Page 20 of Trickster King

“Twins.”

“Oh.” He took a sip of his soup, swallowed, and said, “I sure do hope you survive, Dad.”

“Me, too. The nurse told your mom she’s too old for any more babies.”

“That wasn’t a smart thing of the nurse to say. What did Mom say?”

“She wants at least three more kids after the twins in retaliation.”

Eddie blinked, stared at his soup, raised a hand and opened his mouth, spluttered, and decided to eat more while coming to terms with the insanity of being part of the little group we called our family. “She didn’t think that through at all, Dad.”

“We will never tell your mom we talked about this, but yes. So, I have to sell some of my horses to afford the ranches I’m buying to house my new herds. One is going to be a rescue ranch a lot like this one, but I’m going to enroll it into one of the worker training programs to get renovations done on it. You’re going to help me plan out the barns, the ranch house, and the pastures. The second one is going to be a general purpose ranch, probably meant for raising and training young horses. The general purpose ranch might end up a temporary home for some of my cattle. Your mom has dictated the field will be dealt with.”

“You got sick again?” Eddie glared at me.

“I have a few more days on the prescription left, and I won’t handle any of the cattle without them being bathed and treated with antifungals first,” I promised. “Randy will confirm it.”

“Pops?”

“He’s telling the truth,” Randy confirmed, chuckling at our boy’s suspicion. “It was mild, he’s been proactive about getting better, and he’s promised to stay out of the field. Assuming you’re feeling better, you can help wash the bulls down. They’re going to be released into the cow pastures.”

“You’re going to have a lot of calves,” Eddie warned.

I laughed, amazed as always at the boy’s ability to perceive the consequences of my actions, including what would happen if I released my bulls into the cow pastures. “Yes. I’m planning on releasing one bull per pasture to do a controlled hybrid test. If you help with the calving, you can pick one calf to be yours.”

“Really?” he squealed.

“Yes. You’ll be responsible for the calf, and if the genetic tests don’t come back suitable for breeding, you’ll have to decide what the calf’s purpose is.”

“If I pick a cow, she can be a dairy cow, right?”

“That’s right. If you pick a bull but the genetic tests don’t come back with good results, you can turn him into a steer, but you’ll have to figure out a purpose for him. If the tests don’t come back with good results, you can pick a calf next year and try again.”

In any case, he’d begin to learn how to be a proper rancher, caring for an animal from the start of its life to the end of it.

“Riding?”

Like father, like son. “This time, no, but if you get a healthy bull when you pick from the stock and he can be used for breeding, I’ll help you train him to be ridden.”

“Is there a way to tell if a calf won’t have genetic issues?”

I resisted the urge to rub my hands together. “As a matter of fact, yes. Randy, bring in the nice ladies to meet our boy when fetching Bullmanchu, would you? If he really wants to have a calf, he can start right from the beginning and become responsible for the cow whenever he’s at home. I’d get the cattle myself, but I’d rather not be murdered by my wife this week.”

Randy snickered. “I’ll have someone fetch your favorites—and I’ll make sure Bullmanchu finds his way into their pasture.”

“Excellent. Anyway, don’t worry about school for the next few weeks. I’ll make sure I record the many ways you’ve been useful during the ranch acquisition. We’ll meet horses, and if you take to any of the Akhal-Tekes, consider the foal yours. I don’t know how many we’ll be getting, but you’ll have first crack. Chocolate Cupcake’s dam is also pregnant, so if you want the foal, you can claim it now and jump the line.”

“Are you sure?”

Was there anything as joyful as a child’s hope? “I’m sure. You’ve more than earned a foal, and I’ll start teaching you how to train your own horse.”

“I’ll meet the horses before deciding.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. After dinner, we’ll meet the cows, groom the bulls, and get them into their new pastures while your mom has my field razed and purged of fungus.”

“About time,” Eddie muttered.

I sighed. The boy had a remarkable understanding of how the world worked, knew why I kept getting sick, and would give me a hard time over it until he got the resolution he wanted. Each day, I saw more of myself and Jessica in him along with splashes of the RPS agents who’d also accepted the banner of being his father, pops, pa, pappy, and da.

---