Page 15 of Wrangling Her Heart
Shadows blocked out the light as Baxter pulled the large barn door closed. “What’s going on? This isn’t like you.”
“I need some advice.” Rex leaned back against the workbench and tugged off his leather gloves, snapping them in his hand. “You know when you get a feeling that something is off with someone, but you can’t put your finger on it?”
“Uh-huh.”
“George strikes me like that. I don’t know what it is, but there is something there. Tillie has captured my attention and I’m interested in courting her. I have no clue how to handle this, and her brother is always lurking around. He’s asking questions about the ranch. Things that he shouldn’t be asking.”
Baxter chuffed. “Is this about George or Tillie?”
Dropping his gloves on the workbench, Rex stood up straight. “What do you mean?”
“Well, are you looking for a problem with George because he’s impeding you courting Tillie? Or is there really a problem there?”
“I don’t know. Again, something just isn’t right about him. Why would he want to know how many head of cattle we have? Or horses? Or men?”
“Curiosity? Making conversation? What were you doing when he asked?”
“We were riding out to the pasture to find Sawyer.”
“Who was with you?”
“It was me, Tillie, Pet and George.”
“There’s your problem. It’s about you and Tillie. He was asking questions, and you wanted to speak to Tillie. I think you’re reading too much into it.”
“He’s rude to Annie.” Rex knew he was grasping at straws.
“That you can address immediately. It is your house.”
“It is Ma’s house.”
Baxter took off his hat and ran his fingers through his dark hair. “Right now, it is your house. You are the man of the house, even though Annie and Sawyer live there. You’re the oldest. Do you think Ma and Tot will return from Boston?”
Rex sat in silence for a moment. “I don’t know. I know she hated it out here and talked about returning east all the time.”
“She said she was going to find Vangie, but that was years ago when we heard she had headed that way. Little sis could have moved on by now.”
“Do you ever think of her?”
“Who? Vange?” When Rex nodded, Baxter sighed heavily. “I do. I’m not sure what happened that would make her leave like she did.”
“Do you believe what Pa said? That one of the Chapman boys got her in a family way and she had to leave?”
Baxter walked over to some hay bales that hadn’t been put away and plopped down. “I did, but now I don’t know. I think he believed it and it gave him something to be angry about. Think about it. She was gonna marry Owen. Why would she leave?”
“Owen doesn’t seem like the type that would have done that.”
“He isn’t.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes more.
“It’s been over five minutes. We better go get those acorns for Annie.”
“We can stop by the house and get all the little ones. You know they’d love to help. We can just gather the acorns from there. And all the walnuts dropped over the past few months are drying out. They can gather those too.”
The thought of spending time with all the Beale children warmed Rex’s heart. He pushed himself off the workbench and headed towards the barn door.
Baxter clapped Rex on the shoulder as they headed towards the house to get Peter and Petunia. “You know, sometimes we get so caught up in our own troubles that we forget how lucky we are to have family and friends around us.”
