Page 66 of Inventions of the Heart

“What?” She sounded confused, and she didn’t like being confused. Michelle liked to know everything.

“You called this home again. It makes me happy to hear it.”

Michelle smiled. She reached across the space between their horses. He took her hand. He’d never held hands while riding before. He found it suited him.

Men came out of the bunkhouse at the sound of approaching hooves.

Zane led his parade of family toward the barn, but Shad rushed up and grabbed the reins. “Let us take over, Boss.”

“I see to my own horse.”

Shad waved him off. “Get inside. You look like you’ve been rode hard and put up wet.”

Michelle laughed out loud. Jilly giggled. She was riding just behind Annie, who had Caroline asleep on her lap. Josh and Beth Ellen brought up the rear.

Zane felt tension unwind inside him that he hadn’t realized was there.

MICHELLE BUZZED WITH EXCITEMENT. She might have actually heard a buzzing sound in her ear.

She and Jilly found a large map of Two Harts Ranch and sketched out smaller maps focused on the areas where they wanted to put the waterwheels.

“We don’t have to finish this tonight, do we, Michelle?” Zane asked.

Michelle had to force her eyes away from the map of Zane’s largest pasture. They’d ordered small waterwheels. They didn’t need to run a huge saw or a gristmill, after all. They just needed to pump a steady supply of water from the available waterways to each of Zane’s pastures. The largest pasture had a curve in its stream and that was where they’d—

“Michelle, it’s late.” Zane drew her away from the map. “Gretel has a meal on, God bless her. Let’s eat and get some sleep. I’ve got a big day tomorrow. We’re going to start cutting the herd, getting the cattle separated so we can drive the older steers to market. We need to sleep now and get a jump on the day tomorrow.”

Michelle looked with longing at the maps. Then it occurred to her the buzzing might not be excitement. It might be exhaustion.

She set everything aside. Jilly laid down her pen more reluctantly than Michelle.

“I am hungry. I should have helped get the meal. I’m sorry.” She’d come inside and headed straight for Zane’s office. And she’d expected somehow a meal would be placed in front of her. That wasn’t right. It was selfish, and she prayed for God to direct her in more thoughtful ways.

She had big plans, and there was a lot of work to do. But the family had to eat. Beth Ellen had traveled today just as far as Michelle. Annie had done it while wrangling a young child. Gretel, though she was a paid employee, had left her own home and family to come and help cook a late meal.

And Michelle had walked away without offering to help.

Almost worse, Gretel, Beth Ellen, and Annie had expected her to. They’d accepted they couldn’t depend on her and Jilly for any of the normal tasks involved in running a house. And Michelle had to change that.

She followed Zane out of the room. He let her go past him through the door, then slid his arm around her waist. “I’m excited about your plans, too, Michelle. All of us are. That grass staying green is going to make all our lives better. The cows will thrive on it, which is a kindness to them.”

“Don’t talk too much about being kind to the cows you’re planning to eat. It doesn’t exactly ring true.”

Zane laughed as he and Michelle led Jilly into the kitchen to sit at the table there. Gretel had returned to her own home. Caroline had been fed and put to sleep already. So Annie had to do that as well as help make the meal.

There was a simple stew made with beef jerky, so no need to cook it for a long time. Michelle knew that stew was often left to simmer for hours to make the beef tender.

Instead, this meal was done as fast as the potatoes, onions, and carrots in the stew were cooked through. Almost as fast as biscuits could bake.

Grateful to the soles of her feet, Michelle sank down in the chair to Zane’s right. He was at the head of the table. The house had a nice dining room with a big, dark wood table, but they’d never yet used it.

The prayer was spoken and the stew and biscuits passed. Once they were eating, Josh, at the foot of the table, asked, “Do you think word will get out about our gold? Do you think there’ll be trouble because of it?”

Without answering, Zane asked, “Do you think I should give each of my cowhands a big bonus? They’ve been doing extra work so we could dig.”

“You were only over there a couple of times, Zane.” Annie buttered her biscuit. “You’ve kept up with the ranch.”

“Which means youdon’tthink I need to give them a bonus?”

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