Whisperer (8 page)

Taking a break
from the horse he was working with, Colt listened to his first
message. “Colt, this is Jesse. Roundup is tomorrow with Dad’s
birthday later that night. Better lasso that gal and come on down.
Spotlight’s on you, pal.” He ended the message chuckling.

The next
message was from Lily, his mother. She practically purred into the
phone. “Please come tomorrow, Colt. We haven’t seen you in ages and
we’d love to meet Mandy. Please bring her. Dad’s birthday dinner
will be after. No presents – he’s mildly depressed at hitting the
big 5 – 0.” She laughed. “Take care, son. See you soon.”

The last was
from brother Miles. “Yeah, so, okay. Big do tomorrow with required
attendance. I understand there’s a new cowgirl in the picture. All
right, brother! See you tomorrow. Adios.”

Colt shook his
head. With Grandma Jeanne’s call, he got four invitations to the
roundup and party. He was surprised his dad didn’t call too, but he
knew Sandy figured Lily had called and that would be enough. He
sighed and went back to the horse training. Training wild horses
was sometimes easier than the Johnson family. Still he smiled….

Everyone, even
Meg in San Francisco, had driven down the night before the roundup.
At the family ranch that night, much laughing, eating and drinking
was done. There was also much guessing about Colt’s girlfriend. Meg
and Jesse, of course, thought she would be great. Miles thought she
would be a tenderfoot who could barely sit a horse, while Joey and
Janie thought she would be a fine horsewoman. Horse person? What
was the politically correct term, anyway? A few beers and glasses
of wine and no one really cared. Everyone was anxious to meet her,
but no one more so than Sandy and Lily.

“I’ve spoken to
her on the phone and she sounds so much like Deborah Kerr in ‘
An
Affair to Remember’
, said Jeanne, ever the optimist.

“But aren’t
they still in Act One, Jeanne?” asked Sam.

“Sure,
but…”

“What happens
in Act Two,” asked Janie. She wasn’t new to movie talk, but
couldn’t remember the various acts.

“In Act Two,”
began Miles, the author, “things start to go wrong. The guy gets
cold feet and can’t commit, or the girl’s drunk father shows up and
pisses everyone off. Something always happens that throws a cloud
in the sunny sky.” He seemed impressed with himself. “You know, boy
meets girl, boy loses girl.”

“Miles, that’s
a terrible thing to say,” began his mother. Lily was like Jeanne,
the eternal optimist. “I hope nothing goes wrong for Colt and
Mandy.”

“Dad?” asked
Miles.

Sandy cleared
his throat. Lily looked at him sharply. “In a rare moment of
agreement with Miles, I think he may be correct. Remember, Lily,
what happened to us?”

Sam and Jeanne
both winced at that remark. “Okay, let me field that one,” said
Sam. “I will forever be sorry that I caused a problem with your
parents, Miles. I felt what I felt, but I was wrong.” Jeanne took
his hand.

“Dad, what
exactly happened?” asked Janie sweetly. She hadn’t heard this story
before. Meg, who knew, looked over at Jesse.

“Let me,” said
Jeanne. “Sam and I were in love in high school, but his family
inherited the ranch in Sonoma and he left. Distance is hard to
maintain with relationships and we fell out of touch. Your
grandfather, Miles Johnson, was there all along and picked up the
pieces. We fell in love and were married. Sam married Margaret,
Lily’s mom, up in Sonoma. We got on with our lives.”

Sam continued,
“Yes, but we never forgot each other. Years later, when Sandy came
up with Lily and wanted to ask for her hand, I retreated within
myself and couldn’t give it. My behavior caused a real problem for
your folks for a while.”

Lily picked up
the story. “I took off for San Francisco to play and work out my
feelings, while your dad got Grandma and Grandpa together to figure
out what went wrong. That was our Act Two.“

Then Sandy, “We
eventually worked it out, which made for a great Act Three – a
beautiful wedding and Colt being born. Act Threes are really
great…” He took Lily’s hand. “Never forget the power of a great Act
Three.”

The scene was
all too familiar. Cattle were moving along the road towards the
corrals, dust was flying up everywhere, cowboys and their horses
moved from side to side, keeping the cattle moving. Dogs ran by the
horses and dashed in to nip a cow’s ankle if they got out of line
and started straying from the rest of the herd. Bellowing and
snorting of the cattle could be heard long before they could see
them. The dust cloud would overwhelm and then suddenly settle,
before blowing up again when more cattle moved by.

Colt and Mandy
were saddled up, riding toward the herd. He could see his father,
Sandy, Jason, a few of his brothers and sisters, and a couple of
hands driving the herd forward. There were a lot of cattle and he
knew they had been at it for some time now. By the corrals,
everyone else waited for the cattle to be herded inside.

“Have you done
this before?” he asked her.

“Nope, should I
wait by the corrals?”

“I think that
would be best. Let me introduce you around,” he smiled. “It’s
okay.” He noticed she looked nervous.

They rode up to
the corrals by Lily, Jeanne and Janie. Jason’s wife, Amy, and their
girls, Audrey and Anna, were on the other side and started walking
toward them.

Colt rode up to
his mother and got down off his horse. Lily ran up to him and gave
him a big hug. “We’ve missed you, son. How are you?”

“Great, Mom.
It’s wonderful to see you too.” He gave her another hug, as Jeanne
and Janie crowded them.

“My turn for a
hug, Lily. How’s one of my favorite grandsons?” Jeanne winked at
him.

“Oh, I thought
I was your #1 favorite.” Jeanne laughed

“How are you,
Janie. You look great,” he said to her as they hugged as well.

“Colt, we’ve
missed you,” Janie said, getting a little teary. She loved her big
brother.

Mandy had
ridden up with him, but waited patiently and enviously as he
greeted his family. They seemed so nice…

Then he helped
Mandy off her horse and quickly tied it up.

“And this is
Mandy Evans, everyone.” He started with his mother and moved down
the line. “Mom, please meet Mandy.”

Lily came up to
her, “So pleased to meet you, Mandy. We’ve heard many good things
about you. It’s wonderful to have you here with us.” She gave her a
big hug.

“Thank you for
inviting me, Mrs. Johnson. I love your ranch.”

Lily smiled at
her. “Please call me Lily.”

“Grandma, meet
Mandy.”

Jeanne moved
toward her and said, “Please call me Jeanne. Happy to have you
here. I feel like I know you already, my dear…We’ll talk…” She
winked at her and gave her a hug. Mandy smiled.

Colt repeated
his introductions to Janie, Amy, Audrey and Anna. He was exhausted
just repeating himself…

“Mandy, I need
to help Dad and Jesse. Will you be okay here?” He smiled and got
back on his horse.

“I’ll be fine,
thanks.”

“Go on, Colt,
we’re good here,” said Lily.

With that, Colt
tipped his cowboy hat at the group, “Ladies,” winked at Mandy, and
galloped toward the herd.

“Gotta love
these cowboys,” said Jeanne.

Amy and her
girls headed for the ranch. “We need to get some supplies for
tonight,” she said. “Be back later, Lily.”

“Thanks, Amy,”
she called after her.

“We’re going to
get some water for everyone, Lily. Be right back,” said Jeanne,
taking Janie with her. She knew Lily would want a few words with
Mandy alone.

Lily took Mandy
by the arm, “So you ride…” They started walking around the
corrals.

“Yes, indeed. I
hadn’t for a long time, but I started back up once I got to Donner.
I love it.” She smiled at Lily.

“Riding gives
me a lot of pleasure as well. What do you like about it?”

Mandy thought a
minute. Lily watched the pretty young woman that her son had
brought to meet her. She had beautiful eyes and lovely auburn hair.
Mandy seemed thoughtful, deliberate. She could see why Colt would
be attracted to her.

“I can shake
off the dust of the day and just enjoy being alive. I take deep
breaths… enjoy nature… I ride up in the hills every day after work.
That’s where I met Colt again.” She stopped. “Did you know that we
first saw each other in Old Town Sacramento, but we introduced
ourselves up in the hills?”

Lily smiled. “I
had heard that. My spies told me. Was it love at first sight?”

Mandy smiled
broadly back at her, “Pretty much. Colt is so special.”

“That he is.
Were you from Sacramento originally?”

“Yes, born and
bred, but I needed to leave. I found the job up in Soda Springs and
the rest, as they say, is history.”

“How do I ask
questions without you feeling like I am being the Grand
Inquisitor?”

“Just ask. I
would do the same thing if I were in your shoes, and we need to get
to know each other.” They stopped and looked at each other.

“Very astute.
We do, indeed, since we both love Colt. We could even take turns –
would you like that, Mandy?”

“Yes, ma’am.
I’d like that very much. You first…” She smiled.

“Okay…why did
you need to leave Sacramento?”

“Well…it was
like this…” And they continued walking around the corrals.

Meanwhile, Colt
had been riding herd with his father and Jesse. He had yelled “hey”
at Meg, Miles, Joey and Jason, but had remained riding with Sandy.
His dad looked over at him and smiled. Good to see him again… Colt
was glad to be home…

Jesse grinned,
“Cute gal. What’s her name again?”

“Mandy Evans.
She’s a counselor at that children’s camp in Soda Springs where I
was hired to train a few mustangs.”

“And you
brought her home,” said his father.

“Yes, sir. My
mama raised me right.” He laughed and they smiled at each
other.

“Your mother is
interrogating her, as we speak, you know.”

“Yeah, but
Mandy expected it. She’ll be okay – we talked about how this would
play out. So far, it’s predictable.”

“I take it the
business is working out for you. Grandma has kept us posted about
your whereabouts and jobs. Is she keeping books for you too?”

“Yeah, so far,
so good. I’ve had a lot of work in the Elko and Winnemucca area, as
well as northern California. I stopped in to see Aunt Sarah and
Uncle Rob while I was in Winnemucca.”

“They called
us. Apparently, they went out to see you work a few times. I think
their contacts led to more work for you,” said Sandy. “My sister
was impressed with what you did. Oh…Be right back. I have to tell
Jason something.” Sandy turned his horse and rode to the back of
the herd.

A few cows
started to stray, so Colt rode over and drove them back. The dust
cloud settled on him and he brushed off what he could. Jesse had
ridden off after some other strays. Meg rode up by Colt.

“Hi ya,
stranger. New in these parts?” Sitting a beautiful Palomino, she
smiled at him.

“Hi yourself,
cutie. How are you?” He smiled at his pretty sister. She had cut
her long blonde hair into a perky bob that attractively framed her
face.

“New
hairdo?”

“Yep.”

Jesse rode up
by Meg, reached over and lightly tugged at Meg’s hair. “Can’t pull
it like I used to. Grow it back, Meggie…” He laughed.

“Okay, what
gives with you two? I leave for a little while, come back and you
have women with you. Stories, please?”

Jesse leaned
back in his saddle and wiped his hands on his jeans.

“Nothing to
tell. You’ve known Audrey all your life.”

“For Pete’s
sake, Jesse, ever gonna marry her?” When he shrugged, Meg let out
an exasperated breath, leaned over and punched his arm. “She’s not
going to wait forever… And what about you, Colt?”

“What about
me?”

“All I know is
her name: Mandy Evans. Anything else I should know?”

“Right.
Interrogation time. Well, she’s pretty, smart, funny and sexy. Oh
and she loves movies. Jeanne will have a field day with that.” He
laughed. Meg rolled her eyes.

They rode the
herd to the corrals and started rounding them in. Little by little,
they drove out the mature cattle into other pens, leaving the
calves.

Mandy noticed
that Colt and Jesse were particularly adept at this, having done it
all their lives. The riders and horses worked as one, separating
the calf, working it into the corral, leaving and getting another
one. She couldn’t imagine how they did it, but over and over, they
did, until all the calves were separated from the mature
cattle.

And then
everything started happening at once. Many hands appeared. Colt
lassoed a calf and Jesse jumped down to inoculate it. Meg had
already dismounted and moved around Jesse to brand the calf. In
another corral, Sandy lassoed a calf and Jason inoculated it. A
hired hand ran over to brand it. Over and over the process went.
Inoculation and branding… In yet another corral, Sam lassoed a calf
that was running, trying to escape, and pulled his rope tight, so
Joey could grab it to inoculate. Miles stepped up to brand the
calf. Everyone had a turn at lassoing, inoculating and branding.
There was plenty of work to go around.

“Want to give
it a try, Mandy?” smiled Lily. “Nothing to it, when you’ve done it
a few million times.”

Mandy laughed.
“Absolutely. Show me.”

Lily steered
her into a corral. Colt lassoed a calf and Lily showed Mandy how to
hold the big inoculation needle and then give the calf the shot.
She picked up the process fast and started helping. Pretty soon,
everyone was nodding their heads at what a fast learner Mandy was
and what a natural she seemed to be at it. And it wasn’t easy – the
calves did their utmost to escape the needles and the branding
irons. They bellowed and snorted and tried their hardest to get out
of the corrals. It was definitely hard work, and, after a few
rugged hours, Mandy was breathing deeply and nursing sore muscles.
Lily and Sandy were impressed. She was no lightweight -- that was
for sure.