those out. The Lord ain't gonna wait for you to be ready for something before throwing it your way. You've gotta prove you're ready by going through with it."

The Lord or my father? "Of course."

"Right now, they're resting a bit," he said, reaching into his coat and drawing out a metal case and a cigarette. "Might do you some good to see how they're doing. Get a feel for 'em when they're not bound in iron and half-starved. You might get a better version of 'em than what you saw."

"I doubt it," I said and winced when he gave me a sharp look.

"Or maybe you'll figure out how to handle them if you spend a bit more time around them," he said, brow creeping up again. "Between you and me, we might end up with more men like that around this place in the future. Outlaws and gangs have been coming around a lot more, and Rapture don't have the means to hold them for long. You saw that."

"Could always just hang 'em," I said with a shrug. "It's not like most of 'em would do any different if they had one of us in their hands."

"Maybe, maybe not, but it's not up to us to judge. Those men and some women who get caught up in that sort of thing need their chance before the law."

"But they're not before the law. They're here."

"True, true. But perhaps they can make themselves useful rather than rotting away, waiting to see if any other place will claim 'em. And if someone from another town comes along and decides they want them for crimes they've done, we'll hand them over. In the meantime, for those that ain't already been claimed, we have a place for them here," my father said, staring over at me. "And you're gonna be the one to figure out if it can be done."

Which was a massive amount of pressure because what he wasn't saying was that he was ultimately going to see if I could handle it. Not that he didn't believe his idea was doomed, but that I was going to prove myself as much as the three men. I wasn't thrilled to be put on the same level as criminals, especially when I’d spent my whole life working hard to prove I was worthsomething. And now I was being given babysitting duty and told that if they didn't work out, I wasn't working out.

"I should probably go see how they're doing then," I said, knowing I had lost the discussion the moment he’d started it. Hell, I had lost all battles of will with my father from the moment I began to grow inside my late mother.

"That might be a good idea," he said with a nod. "Get a feel for them like you have with others you've trained. Figure out how they tick, what makes them hot under the collar, and what keeps them calm. Figure out how to make them work with you, not just for ya...understand?"

"Sir," I said because I didn't understand and didn't want to lie and say I did, but I didn't want to look like a fool by admittingI had no idea what he was talking about. All I could do was nod and hope I managed to solve the problem...and the riddle he had given me earlier. I knew he wouldn't forget about it and would bring it up later.

---