Page 10 of Blazing Hot Nights
I grunted and lowered myself to a chair. “I feel like I got run over by a truck.”
“More like a truck fell over on you,” Tex said, waltzing through the back door. That’s when I noticed that the sun was already setting.
“What time is it?”
Tex plopped down and tossed his cowboy boots up onto Dawn’s chair. “Almost nine. Dawn helped me finish the haying, so we’re back on track for tomorrow. As of four o’clock this afternoon, there were no other holes in the fences. Beau and I checked the repair from this morning again just to be sure the bison couldn’t break through it. We should be good.”
“Thanks, guys. I guess landing upside down in the creek was karma for wanting to chew Blaze a new one.”
“Or shoddy bridgework. One of the two,” Tex said, laughing. “Speaking of Blaze, he got the truck out with the CAT. The old girl is a little worse for wear but she still drives, and that’s all that matters. I mucked the cab out, and the interior will dry overnight. Tomorrow I’ll recheck the engine for any leaking fluids or holes in the grill. It looks okay, though. I think it will live to see another day. Beau fixed the bridge with a spare plank before he brought the truck over it. He said the county is coming out to do a full repair on it tomorrow.”
I rubbed my temple, glad that the goose egg was smaller after a few hours of sleep. “Did you thank Beau for me?”
“Sure did.”
Dawn set plates of food down in front of us and three ibuprofen in front of me. “Swallow those and eat that. You’ll feel better, I promise.”
“Yes, Mommy,” I said, swallowing the pills and praying they worked quickly. “I’ll be okay by tomorrow. What’s on the agenda?”
“Same work, different day,” Tex said between bites.
Dawn sat down and cut into her pancakes. “It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, which is why we finished up the hay today. It will be a good day to clean up the barn and muck out the trailer after the auction.”
I nodded once but regretted it immediately when my neck ached. “I should be in okay shape to work in the office tomorrow and finish some paperwork. Once that’s done, we’ll make a game plan for the rest of the summer. We can’t leave any money on the table.”
“Sometimes, you got to know when to fold ‘em, Miss Heaven,” Tex sighed. “If we didn’t do well at auction, the rest of the summer isn’t going to matter.”
Dawn slammed her hand down on the table, and we both jumped. “Dammit, Tex. Stop it. Heaven has enough to worry about on top of a headache!”
I tapped her arm gently. “Tex didn’t say anything we don’t already know. I’m on borrowed time. I got enough at auction to right our bills but nothing more. If we don’t get a bumper crop of hay to sell this year, Heavenly Lane Ranch ceases to exist.”
We all stared at our plates for several moments before we started eating again.
“I’m not giving up,” I finally said, resting my fork on its tines. “I don’t want you to think that. I’m not giving up on this place without a fight. I’ll reinvent Heavenly Lane if I have to, but I was born on this land and I’ll die on this land.”
Dawn grabbed my hand and held it tightly before she released it slowly and walked out of the room. I couldn’t help but think that symbolized the future for all of us.
***
The woman who stared back at me in the mirror two days later was a woman I didn’t recognize. She was battered and bruised with yellow and green streaks running down her cheeks like tears. I closed my eyes and sighed. “It’s not a good look, Heaven.”
Not that I was trying to impress anyone. The only thing I was trying to do was save my ranch. I only had so many options, and I was almost through all of them. The money from the auction would buy me time and nothing else. It had rained for the last two days, so I concentrated on paperwork while Tex and Dawn cleaned up the barn, fixed the trailer, and made sure the old truck was back in running order.
I strapped my left arm into my shoulder stabilizer, then threw my flannel shirt over it and buttoned it up. I had been wearing the stabilizer again since the accident to give the shoulder time to heal. If I didn’t, it would be a nuisance I would deal with for months instead of weeks. I hated that it made me look weak, but I didn’t have a lot of choices anymore. The crash did more damage to it than I initially thought. If I didn’t wear the brace, I’d never get rid of the spasms that sent stabbing pains of fire through my body all day and all night.
I stepped out the door into the morning sunshine, glad that my head didn’t pound the moment the light hit my eyes. At least the concussion hadn’t stuck around just to make life harder. I stood in the middle of the driveway and raised my face to the midmorning sun. The warmth of the rays reminded me that no matter what, the sun came up every morning. Even when I was struggling, the sun wasn’t going to give up on this place. Neither was I. Whatever I had to do to keep Heavenly Lane in the family was what I’d do. That’s all my daddy had wanted for as long as I could remember. He used to say, “Heaven, this land is special. As long as you believe in the land, it will sustain you. Never forget that.”
I hung my head for a moment and sighed. I’d often forgotten that lesson when faced with everything that had happened over the past few years. I often forgot the same lesson applied to the future too. When stuck between a rock and a hard place, it was hard to keep believing.
I raised my head and started walking, determination powering my steps. My heart swelled the closer I got to the old barn. It doesn’t matter where you are in the country, if you sayWisconsin barn, someone always says red. Mine was, in fact, red. It stood proudly against the backdrop of the beautiful green fields that surrounded it, and my heart soared at the sight. This barn was all I’d ever known. I used to hide in the hayloft to read the latest Nancy Drew mystery. I had mucked out every one of these stalls more times than I could count, brought half a dozen colts into the world here, and said goodbye to a few favorite workhorses over the years. I had lost a lot in this place, but the barn remained as a steadfast symbol to me that even the strongest winds couldn’t blow me over if I stood firm.
I slid the door open and walked inside, inhaling the scent of fresh hay. Grover was at the front of the barn in his stall, but I noticed Black Beauty and Sundance were gone. That meant Dawn and Tex must be out riding the fence line now, which they did several times a day. It sucked that we had to waste so much time doing that, but it was the only way to protect our herd of cattle from the bison Blazeraised. We also had to protect ourselves from those wild animals as we had learned the hard way.
I moved to the back of the barn and grabbed a few treats from the bucket hanging on the wall. “Hey, Bert and Ernie,” I said, giving each goat a carrot. “Where’s Zoe and Miss Piggy? Outside in the sunshine, I bet,” I cooed, patting their heads as they munched on their treats.
Then I grabbed a bucket of chicken feed and walked into the yard where the other animals roamed when not in the barn. We might’ve been a cattle ranch, but I loved having all kinds of animals around me. I had goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits, pigs, and even a motherless fawn. It was a menagerie, and we loved them all. Dawn always said I’d take home a baby elephant if elephants lived in Wisconsin. She’d laugh then, but we both knew it was true.
“Good morning, Camilla,” I said, scattering feed at my feet for the chicken to peck. “Big Bird,” I chirped, tossing our only rooster a handful of seed, “get down off that post and eat.” He ignored my scolding and just sat regally on the post, then flicked his wings at me.
