Page 93 of The Outlaw and the Heir

God save me, even in the midst of all this, he was finding ways to mess with me, I had to be impressed even if I was definitely annoyed.

"Tell him I rolled my eyes if he asks," I told him with a shake of my head. "Now, get a move on."

He grunted, which was more or less what I expected. He was a man of few words, and those few were generally angry or complaining. Still, it was a perfect opportunity for him to take advantage of the chaos to make his escape, but either he’d decided he liked it on the ranch, or he had come to the conclusion that there wasn't a better option that wouldn't get him killed.

Then again, maybe it was time for me to stop thinking ofallof them as troublemakers and outlaws that we had to keep on a short leash to make sure they didn't cause trouble. It was, after all, not just Samuel who’d proven he was willing to follow the rules. But Grumpy was also here, in the midst of the mess, when he could have easily found somewhere to bunker down and let others take care of the problem so he’d be safe. Maybe he hadn't always been the most moral and upstanding of men before he'd been brought here, but it was obvious he didn't lack courage.

With him gone, and hopefully not coming back with another message from Samuel to throw me off my focus while everything hung in the balance. Honestly, the less I thought about him, the better off I was because he wasobviouslydistracting. Maybe one day, we would find a way he could help me focus, but for now, it was better to keep my attention on anything but him.

I had no idea how long it took us to soak everything we could find and wrap everything the flames hadn't touched. Walter managed to get some of the mules together to transport water and supplies and use them to pull some of the buildings down inhopes of robbing the flames of more fuel. Against all my worst fears, it seemed to be working. Between tearing down some of the buildings and keeping fabrics wrapped around others wet, we kept the fire from spreading much further.

"Now we can start trying to put this bastard out," I told Walter, gesturing toward the building. "Not too much, though. We keep it starved, and it'll go out on its own."

"We used plenty of water already," he said in agreement.

"How are we doing, men and damage, I mean."

"Hard to say. I, uh...know a few didn't make it out at the start," Walter said, looking away with an unhappy expression on his face. "Couple of 'em said what woke 'em up wasn't the fire, but the screamin' from a cabin. Guess they didn't get out in time."

Another odd thing I couldn't make sense of but had to push aside while there were bigger and more important things to worry about. "Any others?"

"I don't know. If we count the ones that were reported and the ones we're probably gonna hear about from your man, I'd say a couple of dozen if we're unlucky...this is pretty unlucky," he said, surveying the fire that, while still contained, threatened more chaos and destruction.

"My man?" I repeated in a gruff voice to conceal my concern at the phrasing.

"Samuel," Walter said with a grunt. "Seemed like he was becomin' your second quicker than me."

"I..." That caught me off-guard, and I glanced at Walter with a frown. "Walter, I got no intention of shovin' you to the side or replacin' you with no one, not even him."

For the first time in the past hour, he gave me a soft smile. “Probably not, but I'll tell ya what, it's nice to see you ain't tryin' to pretend like you two ain't got close. Everyone needs someone in their life, and it's about time you found someone. I miss Alicesomethin' fierce, but I've got Arthur, and he's the one I need right now. Maybe there'll be someone else when he gets old enough to need someone other than his old dad. And you seem to be gettin' Samuel from the looks of it."

"If ya hadn't mentioned your son for yourself, I would've accused you of makin' me 'n Samuel sound married."

"Eh, out in this part of the country, you hear and see all sorts of things. To each their own, I s'pose."

It wasn't the time or place for that conversation. Especially when it seemed Walter was getting close to the truth or suspected and was trying to show me what he knew. Whatever the case, that conversation could be had when there was more time. For now, we needed to focus and make sure everything and everyone was safe.

"We'll split the men. We seem to have this thing under control for now," I said, looking at how dirty I was from the wet ash and mud. "We need some makin' sure the animals aren't getting loose. We know the men best with animals, so send them. We'll need a rotation, makin' sure everything stays wet, and some to keep the fire back if it looks like it might be spreadin' again."

"We're gonna need men to get all the injured," Walter said and looked toward a nearby sheet-covered body, "and the dead."

"That, I'll leave to you," I said, giving him a shrug. "Sorry Walter, we know I ain't good about that sorta thing. You got the knowledge, and you got the faith. I just got these two hands and a pretty decent head."

"Right, I'll get them together, you off to check on Samuel?"

"Sure am. I need to hear how things are goin' for them and how they've fared."

"A'right, be safe. God be with you."

"I'll be back, Walter, don't fret so much. You're startin' to sound like how Samuel accuses me of bein'."

"We're both...protective."

"Right. By the way, whereisArthur?"

"Sent him to the main house, figured it'd be safer there with your family. Figured your daddy was keepin' everyone there in line while trustin' you to deal with the mess out here."

"Right," I said as I walked off to check on the south end.

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