Page 7 of Inventions of the Heart

CHAPTER

TWO

ZANE HADN’T STARTED OUT THIS DAYwith any intention of digging a grave. Burying a man who was as good as a brother to him.

It was a dry year, and while Michelle badgered him about that stupid gold, his thoughts had been for his cattle. His ranch was in a rich place, with heavy grass that grew year-round. His cattle thrived with little work from him, though he put up some hay every year for days with heavy snow cover.

But this year the rain hadn’t come. The July grass was turning brown. The springs and ponds he used for water were dry. He needed to move his herds closer to the rivers and creeks. The water in them ran low, but still, they ran.

None of that even touched him now.

“Let’s go in, Annie.” He rested his arm along her shoulders and urged her away.

Struggling against his hold, Annie shook her head and refused to move.

Zane wished Caleb, the parson who had married Laura,were here. He would know what to say. But Caleb and Laura had headed back to the Stileses’ mountain home.

The older sisters, Michelle and Jilly, along with the mission group that had come west with Caleb, had somehow ended up settling in Zane’s house and were apparently in no hurry to leave.

Zane liked them well enough, and after some lonely years since his ma died, he realized he missed having women around the place. But the Stiles sisters had a way about them, smarter’n whips. Liked to manage everything. Michelle had even performed surgery today, though she’d looked about all in after it was done.

The summer had been interesting. For certain a break from normal ranch life and his worry about a drought. And now he faced a grim future with a heartbroken sister and a serious need for revenge against whoever had shot Todd Lane.

Annie gave him a look of such despair Zane wondered if she’d lose her mind.

“We can stay out here as long as you need.” He nodded to his cowhands nearby. Shad had sent men to find Todd and Annie’s cowhands that had been shot while riding along with them. They’d brought them back, then dug three graves in the family cemetery. Now they began filling them in.

The rest of the mourners had wandered away. Zane noticed his ramrod, Bo, talking quietly with Harriet Hogan, a schoolteacher who’d come into the area as a missionary with Parson Caleb. Her sister, Nora, walked side-by-side with Harriet. At Nora’s opposite side walked Jesse Green, another of Zane’s cowhands.

He didn’t have time to think on that overly while his sister sobbed.

The tears finally eased. Zane saw Jilly come to the back door with little Caroline, assess the situation, and go back in.

Annie lifted her head to look up at Zane with tear-drenched eyes. “Can we send for Beth Ellen? I wish she were here. Your house is so full of strangers, and I know you’re busy. If I could just have someone of my own.”

“I’ll send a rider with a wire before another hour goes by. She’ll want to come.” Beth Ellen was the youngest of the four Hart children.

“I know she’s courting that banker.”

“Loyal Kelton.” He was the son of a wealthy banker and poised to step into his father’s shoes. Zane had ridden all the way to San Francisco to meet him, and he seemed like a fine young man.

“I had hoped she’d come home for the summer, but she’s in good hands with Todd’s brother and his wife. I’ll have to write to them, too.” Annie waved her hands as if it was all too much. And it probably was.

“I’ll include word to Todd’s brother in the wire. You can write later.”

“Beth Ellen wanted to be near Loyal, but this will bring her home.” Annie looked up at Zane as if she wanted him to assure her of Beth Ellen’s presence. She seemed helpless as a child. Wanting him to handle everything. Which he would do.

“Yes, it will. And with the train coming to Lodi, she can be here in a couple of days.”

Annie nodded.

Zane went on. “Maybe she’ll stay until you’re ready to go home. She might even spend the rest of the summer. She can go home with you until you—”

“I’ve got nowhere to go, Zane.”

“Nowhere to go? What about the ranch?” Todd was a very successful young rancher. Not as established as Zane, who’d taken over his pa’s place, but he had a good start.

“I haven’t even spoken of what happened. We’ve been pressured to leave our land. The title to it is being disputed. We’ve got a neighbor who claims every acre of it. Horace Benteen’s been telling us we had to get out for a while, but we knew our ownership was fully legal. Then this morning, our ranch was raided.”

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