Wrangled (10 page)

“Settle down,” said Cody’s uncle in my ear.
I wasn’t anywhere near ready to settle down, but the harder I struggled, the
harder he squeezed me until I couldn’t hardly breathe.

“Okay,” I gasped, “I’ll behave. Put me
down.”

Hank put me on my feet, but kept one strong
hand wrapped around my upper arm while we surveyed the scene. Celeste had a
fierce grin on her face that looked like she might have liked a go at Jenny
herself. The other three looked like they might cry, huddled together and
shaking. Charity was helping Janet put the table and the food that I’d knocked
over to rights, and Russ was examining Jenny’s face, which was already swelling
with a huge purple bruise under her eye. She was crying and telling him she
quit. That brought me up short. What had I done? Cody needed his physical
therapy, and I’d attacked the person who was there to give it to him. I
collapsed into a chair that was behind me, startling Hank as I pulled him down
with me.

“I’m sorry,” I sobbed, not knowing who I
was apologizing to. “But sh-she called my k-kids b-bastards.” It even surprised
me when I heard myself say that. I didn’t think that was what had set me off,
or maybe it was. All of my sisters ran to me then, and huddled around me,
hugging and patting me. If my kids were bastards, then so were theirs, and we
needed to stick together. Celeste stood up and aimed a mean face at Jenny.

“Apologize, you skank,” she said. I barely
had time to wonder where she learned
that
word when Russ finally stepped
in to settle matters.

“That’s enough name-calling, all of you.
Annalee, Celeste, I’m surprised at your behavior, but I’ll agree Jenny had no
call to say that about your kids. Jenny, I’m sorry you feel you have to quit,
but if that’s the way it is, I’ll drive you into town tonight.”

“I should have some compensation for that
crazy bitch giving me a black eye,” she replied.

All eyes were on Russ as he frowned. “I
think I already said that was enough name-calling. I’ve watched you making
mischief among my family for nearly a month now, and what you said about
Annalee and her children was uncalled for and unforgivable. You’re fired. Go
get your stuff together so I can get you out of here before I have to let these
girls finish the job Annalee started.”

The silence that greeted this speech was
total. No one even dared breathe as we watched Jenny for what she might say
next. We all knew that Russ wasn’t to be crossed in a mood like that, and I was
deeply grateful that it was me he was standing up for.

After a few minutes of uneasy silence,
Charity got brave enough to speak. “Um, Russ?”

“What,” he almost snapped at her.

“Don’t take that tone with me. I merely
wanted to remind you that there’s a blizzard in the forecast. Do you really
think it’s wise to drive her to town tonight?”

Russ kind of shrank back to normal size,
then, after swelling up to boss size when he gave Jenny that lecture. “Sorry,
Babe, and you’re right.” Turning to me, he said, “Do you think you can keep
your hands off her until I can get her out of here?”

“Long as she keeps hers off of Cody,” I
said, sounding braver than I felt.

“I wouldn’t touch that ignorant cowpoke
with a ten-foot pole,” she said, causing Hank to growl where he stood beside
me.

“Jenny, I’d suggest you keep your mouth
shut. Go to your room. I’ll have Janet bring you your meals there until the
weather breaks and we can leave. One more word and I’ll send you out of here on
foot.”

I didn’t believe for a minute that he’d
make good on that threat, since it would be a death sentence, but it had the
effect of shutting her mouth. She slunk off down the hall with an attitude, and
I got up to make sure she didn’t open Cody’s door. But I was still worried
about his physical therapy.

As soon as Jenny cleared the hallway, I
jumped up and ran down to Cody’s room. I wanted to be the one to tell him what
happened, so I could try to explain why I’d done it. When I came rushing in the
door, he looked up from a paper he was writing on and must have seen from my
face that something was wrong.

“What is it, Annalee, is one of the kids
sick, or hurt?”

“No, Cody. I’ve got to tell you something,
and you’re going to be mad at me. But I didn’t mean it to happen and I’m
sorry!” There, that was all my worry in a nutshell. I’d warned him. Now I could
tell him what it was all about. He had a puzzled look on his face, so I started
from the beginning.

“Cody, you know I have feelings for you,
don’t you?” I asked, watching him for signs of what he was thinking.

“I guess so, Annalee. And I have feelin’s
for you. What’s this about?” He looked kind of scared, so I rushed on.

“Well, I just can’t stand watching that
Jenny put her hands on you and she was saying stuff that made me mad and I
called her a name and she called me one and then I hit her.” Darn it, that
wasn’t the way I meant to say it all, just tumbling out of my mouth in a rush
like a flash flood. Cody was staring at me, half confused, half something else.
I waited for him to say something.

“So, wait a minute, let me get this
straight. What did she say to set you off?” he asked.

“She said you were sexy and she’d like to
take you dancing.” I recalled, trying to be accurate.

“And you didn’t agree with that?”

“No, I agree that you’re sexy, and you’d
probably be a good dancer. But I couldn’t stand it that she thought you’d go
with her. You wouldn’t, would you?”

He had to think about it for a minute, and
I almost hit him. But then he said, “Aw, Annalee, I wouldn’t want to go dancin’
with anyone but you. But I don’t understand why you hit her.”

“Well, first I said you wouldn’t go with a
tramp like her, a
cheap
tramp,” I corrected.

His eyes got round and he kind of strangled
when he said, “What did she say to that?”

My eyes filled with tears, and I couldn’t
tell him. “It’s too awful,” I sobbed.

“Aw, honey, com’ere,” he said, holding his
arms out to me. I went into them for comfort.

“You can tell me, baby. What did she say?”

“Sh-she s-said I was a whore and my
b-babies were b-bastards,” I finally choked out.

“She what?! You just wait ‘til I see her
again. I´ll set her straight.”

“Um, I don’t think you’re going to see
her,” I confessed.

“Why? I’ve got PT in the morning.”

“Well, um, I kind of punched her out and
she quit. Then she said something else and Russ fired her. He’s just waiting 'til
the weather clears to take her back to Rawlins.” I was so miserable that I’d
ruined his physical therapy, that I didn’t realize his reaction until he let
out a whoop of laughter.

“You
punched
her? Way to go, baby! I
woulda liked to see that. Did the other guys see it?”

“Oh, yeah. It was at the dinner table.”

At that, he let go of me and rolled over,
laughing as hard as he could. “Wh-what did Russ do?” he gasped.

“Well, first your uncle caught me and
wouldn’t let me go, and then Russ said that was enough. But he fired her when
she talked back.”

“I’ll be hog-tied. I’d give my left nut to
have seen that,” he said, still laughing. He turned back over and put his arms
around me again. “So, you didn’t want her dancin’ with me, huh, baby?”

I was beginning to see the humor in it
myself, so I let a small smile play on my lips when I said, “Don’t get all full
of yourself, Cody. I just didn’t like what she called me.”

“Come on, Annalee. You don’t want me
dancin’ with anyone else. Admit it.”

“Okay, I don’t want you dancing with anyone
else. But you’re in no shape to dance, and here I got your therapist fired.”

“Don’t worry about it, baby, I can do those
exercises on my own now. You punched her, I cain’t get over that.”

Realizing that there would be no more
lectures from Jenny about it, I twisted around and rolled up on the bed with
Cody, still snuggled in his arms. He held me even tighter. This might not quite
be the time, but I was going to confess to my wishes and wants soon.  With his
arms around me, I had only one thing on my mind, and that was getting hold of
his cock with my bare hand instead of a washcloth.

Things got lots better once Jenny was outta
my hair. Annalee was herself again, though it felt sometimes like she was about
to boil over, and I didn’t understand why. She’d just be on simmer when she
come in to bring my meals, or bring the kids to visit. But when it come time
for my baths, I woulda needed a leather glove just to touch her without gettin’
burned. It seemed like she wanted to make sure my pecker was extra-clean, for
all the attention she give it. It got to where even when it wasn’t time for my
bath, Mr. Johnson stood at attention whenever she walked in the room smellin’
like strawberries, hopin’ for her hands on him, even through the washcloth.
Tell the truth, it scared the shit out of me.

Oh, I still wanted her. I wanted to get her
naked in the bed with me and see all of her, kiss her everywhere and have her
kiss me. But it seemed to me that we was maybe movin’ too fast. I still had to
make my way in the world, and there wasn’t no room on the rodeo circuit for a
couple of kids. Even just her woulda been a distraction there, and I couldn’t
afford no distractions. So, I tried to keep it cool with Annalee, and the more
I tried to cool it off, the more she tried to heat it up ‘til I didn’t know
which way was up.

Uncle Hank stopped by a few days before
Christmas to bring me the wrapped gifts I’d asked him to pick up for Annalee
and the kids. It wasn’t much, but I wanted to do somethin’, even though I had
to borrow the money from Hank, too.

He stuck his head in the door to see if the
coast was clear, and then came on in, shuttin’ the door behind him. “How you
doin’ son?” he asked.

“Hank, I’m powerful bored. Ain’t there
anything I can do? I’m tired of watchin’ soap oprys and playin’ solitaire.”

“What did you have in mind, son? You know
you still can’t ride.”

“I know, but I’m pretty good at math, and
breedin’ schedules and such. Isn’t there some paperwork I could help with?

“I’ll talk to the boss about it. Hasn’t
that girl been keepin’ you entertained?”

“Uncle Hank, you don’t know the half of it.
But, she’s got her own chores to do, and the kids to take care of. She cain’t
wait on me hand and foot. ‘Sides, you was right. I cain’t take care of her and
the kids ‘til I’ve got somethin’ saved up for a place of our own.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve popped the question!”
Uncle Hank looked genuinely pained I’d do somethin’ like that without talkin’
to him about it first.

“Naw, Hank, I’d let you know before I did
that. ‘Sides, I’d have to borrow the money from you to get her a ring and all,
and have you go to town and get it. I’m gonna wait ‘til I can do things for
myself.” I knew things was bad, because I sounded so mournful any momma cow
woulda adopted me in a New York minute.

“Good, ‘cause there ain’t no way I’m
lendin’ you no money for foolishness like a ring.” That musta been all he had
to say, because he left then without even sayin’ goodbye, just walked on out
the door. In a minute, here come Annalee, lookin’ kinda mad.

“What’s up, baby?” I said, with a wink,
because we both knew what was up under my blanket. She wasn’t in no mood to
josh with me, though.

“What’s got into Hank? He gave me a look
like he thought I was on my way in here to kill you.”

“Aw, it’s just the usual. Don’t take it
personal, hon. He thinks I’m too young to be in a serious relationship. You,
too, probly,” I added, when she started lookin’ stubborn.

“Is that what this is? A serious
relationship? Because you haven’t said anything to make me think that,” she
pouted. My heart about come outta my chest, lookin’ at that lip pokin’ out. I
wanted to bite it.

“Baby, I cain’t say nothin’ ‘til I’m in
shape to do somethin’ about it. Can you wait for me to get my shit together?
Get on the circuit, get some money and all? Then I’ll say everything you wanta
hear, I promise.”

“Don’t wait too long, Cody Wayne. My
clock’s ticking.”

I didn’t know what the hell she meant by
that, but it sounded serious.

After lunch, the boss stopped in for a
visit. He was a busy man, so I didn’t expect to see him every day, but he
usually made it in once a week or so. I didn’t expect him to stay long, either,
but today he pulled up the easy chair so we could talk without shoutin’ across
the room, and asked me how was I doin’.

“Fine,” I said.

“Cody, I’ve been thinking about your
situation, and Hank came by my office this morning to tell me you’re getting
stir-crazy.”

“If that means cabin fever, yessir, I am. I
was wonderin’ if there was somethin’ I could do around here to be useful.”

“You know you don’t have to do that, Cody.
All I expect of you is to recuperate, and maybe continue your physical therapy
on your own until I can get someone else out here for you.” The boss was a good
businessman, we all knew that, but he could be real kind and considerate, too.

“If you do, Boss, please make it a guy. I
don’t need no more trouble with Annalee,” I joked.

He laughed. “You betcha. I learned my
lesson on that one. You should have seen Annalee take that bitch on.”

“Boss, I’m surprised to hear you callin’ a
woman a name like that.”

“That’s because you didn’t see what she was
doing, every chance she got. She’d find out which hand one of the girls
fancied, and turn his head with compliments, then drop him like a hot potato
when another chance to upset the girls came along. All five of ‘em were in a
tizzy all the time, and the hands weren’t much better. If you thought they
fought over Celeste, you should have seen them strutting around like roosters
over a full-grown woman.” He shook his head, like he was tryin’ to get rid of somethin’
he could see in his mind’s eye.

“Sounds like a nightmare,” I said
sincerely.

“It was. I couldn’t have been prouder of
Annalee when she took that woman down a notch than if she’d been my own
daughter.”

That made me laugh. “Boss, you’d have had
to be gettin’ busy kinda young, to have a twenty-year-old daughter and you no
more’n thirty.”

“I know. But these girls all seem young for
their age, and Charity tells me I’m old for mine. But listen, that’s not what I
came in to talk to you about. Since you’d like to be useful around here, I do
have some stuff you could do, but you’d have to learn how to run a couple of
programs on a laptop.” He looked at me, expectin’ an answer.

I was downright puzzled, though. “A
computer? Boss, I don’t know nothin’ about no computers.”

“Well, you should. In fact, all of you
younger men need to start living in the twenty-first century, even if we’re out
here in the back of nowhere, Wyoming. What I’d like you to do is learn to run
this breeding database, so you can modernize our records. Right now, we only
have the paint remuda records in paper form. If you’re going to be in charge of
the breeding program when you get well, you’ll need a better system.”

“What? Boss, are you serious? You’re
puttin’ me in charge of the breedin’?” I got this feelin’ like I was scared and
excited all at the same time, and my heart started poundin’. It would mean a
raise, and maybe I could swing rent in town for Annalee and me. But it didn’t
fit in with my rodeo plans.

“Yep. For the paints, anyway. Hank’s going
to want to retire sooner or later, and you’ve got the eye and the way with
horses that makes you the logical choice. We might as well start training you
now. I hear you’re going to need to support a family soon.”

I didn’t know where to look, because I was
pretty sure my ears was red, if not my whole face. I didn’t know if I was gonna
wanta stay on the ranch after Annalee and I got married or not, but if I did,
this was a dream job to have here.

“Boss, I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but
what about my rodeo career?” Might as well face it now, before anything got too
settled.

“I’ve thought about that. Cody, I don’t
want to discourage you, but I’m not sure you’re going to have a rodeo career.
I’ve told you before that the competition is fierce, and you’re behind already.
But, if you can ride this season, Hank and I’ll cover anything that needs to be
covered when you’re away. Take a season and see if rodeo is for you, and if
not, you’ve got this to fall back on. I still hope you’ll be willing to do this
database for me.” Well, that sounded just about as fair as it could be. But
there was still one problem.

“How am I supposed to learn it, Boss? I
don’t even know how to turn on a computer.” I never took no computer or typin’
classes in school; seemed like that stuff was for sissies.

“I’m bringing out a new tutor for the
girls, to teach them computer skills. When he’s through with their daily
lesson, he’ll come in and give you some private lessons.” Looked like Russ had
thought of everything.

“Oh. Well, I guess that’s okay, as long as
it’s a he. Like I say, I don’t need no more trouble with Annalee. But, Boss,
don’t you need to know how to type to use a computer?”

“It helps. We’ll get you typing lessons, too.
There’s all kinds of things you can learn online once you know your way around
a computer.”

Mr. Russ seemed pleased with hisself, and I
hoped I could live up to what he expected of me. If nothin’ else, it give me
somethin’ else to think about the rest of that day.

~~~

Everything pretty much settled down for a
week or two after that. The boss brung in my new laptop and showed me how to
turn
‘er on and all. But he was too busy to show me
much of anythin’ else, said I’d have to wait for the tutor. Annalee was all
excited about it when I told her I was gonna be in charge of breedin’ the
paints. It was a little different from a regular breedin’ program, because you
couldn’t never tell what you was gonna get, whether a mare would throw paint or
not. Sometimes a solid horse would be paint stock, but sometimes a paint mare
would throw nothin’ but solid foals. And then there was the popularity factor.
People had all kinds of funny notions about whether overos was better than
tobianos and like that.

I got to where I understood what that
computer database for the bloodlines was all about. There was places to put all
kinds of notes about each horse, and when you ran the reports, you could see
patterns in the bloodlines for color, configuration and all. It got me interested
in how all that come about, and one day I asked the boss about it.

“Genetics, is what it’s called, Cody. If
you’re interested in that, you’re going to be even better at managing the
breeding. Would you like to study it?”

“Sure, Boss, but how?”

“Online course. I’ll get you all set up,
don’t worry.”

Before I knew what hit me, I was so busy
every day that I didn’t have time to fret and be restless. I was always glad to
see Annalee, but sometimes I was too busy with my studies that I didn’t have
time to visit with her. I didn’t know how much that upset her until she came in
spittin’ mad one day and like to have bit my head off.

“Cody Wayne, you better do something about
that uncle of yours, or I’m going to find another beau.”

“What? What’d he do this time. Come on,
baby, don’t be that way.”

“Did you tell him I was interrupting you or
disturbing your studies?” she asked. Her face was tight, like she was holdin’
back tears.

“No, Annalee, I didn’t tell him that, or
anything like it. Why would you ask me that?” I was afraid I knew, and this
time it was gonna have to come to a showdown with Uncle Hank. “He told me I
was, and warned me to stay away from you unless I was doing something you
needed, like bringing your meals. He said, he said you didn’t need me and my
kids dragging you down.” She was crying, and it like to have broke my heart.

“Annalee, baby, com’ere.” I took her face
in my hands and looked right in her pretty blue eyes. “Look at me, honey. You
are not interruptin’ me. You are not disturbin’ my studies. Hell, I’m doin’
this for us, for a better life for us. Don’t pay him no mind.”

“Cody, he’s your family. I hate it that he
doesn’t like me.” Annalee unhappy was somethin’ I couldn’t hardly handle. I
wanted her to laugh, and be fun, like always. Right then I was tore near in
half, though. She was right. Hank was more than an uncle to me…he was
everything. Without him, no tellin’ where I woulda ended up after my mom died.

I patted the bed, and while she climbed up,
I closed the laptop and set it over on the other side of the bed, far away as I
could get it. I put my arms around her, and whispered, “Baby, it’s all gonna
work out. Just hang in there while I get back on my feet.”

“Cody, honey, I have faith in you, I do.
But what happens to all your plans if you get hurt again in the rodeo? Can you
trust Abo? Do you even know if you’ll be able to ride in an event, let alone
win it?”

My blood run cold, then. Annalee doubted
me, no matter what she was sayin’ about havin’ faith. It kinda set me back on
my heels. “Baby, can you try to hang on ‘til I can show you it’s all gonna be
fine? I don’t wanta lose you, but I’ve wanted this for four years. It’s all
I’ve been plannin’ on. I need to do it.”

Her little hand crept up around my neck,
and she sighed, “Yes, Cody. I’ll hang on and wait. But don’t make me wait too
long.”