Page 63 of A Steadfast Heart
He undid the top button of his shirt. How had his collar gotten tighter in the last few hours?
He was going to have to sell some cows, maybe up to half his herd.
And how was the ranch going to come back from a loss like that?
* * *
Someone should go to Drew.
Kaitlyn carried the dishes into the kitchen. She returned to the dining room to wipe the table but detoured to look out the window. Though everyone else had eaten already, Drew remained in the barn.
Ed entered the dining room. Kaitlyn stepped into his path. “I’ve kept Drew’s dinner warm. Do you want to take it to him?”
Ed shook his head. “He’ll come in when he’s ready to eat.”
Kaitlyn stared at her brother-in-law, trying to read what he wasn’t saying. The concern all the men were trying to hide.
The concern they’d left Drew to face on his own.
She spun around and returned to the kitchen, where she ladled some stew into a bowl.
Ed followed her, Nick on his heels. Kaitlyn shoved the bowl at Ed, who didn’t reach for it.
“He needs to eat,” she said.
Neither man met her eyes.
Maybe she should go.
But what suggestions could she make about a ranching problem? The best she could do was listen, and Drew didn’t like to talk.
She froze in the middle of the kitchen. Drew had listened to her about her brother, and she’d felt better afterward. He might not want to talk, but he needed to.
Kaitlyn placed Drew’s bowl on a cooler corner of the stove to keep warm. With luck, she could convince him to come inside to eat. She grabbed a shawl and exited the house. Drew stood by the corral, leaning on the rail as if it were the only thing holding him up. Kaitlyn shivered, then squared her shoulders. If her husband had ever needed her, it was now.
She slipped up beside him and leaned on the rail. His brothers had given no hints about what was wrong, so she didn’t know what to ask. Maybe her silence would give him room to speak. She breathed in deeply, the air scented with horse and man. The warmth from his arm next to hers reminded her of his strength, helped her relax. The sky grew darker.
He sighed. “I lied to you.”
She stiffened, her breath frozen in her chest. What?
Drew faced her, his hat pulled low. “I told you I could protect you, take care of you. But the truth is, I can’t. We’re going to lose the homesteads.” His voice cracked, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “I’m going to lose everything my family has built over the past thirty years.”
Drew’s shoulders caved under the weight of his grief. He’d already lost so much. How could he face this loss as well?
Kaitlyn’s chest stung. She’d built walls around her heart when Drew had said he’d never love her, but bit by bit he was tearing them down. Now, in the midst of his current heartbreak, he had stopped to consider how the issues would affect her. How was she going to keep him out of her heart if he kept putting her needs first?
She moved closer to him, laid a hand on his chest. His heart thudded against it. “Tell me.”
In a halting, choked voice, he told her about losing grazing land and not having enough money for both building supplies and hay for his cattle. He turned back to face the fence, his head bowed and his hat brim shadowing his face. “I’ll have to sell half the herd, and prices won’t be good right now.”
She tried to see what had snagged his attention, but found nothing. Was he only trying to hide wet eyes? He’d built this herd till it was the envy of every ranch around. She’d heard it discussed at the picnic, when ranchers had said they wished they could afford any stock he had to sell.
“Maybe one of your brothers would have an idea.”
“It’s not their job. It’s mine.”
“I don’t understand. It’s a family ranch.”
